From the Senior Pastor. . .

Last week, early Monday morning, my son Philip and I drove north to Martinsburg, West Virginia. There, in the parking lot of a Long John Silver’s on Queen Street, we met my niece, Holly. She had left her home around eleven, bringing with her my in-laws, the Jacksons

After a few quick hugs — it was terribly cold — we transferred Grandpa and Grandma J’s luggage to our car, kissed Holly goodbye, and set out in different directions. Within less than five hours Holly called to say she was home. Shortly afterward, we stopped for the night in Christianburg, Virginia.

The next morning we were up by six and on the road by a quarter after seven.

Somewhere between the Tri-cities and I-40 we passed by a van. A very pretty blond was waving at me, holding up a piece of paper on which she had written her phone number, and signaling for me to call her.

It was another niece, Alice. She, her husband Mark and their family were returning to St Louis after spending the holidays in Asheville with Linda’s sister Carol and her husband, Joel. Because of the rock slide on I-40, they "just happened" to be on I-81 at just the right moment for our paths to cross.

So at the next exit we pulled off, and had a quick, fifteen minute family reunion. My in-laws got to hug a few great-grandchildren they hadn’t expected to see.

By a little after twelve we were eating lunch at Philip and Sarah’s in Cleveland. Within another hour I was back home, and our guests for the next month were getting settled in. After being with us for January, they will be spending February in Asheville at Carol and Joel’s.

At least, that’s our idea. The writer of Proverbs reminds us that while we make our plans, it is God who directs our steps. I’ve thought about that a great deal lately because one of our purposes in bringing Linda’s parents south was to get them out of the cold. Well that hasn’t worked. But at least, while for us it is terribly cold, we’re still a good ten to fifteen degrees warmer than northeast Pennsylvania.

Outside of this one quick trip, I’ve spent my two weeks — in between the few bowl games I cared to watch — reading, thinking, praying and preparing for the next few weeks. By God’s grace, my intention is to return to Luke’s Gospel, and move at such a pace as to arrive at the resurrection account in Luke 24 on Easter Sunday.

I’ll be preparing to make a trip to Uganda, to speak at the Africa Bible University in Kampala, the week of March 7^th.

I'll be going with Frank May and Ernie Brown, who will be ministering in several other places throughout the city. We’ll need to raise about $2000 to cover our expenses for this trip.

And speaking of money . . . I’ll write more about this next week, but I want to amend my announcement this past Sunday morning, by telling you that as of Monday (January 4), giving to the general fund for 2009 has EXCEEDED budget by almost $47,000.

I am too stunned to add more at this moment. But, as I’ve said, next week, I’ll focus more precisely upon this wonderful demonstration of God’s blessing being poured out generously upon CPC. To God be the glory for the great things He hath (and has) done.

Pastor Caines