Today we had our first pastoral team meeting for three weeks - and it was good to sit down together again. We have an outstanding team, which I thoroughly appreciate and I think our folks do too, so I’ve missed our regular get-togethers due to my temporary absence on a Puerto Rico beach!

We’re all involved with different parts of what’s happening at Church At The Movies, so it’s important that we keep one another up to speed with what’s happening. We did that, made some plans for the coming couple of months and generally gave Rog a hard time. It was good.

Great people - I am blessed to have them alongside me.

Looking forward to our new series WIPEOUT, starting Sunday. We’re going to be looking at some pretty heavy stuff over the next four weeks. Maybe it would lighten things up marginally if we used this as our theme song -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5D07c0dJuQ

Strange as it is proving for some people to comprehend, I am actually going to be home for a while now - well, until November anyway.

Chris Kelly and I will be leaving on election day for a ten days visit to India where we’ll be ministering at Basil D’Souza’s church camp again. The whole thing runs for eight days, with a change of personnel in the middle - four days of camp for the English speaking congregation and then four days for the Hindi speaking folks.

I love their church camp - this will be our third time there with them, in the ageing mission hospital compound in the hills of Pune. It involves quite a lot of teaching for me - at least twice a day, but the great thing is we get to hang out with everyone for the entire four days.

Sadly Delta have stopped their direct flight from JFK to Mumbai and I didn’t fancy the alternative arrangement they offered us - who wants to sit in Atlanta for five hours on the way home waiting for a connection?

So we’re going to try a highly recommended (on the internet that is) but pretty obscure airline - Etihad. Yes folks, they do have planes. Or at least, that’s what they’re saying!

We’ll go from JFK to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and then on from there to India. It’ll add a bit of spice to the trip - or something!

Went to another wake this afternoon. The father of a great guy in our church passed away early Saturday morning. I didn’t really know any of the family, but I loved the way John introduced me to them -

This is my friend Roger, he’s also the pastor of our church.

I love that!

The relationship is what matters - our varying functions are incidental.

+ I’m shot - what a day! Loads of our hard-working folks must be exhausted too.

+ It was an incredibly beautiful day for the Street Fair - thousands of people there, stretching as far as the eye could see.

+ Our red KIDMO balloons could be seen above the masses the whole length of the event. We ran out of them by mid-afternoon, which means we gave out approximately - a lot!

+ Joey Prainito led me stray and I get a tattoo. It’s a tasteful cross on my forearm and thankfully it wasn’t as painful as I had been led to believe. But then again, the artist only used an airbrush.

+ Band did a new song today that I loved. They’re the best.

+ I can’t believe how many people worked all morning at church and then moved on down to hand out literature at the Street Fair. Did I ever say we have a whole bunch of incredible people?

+ Not a bad crowd this morning for a holiday weekend, but I’m looking forward to settling back to normal over the next couple of weeks.

+ Our WIPEOUT series starts next Sunday - wait till you see me jumping over the big balls … not!

+ Is New Orleans really going to get hit again? We’re setting up for a team to go down early November to help those still suffering from the impact of Katrina - will it be Gustav too?

+ It was good to have Becky Tait with us today - she arrived on Friday from Scotland and will be helping out for six months. Asked this morning what she would be doing, she replied, “Whatever Roger wants.” Great answer - I love this girl! I remember the night we got the news she had been born, which dates me I know. I’ve known her dad since he was 16 and married her parents, but now our Becky is all growed up, a college graduate with a huge heart for God and people.

+ Talking special guests, we also had a young man from India with us who is about to start post-grad studies at Pace. We’re looking forward to Rohan getting plugged in to Church At The Movies. He’s a great drummer and worship leader too for that matter.

+ Went to two wakes tonight. The fact that they were both in the same funeral home made it a little easier. I’ll be talking about death during our WIPEOUT series. Christians generally need to get a realistic and fundamental Biblical understanding of the subject.

+ Death isn’t defeat, it’s the ultimate victory.

+ Lesaya taught today. Man she’s good, though the suggestion that I may need to join CR was uncalled for - or was it???

+ Got a gift today from a great family who just wanted to let Gill and I know they appreciate us. That was good stuff - their encouragement really is appreciated.

+ How can I just have got back from vacation and be shot? I’m told I should take it easy tomorrow and am reluctant. But then again, the rest of the week already looks non-stop, so getting over the weekend first may be a good way to go.

+ Did I say I like the look of the McCain/ Palin ticket?

That’s it - I’m dead - later!

Tomorrow will be a long and exciting day. In addition to the final part of our summer series, Keepin’ It Real, we’re going to be manning a booth at the Street Fair in Ronkonkoma that attracted an estimated 10,000 people last year.

All those people! Most of them local!

And we’ll be letting them know we’re around as we give out balloons and invitations to our church to everyone who passes by. We have handed out 400 Keepin’ It Real t-shirts to our folks over the past few weeks, so as they walk around the Fair wearing the shirts, it should help create a buzz too.

Great day ahead - an amazing Fall before us.

Got home a couple of hours ago and happy to get back into the swing of things here. Ten days really is a long break!!

We flew Jetblue, which meant once we got back within reach of land today, their satellite TV service kicked in, just in time to hear about John McCain’s choice for VP.

I was the fourth child in a family of five, three boys and two girls. The oldest girl, Eva Elizabeth had Downes Syndrome and what a great sister she was. There was less understanding of disabilities fifty years ago, so whenever I saw kids staring at her, pointing to her or laughing at her, I’d quickly give them a piece of my mind.

Eva brought a lot of joy to our home, with her loving disposition, mischievous smile and simple approach to life. Through her I got to know a lot of disabled people and they contributed significantly as I shaped my own values for life.

She passed away when I was eighteen, having battled heart problems all her life that would probably have been resolved nowadays, but I will always be grateful to God for such an outstanding sister.

And the announcement of McCain’s running mate has brought the election down to one simple issue for me. It’s not the economoy, Iraq or the Supreme Court.

Naive as this may sound, my vote will go to the ticket with the woman who refused to abort her Downes Syndrome unborn child and gave birth to a very special baby four months ago.

Sarah Palin is a great choice - I’m home and happy!

Enjoying a fascinating country, but man this is a very long break.

The sun re-emerged today after hiding for the past four days. It poured yesterday - the outer extremetries of the latest hurricane. Thankfully that’s as close as it’s coming to us.

Spent today in Old San Juan. It’s amazing how you can destroy the character of a quaint, centuries old community by inserting the essentials of 21st century life like McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Starbucks and heaven help us, even Marshall’s!

Planning a couple of quiet days on the beach and then home on Friday for a hectic weekend that includes the street fair on Sunday.

1,I don’t do well at doing nothing, but after a few days of frustration I think I’m getting into it.
2,Puerto Rico is a beautiful place.
3,Just finished a good book - Season Of Life by Jeffrey Marx. I thought it was a football story, but it’s a heck of a lot more. Great book for every father - and son.
4,Have watched more of the Olympics than I would have at home. Bet all my Jamaican friends are celebrating their team’s track successes.
5,Is there something immoral about a 15 year old anorexic diver who has been in a training camp since she was 4?
6,Pity we’reup to our necks in debt to the Chinese, otherwise we could tell them what we really think of their evi regime.
7,Frank will be teaching Sunday - it’s good to be here and know we won’t miss a beat back home.