Friday Evening, June 26

I looked back on some of my pictures and saw that I had Dave and Debbie Ketelsen in the corner of a larger picture and so I just worked in through iphoto and got at least somewhat of a picture to show you.  They are a beautiful couple in the Peachtree City Church south of Atlanta.

On Wednesay I rode from Madison, north of Nashville, to Knoxville to be with Ed and Cheryl Komerowski.  I've known Ed and Cheryl since they came to Potomac from Ohio when I was ministerial there.  Before moving to Knoxville a year and a half ago they pastored the church in Vienna, VA where I pastored from '87 - '91 and they did a marvelous job there.  Ed is working hard at the Knoxville First Church to build relationships with the members and to show them that he really loves them and wants to help them grow.  That does take time when you first come.  I attended their evening VBS program and I can easily see that he is achieving his goal.  Financial challenges are a big part of his early work there, but he has a strong business head and I know God is going to use him to do a great work there.  I was reminded of how important it is for the church to allow their pastor to use his God given gifts to lead a local congregation.  Too often churches are not willing to do that.  God is blessing in Knoxville and it was good to be with my friends again.

I left Knoxville early on Thursday morning to meet David and Vicki O'Guin in Tellico Plains so that we could ride through the Cherohala Parkway, Deals Gap and the Tail of the Dragon, the Great Smokey Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I'll put up some of those pics tomorrow.  I'm in Virginia with our kids and grandkids tonight (Friday) and I'm looking forward to Skyping with the Napa Church tomorrow.  As of tonight I have covered 5,853 miles and I'm going to do an oil change on Sunday with a little help from my friends!  Look for the pretty pictures tomorrow folks!