God Arranges Perfect Easter Weekend

Jessica on top of Enchanted Rock, looking as pretty as ever.

Sometimes, God puts the right touch on things.

Easter Weekend was a mixture of beautiful weather, great times with friends, and much needed rain. Saturday for the Acker family was marked by a trip to Enchanted Rock with friends of ours. The weather was clear and beautiful, and though the weather was warm for an April afternoon, the shade over the picnic table provided the perfect setting for lunch with our friends.

We hiked up the side of the mountain, frantically trying to keep up with kids who do not have the same trouble with gravity we do, enjoyed the view, explored the cave and took pictures. Down we hiked to a picnic snack before doing some shopping in Fredericksburg. The Fredericksburg Bakery and Fountain still hand-dips Blue Bell Ice Cream, a much welcome treat on such a warm day. Following our adventure in Fredericksburg, we returned to Brownwood, only to find that it had rained two inches. Hallelujah! Much needed rain to get our grass growing again.

Eagles sculpted from a tree on the
courthouse square in Fredericksburg.

Sunday saw beautiful services at Grace Pointe while precious rain fell outside. The really cool part about the rain is it seemed to fall at just the right times... no Easter Egg hunts were cancelled, no sunrise services rained out, Saturday afternoon activities went unhindered. Yet the rain came, falling at just the right times to give us the much needed moisture while not interrupting our much needed family time.

If God's way of mixing beautiful weather with much needed and well-timed rain doesn't illustrate Romans 8:28, then I don't know what does. How was your Easter weekend?

It's Only This Much Dangerous

We had 11 in morning services and collected $245 in offerings. Our big family was out with illness and one member had to work.

Members of the mission are diligently looking for land and facilities, but we are taking a slow, deliberate approach to finding a permanent location.

After services yesterday, my family and I went to the Enchanted Rock State Park, located between Llano and Fredericksburg on Texas Highway 16. The Enchanted Rock is a massive granite dome that formed as magma flowed up into the earth's crust sometime after creation, and was later exposed after the flood waters receded and washed away the soil. It's a .6 mile hike from the base of the rock to the summit, and the view is breathtaking.

On the way back down, we lost the trail, and wound up following several smaller paths. One ended at a pile of boulders (the boulders had fallen from the dome over a span of several centuries). It was a 20-30 foot downward climb, so I refused to attempt the climb. So we backtracked and found a shorter climb down, 10-15 feet. I initially refused this one as well, but Jessica took a closer look, determined that all five of us could do this climb, and, holding her hands about shoulder length apart, proclaimed "It's only this much dangerous." Now, how do you argue with that logic! We climbed down and made it safely.

As we returned to the van, we were graced by the presence of a herd of deer. They evidently thought that we would feed them. Good times.