i haven't posted in quite a while because since i returned from europe, it seems as if i've constantly had something going on. culminating in this past week when i experienced pretty much every emotion you can feel.
flew out to boulder with z on tuesday morning. although i knew that i'd miss him, for most of the time leading up to him leaving for college i was just excited for him to have the opportunity to move to such a beautiful place and study. that was until monday night when i saw the suitcases packed and his closet empty. suddenly the sadness hit me big time. then when i said goodbye to him in the parking lot outside his dorm on wednesday...it was an emotional drive back to the airport. on the postive side, here's a pic we took at a spot about a 10 to 15 minute drive from his dorm room. lucky.
so i've got 3 takeaways from the experience of dropping off a kid at college for anyone who has pre-college kids. 1) save your money. not just for tuition, books (a racket), room and board, but all those other miscellaneous expenses that creep up on you. even if you just sock away a little at a time, you'll be glad you did. 2) it's a lot more emotional than you think it will be. 'nuff said. 3) when you drop off your kid at college, there are NO BOUNDARIES and they can do whatever they want. don't let that be a major change for them. loosen up their boundaries as they grow older in high school - maybe even let them make some mistakes while they're at home - so that the college transition to total freedom isn't that much different.
flew back into town wednesday night and headed straight to a rehearsal for an event we held at the church - 80s night. we'll occasionally do entertainment-oriented events at church where the only goal is to provide an environment where our members can bring friends who may not want to visit church, but will come to a night of entertainment. our only goal is for them to feel welcomed and walk away thinking that church people aren't so bad after all. i get occasional pushback from people about why we would do this. why we would do songs like "money for nothing," "thriller," and "whip it" in a church. i could get into a long discussion about this here, let's just say "all things to all men." whatever we can do to win some, without compromising our integrity, that's what we'll do. anyhoo, here i am in my devo outfit.
speaking of more emotions, got a v-mail from my friend wayne schroder while i was in boulder telling me that his wife ida had gone to be with the LORD. ida had been battling cancer for 3 years. ida served with our worship team and always had a smile on her face. she was an encourager and a woman of prayer. the worship team led in worship at her memorial service last saturday and i had the honor of officiating. ida - you lived a life that demonstrated the love of Christ and kept the faith until the end. i look forward to seeing you in glory someday in the future.
