Closing out the 7 Year Celebration

Today was the third day of our 7 Year Celebration Feastravaganza*

For the third day in a row, we gathered as a family - albeit a 2,000 member family - and ate. And heard stories from our past. And ate. And laughed. And ate. We also had our share of freebies from the IHOP coffee shop in between more eating and laughing. Jackson did a video cast from the parking lot.

A highlight for me was Derek Loux's Acronym Song, preceded by Derek's dead-on imitation of Dave Sliker introducing it. Following the song, Dave took the microphone and announced that his public speaking career at IHOP was essentially over. That may have been an overstatement, but it's certainly going to be tough to hear Dave teach without seeing Derek's version in our heads.

All three days, Mike retold the stories of how IHOP was born, going 20+ years back to prophetic promises that are playing out with phenomenal accuracy. Hearing all this makes me feel like I'm standing chest-deep in fast moving water - some I'm walking, but some I'm being carried along by a force that started far back in history.

Once again, tonight, the chairs ended up stacked as the band rocked and the people danced. Unfortunately, Kelsey suffered a full blown dance injury. Someone came running to me and said "Kelsey fell!" I found her crumpled near the steps of the stage, holding her ankle. We don't think it's broken, but she's in a pretty fair amount of pain tonight Pray for her - she's a busy person and is already trying to figure out how she can drive the truck with her right ankle out of commisison.

*Feastravaganza was not part of the original name, I just like it a whole lot.