A Wonderful Opportunity for Christ and His Glory!

I was very honored and privileged to be able to speak this morning to the 2008 Local Pastors Licensing School class down in Fayette at the CMU campus. I was also blessed that Jeannie was able to go down with me for spiritual support.

My talk was titled “A Conversation with a Local Licensed Pastor” and dealt with first-year ministry struggles, joys, concerns, etc. There were about 25 people attending this year.

My warmest thanks and gratitude goes out to Rev.’s Fred Leist and Richard Northcutt, who head up each year’s School. It was really good to see them again, and have some fellowship.

And, as always, my thanks to God for allowing His servant these wonderful opportunities to share Christ Jesus with others, especially those who feel led into His ministry.

Vacation Time Only Two Weeks Away!

Well, we are finally getting excited to be going on an extended vacation! LOL. This is the first real trip Jeannie and I have taken since we’ve been married (apart from our wonderful honeymoon at Destin Beach, FL); and it is our first family vacation. So, it should be really fun!

So far, the trip schedule looks like this:

• Day 1-2: Springfield, MO to Cornville, AZ (with a layover)
• Days 3-6: At Jeannie’s brother Jerry’s home in Cornville
• Days 7-12: Driving back ol’ Route 66!

We plan on taking about 6 days to come back at our leisure, taking plenty of pics along the way of the sights, sounds, and long-forgotten places along this historic stretch of highway. I can imagine I’ll have PLENTY of stories to share after we return; in fact, I am thinking of writing a book about our experiences. I know enough publishing people now to perhaps make the dream a reality.

Forty Wonderful Months Later…

Yes, it has been that much time since I wrote my first column for the Linn County Leader; February 2005 was about “A Magic Worth Remembering” and it brought back many vibrant memories of moving to the Midwest and working in Marceline…which was Walt Disney’s hometown for a while. The same Main Street USA that I had seen at Disneyland in California was actually in the same place where I now lived!

LOTS of time has passed between now and then; and many, many changes have come to the Davis household. Jeannie and I are now foster parents; I am a licensed pastor serving a multi-point charge (3 churches) in the United Methodist Conference; we’ve moved to a beautiful farm (that also serves as the parsonage) outside of Browning; etc., etc., etc. Life is so good.

And, I still find time to write, albeit not as often as I would like. This blog is merely an extension of those thoughts and feelings that never make it to the monthly columns, and its sister blog (A Shepherd’s Tale) is another facet of online writing, namely focusing on my pastoral life. I find it both therapeutic and invigorating (if those two even go hand-in-hand) to just sometimes “let it ALL hang out.”

So, here we are, three years and four months later, still pecking away at my Mac keyboard…and the recollections of my life come forth from that time known jokingly to me as “Of coke bottle lenses and pocket protectors”. I am glad that God still continues to bless His servant with this gift; and I’ll keep using it until I run out of things to say.

Or, as my beautiful wife Jeannie so aptly (and correctly) puts it, “You won’t have to worry about that happening for a LONG time.”