GC - We're Home

I apologize for the lack of posts for the last 48 hours. We got in late Thursday evening and Friday was a whirlwind into into the early AM Saturday. There will be a series of posts to follow on varying topics but this is the summary.
Thursday was our "mostly free" day and we took advantage to take in some sights in the region after the morning sessions. We saw Haystack Rock and Multnomah Falls as the highlights (photos to follow). In between we saw incredible views of mountains, volcanoes, immense evergreen forests, the Pacific Ocean, and the Columbia River Gorge to name a few.
Friday morning included a final devotional challenge and corporate communion led by Pastor Gary Aupperle from our Bluffton church -- we look at tattoos a new way after this session. Don;t worry, Pastor Matt didn't get one :) We also had our final business meeting of the conference (look for a coming post on the business that transpired at this conference.
After the meetings we checked out of the hotel and headed to the airport. Upon arrival a logistical error caused Pastor Bud to spend about 20 minutes in a service line because it appeared that the flight we needed to San Francisco did not exist! Fortunately we did and we were on our way. The bad part was that the airline change the original flight time to 25 minutes later than originally scheduled so it made our layover/ change terminals and pass security again to change airlines time about 20 minutes. Somehow we made it (God is good!). In fact that flight was about a half hour late taking off after we boarded due to an issue with the water line. We landed in Chicago at about midnight to find that the short switchover had cause our bags to be left behind -- they have been delivered as of this writing. A special thanks to Dave and Wendy Ellis who drove up with Cris to pick us up and drive us HOME!

A little math revealed that we traveled 5250 miles and saw some incredible sights in person and from the planes.
Most of all we were honored to represent the body of California Road at this year's General Conference. We take very seriously the need to represent the body in matters pertaining to our denomination.
General Conference will be held at Bethel College in 2009 (July 14-17). The worship, devotional, and business sessions are open and I would encourage our people to attend as they can to take part. We are blessed to be a part of a denomination that is seeking after the heart of God. See you all at church tomorrow.