Before I left on vacation, I started to work through our beliefs and practices as they relate to the Lord’s Supper. I will pick up where I left off next week. This week, I thought I would fill you in on some of my vacation reflections.

In some ways, we had three parts to our vacation. First, we celebrated with the Kemps the marriage of their son, Jesse, to Megan in Bozeman, Montana. It was a wonderful couple of days, and I had the privilege of spending time with a number of people from our church who made the trek, as well as meeting many new friends. From there, we journeyed north to a cabin in the woods. There were twelve of us for the first couple of days. Then down to nine for a few more days. Then down to seven. Then it was down to just the five Tallmans for the remainder of our time. That was part two. Part three is when I shifted into full relaxation overdrive and spent time with my wife and kids doing, well, not much. You need to understand where we were.

I am praying that we might value more and more the communion of the saints and come to recognize with increased clarity just how important that communion is for our souls.

The nearest town of about 1,000 people was a good forty-five minute drive away. All around us was the spectacular beauty of the Northwest that we don’t often experience. Around dusk every evening–about 9:00 p.m.–the elk and deer would descend on the field in the back of the house. Andria got some nice photos of a doe and her fawn about 15 feet away. Trinity chased after a deer with her new bb gun. Eden proved to be a rising star with her (don’t tell Trinity I said it was hers) bow-and-arrow. And Steve Yerburry and I snuck up on some deer so close, we got nervous they were going to come after us and turned back. We saw a bear, my girls got to drive the car, sit in the front seat, ride four-wheelers to the little store, and get ice cream everyday, not to mention daily trips to the 90 mile lake about a mile away.

Also quite interesting was the religious landscape all around us. We were surrounded for a couple of weeks by the Amish. On Sundays, they would put their best black suits on, the men would wear big black hats, and they would ride their horse-drawn carriages to worship. During the week, they rode bikes and lived in log homes without electricity. They do drive tractors, though, because, as I found out, it is for work. Ah, the loopholes. But I digress.

At this point you are probably asking two questions: What does this have to do with the communion of the saints, and why did you come back? Let me answer the first question by answering the second question. I came back because of you. I came back, excited to be back, because of the communion of saints we experience here at New Life. Some things are more beautiful than the Rocky Mountains. New Life if one of them. During my time away I was reminded of the importance of the church. I love the church. And I love our church. I am praying that we might value more and more the communion of the saints and come to recognize with increased clarity just how important that communion is for our souls. I am glad to be back.