Susan & I arrived in Montana the week before last, on July 21st. We spent the weekend with our friends Jim and Linda Fordyce. They treated us to a walk along the Jefferson River which runs along where they live. Lewis and Clark traveled there. The following morning we went to church with them and met many of the friends they have made over the last year. Jim and Linda are really integrating into their community in Twin Bridges, MT. After church we went to the Old Town Bannack Festival. We had lunch there and enjoyed the exhibits and buildings of this historic Gold Mining town. Bannack was the original capital of MT. We also went to Sheridan, MT, where Jim and Linda are building a new home.

Great fellowship with Jim & Linda the next a.m. and then we headed up to our cabin in Fortine, MT.  This has been a great time of restoration and focus on the Lord. The cabin is amazing. It is a beautiful log cabin built perfectly, it seems. Great craftsmanship!  Very comfortable. We are taking the mornings to rest and get time with the Lord. I usually take a 45 to 50 minute walk to start the day, come back have breakfast and then get the rest of the morning in the Word and Prayer.

In my reading in I Kings 3 a verse jumped out at me. This has happened a few times in my walk with the Lord through the years. This time it was so evident that it startled me. The verse is verse 5 where God says to Solomon, " Ask for whatever you want me to give you!"  When preparing for our Sabbatical, one request that I had of the Lord was that I would hear His voice... and I asked others to pray that for me. Well, He spoke to me through this passage of Scripture and His Spirit.  Now the question is "What do I want Him to give me?" Amazing!  I shared this with Susan and asked her how she would answer that question and she said, "Physical and spiritual generations through our children." In other words that our children and grandchildren would walk with God and see physical and spiritual generations through them.

I love that answer of Susan, and I want that as well. For me, I believe that there is something else that I want the Lord to give me, but it is not clear to me and I can't articulate it yet. I believe this time of Sabbatical will be the time to discover what it is that I want the Lord to give me.

We leave MT and return to KC this week on Weds the 1st of August.
God Bless!  Dave

I celebrated the 4th by running in the Lenexa Freedom Run. I finished 4th in my age group of over 70. There were 14 runners over 70. I was happy to be able to do this because I had Hernia surgery 7 weeks ago and couldn't begin to prepare for the race until 2 weeks ago.  I'm thinking of running in another 5k this weekend that is connected to the All Star game festivities downtown KC.  We're starting to feel freed up of our ministry responsibilities. We sent out our Newsletter Tuesday morning and did our Nav Ministry Report on Tuesday evening, so that should wrap it up for now.  I'm getting time in the Word in the mornings, running and taking it easy. I will work some on our Deck and Fence in the mornings before it gets too hot outside. We will be leaving for Montana on the 21st and will be there until August 1st. We will visit Jim and Linda Fordyce for two days and then off to a cabin near Glacier Park that has been made available to us by friends of The Navigators.  Dave

Starting our Sabbatical

The official "first day" of our Sabbatical was Sunday, July 1st.  Yeah!  We had a houseful to begin our Sabbatical -- maybe not the best way to rest!  :) Our daughter Mary (from St. Louis) was here with her 3 amazing girls -- Avery, Maya & Holly.  They were on their way to Wichita to visit our daughter Michele and her family, and stopped for a day and overnight with us.  Our supervisor, Matt Martin, (from New Mexico) was here, also.  Dave had driven him to the airport on Saturday morning, but when Matt arrived at the ticket counter, the airline attendant told him that his ticket was for the next day!   :)  So we got to have him join us for time with family.  Dan & Courtney & Annique and Monique joined the rest of us for a picnic at the neighborhood pool on Saturday evening.  Yes, it was hot outside, but it felt great in the pool!

Everyone was gone by 3:00 pm on Sunday and Dave and I spent the rest of the day straightening up the house and getting a newsletter ready to mail.  We finished stamping and sealing the letters this evening (Monday the 2nd), so that job is done.  We wanted to have it finished before our Sabbatical began, but we didn't quite make it.

I, for one, am thankful that we're starting our Sabbatical.  There are so many things that I need to get caught-up on.  But I can relax and do things as I have time and energy.  It's wonderful, because I'm experiencing a deep sense of the Lord's pleasure and love.  He is very near.