The Thomas family had a great family vacation but it's good to be home. Mad props to Jen the intern who ripped it up in my absence. The prayer tent continues to be a great adventure each week. I also had a second great adventure after the prayer tent Saturday when I found my car stone cold dead. Fortunately we have roadside assistance and I was able to get home but by 4am bed felt very, very nice. The office is roughly the temperature and humidity of a sumo wrestlers armpit this week so if you are stopping by call ahead to make sure I'm not out snuggling with the air conditioner in a coffee shop somewhere.

We will look at one of the saddest, conflicted, and confusing stories in all of scripture. There will be a lot of lose ends and unanswered questions but we will see clearly one more characteristic of the kind of people God uses and it might be the most surprising one yet.

Attention all parents of kids age 3+ and Upstream leaders/helpers! On Saturday, August 29 from 1-4 pm, you and your family are invited to Matt & Shannon Guest's house (61 Parkland Ave. in Dartmouth) for a fun (messy) day of painting, games, BBQ and just plain old hanging out. We will have various painting and other artsy-type supplies ready for the kids, as well as some fun outdoor games and maybe a kiddie-pool or two. We won't tell you exactly what's going to be happening (partly because we haven't figured it all out yet) - you'll have to come and find out! It'll be a fun surprise.

The main things to know are that it will be:

1. Fun.
2. Messy (Make sure your kids are wearing OLD CLOTHES. A great idea for a painting "smock" is an old t-shirt of yours that your little Picasso can put on over his/her own mess-able clothes.)
3. Did we mention fun?

We plan to have a BBQ with burgers/hot dogs, which involves you in two ways: First, please RSVP the number of people from your family who will be attending to Shannon at 461.1536 or shannon.feindel@hotmail.com no later than Wed. July 29. Second, if you can bring chips/salad/drinks/dessert, please let Shannon know in your email. If it rains, we will reschedule for a future date TBD.

Don't forget - it will be messy! We can't stress this enough! Old clothes are key!

We have been having a great time at the prayer tent in Grande Parade on Saturday nights. If you are interested in giving it a shot some night just let me know.

On Sunday September 6th we are going back out for another great Sunday in the sun. We will be unplugged and out doors for a worship gathering at Point Pleasant Park. We will meet at the Martello tower at the usual time (10:30am) and you can feel free to bring a chair or blanket to sit on, lunch, and a frisbee as many of us will be sticking around after to just hang out and enjoy the beauty of creation and each others company. Should weather become an issue we will send out a special edition of the Loop Saturday night and we will be at the theatre as usual. This will be a families-all-together event so feel free to bring some toys for your kids to play with during worship.

And now you're in the loop.