We went to Webers Farm today as part of their Johnny Appleseed Festival. We had a great time and came away with some cool family memories!

Today was Caleb’s first day riding the bus. He couldn’t wait. To him this was like getting to ride a roller coaster by himself.

He’s enjoying this stage. Kristy and I don’t want him to grow up.

Kristy wants to create a scrapbook of him holding the name of the grade he’s in on each of his first days. In Kindergarten this is fun… I’ll be interested how he reacts in the 9th grade.

At the bus stop! The little girls on the left were enamored with Ainsley. I understand, she’s a cute kid.

Cman was pumped. He almost forgot to give his mommy a hug… almost.
A new chapter in my little man’s life has begun.

I came across this site called “Birds Eye Tourist” which is basically a blog collecting interesting images from satellite images via Google Earth and Microsoft’s Live Search.

After seeing a few sites from my hometown of Baltimore, MD I decided to take a look for some key places of my childhood. I’ll post two.

The first is the church building where I was lead to the Lord. 2nd and 4th Baptist Church. It’s located on the corner of Orleans and N. Luzerne in Baltimore, MD. In the heart of the city. I came to Christ because a guy I called “Mr. Don” got in touch with a bunch of us kids running the streets and started a Sunday School class of hoodlums. I was the first in my family to receive Christ because of Mr. Don’s efforts and now I’m a Pastor… pretty cool.

The church owned a row house across the street that they used for classrooms and Mr. Don’s new class of street kids got the basement. In a basement classroom for nearly 5 years is where I received the bulk of my ‘intro to Christianity’. We had a table, some donuts and the bible. Pretty complicated discipleship.

The last bit of show and tell is of the place of residence I remember most in Baltimore. Most of my developing memories came from this place. My mom showed me a receipt a while back of rent she paid here… $60/month. We lived in government housing (projects) for a number of years into my middle school life. During this time my mom got her G.E.D. and a 2 year business degree. I credit her for being the springboard to everything I’ve been blessed to enjoy.

(back yard)

(front of house. Middle section, 3rd entry from left)

As you may see from this picture, the windows and doors are all boarded up. I drove through the neighborhood a few weeks ago and it looks like the city is trying to get the residents out so they can level the place. See below.

Our place was right across from the school (left of this pic) so it looks like they started leveling with that section. We had the tree in the yard so the circle above is accurate. If you look closely you can still see the road under the grass.

It’s cool to look back at where we’ve come from so that we can see God’s hand in our lives. Too often we live with a horizontal vision that doesn’t take into consideration the past or future. All we tend to do is react to what’s in front of us today. As I see what God has done in my own life I am forever grateful for his continued blessing on my life. I know that he’s already been able to use my past experiences up until today but I’m certain he’ll use this past to further his Kingdom in new ways in years to come.