basking

For the second year in a row, I've returned home from teaching the women's retreat for Calvary Chapel Carson City at the Zephyr Point Conference Center on Lake Tahoe feeling both refreshed and blessed.

It's too bad I have so much work to do. If I didn't have a looming deadline, I'd tell you in detail about the condo Pastor Pat Propster and his wife, Kelly, loaded with gifts for Dave and me (all right ... here are a few details: French roast coffee, candles, popcorn, cookies, fruit, juice, English muffins (2 kinds!), a beach bucket filled with sparkling cider on ice, a journal, and a beautiful clock to commemorate our anniversary). I'd describe the squirrels and blue jays that entertained us while we had coffee on the condo balcony. I'd bring you along while Dave and I skirted giant geese on our walk from our lawn chairs to the waters off Tahoe City. And I'd share minute by precious minute the message we ladies received from Jesus--a reminder that we bear His name, that we're spotless in His eyes, and that the best lies ahead for us.

I truly love that group of women. They are all wonderful in their own right, but they also bear the mark of their pastor and his wife. You'd be hard pressed to find servants more dedicated to the Lord and to their flock. It would be difficult to find a more loving, more gracious, more Jesus-focused body of people than what God has created there. In fact, I'd like to suggest that if you're anywhere at all within driving distance of Carson City, Nevada, and you're not already plugged into a loving, Bible-teaching church, go meet the wonderful Bride at CCCC.

I didn't mean to let so much time go by before posting again. How did a whole month go by that quickly? But I truly have not been out lying in a hammock. I've been working ... and it's all been good. He's in our rest--that's for sure. But He's in our productivity too. And for that, I'm grateful.