Kicking off the Conference... Sunday, part 1

I woke up this morning anticipating a great start to a very packed week of training in biblical counseling. I had three choices of services to attend at Faith Baptist here in Lafayette: 8:00a, 9:30a or 11:00am. I chose the 9:30 service - because I didn't want to get up too early and I thought the 11:00 service would be too late. Turns out I chose the right service. I got up and around and decided to head over to Starbucks for some liquid breakfast.
As I got out to the car, I had to go to the passenger side (because my driver's side lock doesn't work) to open it. The wind was blowing fiercely and the temp had dropped drastically from the night before. My car door was actually frozen shut due to the rain that we had also rec'd during the night. No biggie - I forced my way in on the passenger side and hit the unlock button. I went to the driver's side but could not get the door open. It was then I realized that my whole lock / door mechanism was frozen and no amount of gentle coaxing would free it. The gentle coaxing turned to frantic banging and mild anger loss. I got in the car on the passenger side deciding to just let it heat up and hopefully thaw out the door; as I got in, I knocked my middle console over which spilled about 478 pennies across the interior of my car. The mild anger loss turned to a violent bout of "Why me?!" and "Why now?!" and "How in the world am I going to get in and out of my car all week?! Since I had no tools, I actually tried to use jumper cables as pliers to pull my lock up and work my door - to no avail. (It actually thawed by time I meekly surrendered my situation and predicament to Christ and headed off to the service). Funny what God uses to show me my pride isn't it? I'm sure I can use this for a sermon illustration some day - when it becomes funny to me. lol. So I didn't have breakfast at the hotel, just a grande mocha with an extra shot of espresso and some stale 'free samples' of Starbucks coffee cake they were handing out.
I made it to FBC in time for the service. It's fun to be a pastor and be in another church and watch intently how people treat "visitors". I'm sure I'm not the most approachable guy - especially in my Seventh Day Slumber shirt (hey I was running late and didn't have time to change into anything else... get over it)The sermon was by Pastor Steve Viars - one of my fav speakers and a guy who tells it like it is. It was a continuation of their study in 1 Timothy; today being 1 Timothy 5. The sermon dealt with Generational Piety and who we were to honor in the church. The three groups he focused on today were: sinners (yeah, hang in there I'll explain it in a second), widows and elders / pastors. Sinners, he explained, needed to be 'honored' or dealt with in a biblical manner - the church today being guilty of dealing un-biblically with sinners either: shooting their own wounded or ignoring the sin altogether. The part on widows was a good reminder and the section on pastors and their pay was great! Read the verses out 1 Tim. 5 - and see how biblically your church compensates your elders.
Lunch today was nothing special - just some liverwurst and chips & cheese washed down with an RC cola. (I stopped at Meijers for groceries hoping to save some cashola). In fact, here's what I've eaten thus far today:

• Grande Mocha, w/ extra shot of espresso
• two sample coffee-cake tidbits
• one sandwich, liverwurst
• a handful of chips & cheese
• a handful - okay, two handfuls of M&M's (it's dessert...gimme a break!)
• Another mocha w/ extra shot - see below

So I found this other coffee shop and went there to read for a while before picking up all my materials for the conference. It's called Local Mountain Coffee Cafe. They had some killer coffee - all coffee is killer actually, but I enjoyed it. I sat near the door which was a mistake because of the cold. Every time someone walked in I was freezing - so I didn't stay long.After slamming the mocha and two chapters of Quest for More by Paul David Tripp, I headed over to FBC to get my stuff. I took some pics of Vision of Hope which is their newly opened resident girls home. (that's the first pic) And then two pics of their community center & skate park - which will be where I will spend the most of my time this week. (At the center, not the skate park)
Vision for Hope girl's home

Community Center and Skate Park (above two pics)

Soooo... I'm looking forward to tonight and the "official" first session which will be: Working with a Physician. I'll try to post daily from here on out, but to be honest - as the week goes on...it will be very taxing on my spiritually and mentally. I've come to learn that I have much to learn and this concentrated week has an incredible effect on my Christian walk.
Pray for me - I'm praying that God will be glorified through what ever happens this week. God bless, and keep the coffee hot - because its freezing outside!