It's a Girl

Justin and Sarah

We had a good day Sunday.  I had a dream Saturday night that a complete stranger wanted me to teach him how to ski and to go with him up the mountain and in my dream I consented and taught and showed him what he needed to know.  Sunday there were two first time visitors in our services.  These two men did not know each other and I had never met them before.  I took them both to Calvary and taught them about what happened there and what it should mean to them.  It was far better to take them there than to take them skiing. 
I have been doing some writing the past two days.  I have enjoyed it a lot.  I was typing up my sermon for this Easter Sunday and though I will not read it to the congregation I will have a record of it for future reference.  Monday we did not go to the nursing home but I did get a lot of work done.  Today has been our usual Tuesday with Bible study and services in Lorena.  We will head over to Henderson sometime on Thursday where I will check on my mother and Janie hers. 
My thesis is about to take off and I expect a lot of progress this month.  If I get as much done as I plan I will email a copy of what I have done so far to my faculty adviser at the end of May so he can look it over. 
Sarah called us today with the news that they are going to have a girl. Our world has changed a lot with technology.  It use to be that "It's a girl" would only be heard when the baby was born but not now.  We are anxious for this newest granddaughter to get here so the spoiling can begin.  God bless you.

Sale and Salt

The skit

Janie and I left this morning to attend the district ladies auxiliary meeting.  The skit the ladies at Second Avenue put on was outstanding!  The scene was set at a garage sale and the ladies did a great job playing their parts.  The pastor of the church preached a really good message about Christians being the salt of the earth.  It seemed sad to me that of the 20 people that were there only 3 were from other churches.  The meal they served was really good.  I visited at length with the pastor and I really do like him.  Every time I have heard him preach he has done a great job. 
I have been working on a new database program for the Missionary Baptist Association of Texas.  The old database program will not run on this new Mac Pro laptop.  This new program is going to be a lot better than the old one.  It is time consuming to write but will save a lot of time in the long run. 

Another Parsonage Flower

Diesel fuel has reached $3.99 a gallon here in Hillsboro.  The next trip I make to Henderson will take a lot longer than it would normally.  I am sort of like my grandfather.  When snuff reached a certain price he cold turkey quit dipping.  When fuel is $4.00 a gallon I drive to get the best mileage I can.  I once drove 45 mph in a 70 mph zone just because I went from getting 42 mpg to 60 mpg.  Those days are back.  More time on the road does not mean less time for work thanks to technology.  The laptop will earn its keep on the road. 
This Sunday I will be taking the congregation to the Cross of Calvary.  It is a place that I do not enjoy visiting but have been commanded to visit for the Lord said "This do in remembrance of Me." 
Jennie E. Hussey wrote a wonderful hymn:

King of my life, I crown Thee now,
Thine shall the glory be;
Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned brow,
Lead me to Calvary. 

Show me the tomb where Thou wast laid,
Tenderly mourned and wept;
Angels in robes of light arrayed
Guarded Thee whilst Thou slept.

Let me like Mary, through the gloom,
Come with a gift to Thee;
Show to me now the empty tomb,
Lead me to Calvary.

 May I be willing, Lord, to bear
Daily my cross for Thee;
Even Thy cup of grief to share,
Thou hast borne all for me.

Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget Thine agony;
Lest I forget Thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.

Well it is going to be a tough day tomorrow.  Reliving the scene at Calvary is emotionally draining.  God bless you.

Mac

This is my first blog typed from my new Mac laptop.  I have been way to busy to blog this week.  Even now I have just 30 minutes before my next appointment.  Monday started with a phone call that let us know that one of our neighbors had died.  He was a retired Air Force Colonel.  We went by to check on his daughter before going to the nursing home.  He was a really nice neighbor and we will miss him.

Janie at the nursing home banquet

I preached at the nursing home and after some visitation and a trip to the post office we got home to find that they had tried to deliver my laptop but we were not home.  Tuesday we had a first time visitor in our ladies Bible study.  The computer arrived that afternoon and we went down to Lorena for services there.  I preached them a sermon from Hosea chapter 14 " Seven Things God Wants to Hear From Us."  Wednesday I preached our neighbor's funeral which included a full military honors grave side service.  The Air Force Honor guard were amazing.  The gun solute, taps, and flag folding and presentation sent a chill down my spine.  Wednesday night the services were well attended and a lady stopped by asking for help with her rent but did not stay for the services.  She returned when the services were over and wanted some cash but when I would not give her cash but offered to help her with her presented problem she left noticeably mad.

Flower at the parsonage

I stayed up late Wednesday night trying to get my new laptop ready for use.  That went smoothly and it is working very well.  I have just a couple of loose ends to tie up and I will be ready to retire my other computer.  I will put it out to pasture in southern France where it will be put to good use in mission work.
Thursday night we went to a banquet put on by one of our local nursing homes.  It was a good time and the music was great. 
We got up this morning at 4:45 and headed out to Waco for a surgery there.  That surgery went well and when we got back home we worked on our taxes some more.  Janie found some more deductions for us and that saved us another $30.00 off of what we did owe.  After double checking everything we stuffed it in an envelope and it is now on its way to the IRS.
Tomorrow Janie and I will go to the district ladies auxiliary meeting.  Janie is the president of the district auxiliary.  It should be a good time of fellowship and when I get home I will put the finishing touches on the sermon for Sunday and do some work on my thesis.  God bless you.

In The Garden

Janie and Michelle cleaning the lights in the Auditorium

There was a good turn out of workers for the work day we had at the church on Saturday.  Janie and Michelle worked on cleaning the lights.  They were brave souls being willing to get up there and work so high off the ground.  They did an outstanding job. I did this job a few years ago and it was not an easy one.  I helped clean light fixtures as well but from a 10 foot step ladder.  Janie would sit down as we rolled the rig to the next set of lights then she would get back upon her feet and start taking the light fixture apart for cleaning.  They stayed at it until they got it done.

Janie took this picture of me from her perch high above the pews

After we finished this major project and while others were working on A/C's and painting a class room we went outside to help the crew that was working on the roof.  There is a rail that had to be sanded and painted so we helped them paint the rail.  It was 95 degrees and a strong wind out the south.  We started the work day at 9:00 in the morning and finished up at 5:00 that afternoon.  It was a really good day and we were tired.

Working on the lights

We had a good crowd at church both in the morning and in the evening services.  I brought a message using a different style of preaching.  My preferred method of preaching is expository but I used a narrative method today. I asked the congregation to use their imagination and I took them on a journey from the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed "Father let this cup pass from me..." all the way through his trial before the High Priest and ending with Pilot washing his hands of the blood of Jesus.  It was a very emotional time for me to go through that story as if I were there.  I plan to use the same method next Sunday as I take them to the foot of the Cross at Calvary.  
Monday I preach at the nursing home and do some visitation. I plan to mail my tax return tomorrow.  Tuesday is consumed by the Ladies Bible Study and service in Lorena.  Wednesday is sermon preparation day and other Bible study.  Thursday we attend a banquet and Friday we leave at 5:00 AM to head to Waco for a surgery there.  Going to be a busy week.  Mixed in with these activities will be my thesis work, French lessons, clean out the garage, mow the yard, and get the church bus and van inspected and registered.   No place in this weeks schedule for golf or hiking, oh well.  God bless you.

Janie, Kevin, Michelle, and Howard on the roof

A Rose in Front of the Parsonage

Irises have bloomed at the parsonage.

2 Jobs

My mother-in-law on her Facebook page

My mother-in-law had 2 jobs for me to do during our visit.  The first was to fix the sound on her computer.  It had stopped working and she did not know how to fix it.  The speaker wire had come unplugged from the back of her computer so that was an easy job to do.  The next job was a water leak.  On a couple of occasions the floor in her bathroom has been wet between the hot water heater and her dryer.  It was bone dry while we were there and no sign of the source from where the water would have come. It is hard to fix a problem that is intermittent.  It is a new hot water heater so I don't think it would be the pop off valve opening.  If the problem persist I will look into it some more. 

Janie and her mother across the table from me at lunch today

Janie took her mother to Tyler while I went to the Library to get some work done.  We met for lunch about 3:00 and then returned to my mother-in-law's house.  We are back in Hillsboro now getting ready for the work day at the church tomorrow.  There is some painting that needs to be done and hopefully we will have a good turn out and be able to make quick work of it. 

A rose beneath our window

I worked on three of Bro. Davis' sermons today.  I am getting them ready to put on his web page.  I plan to over haul the baptistville.org website and give it a whole new look.  I have a lot of content that needs to be added so I will take a day or so and focus on sprucing it up a bit.
It is going to be a long and hopefully productive day tomorrow so I better head for bed.  God bless you.

Janie checking our her rose bush

A beautiful sunset we saw through a bug splattered windshield

Ordered An Apple

A picture of my present laptop desktop

Janie and I reviewed our tax forms today and found some errors.  We corrected them and now we owe the IRS $5.00 less than we did before.  I ordered a new laptop computer today from Apple.  Yes I have decided to abandon Windows.  I had ordered a laptop from Dell but after seven weeks of waiting they canceled the order and told me nothing about it.  They told me I would have to place a new order.  I talked to five people from Dell and all were from the country of India. I admire that these persons are bi-lingual and to have learned English as a second language takes a hard working intelligent person.  They spoke English far better than I speak French.  Nevertheless they were difficult to understand and not helpful at all.  They could tell me nothing about the details as to why my order had been canceled.  I was angry with Dell and thus have taken my business else where.  When I called Apple I spoke with a salesperson who clearly had a Texas accent and she was located in Austin, Texas.  My new laptop should arrive next week.  
Tuesday I got the car inspected and got a few things done.  We had outstanding services in Lorena.  I have chosen my text for the revival services but have not typed up the sermons as yet. More progress has been made on my thesis.  I typed another half a page.  Bare in mind that to achieve that half page I type a page and a half.  I am headed for French lessons as soon as I sign off here.  God bless you.

Hannah Saved

Hannah on our recent hike at Martin Creek Lake State Park

Things went well today.  I just got off the phone with our daughter who told us some real good news.  It seems our granddaughter, Hannah, was saved today.  That makes 5 out of 11 grandkids saved so far.  It is a blessing to know that our grandchildren are being raised to know the Lord our God. 
The new modem/MIFI devise worked very well at church today allowing Jason and his family to see our services over Skype.  I gave the WEP/WPA key to the sound man so he could hook up to it with his Iphone.  It was not long ago that I had no idea what a WEP/WPA key was and now I speak of it so matter of factly.  It is a high tech world in which we live. 
I have a million things to get done this week.  There is pastor's fellowship in the Dallas area in the morning but I will not be going to it.  I feel my time is better spent with my usual Monday morning visitation to the nursing home.  I have to mail off the camp registration forms to the churches that attended last year.  I was suppose to have that done last week but just could not get to it.  I need to finalize my taxes and get them in the mail this week.  My car needs to be inspected tomorrow since it expired last Thursday.

My mother's expanded Rose Garden

I must get started on revival sermons for the revival services I will be preaching at Longview Drive Missionary Baptist Church in Henderson.  I have been given a theme and that actually helps me with choosing five texts from which to preach.  I will no doubt share these sermons with my church during the month of May.  The revival begins May 1st and goes through the 4th.  I plan to make some phone calls tomorrow to line someone out to preach in my place that Sunday morning.
These are but a few of the things I have to do this coming week. I have a meeting with the other pastors here in Hillsboro on Tuesday at noon.  I am suppose to present a mission statement.  It is a statement as to why we meet and what is our purpose for meeting.  I have composed this and will present it though I am sure it will be substantially changed.  We hope to have services at Lorena Tuesday night we miss our friends there since it has been over two weeks since we saw them last.  
We will be having a work day at our church on Saturday.  Blogging may be much limited this week.  God bless you.

Canton

A new cabinet for Janie

Janie and I went to the First Monday Trades Day at Canton, Texas today.  We had a good time and even though there was a huge crowd of people there we managed to run into some people we know.  We saw my niece there with her fiance and her two children.  We saw a lady and her daughter who we know from our state Baptist association.  It was perfect weather with the high of 87 and partly cloudy.  We bought a cabinet and a few other things.  We just can't leave without getting a cup of homemade ice cream and it was good.  The traffic was real bad and it took us a while to get out of town.
I am working on a series of sermons for the month of April.  Tomorrow will be the start of the series about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The first sermon introduces the subject and is entitled "A Hidden Truth."  In this series we will visit the house of the High Priest, the place called Calvary, and last but certainly not least, the Tomb of Jesus.    God bless you.

My Spot (maybe), Party, and Azaleas

Trying out my spot in the cemetery

Janie next to my spot in the cemetery

Janie and her mother checking out the Taylor name that was added

Site along the Azalea trail in Tyler, Texas

Retirement Party

It was a busy day today.  We went first to a retirement party at the FSA office in Henderson.  We then took Janie's mother to the cemetery to see the name they added to the headstone.  It looked real good.  There are 3 plots available in the Jones section of the cemetery.  I have been kidding with my mother-in-law about who will be buried next to Jim.  I told her I might have to fight my brother-in-laws for it.  I laid down in the spot and told her I was trying it out.   We left the cemetery and headed over to Tyler to drive the Azalea trail.  It was a very pretty though a somewhat complicated route.  It has been a good day.  God bless you.