By Saturday afternoon I found myself driving on the streets that I learned to drive on, passing the landmarks that I would give people to find me. I would like to say that it was really cool to be on my old stomping grounds but to be quite honest it was somewhat depressing. I have some very fond memories of growing up in little Jefferson, OH. I have memories of the house I had lived in since I was two, the schools, the fairgrounds, the football field, even Dominoes Pizza. The depressing part was not thinking of how long it had been since I had experienced those things, because that just makes me older. The really depressing part was that nothing had changed, it had only gotten older. I can still take you to the spot of every major event in my childhood and it is still there just as it was then. No new development, no new stores, no new subdivisions, seemingly no new life. I am sure that there is some and in my 30 minutes around town I didn’t see it, but you get my point. Maybe the people there don’t see it; maybe my vision is different since moving to cities like Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale where change is an everyday occurrence. I am more thankful today that God allowed me to do life elsewhere. Not because life there is bad, but because life here is different (every day)

I had a late lunch with my friends Chris and Courtney and even bumped into another friend, Sharon. It was a great time of remember whens…and yes Chris you did miss out on a lot because you were whipped by your girlfriend Melanie. Anyways…we had a good time and I am proud to say that those are three more of those long term friends that I am blessed to have. I spent the rest of the evening with my cousin Mike and his girlfriend Julie. They put me up for the night and I am glad that I got a whole lot more sleep than I had the previous three nights.

Sunday morning I went and preached at the Conneaut Church of God. They have a great new 400+ seat sanctuary that I had never seen and it was really impressive. Pastor Lamb was the one who dedicated me when I was a baby and is who my dad considers being his pastor. It was truly an honor to be able to preach from his pulpit. I am excited to say that there is one new Christ follower and one recommitted Christ follower that came out of that service. I love being able to see the fruits of our labor.

After lunch with the pastor and his wife I headed back to Akron for my flight out. I was reunited with my family about 10:30pm Sunday night and I am excited to announce that they remembered me.