And we're still here!!

June 23, 2006

Yes, it’s Friday morning, and we’re still in Birmingham! Claire’s car spent the night at the Volvo Dealership, and we spent the night at the Sheraton. Hopefully, we’ll be on the road this afternoon.

General Assembly ended on a high note yesterday afternoon with worship and the final business meeting. The worship service Thursday morning was our favorite and the sermon and prayer will be available on http://www.pcusa.org. The speaker is an inquirer in Southern Louisiana and spent last year as a Young Adult Volunteer in Guatemala. She focused on the importance of mission in the life and work of our church. It was neat for Claire to be able to picture scenes from her Spring Break trip to Guatemala during the sermon. The prayer after the sermon was written by middle-schoolers at a conference last week and read by one of their counselors.

We did so much business this week that it would be impossible to recount it all here. If you are interested in a particular subject, please ask us or see the website (listed above). Instead, we’d prefer to concentrate on other highlights of the trip.

For instance, we had a true sense that it was always the work of God that was being done here. Despite the controversial nature of some of the issues before us, God was always present and we could all feel the love of God while we were doing the work of the church. When things got heated, we stopped to sing a hymn or pray together, often joining hands to remind ourselves of the real reason for being here.

It really is amazing that so many people with such diverse perspectives can live together for over a week and manage to still love God, each other, and the church after such an experience.

The worship services were awesome, especially the opening worship on Sunday with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America. The exhibit hall was fun too, and full of resources and goodies like a jump rope for Anna. Donna is coming home with lots of new ideas!

We appreciate the opportunity to represent our church and presbytery by being here. Thank you all for your love and support!

Hopefully, we’ll be home later this afternoon! Don’t forget that Vacation Bible School starts Sunday, and we will see you all there!

Donna, Claire, and Anna