Got a guess from this picture where Mandy, the girls and I were yesterday? In the aftermath of the Spiritual Growth Workshop, we escaped Sunday night to the Monterey Peninsula. On Monday morning, we enjoyed the magnificence of God's creation along the 17-mile drive (along the coast of Monterey and Pebble Beach) and followed that up with several hours of fun at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
I'd like to thank the Clovis School District for scheduling a Monday off for the students on the heels of our Spiritual Growth Workshop (I'm sure the administration surely considered our Workshop when devising their school calendar). It made for a great memory-making opportunity for my family in back of the workshop.
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I'll say more about the workshop tomorrow. For now, I'd like your feedback. If you participated in the workshop, use the comments section at the bottom of today's blog entry to give me your feedback. What did you like? What could we improve upon? How can we make next year's workshop even better?
Your feedback is vital as we begin to put in motion plans for 2007. I'll look forward to reading your comments.
If you don't feel comfortable putting your comments out there for all the world to see, you can email me at jim@wpcoc.com.
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Back in April, I made my predictions for the 2006 Major League Baseball Season. In both leagues, I hit 2 of 4 post-season teams: The Yankees, Athletics, Mets and Cardinals. I missed on the White Sox, Red Sox, Giants and Braves.
My pre-season prediction had the Mets/Yankees in a Subway World Series with the Yankees taking it.
I don't see any reason to deviate from my original prediction.
In the AL division Series, the Yankees will take the Tigers and the Twins will upend the A's. In the NL Division Series, the Mets will dispose of the Dodgers and the Padres will knock off the scuffling Cardinals.
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All the rumors springing from the Metroplex say that Buck Showalter will no longer be the manager of my beloved Rangers come later today. You know what that means, don't you? The Rangers in the World Series in 2007.
It's Showalter's legacy: the teams he leaves go to the World Series the year after his departure. It worked in New York and in Arizona and here's hoping the third time will be the charm for the Rangers.
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Finally, I am extremely excited about this coming Sunday. I absolutely cannot wait to preach at the Johnson Street church in my hometown of Benton, Arkansas.
As a teenager with a burgeoning desire to preach, my friends at the Johnson Street church in Benton always allowed me the opportunity to test the waters of preaching. Willie Hill and Cedric Finley, the two men who preached at Johnson Street during my teen years, were always willing to share their pulpit with a young kid whose preaching skills were rough around the edges, to say the least.
What makes this relationship extra special is that the Johnson Street church is located "across the tracks," in the Southside community -- the African-American community in my hometown. Unfortunately, in the segregated South, churches still struggle to overcome the division of racial segregation.
But my family at Johnson Street, my brothers and sisters, always welcomed me to their pulpit and encouraged me in spite of my unpolished delivery and elemental understanding of God's Word.
This Sunday, in advance of speaking for the Sojourners National Conference at Marshall, Texas, I'll be blessed to be back home with W.K. Hannah, Charles Cunningham, Ontaria Richardson, and all the other folks at the Johnson Street church for whom I am eternally indebted.
