Welcome Friends, it’s the Sunday Night Check-In, Arkansas vacation edition! This past week Maggy and I took a break from the flow (overflow?) of ministry life and headed up to Hot Springs Village, Arkansas for a few days. We are thankful to some friends with a time-share who blessed us with the reservation to come and be refreshed. Welcome to new subscribers - glad you have joined Hope Remains and feel free to say howdy in the comments!
I was not in attendance at Forsythe Church of Christ this week but I understand that all went well. Daniel Kirkendall preached and launched our May series of lessons from the last four chapters of 1 Corinthians. His genuine spirit and studious preparation always shine through when he preaches. He and his family are a blessing to Forsythe as he serves as Associate Minister. His birthday is this coming week!
TUESDAY of last week we visited the Garvan Wooded Gardens. I didn’t take a lot of pictures there, but we enjoyed our visit. We spent most of our time on the nature trail (actually, it was longer than we anticipated and after that we were ready to sit down for a while!). But we did enjoy what we saw. Most impressive was the chapel and carillon. We had supper back in Hot Springs Village at Clampit’s Country Kitchen and enjoyed that!
WEDNESDAY we went to Lake Ouachita State Park and saw the Three Sisters monument. We enjoyed driving around some. We ate at what I believe is a fairly new hamburger place that was not great, but adequate. We laughed because we have have hit all the hot spots… Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Walmart, and Brookshires. I wish there was a travel bingo card for this! We’d be winning! We’ve also enjoyed resting and being quiet. I’ve finished another Louise Penny Chief Inspector Gamache novel. Now on to #10!
THURSDAY was a bit of a rainy day, and that was A-OK with us. It was our last full day in Hot Springs Village. And aside from a meal at El Padrino we mostly stayed inside. Later that afternoon I discovered a fine-looking Mexican restaurant about 3 blocks from us. Missed out on that! I spent a lot of time on the patio looking out into a wooded area.
FRIDAY we took a slight detour through Little Rock and had lunch with some friends on our way home. It was so enjoyable to have some time with Cecil and Patti May and Danny and Terri Dodd. Both families serve the Levy Church of Christ and have effectively done so for many years. We met at The Humble Crumb in Sherwood, which was a great experience. After lunch, we spent some time at the Country Club Flea Market! We always enjoy this place - they have great vendors, including the Backyard Bargains booth maintained by Danny Dodd! He introduced us to some of the other vendors. I ended up buying a Louise Penny book I already had (I couldn’t remember if I had that one or not!).
That was a nice way to cap off the travel part of our vacation. Back at home, I got to work in the backyard planting some additional flowers and remembering how cool it was in Arkansas … now that I’m back in humid Louisiana!
This week I look forward to preparing Sunday’s message from 1 Corinthians 13 - the love chapter! Notes will come through on the Sermons From Forsythe substack.
On the Holy Lens we will be praying through Psalm 82-89 this week. Join us! One day this week I posted the prayer for Psalm 80 and the next day Psalm 79. If anyone noticed, they were kind enough not to say anything! But each day, I hope, offered something worthwhile.
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It’s my buddy Les Ferguson Jr.’s birthday today! He had a great post this week called Still Holding Hands and Eating Mississippi Catfish.
Chris Anselmo’s post on Learning to Laugh Again was, to me, provocative and encouraging.
Kendra Bork, Birds of the Air, is a blessing.
Cork Hudson reminds us to always be Standing Watch, and includes a reflection and pictures of beautiful bluebirds.
If you read this far, thank you! I know looking at someone else’s vacation pictures is not all that thrilling, but this is my place to check in and say hello and hopefully encourage you for the week to come. Work hard, rest well, and stay connected. The world needs you.
Well you have left me in the dust. I am still working on finishing book 8. I am 2/3 the way through your book and enjoying it very much. Simon really likes your Holy Lens daily devotionals. He thought the one on Shepherd was especially good.
My biggest blessing and most surreal moment was spending Saturday night with Simon trying to deep clean the oven for me while listening to Chopin Piano concerto #1. You just can’t buy that kind of entertainment and the oven looks like new again. 😃
Those pictures are beautiful, especially the woodland gardens!