Christmas

Christmas will soon be here. In the past several years I have had little or no enthusiasm for the season. The tree seems like more trouble than it is worth. Our kids are grown and it was more fun when they were around to enjoy it. I am going to try to work up some enthusiasm for Christmas. I think I will start with a tree decorating party. Hot Chocolate, homemade pie, Christmas music everything that sets the mood for Christmas will be there. I want to try stringing popcorn for the tree. I may also make a chain out of construction paper and a foil covered cardboard star for the top of the tree just like when I was a kid.

I am contemplating a series of sermons for Christmas. The object of the Christmas season ought to be Jesus Christ. The tree, the gifts, the songs, the fellowship ought to be centered around Jesus Christ the Lord. It is a time to rejoice and celebrate God's gift of His Son.

We hope to have a visit from our children at Christmas. I am going to make a big pot of chili, homemade fruit cake and rolls for Christmas day. Family being together and enjoying each other's company is my favorite part of Christmas. It is my hope that our family can be together at Christmas and play games together and enjoy good eating and good singing. I have in the past told my children not to buy me presents but to come and see me instead. The best things in life are not things. We celebrated Christmas early with my son and his family in Paris, France. Just being with them for the week was a joy.

This will be a busy week. I am to get a hair cut before I preach at the nursing home in the morning. I need to go to the post office and to the store. "From the Pastor" for next Sunday will be composed tomorrow afternoon and my lesson for Wednesday night will be completed before I call it a day. Tuesday I will be preaching at a funeral and will be going down to Waco for services with the Faith Missionary Baptist Church. Wednesday will be spent getting ready to pick up the kids for our Mid-Week Bible School. I should also get our local Baptist association minute book to the publisher. I will finish my work for the MBA of Texas and get that emailed off this week. Janie and I will need to return to Henderson for her parents doctor's appointments. I will use my day off to work on the house there and will work on my thesis Friday before returning to Hillsboro. The picture is of Christmas 2005. We celebrated Christmas at a motel in Kingsville, Texas that year. God bless you.

Town Dog

A dog that lives in town and is fed by everyone in town is usually fat from over eating. After lunch today I feel like a town dog. There was way more food than our family could eat. We had lunch today at my in-law's house and there were 18 present. It was a good time. I road in an old Ford pickup over to my wife's uncles house. I visited with him and installed a new clock for him. After a good visit I walked back to my in-laws house and about 1/10 of a mile from their house I met a group out for a walk on their way to meet me. We walked a while and then returned to the house. It is a beautiful day.

The picture is of us talking to Jason and Angie over in France. We enjoyed seeing them and they enjoyed seeing us. He took his computer to the kid's room and showed them sleeping in their beds. Everyone was excited about being able to talk to them. We will be back in Hillsboro on Saturday and then back to normal. God bless you.

Thanksgiving Memories

This season of the year brings back many fond memories. I remember that my mother use to set out snacks and finger foods like celery and cream cheese for us to eat while we waited for the turkey to cook. We would watch the Macy's parade and snack. When it was time for the main eating event I would try my best to eat down to the bone the turkey leg. In my younger years I was never able to finish it. Every memory of Thanksgiving is sweet to me. I like to cook and I like to eat so Thanksgiving is a perfect holiday to me. There is much for which I am thankful. I am thankful that Jesus Christ saved my soul and that He called me to preach His word. I am thankful for my wife and for our children and grandchildren. Have a happy Thanksgiving. God bless you.

1937

In 1937 the German zeppelin Hindenburg burst into flames at Lakehurst, N.J., killing 35 of the 97 passengers and crew on board and one of the ground crew. There was an explosion at the New London school (the same school our children attended) in march of that year killing over 300 students and teachers. That same year the main part of our house in Henderson was built. It was a three room house and a family of six lived in it. There was no indoor plumbing in those days when the Pierson family lived there. In 1946 they added two more rooms onto the south end of the house and a bathroom on the north end. We bought the place in 1976 and remodeled the bathroom and the kitchen. In 1994 we enclosed the front porch which added a walk in closet and a small office space to the house. In 2001 we added 3 rooms upstairs and one downstairs to the house. Today the porch has been restored and my oldest Brother and I stripped all the Sheetrock out of the old bathroom and now have it ready to be completely overhauled. It was dirty work but the end result will be worth it. The expensive part will be the kitchen cabinets. I was in the process of building the cabinets when I left Henderson 6 years ago. I now have incentive to get back on them again. I will build them in Hillsboro and bring them to Henderson for installation. This will take a while for I will not allow it to interfere with my pastoral duties.
Next week we will begin to run the bus on Wednesday nights again and I am so looking forward to that. The kids have expressed their eagerness to come and I feel like the teachers are also refreshed and eager to help these children have a relationship with Jesus Christ. In 1937 Dr. A. J. Kirkland left Walnut Street Missionary Baptist Church after being their pastor for 6 and 1/2 years. In those years 678 people joined the church. Perhaps the Lord will again bless His church with such growth as we reach out to our community with His Gospel message.
Tomorrow I plan to work with my brother on the house and then return to Hillsboro for a very special thanksgiving service on Wednesday. God bless you.

Piddle

To piddle is to waste time. My daughter use to have a teacher that would send a note home with her stating "Stacie sure had the piddles today." The teacher thought that Stacie was wasting time and not getting her work done. Focus and planning are the keys to combating the piddles. Stay focused on executing the plan and you won't piddle. Yesterday I had the piddles. I would pause a lot and think about what to do next and how to do it. This seemed like piddling to me. It is worth the time spent planning ones next move. Janie wanted to move the piano from the porch into the house so we planned a way to move it up a 6 inch step into the house without hurting ourselves. With a square ended shovel and a couple of 2X4's we moved it with very little effort. I actually got a lot done yesterday even with the piddles. I got the front door moved and it works better than it ever has. With my mother's help we insulated the front wall of the living room. I burned a bunch of trash and removed the old awning above where the old front door had been. I am ready to remove the walls that enclose the front porch and hope to get that done this morning and then head over to Bro. Davis' house to pour water on his hands (2 Kings 3:11). The picture is of the house in Henderson as of yesterday. It shows that I have removed the front door and one of the windows. I will try to post the after picture showing the porch walls removed. God bless you.

And They're Off

Janie has just left with her parents in tow to spend a very long day in Tyler, Texas. They have multiple doctor appointments today including a three hour wait for a shot to take effect before a bone scan test. They did not sleep much last night and I expect they may doze in the waiting room. I am off to run some errands and work on the house. Not sure what I will get done today but will do what I can. Tomorrow is Thesis day and a visit with Bro. Davis to pick up a package that their church has prepared for Jason and Angie in France. Jason is in Denver, Co. today to get his driver's license. He returns to France on Sunday. We sent a lap top computer to my sister's house for Jason to pick up and hopefully it made it there safely.

Sunday I will be preaching from the 103rd Psalm. It was the text I used for my first sermon after being licensed to preach. Thanksgiving will be the theme of the message. Sunday is the sixth anniversary of my first day as pastor of Walnut Street Missionary Baptist Church. It has been truly a blessing to pastor such a wonderful group of people.

We got the newly covered seat on the bus and it looks good. We took out two more seats and carried them down to Waco to be recovered. That makes three seats waiting to be recovered and another 17 to go. I took a picture with my cell phone but I do not have with me the blue tooth device to get the picture off my phone so will post a picture later on. I am looking forward to next week and Thanksgiving with family. Well They're off and so am I. The picture is of my father-in-law and my granddaughter Lilia. God bless you.

The Night is Coming

The old song says "work for the night is coming." There is a limit to what one can do in a single day. I am going to try to accomplish as much as possible this day. I need to print out the minutes of our local baptist association meeting and get that to the print shop so they can get the minute books ready for me. I need to put the new seat back into the bus, that new seat looks great. I will take a picture and post it here later. I need to take 2 more seats out of the bus and get them delivered for recovering. I need to finish my part of the minutes of our state baptist association and get those mailed off to be published. I need to put the finishing touches on tonight's sermon and will get that done first of all. Then the night will come and what remains will carry over until tomorrow.

The plummber came by yesterday and fixed our stopped up sink. I did all that I could do to fix it myself but to no avail. He had it fixed in about 30 minutes. A little know how and the right tools go a long way. Monday we had a flat tire and had to have it fixed. There was a nail in it. We donated blood yesterday and that went very well. I am still amazed that I can lose a pint of blood in 10 minutes and feel no differently than before.

Janie will have a busy day tomorrow with her parents and doctor visits and again on Friday when her dad has another Chemo therapy treatment. I plan to work on our house and on my thesis while she is taking care of her parents. The picture is of my mother sitting in her yard. She turned 84 on Monday this week and is doing great. God bless you.

The Remembrance of Christ

I preached at the nursing home this morning to a crowd of about 50. I used as a text Paul's account of the Lord's Supper. The purpose of the Supper is for us to remember the Body and Blood of Christ. I went over the life of Christ and all that He had done from the time of His birth until His return into Heaven. I reminded them of the Blood of Christ. It was shed when He was but an infant 8 days old. I covered many of the references to the blood of Christ in the scriptures concluding with the fact that the saints in Heaven have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of Jesus Christ the Lamb. I simply took them through the scriptures and there was joy on their faces. I believe that the best homilies are those that are all about Jesus and devoid of any opinion or comment by man. "Tell me the Story of Jesus. Write on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious, sweetest that ever was heard!"

We will be attending the Ladies Thanksgiving Dinner tonight at our church. Janie is in the kitchen preparing the food she is taking while I blog a bit. I am going down to Waco tomorrow afternoon to donate blood. I use to fear it but now it is no big deal. I need to call and see if the Faith church in Hewitt want to meet this Tuesday night. I am going to take a bus seat down to one of the ladies in that church. She has recovered one seat and is ready for another. I also have a check in my pocket for her and I need to get that delivered. Next week is Thanksgiving and we plan to spend the day with Janie's parents. My mother will be at my younger brother's house for Thanksgiving as will my older brother from California. I am preparing a sermon for next Sunday on a Thanksgiving theme. I have not settled on a text yet but will before Wednesday. Janie will be doing a one act skit for the ladies tonight and It is a good one. The picture is of her preparing for the skit. God bless you.

Goofing off

To goof off is to be doing something when you are suppose to be doing something else. When you have a job to do and you are suppose to be doing it but you choose to do something else instead you are said to be goofing off. Usually the thing you have chosen to do is more fun than the job at hand. Thus the word goofing is used to indicate that the thing you are doing is more fun than the thing you are suppose to be doing. I am goofing off. I am sitting on a stage with about 300 people in front of me as I am writing this blog. There is a break in the action while a report is being read. I have no notes to take at this time which is why I am on this stage before all these people. I do enjoy blogging. The meeting has gone very well. We had a good lunch break and got to eat with my daughter and Son-in-law. Excuse me I have to take some notes now. Ok I am back. I love my new son-in-law. He has such a friendly and humorous personality, I just enjoy being around him. I miss my other daughter and son-in-law, he had to work and could not come to the meeting. The picture is of me and the other clerk of the MBA of Texas. We sit at a table and take the minutes of the meeting. The meeting ends tonight around 10:00 pm. Janie will be taking her parents to the doctors in Tyler tomorrow while I get some work done on our house here. We plan to work on the house again on Friday and will be back in Hillsboro on Saturday. God bless you.

MBA of TEXAS

We are at the Messenger meeting of the Missionary Baptist Association of Texas. The TBI alumni banquet was very good. The food was great and the program was outstanding. It is the 60th anniversary of Texas Baptist Institute. It has rained all day today. We got Jason's booth set up and have given away about 40 measuring spoons with the France mission logo on them. Janie attended the Ladies meeting while I attend the mens meeting this morning. I had to work on a small problem with the Data Base program we use for the church directory. I found the problem and got it fixed. There was a small problem even this afternoon but it is fixed now. We are to eat supper with my niece and her family tonight before the evening session. Here are some pictures I have taken so far of the meeting. One is of me and Mike at the booth. The other is of the ladies meeting where you might be able to see Janie sitting in the lower right hand corner of the picture. God bless you.

Song

I have a song stuck in my head. It got stuck there yesterday. I thought that a little sleep would cause it to go away but the first thing that came to my mind this morning was that song. "Escuchen al pepino, oigan su voz fuerte, como un leon...." My mind sings it in spanish and causes it to burst forth from my mouth. It is called "The dance of the Cucumber." Search for it on YouTube if you want it stuck in your head. I have another song stuck in my head and it will be there for the next three years. It is the Song of Songs. I do not know how the tune goes but I may make up one as a finishing touch to my Thesis. I am thinking about making a paraphrase poem of the Song of Songs and then putting it too music. Could you imagine the Song of Songs done as a Rap?

Someone out there, would you explain to me the analogy of Song of Songs 8:11-12. Email me your pithy comments at paulclark@baptistville.org and they will be considered. It would seem that her vineyard is her companionship and that Solomon should give her something precious in return for it. I don't know, I am still working on it.

I got up early again this morning to get some work done. I will work on my prospectus this morning and hope to get another thousand words or so done. Plan to work a little on our house here this afternoon trying to get it liveable for my brother and his wife. We want to attend the Syrup Festival in Henderson Saturday morning, I want to get some cans of real Ribon Cane syrup to give to friends over in Hillsboro. The picture is of our choir at Walnut Street a few years ago. God bless you.

Up and Adam

God walked in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day. The coolest time of an average day is early morning. Adam had to be up early the morning the Lord confronted him about his sin. Early morning is my favorite time of day. It is, as it was with Adam, a time for prayer. It is, as with Adam, a time for confession. It is, as with Adam, a time to recieve forgiveness. It is, as with Adam, a time to earn your living by the sweat of your face.

With a firm grip on the day its off to work. Study the Sunday School lesson for this Sunday right after breakfast. Blog, as with all things, for the glory of God. Help my brother, for a brother was born for adversity. Honor my parents this day for this is a work that God would have me to do. Help someone I have never met before just because it is the right thing to do. Give to my spouse "due benevolence" for God has commanded it and I love her so. These things please God and because He has, as with Adam, redeemed me from sin and death, I have risen early and will do these very things for Him this day.

The picture is of Janie washing dishes in France. One of the many things about Janie that I admire is her heart for service. She is constantly serving others. God bless you.

Africa

We arrived back home safe and sound about 10:00 last night to discover that the election was over and Obama had won. It is good to know that the Lord is in control of all things including the direction of our nation. I am completely optimistic about the future and am anxious to watch it unfold.

Whenever I travel by plane I wonder who will be sitting next to me. I knew that the flight to France would be long and I hoped that I would sit next to someone who might need to hear the Gospel. I thought that the odds were favorable that the person who would land in the seat next to me would not have a relationship with Jesus Christ and that I would have a chance to talk to them about Jesus. On our first flight a man from Nairobi, Africa named John sat next to me for just a few minutes before moving to another seat. The plane was not full and he moved to have more room. He was a business man on his way to Sweden for a meeting and then he was headed back to his home in Nairobi. I asked what his name was and he said "John" and when I said my name was Paul he replied "Two Apostles." Between his name and his knowing the Apostles I figured he was a Christian. Our next flight was also not full and their was no one sitting next to me except of course my sweet wife, Janie. On our return flight Janie sat next to a nurse from New Mexico who had been on vacation in Europe. On our flight to Dallas I sat between to men. The man to my left was a black man from Texas who put his earphones on immediately and slept most of the way and wore his earphones the whole way. The man to my right saw my Bible right off and began to tell me his story. He was returning from a mission trip to Africa. He was a member of Lake Fork Baptist Church near Lake Fork, Texas. He said that they had over 2000 professions of Faith while they were there. I told him about our church and our mission work in France. He spent his flying time reading a book about a missionary in Africa while I read the Song of Songs. It seems that everyone I sat with had some connection to Africa. I return to the news that our country has elected a President with an African connection. I am not sure what is going on with this African connection and our trip to France but at the least I will begin to pray for Africa and God's mission works there. I brought home from France a package that an African Missionary who is in the States right now wanted Jason to send to him. I will be putting that in the mail today.

I got up early this morning to get started on my day. There are several things I must get done today. I will work on my sermon for tonight and do some visitation. I have been working on a text in First Corinthians chapter five, which I will be teaching Sunday night. I will try to put the finishing touches on that today as well. We will be going over to Henderson on Thursday so Janie can see to her parents needs and I will work on our house there. Friday morning I will try to get some more done on my thesis before returning to Hillsboro Friday evening. The picture is of Jason and his kids out in front of a super store named "CORA." It is about 4 times the size of Wal-Mart and has just about every thing you could want. God bless you.

Worship from afar

We spent our Sunday here in France Worshiping God. We started with a morning worship with praising, praying, and preaching. We went to the Louvre and saw many paintings of Bible stories. The picture here is of the wedding in Canaan. It is on the wall opposite of the Mona Lisa. The crowd were all oooing over Mona while I was in awe of the wedding in Canaan. We went back to the apartment and tuned into the services at Walnut Street. We could see several people there and enjoyed Bro. Davis' sermon very much. We sang every song with the good people of Walnut Street, including the invitation. We were in a far away place but worship was just a sweet.

Today is Lilia's birthday and I expect we will celebrate it with great joy today. The weather is beautiful today and we will most likely take the kids to a park and let them play. We head home in the morning and though we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay here it will be good to be home. I will include a few more of our pictures with this blog post. God bless you.

We enjoyed our Saturday in France. Went shopping and bought Angie a food processor for her birthday which was back in September. We waited for a bus to go to a mall that is several miles away and it never came. Angie asked a lady who was waiting for the same bus if something was wrong with the bus schedule. I, again, was impressed that Angie was able to engage in an extended conversation in French with this woman. Afterward Angie said that there was one word which she said that she did not understand. I did not understand any of them so she has come a long way. We walked to the store near by which is called Cora it is like a Wal-Mart only about 5 times bigger. We bought sandwiches from the sandwich shop just next door for lunch and for supper we had pork tacos and they were very good. Angie is a really good cook.

We have slept really well for being in a foreign land. The kids wake us every morning and we come down for a good breakfast to start our day. Tomorrow will be church day. I am looking forward to experiencing the services at Walnut Street from Jason's point of view.