This afternoon my family surprised me with a beautiful birthday present. It was a rocker from Cracker Barrel. It is guaranteed for life. It matches my shelves perfectly and it will be a comfortable place for guests to sit when they visit my study. My birthday is Monday, but Kyle and his family were able to visit today. It was a beautiful day to celebrate our birthdays together.Stop by some time and I will let you try out my new rocker.

My cousin Di has Facebook now. When we were kids we saw each other regularly. We have our own families now and our own lives so we only see each other when someone dies, which is very sad. It was good to connect on Facebook. I scrolled through her pictures. We look a lot alike. We could pass for brother and sister. I read her interests. One of them made me smile. She has always been a bright girl, quick-witted and verbal. Even as a child she would commonly read …

photo by Lois Pierpont
I have often thought of things I like in a church building. I love a soaring white steeple glistening against the blue sky or lighted jutting up into the night. It would, of course, have a large pulpit in the very center, symbolic of the priority of the ministry of the Word. Maybe it would have the white colonial furniture, too.

The last two days have been glorious autumn days–gifts from the Lord. I was out taking a few minutes to write and read and drink in one of the most beautiful fall days ever. I could have taken a thousand stunning pictures of autumn glory. This was taken on the north end of the lake yesterday.
This evening after dinner I had some time before the evening meeting to paddle out on a silky purple lake to enjoy the afterglow of the sunset. Later, in the session, I was able …

My son is a man of modest means like his dad. He and his little family occupy and wee apartment just big enough for the three of them and little else. I was driving across parts of three states the other night and it was getting late so I stopped by to see if I could get a pillow, and a blanket, and a spot on the floor. It took a while but after waking a kind neighbor at about one a.m. I finally found his apartment and …

We have spent the last full week on Wolf Lake in the western upper peninsula of Michigan in a little house on Duck Point with nine other young men. Duck Point juts out into Wolf Lake. The house if full of windows which look out on the lake on three sides. Dan and Wes were among them. The adventure was called a Journey to the Heart. We spent the time seeking the Lord, praying, studying the Scriptures and searching our hearts. Day after …

There are friendships that warm you like a fire. In a world of people that will drain you dry there are a few friends whose company is nourishment to the soul of a man. Paul is such a friend. Paul is the Director of Camp Barakel in Michigan. He is a man whose heart is steadfast for God. It is easy and natural to talk with Paul of the things of God, the work of God in women and in men, the creation of God …

This is the drive away from the cottage where we are staying for the Eternal Impact Summit.

This is the view from the house on Duck Point. This is one of the quietest and most beautiful places I have ever been. I wake up ever morining with a profound sense of the kindness and goodness of God. From this point it is a run of a little more than four miles around Wolf Lake. Every step is like a postcard picture.

I have a treat for you. We are at our Northwoods Conference Center just west of Watersmeet in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We have been participating and speaking for a retreat for single young people called; Eternal Impact Summit. I discovered they have up-graded to wireless here so I am going to send a live report or two. Let me know if you enjoy them.

INDIANAPLOIS Last week it was my delightful privilege to speak to hundreds of students and parents at our regional training conference in Indianapolis. I spoke for over an hour to the students, over an hour to the parents and then I stood around for three hours talking to friends old and new after that. We drove back to Hinsdale with Dewy Novotny and Victor Weib. The conversation made the over three-hour trip seem like minutes.
CHUK Charles passed another test while we were in Indianapolis …