I worked most of the day mapping out my new series, “Religiously Transmitted Diseases.” There is a book out with the RTD title that I picked up but it went a different direction than I had in mind. I have been thinking about this series for almost a year now and now it is time to bring it on. I might write more about it later this week, but let me ask you this question? Can you name a religiously transmitted disease? I would love to hear your feedback on this one.

I finally made Jean’s famous salsa today. Alli and I killed it. Not sure how much salsa is safe to ingest but maybe some of you MD’s out there can give me some advice. Maybe I will post the recipe on my blog soon - but in the Cremeans family tradition, I would have to remove a key ingredient so yours wont taste as good. (my West Virginia roots really practice that stuff!)

My 12 year-old son blessed our family with some amazing chocolate chip cookies tonight. Not sure they mix great with the salsa. Bailey is a great cook. I made him a deal. I would do his chore of washing the dishes if he would bust out his culinary skills. The boy has mad cookie skills!

So, I go in to get me another cookie and I see Bailey putting some foil over a plate of cookies with some guy named Ryan written on them! What is up with that Bailey. They were for Ryan Geiger, our student pastor. Hope he isn’t counting on me to deliver…they will be great for breakfast. Seriously though, how cool is it that Bailey is thinking of his pastor during the week? He is practicing hospitality and he is being mentored. Ryan is pouring into his life. Ryan - there is no other person I would want pastoring my son!

One last shout out to Michelle’s Dad, Steve, and his wife Sandy. I heard through the family grapevine that they are keeping up with my blog. Glad to have some representation from Arkansas.

Just got done watching the Philadelphia Flyers pull out a barn-burner against the Washington Capitals in overtime of game seven in their seven game series. Can I just say how nervous I get in games like that! My son Drew had just come down stairs to give me a good-night hug when the Flyers scored the winning goal…I think I almost scared him to death. We did a little celebration dance and then Drew thought he would try to use my excitement as a way of getting to stay up past his bed-time…nice try Drew. Maybe if they win the Stanley Cup.

One of the cool things about blogging is that it allows me to stay connected to my family. Kate (my neice)- glad you are checking in.  I am so proud of you and I love you like crazy!

I am happy to add Greg Davis to my list of Fellowship blogs. He has joined our team in an I.T. role. He is already making an impact. He helped set up the new look to my blog and is teaching me more “techy” stuff than I can keep up with. Greg and Mary are a great addition to Fellowship. Mary will be working on our youth staff with Ryan.  I love Greg’s tag-line to his blog - “Reclaiming technology to proclaim the Gospel of Christ.”  I have been praying that God would send someone like Greg.  We had really really gone as far as our staff could go on the Information Technology front.  It is one of the needs I wrote in my journal on my trip to East Asia earlier in the year.  Two weeks later, Greg and Mary are in my office for two hours hearing the Fellowship vision.  By the way…if you don’t understand all of his posts, don’t feel bad, I am right with you…fake it till you make it!  Still negotiating with Greg on his “title”. Digital Pastor…Director of Digital Discipleship…Really Smart Computer Guy…open to suggestions. Check out Greg’s blog when you get a chance and welcome him to the best team in the Northeast!

Thanks for the many of you who have prayed for my Dad. I wanted to give you an update of how he is progressing. Both of my parents are in town as I write this. They are looking at the possibility of relocating to our area. That is something that you can pray about. I spent several hours looking at prospective places yesterday and today with them. I am thrilled that God could be bringing them home to the Northeast, especially with the recent health challenges that Dad has gone through.

Back to my Dad and his health. He is doing great. To quote my Mom, “he is doing the best he has done in over four years!” It is amazing to see his improved mobility. Come to think of it, God is amazing isn’t he? Dad continued to have joy through the difficult times but now I see that spark that was missing. He had become so tired…so fatigued with the constant physical challenges. Where there were challenges before, Dad is now seeing opportunities today. He seems to know that God isn’t finished with him yet. I love it! My Mom has been an incredible supporter and cheerleader through all of this. Her faith is so strong.

Thanks again for all of you who have prayed for Chuck and Mary Cremeans!

I just took Michelle to the airport for a “last-minute” flight to Missouri. Her Moms husband, Doc, is having some serious post surgery issues, and Michelle wanted to be there for support. She has a great relationship with her Mom (it is where she gets her love for animals)…they are very close. If you think about it today, remember Doc and Kay, and Michelle as she travels. She had a 6:00 AM flight (OUCH!). It doesn’t help that living in “goat-land” puts us further away from the airport, so I am going on about 2.5 hours of sleep today. It seems like the older I get the less I sleep…

I had some tough news yesterday. At 2:18 PM, James Evans passed away. He is with Jesus today…I am confident of that fact. I want to say a special thank you to one of our pastors, Gus Sareyka, for being there with the family at the time of James passing. Gus had called me a little after 2:00 to say that James wasn’t doing well and that the entire family was there at the hospital. I was closing up a few things to try to head to downtown Philly when Gus called back to say that James was gone.

James had reconnected with Jesus over the past year along with his girlfriend Kim. I will remember his smile and enthusiasm. He had a hard life but struck me as a guy that could find joy even in the midst of tough times. I will miss you James.

That’s right we are living the goat life at the Cremeans farm. Two Sunday’s ago our staff and elders gave Michelle her ultimate 40th birthday gift: Two baby Nubian goats. I have never seen her more excited. Part of her dream of moving out where we could have some acreage was so she could have some animals. We have dogs, cats, chickens, and ducks…now it was time to get something a little larger. These are actually dairy goats.

So here is where the story gets interesting. The initial place Michelle went to pick up her “babies” didn’t pan out so she began to put some other feelers out. Long story short, she ended up finding a family in our area that had three babies they were trying to find a home for. Apparently the “contraption” they used to milk the goats burned down (can you believe it!) so they were trying to get out of the entire “goat business.” Michelle called me at work to tell me we had hit the goat jackpot! Now we could get two momma goats, and the daddy along with the three babies! Can you feel the excitement building? This was Friday night. There was much to do. We would have to work on fencing some of our pastures and Michelle had to build the “contraption” for milking. In case you didn’t know it, I can’t build stuff. Michelle can. It’s all good. She is pretty amazing!

So we got everything ready and it was time to get the goats. Somehow I seemed to remember that they would deliver these goats but here I was in our Honda minivan driving home. The middle seats were out and my kids were holding two of the babies in the back with the two momma goats standing in my van. As I was driving I looked to my right and there was this big fat goat head staring at me from like six inches away. All I could say was … “hey goat”…kind of a surreal moment. This get’s better because a state cop pulled out behind me and I was trying to figure out what I would say if he pulled me over.

Anyway…we made it home finally. I want to say a special thanks to Kevin, Shari, Ray, and Jim for helping us get everything ready. That evening I saw Michelle get off the phone jumping up and down – she looked like she won the lottery. She had just heard from the owners and we could have their other three males for free! I didn’t know we were trying to get the other three …now we could be the proud owners of nine…that’s right, NINE goats.
I am such a city guy but God is helping me adjust. You know what? Goats were never in my dreams, but Michelle was. She is an amazing lady. Loving her like Jesus loves the church means making her dreams the priority in my life. She did that for me a long time ago and I am still learning. Here is the crazy part – I am loving being a goat owner. That is kind of how God works things I guess. Yes, they still freak me out and I don’t like it when they start biting on my jacket but it’s all good because I am living “the goat life.”

Today was my daughter Grace’s 9th birthday. She is our “baby.” I took off a half-day today and Gracie and I went to breakfast. She had the pancakes with chocolate chips…good stuff! I took her shopping after that to get her a couple of things. Mostly it was about having some special daddy time with her. Grace is mommy’s girl make no mistake about that. I’m totally good with that by the way. They have a special bond that I celebrate. I am so proud of Grace. She is a leader at age nine. Yesterday I was trying to “coach” her in a behavioral area and I suggested that someday she would probably run her own company. She started shaking her head no (not something I like when I am imparting my “wisdom”) and said, “I don’t want to run a company daddy.” Then she said with what might have been the sweetest look I have ever seen, “I want to sing in the praise team like mommy!” How sweet is that? I know, I know…she has me wrapped around her little finger. Happy Birthday Grace. Your daddy is very proud.