Our fast is a unique experience to share a common sacrifice to join together in prayer. Yet I am reminded and I am thankful that our Savior sacrificed his life to give us life. God, thank you.

Live Oak family, we begin our journey tomorrow.

Well, only a week left for students, a weekend for teachers, until summer is over for all practical purposes. Summer heat will stay with us until mid-September’ish. No whining, we don’t have to deal with sub-zero winters. So, enjoy your last week students and make a friend smile. Go with the flow teachers and try not to stress too much. Remember all those happy faces looking forward to spending their days with you. Everyone, don’t forget to hit the ice-cream shop this week. And remember, every moment is an opportunity to serve God as we serve others.

Your pastor

We went on vacation last week. We headed down to South Padre Island for a few days and then hung out at the RiverWalk in San Antonio. It was nice. And, I did not do much of anything. Just walked the beach with my wife everyday thanking God that she went from serious back surgery 3 months ago to walking about 4 miles on the sand. And we ate seafood and mexican food and drank lots of iced tea and read books and talked and laughed and enjoyed family time. I also thanked God because when we talked, our conversations many times were about life with our friends, our families at Live Oak. God has blessed us. You have blessed us.

Your pastor.

Have you reflected on Mark chapter 7 since Sunday? I have. Jesus was clear, our lives and decisions are determined deep within, in our hearts. God, I pray you continue to dig deep within us and develop our hearts to long to glorify you in every way in every moment.

Just wanted to write a quick note about the book I quoted from Sunday morning about our country’s founding fathers. The book was “Our Sacred Honor” by William Bennett. Good book, good guy, makes you appreciate the risk taken and price paid for our freedom. Buy it, check it out or you can borrow mine.

Your brother,

What a great Sunday morning. Our time singing lifted me out of a busy week and into God’s presence. Then, it was fascinating and inspiring to hear the Schroeder’s share how God was using their gifts and talents to translate the Bible into unwritten languages. Then the “Growing the Roots” presentation was a marker, showing how far God has brought Live Oak in reaching out to our communities. I left encouraged and humbled and inspired and longing to share “Doing Life Together” with God and each other with my neighbors. Thank you for allowing me to be your pastor.

If you would like to keep up on the Schroeder’s, send me an email and I’ll forward it on to get you added to their mailing list. (brad.kenney@liveoakchurchfm.com).

“U-Turns”

One of our new graduates (don’t worry, I won’t mention your name Matt) came up after the service and had an interesting insight about my Fathers Day message. He said, how come you bless the mom’s and tell them how wonderful they are and appreciate all the ladies on Mothers Day; but, on Fathers Day you always give the men a challenge? Well . . . because women are not appreciated enough and men need challenge! And the men of Live Oak have been and I believe will continue to step up to the challenge. Keep up the good fight, keep influencing and guiding the next generation men. And Matt, in case I did not say it clearly, you are doing well men!

Your brother