For the love of Fall...

Have I ever mentioned that I love this time of year? There are so many positives; the weather is cooling off, high school soccer starts, hunting seasons start up, and winter is just around the corner! I actually like all of the seasons, with summer being the least favorite. The beginning of summer is nice, but I'm not a big fan of 95º-plus temps and the associated fire season & smoke here in MT.

Speaking of smoke, we have had about 10 days of beautiful, clear, cool weather. Daytime temps have been in the 70's and low 80's, nights cool off to the upper 40's, and no smoke to speak of. There are still many fires around the state, but the cooler weather has helped slow them down quite a bit.

Our first soccer matches are this weekend. We play Missoula Big Sky on Friday and Missoula Hellgate on Saturday. Our varsity team is looking really good...we already had a strong team, and now we have a new transfer student from Seattle who will be 1st Team, All-State this year easily(maybe the best HS player in the state)as well as a new foreign exchange student from Mexico who will be a very strong defender for us. We are very excited! My head coach has been coaching HS soccer for 10-12 years now and he said that this is the strongest, deepest team that he has ever had, and he has won 2 state titles! It is also a special year for me as most of the 12 seniors this year were on my JV team the first year that I started coaching. My JV team is looking good as well. We need a little work on offense, but the defense and midfield look very solid.

Bird hunting season opens Saturday! Its time for Haddie to start earning her keep :) I think that she is very ready for it and she will do great. I need to work with her on live birds some, but her retrieving work is solid. I bought her a vest to protect her chest and belly from thorns and things and now she barrels through obstructions like it was nothing. We might get out Saturday morning but it will probably be Monday morning before we get some serious hunting time in.

Please continue to pray for us. The church in Columbus is checking our references this week and we are looking at an interview in the very near future. We are also praying about a church planting staff position in Belgrade. Both places are awesome and we would enjoy the work in either, but we really want to discern God's will and make the right choice. Also, please pray for us as we minister here. God has opened several opportunities to share with people and we would like to be able to follow up with them. I have had a chance to share the Gospel with several people at Lowe's and with our new assistant coach while we were at camp last week. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to work in their lives and bring them to the place of repentance and faith.