this weekend (the rest of it)

(all photos on this post are complements of jd)

this is the completion of my weekend update. a couple of post back, saturday, i mentioned some things and this is the complenetary post of that entry.

yesterday i went to church, kristin and d1 didn't make it. d1's back was giving her so much pain that she would've been in so much pain it would not be a good day. she wanted to go, mind you. kristin stayed home to assist her mother. isn't that sweet.

jd came to port city and spoke on how things have been since august 29, 2005. it was so touching and good. however, before jd got up and shared with us, and the singing, and praying, and communion, jerre gave us a great lesson from one of tony evans' books.

after services we, jd, maggy, chris, susan, hayden, bruce, and i, met at the original oyster house for lunch. as i was driving there i had a funny thought. well, it was sort of funny to me. the original oyster house on the causeway is not really the original oyster house because the original original oyster house got tore up by katrina last year. the same day that jd came to share with us about. so that thought is really not funny. them having to move is not funny. the funny part was the name. the name "the original oyster house" is a misnomer, because the original place is down the road on the right, and is of no more use. ok, enough of that. it really wasn't that funny now was it?

we finally got seated, and we got our lunch and jd has never said anything more profound. jd says, "that was worth the wait." i almost said, "amen." after eating those awesome fried crabclaws and fried shrimp and french fries and after drinking that great dr pepper, i had to run home and get d1 and kristin fed. i got them the same thing, but d1 got cole slaw instead of fries. they said about the same thing jd said. (seated l-r: maggy, yours truly, susan, hayden, chris, bruce. empty chair in bottom left is jd's. he's a better than me leaving his grouper for a "group" picture)

i blogged and surfed the rest of the day, and then headed to church and enjoyed the great song service lead by brandon, son of one of my fellow deacons. brandon has returned from iraq where he has been stationed for the past year or so. he can lead an awesome song service, brother! when i got home and told d1 that she missed the singing she is 'mad' because she didn't get to sing with brandon, and the rest of the family.

i'm getting ahead of myself here. let's go back in time an hour or so. before services were completed last night bruce spoke of the greatest commandment. one of my favorite few verses since it is such a great summarization. those verses are as follows:

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they thought up a fresh question of their own to ask him. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: "Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?"

Jesus replied, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."
-- matthew 22: 34-40

aren't those just the greatest verses! why can't we just do it? well, if we knew that then we wouldn't have the problems have now would we kenny boy.

i'm also reading this book (notice list to the right) mere christianity, and as i read the end of this chapter in the book i thought back to the devo of bruce's. i am daily amazed how God is involved in our lives and when we see it, it is just so cool! have you ever noticed this in your lives? ain't it cool? well, here is the last couple of lines in the chapter i was reading:

a Christian society is not going to arrive until most of us really want it: and we are not going to want it until we become fully Christian. i may repeat 'do as you would be done by' till i am black in the face, but i cannot really carry it out till i love my neighbour as myself: and i cannot learn to love my neighbour as myself till i learn to love God: and i cannot learn to love God except by learning to obey Him.

such simple things to read, but terribly hard to do. we all want it, but are we willing to do what is needed to get it?

all of that stuff to say, "what a great weekend," but it would've been one of the best weekends if d1's back had not gone bad on her again, but i do not blame her. i can't blame her. i love her.