Whirlwind Weekend

Life goes at lightning speed at times.

This past Saturday, I went to Homecoming weekend events at California Baptist University (my alma mater).  It was rather interesting and fun seeing more people that I have known through the years because of my schooling there.  Last year, I was president of the Alumnii Homecoming Committee and therefore had several responsibilities on the Homecoming weekend.  This year, without those nagging responsibilities I could roam around and sit and talk and it was so much more enjoyable!

I saw friends from past churches where I have served, as well as those with whom I spent time while attending Cal Baptist.  If you remember, I started at CBC (then California Baptist College in Riverside) in 1968 and dropped out in December 1969.  After military service and employment at Kaiser Steel in Fontana, I resumed my college work in 1977 and finally finished in 1978 with both a B.A. in Religion and a B.S. in Business Administration.

My sister Marti and her husband Bill flew out for the weekend also.  So, I spent the day with them recalling our (mine and Marti's) days as students there.  Here is a photo of Ron Bryant (fellow staffer at Glorieta and then fellows student at Cal Baptist), Marti and me:

Then, at 4 pm, I was set to perform a wedding right there on the campus for a friend and mission pastor from our Vision Plus Church.  This man, Michael Dotson, is now in Bakersfield starting a church there, but he and his fiancee and his three daughters met at CBU for an outside wedding with all the homecoming festitivies going on.  It was awesome.  Here are some photos of the wedding:

After that, Marti's son (Kirk) had planned a surprise birthday party at a Mexican restaurant nearby.  So, as many of the family members that could got together and  met there to surprise her.  It was a great time together with sharing and laughter and food and fun.  We made sure to get a photo of John (one of our brothers), Marti and myself at the restaurant.

On Sunday, I preached on the love of God because Valentine's Day was coming up.  At the end of the service, a lady came forward to accept Christ as her personal Lord and Savior, and it just made the day more special.  Also, a new visitor came and talked to me for a short while, as he is seeking where God would be leading him to join.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day.  In the morning, we met Marti and the gang at my brother Roger's house to take some family photos.  We try to get as many picutres with siblings as we can these days.  It's so hard to get everyone together.  Below is a picture of Bill and Marti, then a picture of four of us siblings (Roger, David, me and Marti).  Roger was taking Bill and Marti (and Kirk and his wife Tamra) on his sailboat that day.

Last night, Sondra made a steak and shrimp dinner and we had a feast.