Pella - Chicago - Michigan - Chicago - Pella

Went to Michigan over the weekend, by way of Chicago. I was going to speak at a youth rally in Wayland, MI at Gunn Lake Community Church. For those of you regular readers, it was the one I mentioned a while back that was going to have the praise band ride in on Harley's. You may also remember that I promised to start taking a camera along to take pictures. Well, there were Harley's, and I did bring the camera, but I completely forgot to take any pictures. So in lieu of the pictures I promised to take, I'll be inserting some pics I got from Google image search.

For instance:













The praise band rode in on Harley motorcycles!

Something unique that happened on this trip that was a real treat for me, was that good friend, and ministry partner, Mark Elgersma came along for the ride.















Once again, this is NOT a picture of Mark Elgersma, but it is the first picture that comes up when you type the name "Mark" into the Google image searcher.

We stayed the night in Chicago on Saturday to break up the driving a bit so we wouldn't have to drive the whole way in one day and then get out of the car and speak right away. The most amazing thing about the car ride was that it rained the WHOLE STINKING WAY from the moment I got in the car in Pella, all the way to Chicago, and all the way to Michigan, and it didn't stop until I hit the Iowa border on the way home on Monday.














Once again, this is not the rain we faced, but it is rain none-the-less.

In Chicago, we stayed with Mark's old college roommate Phil, who was a great guy that took us out for some great deep dish pizza, and then on to a real live Chicago Jazz Club. We had a great time.

Then it was on to Michigan on Sunday, and the worship service. Gunn Lake Community Church was just great, and I got a chance to see a few folks I'd worked with before at various times like Cindy, Bill and Pastor Todd.















Once again, this is NOT Cindy, Bill and Todd, but it is the first - yeah, well you get the picture by now.

After the show, which went pretty well, we headed over to visit old SERVE friends Randy and Becky Bennett in Dorr, MI. We had great time talking to them, catching up, and eating some fantastic monkey bread!











Okay, that's just a great picture! And yes, that's actually Randy!

What else? Hmmm, I'm guessing with all the pics this blog has been getting a little long. So I may call it quits here. I'm speaking for Bethany Reformed Church in Des Moines coming up here in May, and I'll be reading some poetry for another Kiwanis group on the 20th. It may be a bit before I update again, but in honor of good friend Dustin coming back from Holland, I will soon be linking to a special treat I'm arranging for Dustin as a welcome home present. Stay tuned!

Till next time,
Jason