Back in my hometown

Been visiting my family in the Chicago area since Friday. Temps are about the inside of my refrigerator and the 'Windy City' has been just that!

It's been good for me to reconnect with my siblings. I have two younger brothers and a sister here along with their families. Seems like all us brothers have gone thru some pretty serious health challenges the past several years. Weird that so much of our conversation revolves around medical procedures and doctors and medicines. It wasn't too long ago that we thought, "That's all older folks seem to talk about!" Now we're the ones talking!

Today, my brother Mike and I drove into downtown Chicago, visited the Chicago Historical Society and had lunch at Grumps near Lincoln Park.

As we drove past the areas I lived and worked and partied in from '68-'71 before hitch hiking out to Southern California and giving my heart to Jesus, I was just so amazed at God's hand and purpose directing me back then. We drove past Moody Bible Institute and I thought of the two students there that helped me get out to the West Coast in Oct. of '71 to find the Jesus People.

I remembered many of the crazy things I did and was so thankful for the mercy of God in seeing me thru my blindness and rebellion. Nearly 40 years have passed and a whole other life has been lived. A really wonderful blessed life I might add. Though I always missed my family here in the mid west, God was gracious in giving me an additional family in California full of fathers, mothers, sister, and brothers - a hundredfold for sure!

Let's be sure to take some time this week to give thanks for all the Lord has seen us thru! And let's expect Him to continue to do great and mighty things - that we can't even imagine!

In His Arm's,

Pat