Have You Really Been There?

A few weeks ago I spoke in the AM Services at church. One of the points I was getting at was that so often we project our-self into false realities of who we are and where we are at with the Lord. For example we call ourselves Christians simply because we are good people or have gone to church. A friend of mine used to say that going to church makes you no more of a Christian than sleeping in a garage makes you a car. None the less I communicated that there is something more the Lord desires: a personal relationship with him through the person of Jesus Christ.

Anyways…I showed these pictures to begin my message about projecting our-self in to situations. I talked about some vacations that Aubrey and I took. Enjoy.

Aubrey and Kris in Egypt

Aubrey and Kris in New York

Aubrey and Kris at Disney

Visitors for Aubrey

Over the last few weeks Aubrey has been able to meet many more important people in our life. Below are a few more pictures of Aubrey with our friends.

More Easter Photos

Easter

What a great Easter!

Joanna’s morning began bright and early as Aubrey was ready to get the day started at 5:30am. I crawled out of bed about an hour later to get ready for church. I walked into the bathroom and Aubrey had already had her bath and was in the process of being dressed.

We were out of the house around 7:30am. Our sunrise service began at 8am and was a great 30 minute service. We sang the classic Easter hymns, I shared a short reflection from John 20 about Jesus’ resurrection being a sign of hope especially for Peter who had failed Jesus by denying him three times. The service wrapped up with two baptisms when people shared that they knew Jesus as their Lord and Savior and wanted to live a life of hope and change.

Later on the congregation participated in an all out celebration through worship. I was amazed at how the praise team and choir filled the room with praises and one could experience the power of Jesus in that place. It was church as church should be.

Huge praise too…2-4 people made first time commitments to Jesus and decided to follow after him. Praise!

Later that afternoon we traveled to Watervilet to my aunts house and celebrated with my mom’s side of the family. Food, little kids, basketball, and more food filled the day. On the way home we stopped at Jeff and Lauren’s for more food.

It was a great but long day.

Jon Has a Second Job

Daniel Rudd sent me this picture and it blew me away. Look and see if you think that Jon might have a second job in a band (left side)…or maybe this is a restaurant wait staff. The name of the group is quite ironic too considering Jon’s last name is Gerten. Daniel also mentioned that if you squint and look at the picture you might be able to see my brother Jeff to the right of Jon and Scott in the front row.

Below is a picture from a few years ago of Jon if you do not know him this post will have a fuller effect.

Aubrey Update Coming Soon

Next week I hope to post a few more pictures of Aubrey.

She has been growing like crazy and is still an amazing baby.  She will be 7 weeks old on Saturday.

Aubrey has been a busy baby as we have been hauling her all over the state visiting family and friends.  I love that she is being shared with so many people and I hope that will help her in the long run be comfortable with many different people, much like her mother.

Have a great weekend!