Good morning. It was a good weekend, although much of Saturday could be taken off the books.

Friday night, Sagebrush Highland had a swim party at the Highland High pool, and we had a great turnout. Games were played, prizes were given, and seven people were baptized. One gal wasn’t even planning to be baptized, and just asked to be on the spot. That was cool. I didn’t swim, but it was good to just hang with some new church people, nevertheless. I did get broken-in to van service, though. We regularly pick up about 15 women from a women’s rehabilitation home that is in the South Valley. They needed a driver Friday night, so that was my role. The women have been coming to church regularly for the last month on Sundays, and they say they just love it. Most of these women are out of prison, trying to get their lives together. It is a great outreach for the church. Kudos again goes to my kid’s church setup partner, Jim Willsie, for marrying his wife, Susan. She has directly impacted a lot of these women through her jail ministry visits for the church. She oversees that ministry and has a heart for the incarcerated.

Saturday. What do I say about Saturday. I was wasted, so I got up about 4 times in the morning, and didn’t get up officially until around 1:30. I don’t know why, but I felt physically drained.

Saturday was my brother’s birthday, so I went over to his house for a little party around 6. He is a great brother, and I hope he can stay in New Mexico so I can see his kids grow up. There is a possibility he may have to move for work. He was 57. After his nice little party, I went by our club dance that night for a bit, but I felt blah and left around 10.

Sunday was the highlight of the weekend, though.

A friend of mine from church and our small group asked me to baptize him, and so I was privileged to do that. The morning service was full of joy as it started with Baby Dedications, and was followed by great worship, a good message, and then the baptisms. Chase’s baptism was awesome because our entire small group was up around the baptismal, sharing the visual message that the small group contributes to personal spiritual growth.

Besides Chase, two others were baptized Sunday morning, so we had 10 baptisms on the weekend- and 17 for the month of August. I am not a numbers-driven person, but that activity is a good suggestion of healthy life in our local body. And that is great.

After church and tear-down, the van crew needed another driver to take the women back to their home, so I did that.

After that and a trip to Walmart, I ended the day by going with my friend Thearith up to Monastery Lake, north of pecos, for some fishing, from about 4 until about 8. The air was clean after afternoon rains, and the lake was well stocked. As usual, I caught nothing, but neither did Thearith, because we didn’t have the right bait. It was worth the trip, though, for the time shared talking, for casting practice, and for some peaceful soul time outdoors.

And we didn’t leave empty-handed. Two guys near us gave us two fish that they had caught.