Holy Conferencing Batman!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Hey, how are you?  Well I have a couple of things here today.  First, I threw my back out last week mowing the grass.  Yes, stupid, silly, and a real pain.  I was using a push mower on a bank of small pine trees when the mower kinda went down the hill faster than I expected and I grabbed it with my left hand, but my feet were set for a right hand grab.  Make any sense to you?  All I know is that I felt my shoulders and back twist.  The next day I was in some serious pain so I began popping ibuprofen and resting.  Then I had to go to Annual Conference.  It was bearable although it definitely affected my demeanor.  I was praying a lot about it too.  And that is why I am sharing this incident with  you.  Whenever you are attacked by an illness or injury or financial crisis or a hostile work environment etc, treat the symptoms, i.e.:  take medicine, see doctor; and pray, quote Scripture continually.  Hang in there, keep the Faith, and do the best you can at loving others.  Remember, this too shall pass.

The other thing I wanted to mention was Annual Conference at Grove City College this past weekend.  It was pretty good.  I am excited about our new Bishop Cynthia Moore Koi-Koi.  She wears her heart on her sleeve, as do I, and she favors longer appointments, is very spiritual, has a good sense of humor, and is brief.  Brief is nice especially when you can make your point and not belabor it.  I like her focus on (my words) being Christ centered, led by the Spirit, and true to yourself.  My children were there too since they are pastors too.  We played double deck four handed pinochle a couple of times late at night.  We are theologically diverse, we debate (hotly at times), and we listen and love each other.  Yes, we agree to disagree and then we focus on doing ministry that we can agree on.  It is not so hard to do.  We are family just like the church is family.  So Annual Conference was nice.  There is hope.  Always hope with Jesus Christ. 

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Bruce

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