Peter, a good friend of mine from Truman, now has a LiveJournal blog. You can go to it by clicking here:

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. I apologize to anyone who has been stopping by in the last few weeks and finding nothing new. Here's a rundown of what's happened. I preached at ACC on 7-20, basically giving an overview of classical apologetics. Then Brandon and Keri Smith were visiting from Sunday to Tuesday. We had a lot of fun with them and their new baby, Eden. I spent the rest of the week getting ready for the sermon I gave on 7-27. This message was based on three chapters in the Phillip Yancey's book Reaching for the Invisible God. It was about the stages we go through as we grow in our faith. Then on the next day, Monday 7-28, at 9 am 24 high schoolers and 9 adults left from the church for Tahlequah, Oklahoma for the week-long Christ in Youth Summer Conference. It was a blast. Maybe we'll see some comments from people who went on the trip. Or if anyone emails me some good pictures from the week, I can put them up here. I've also been doing a lot of reading and posting at the Mt. Juliet Church of Christ discussion board. At any rate, I'm back and ready to start posting more regularly.

I'm preaching this sunday and next sunday, so I haven't had a chance to keep the blog fresh. If you're in the 64720 area, come on by ACC at 8, 9:30 or 11 if you want to hear.

After arriving in St. Louis on Wednesday afternoon we toured the Hudsons' lovely new house and settled in to our guest room. A big group of guys came to the Hudsons' Thursday night for Kevin's bachelor party. Friday night we watched fireworks by the river in downtown St. Charles. Kevin and Lauren's wedding was Saturday evening in Forrest Park at the World's Fair Pavillion. It was a great wedding and we got to see a bunch of our friend we haven't seen since last May. Sunday morning we went to church with Tim and Angie, and on Monday we took Emma to the zoo and to the Science Center. On Tuesday we rode the train home. It was a fun trip and we're glad to be back.

We're home from our trip. I'll be back with more information and some pictures from our stay in St. Louis.

We arrived safe, sound and 90 minutes late at the Kirkwood Amtrak station. Our friend Kevin (above left) was waiting patiently there for us. Kevin is getting married in 3 days, which is one of the reasons we?re in town. Kevin brought us to Tim and Angie?s house in St. Charles. Tim is the handsome man in the picture with two Apple computers. He?s a math teacher at Pattonville High School, and his wife, Angie, works in the administration at St. Anthony?s Hospital. They?re graciously letting us stay in the guest bedroom of their new house.

In the morning Sara, Emma and I will be boarding a train and heading to St. Louis for a week-long vacation. I've got the digital camera packed, so I'll try and post some pictures and updates from our trip while we're there. If the train ride goes well, maybe you'll want to try it. If so, you can check the rates at Amtrak.com. If the train derails and we die in a massive fire ball, you can register a complaint at Amtrak.com. Either way, we'll try and keep you posted.

Some of you may already know that I haven't always been a member of Adrian Christian Church. I grew up in a church that is somewhat different, viz., the Church of Christ. The main distinction is that the coC does not use any instruments during their worship service. This in itself is no problem as far as I'm concerned, because I don't think the Bible says we must or must not have a guitar or organ or accordian, etc. The problem comes when people in one group tell people in another group that they're all going to hell because they don't share the same opinion on a matter that the Bible leaves up in the air. I've spent a lot of time thinking about the reasons that my old church has for believing what it does and recently I've stumbled upon a coC discussion board (by a church in TN). I've found a friendly young man to discuss these things with and we've been bouncing around our ideas for almost a week now. If you want to read the discussion, here's the link: Mt. Juliet COC Discussion Board: Instruments?If you read the thread and have thoughts or even if you just have question about the issue, then post a comment back here and we can all talk about it.