The Rear View Mirror

This morning we were able to see some outward response to the drama, which was a real encouragement to us all. After the drama, the pastor had an invitation during which probably twenty people came forward. I think most of them were because of the drama’s emphasis on reaching the lost.

They have a deaf ministry at the church and one of the people that came forward was a deaf lady, so that was an added blessing for me to see the drama have an impact on the deaf as well.

Were going to be eating here at Pizzeria Uno for lunch. This is the original restaurant, and is just around the block from our hotel.

I made it down to Pacific Garden Mission, but wasn’t able to stay long because I had to catch a bus to Navy Pier. It was a very busy place. They are going to have an “Unshackled” recording this afternoon.

Jon and I went up into the John Hancock building and went to the observatory on the 94th floor. Here is what the view looks like facing south. You can see the Sears Tower on the right.

The Apple store is conveniently located just a couple blocks from our hotel.

We are killing some time at the mall in Aurora. This morning we were at a daycare which was recently given to the church. The kids have probably never been to church, so they knew none of the childrens church type of songs. I told the story of David and Goliath, and Jon taught them “This Little Light of Mine.”

As if the big meals every day are not enough to keep us full, people are generous when they send us way with snack food. We keep this bin between the two front seats and the minute your blood sugar tapers off you can grab something.

We went through Lincoln’s tomb. It’s a beautiful day, but because it’s winter not many people were there.

This same cemetery had a Korean War, WW II, and this is a Vietnam memorial.

I saw him come in to the auditorium last night and the resemblance was striking. I went over and told Sarah sort of jokingly that he was here, but later Jon and I were talking with him before the service and he said he taught rhetoric and public address on the graduate level at Eastern Illinois University. Finally he said to his friend, “Should I tell them what I do?” He pulled out a pamphlet from his pocket and handed it to us. It explained about his presentation that he and his wife do. You can check out his website here.

Marie is tuning her harp before the service in Centralia, IL. There were about six “bus kids” at this service and it was really great to be able eat, talk, and play games with them afterward.

The couple Jon and I stayed with last night thought my name sounded familiar, and when I told them where I was originally from, they put it together. They have gone to the Bill Rice Ranch for many years for the couples retreat. It was neat to talk about people at the Ranch we both knew. They were actually heading down to Florida today, so they weren’t able to make it to the service in the morning, so I’m glad I was able to meet them the night before.

On our way to the first church in Illinois, where we will be spending about a month, we stopped in St. Louis. We went to the arch and bought tickets to go up to the top, but had about an hour before we could go, so we spent time in the museum under ground there. The design of the museum was really neat. You entered one door and the layout was sort of like a sound wave from a speaker. There were rings that went out from the door in decade increments labeled on the curved rafters starting at about 1800 and ending at 1900. As you walked deeper into the museum you went further in time by those decade increments. I just thought it was pretty ingeniously laid out. (more…)

We stayed with a family in Frankfort, KY where some of the most expensive horse pastures in the world are. On the way to work with my host he pointed out the stables of the Sheik of Dubai.

Quebecor World Inc. is one of the largest printing corporations in the world, employing 38,000 people. The Versailles plant is one of 160 around the world, but is one of the largests at a staggering 1,300,000 square feet. To give a sense of scale, here is the outline of the plant overlayed over the university.

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We headed out today from behind the Office Annex. Mr. Russell led in prayer and we were about to close the doors when we saw Dr. Burke running up to say goodbye. We had a few hours of driving to Bryson City, NC where our service was that evening. It was a pretty drive through the mountains to get there, though.

Our first out of state presentation is in East Flatrock, NC. We were at Northside this morning. I’m going to do some of my blogging, like this post, from my phone, so it may not be 100% grammatically accurate.