On Thursday afternoon, I preached at the weekly homeless feeding at Fairmount Park in Riverside. Our church has been involved and leading out in this ministry for many years. Every Thursday, volunteers from our church cook and feed between 50 and 75 homeless who gather to hear a short message and eat a hot meal. After I shared the devotional message, I sat down to relax during the feeding and was stung by a bee on my right hand! Wow, it hurt. My hand was swollen for three days.
This past Friday and Saturday, the ladies of the church attended an annual retreat (sponsored by our Inland Empire Southern Baptist Association) at the local Hilton Hotel in Ontario. It was an overnight event, and the women had a great time both with fellowship and spiritual encouragement. There were eleven from our church who went.
So on Friday evening, David and I went over to Shawn and Crystal's house for David to see little Brynnlee and have dinner. It was fun seeing the baby again and spending time as we ate together.
The family of four (or five, if you include Boomer the dog)
Bailey being very watchful over Brynnlee
David and his grand-niece Brynnlee
On Sunday morning, the ladies who had attended the retreat came forward and shared their memories and experiences from the weekend. It was moving and touching as several became emotional in their testimonies. It was a special time of worship for us yesterday. With limited time due to the testimonies, I shortened my sermon time and quickly talked of Jesus' words in John 17 about the glory he gives to us (his followers and disciples). Our lives are like garbage until by his grace and our repentance, he forgives and cleans and redeems us to thereby give us his glory!
The ladies sang a song during the testimony time
Last night (Sunday evening), we had free tickets to the annual rodeo sponsored by the county sheriff's department. It is always a fun event, and our church receives complimentary tickets. There were quite a few of us from the church in attendance. We ran over to Ontario, picked up granddaughter Bailey and headed to the rodeo. David and Alden were with us in the car too.
Bailey enjoyed watching the cowgirls ride their horses
The bareback riding was exciting to watch
Bailey loved riding this pony
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