Day 1
Jamie Bogaard • Oct 02, 2023
Day 1
This day started just like any other Monday with taking Trooper for a walk and then a run for myself. It was nice to relax on the deck after my run with a nice cool breeze. Today is getting some loose ends tied up at church. Payson was good enough to send me his preaching plan so I could get all of the live streams set while he is preaching. I am excited for him to continue the journey in Genesis. I spent some time on tech support getting all of our domain stuff switched over so we can launch our new website. Hopefully, I got everything done right and Boxcast can do what they need for our new site to launch. If you are reading this then it worked, lol. I need to get some praise sets put together and a couple of other things and then I will be done with stuff at church. Things don't feel very different yet other than not thinking about what to preach on and beginning research/study. Time to get back at it and get those things finished up.
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I'm supposed to be on a plane headed to Atlanta and then on to Tel Aviv. A trip that I have dreamed of taking for years. It was to be the highlight of my Renewal. That all changed of course when war broke out. I am grateful however that I was not there when this all happened. My tour company offered me a refund, minus a few fees and hopefully peace will return to the region and one day I will be able to go. Everything happens for a reason and God always has a plan. Sometimes that plan is very clear and other times it is harder to understand. My disappointment and inconvenience pales in comparison to the heartache and disruption of the lives of all of those in Israel. I know that God has a plan for this land and it's people and I pray that peace will return soon. I have my family and we were all able to be together in Galena, IL for the weekend. The colors were beautiful and we had a great time together. We slipped over to the Field of Dreams and I was able to have a catch with my boys. We walked out of the cornfield and ran the bases. What a treasure we have in Iowa. There were families there enjoying the same thing. I appreciate the fact that the decision was made to not commercialize this but keep it simple for families to enjoy for generations. We played a lot of golf, ate a lot of good food, played games and just enjoyed our time together. We all went to a local church together on Sunday. During the greeting time a gentleman was asking where we were from, I shared that we were all able to get together here during my Renewal. He was very excited to hear that and we had a great conversation afterward as they are working on a Sabbatical plan for their pastoral staff and I was able to share some great information with him. Through everything God is good. In his plan for me not being able to travel to the Holy Land made me available to conduct a funeral tomorrow. I guess God knew that I was needed here. He always knows best and I'm glad he leads my life.
It has been harder than I thought to disconnect from church. I find myself wanting to go over to the church and just be there. I want to go over on Wednesday nights and check in on everything. I am starting to get there and it has been good to take some trips. We had a wonderful time in Michigan seeing good friends. I spent a little over 5 years serving in Fremont, MI. Our friends have moved on to a different church so it was great to worship with them in their new church home. It was baptism morning and we got to witness baptisms in several age groups. It still brings tears to my eyes to witness this moving experience. The weather was not so cooperative as it was rainy and overcast for most of our time there. We were able to take a color tour Sunday afternoon to Traverse City. The colors were beautiful. God's creation never disappoints no matter the season. I have been journeying through the book of Acts. It is amazing to me how the Spirit would embolden the followers of Jesus to speak his truth. How amazing the transformation of Saul as a hater of Jesus to Paul as a believer and preacher of Jesus. I want to be that open to the Spirit moving in my life. I know that I feel it and at times embrace it and other times stifle it. Why is it that we are so afraid of the world? My verse of the day today was "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on you." - Isaiah 54:10. Oh what a beautiful promise from the Lord our God.