Jogging on Lake Shore trail, originally uploaded by papalars.

What a full and fun week in Chicago I just completed. Last weekend I was a guest at Libertyville which was fun and a little wild too. I rolled in late on Saturday night just as the rain storm was changing to snow. By the time I hit the door at Chuy and Judy Garcia’s it was a full blown storm. Chuy and Judy, by the way are good friends from our days in Mexico. Chuy was involved in our 2 church plants, was a neighbor, good friend, and someone I spent several years discipling. We drank a lot of coffee together at VIPS restaurant. That all seems so long ago.

Anyway, by Sunday morning last week there was 4-6 inches of fresh yet heavy snow on the ground. When I got to Libertyville church the electricity was out. They set up for an impromptu worship and Sunday School hour in which I taught and preached, followed by a normal service back in the sanctuary with full blown lights back on.

After a Sunday blitz at Libertyville I headed down into the city for meetings and some other activities, some with my daughter who is at North Park and then finishing off the week with my son, Kjel who was through town on his way to Europe to spend some time with my other son, Erick who is studying French in France…..good place to be studying French, right.

Yesterday, I had a wonderful visit with Scot McKnight who teaches at North Park. This is the famous Scot McKnight of Jesus Creed. He was generous with his time and very kind in his comments about an idea I have to write a book on “Worldly Holiness” the name of this blog. He liked my ideas and even said he would give me his assessment of a proposal before I try to submit it to a publisher. That was kind of fun to get his thoughts and feedback.

Today I got on a plane again and made my way up to Thief River Falls, Minnesota where I have a weekend of activity with the churches up here. Should be fun. The people here are very nice. I feel like I want to say they are all above average. I’ve already had an evening meal with several couples from church and heard some amazing stories of faith and courage in the midst of life’s challenges. This should be a great weekend. Sorry if this post is a little too much like a travel log. I wanted to give a quick update and post my Friday Foto before we jumped over to Saturday. Would appreciate your prayers this weekend as I share what God is doing among focus people and how he is teaching us of his amazing goodness.