So there I stood during the worship service at Seneca E.C. Church watching a wasp hover a few feet above the pulpit, hoping that God would miraculously strike it dead or that it would just fly away. Neither happened. So as I got up to preach on Sunday morning, I warned the people that I'm a bit of a sissy when it comes to large flying bugs with stingers and that I may be moving around a bit to avoid the thing. After about 5 minutes of buzzing around the pulpit area and distracting everyone, the wasp took a couple of swoops through the first few rows and met its crushing demise between a bulletin and a window! With the distraction gone, the worship service continued, I preached, and the folks at Seneca laid hands on me and prayed for us. It was great to spend some time with Josh and Rachel Reinders who are in pastoral leadership there--they're good Midwesterners like myself!
After averting a bee sting, Sunday afternoon I headed off to Cottage Grove E.C. Church just outside of Akron, OH to spend a couple days with the folks there. Perhaps just as important as me speaking there was that they were having their 6th annual Missions Chili Cookoff! Yes, I had the special privilege of being a judge and trying all 13 kinds of chili, which, surprisingly, had no negative effects on my digestive tract! It was great to reconnect with Bob Shuey, the pastor there and a former seminary classmate of mine, as well as Robert and Bettina Schaeffer, an amazing couple whom God is using mightily to deliver people around NYC from the homosexual lifestyle. They're the ones pictured with me below.
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