Bday

We went to the birthday party of the pastor of Hopewell baptist Church of Corsicanan, Texas. He is 90 years old and still pastoring. Janie took this picture of us with my cell phone. He told me that it does not matter if he preaches to a handful or to a hundred he works equally hard perparing his sermons. God bless him, he is a great man of God. The envelope I have in my hands contains the local association minute books. I saved on postage by hand delivering as many as I can. I have three sets of books left to deliver and will mail those off on Monday.

I made some progress on the jigsaw puzzle today as you can see from the picture below. I am saving the hardest part for last.

They have another bus seat ready for us and I plan to pick that up and have it installed before Wednesday night. We will not run the bus February 11th due to Janie and I being gone on vacation. We may try to take a couple of seats out so they can be worked on while we are gone. I will be singing in the morning right before I preach. I invite you to listen in to our broadcast at http://www.khbrhillsboro.com/ services start at 11:00 central time. We will be having our regular services Sunday night even with the Super Bowl on TV. Most of those who attend our evening services don't care anything about the Super Bowl, myself included, so our attendance should be the same as usual. God bless you.

House Work

Yesterday was my mother-in-law's birthday. The picture is of her reading the birthday card that my father-in-law got her. The picture below is of her opening a birthday present next to my their new HD flat screen TV. I spent the day paying taxes and getting the car inspected and helping my brothers work on the house. We got a lot done yesterday. My brother Ralph got a lot of sheet rock mud work done. I installed the light and switch in the bathroom, the shower enclosure, and the drain pipe for the washing machine. Steve hung sheet rock in the living room. Mother burned leaves and has the yard looking good. We had lunch with mother and talked about hiking together. It looks like the three of us are going to hike together out in California. We are planning to drive out and hike the PCT for 5 days. Janie and I are going to take a vacation in February. I was telling my brothers about it and how we plan to see the Alamo, which I have never seen. Mother spoke up and said she had seen the Alamo to which Ralph responded "Was that before or after the battle?" It is no wonder he is not in her will.

The vacation in February will be a chance for me to take Janie to some places she likes to go. We will go to a mall in San Marcos and shop which she will enjoy. We will then see the Alamo and then head west to see "The Cave with no name." After that we will drive to Carlsbad and see the caverns there. All of these plans are contengent upon the LORD being willing. Our desire is that His will be done. I am going to go for a walk now and try to get in 3 or 4 miles. God bless you.

Wind Shield Wipers

I just paid $50.00 for a set of windshield wipers for our car. I love the mileage but when you have to buy the windshield wipers from the dealer there is just something wrong about that. We are at my in-laws house tonight. Janie will take her dad for his treatment tomorrow while I go and pay our property taxes and check on my brothers and their progress on the house remodeling. We are going to plan a hike together somewhere here in Texas. I am looking forward to that. My brothers are planing to hike together on the PCT in California. I hope they can work it all out. I may even try to drive out there and join them for a couple of days.

We mailed off our income tax return today which tells you that we are getting a refund. I am not so patriotic as to file my return early when I owe taxes. The picture is of our church bus. the seat that is being recovered right now is number 10 and that means we are half way. This picture sure shows the difference between old and new. The duct tape was a good idea and has been very durable. The duct tape might have lasted for a couple of years. The new seats are far more comfortable. We have not fastened down the last seat we put in. We will do that Saturday before we head over to Corsicana for a birthday party there. Well I had better turn this laptop over to my wife so she can fill those internet orders and make a little money. God bless you.

Ice

21.2 was the temperature when I got up this morning. It was sleeting when I went to bed and ice covered just about everything outside. It has warmed up this afternoon to 43. I will not run the bus this evening but we will have our regular worship service tonight at 7:00. I got my walking in today and finished my Bible reading. The sermon for Sunday is all typed up and ready to go. I will be covering 2 Corinthians chapter 2 tonight. We got our 1099's in the mail today so I can finish my taxes tonight and get that in the mail tomorrow.

I was reading the Song of Solomon today and I am thinking about trying to memorize the entire book in the King James Version. It will difficult but I think it would be good exercise for my mind. I am planning to have my prospectus ready by the end of February and it looks like I am going to make it. I talked to my son in France this afternoon. He is planning to stay up and watch the Super Bowl which will start after midnight in Paris. I am going to go now and work on our tax return. God bless you.

Winter

It has been cold here today. A few days back we had a high of 84 and today our high was 34. It is 29 right now. There is suppose to be some freezing rain and sleet tonight. I may not want to run the bus tomorrow night if there is a chance that the streets may be icy. I will make that decision in the morning. I have spent much of my day on the phone talking to my older brother, my mother, three of my grand children, my two daughters and others. I did get my Bible readings done and walked for a couple of hours today. I made a pepperoni pizza from scratch for supper tonight and it was good. We were suppose to donate blood today but I did not want to drive 40 miles one way in this weather. We will try again next week. Our car needs new wind shield wiper blades and we found out today you can only get them from a dealer. We will pick up some when we go through Tyler next.

The picture above is of Janie in her office at home. She works filling Internet orders for Sullivansupply.com and enjoys her work. It is a part time job and gives her a little spending money. This other picture is of our left over pizza. God bless you.

Nabal

I was just reading about a man in the Bible whose name was Nabal. The name means "fool." His name suited him for he certainly acted like a fool. His wife was the opposite, she was very wise. King David had refused to take vengence on Saul who was trying to kill him but was more than ready to take vengence on Nabal who refused to pay him for services rendered. Nabal's wife was right when she told David in effect that vengence belongs to the Lord.

Janie is working on her ladies Bible study lesson and I have been working on taxes (pictured). It looks like we will be getting a refund. I am always anxious to get my taxes figured so I know how to budget our money. I prefer to over pay than under pay. I am ahead of schedule on my Bible readings. I need to be finished with 1st Kings chapter 6 by the last day of this month and I should make that with no problem at all. God bless you.

Driving

Good services today with a lot of visitors. I missed talking to my son on the Internet today. We had 2 of our church members taken to the hospital today. One here in Hillsboro and the other in Waco so we spent our afternoon at 2 different hospitals. The picture is of me driving to Waco this afternoon. I should be smiling in this picture because my car got 53 miles per gallon on this trip. I must have had a lot on my mind. We got home in time to get to our evening services. My wife and I will be helping in the worship services at the nursing home in the morning. I plan to work on my taxes tomorrow afternoon. I hope to have them finished and ready to mail by Tuesday morning. I am looking forward to attending a birthday party on Saturday. It will be the 90th birthday of a man who has been preaching and pastoring for over 70 years. He is still pastoring a church. I hope that I will still be able to pastor when I am 90. God bless you.

Ladies

It has been another good day. We went down to Gatesville, Texas for the district ladies auxiliary meeting and had good services and food. This picture was taken at that meeting. The first order of business upon returning home was to type up my sermon for Sunday. I then reviewed the Sunday School lesson and took a three mile walk. I got my Bible readings done for the day and you can still check on my progress near the bottom of the right hand column of this blog. Tomorrow's services will be special for our new junior choir will be singing for the first time.

I am thinking about taking a three day vacation in February. I would like to get away from our busy world and spend some time alone with my wife. Her birthday is in February and I plan to take her out to eat and maybe take in a movie. I have not made the kind of progress I had wanted to on my prospectus. I have only about 2000 words of the 5000 that are required. The amount of words is obviously not the goal for it would be nothing for a preacher to put down 5000 words in a very short time. The prospectus is really a mini thesis. It must contain the gist of the subject and how it will be approached. It must also contain the bibliography which must site 80 sources. I have about 47 sources right now and am still looking.

This picture is of a common site in Hill County. We followed this tractor to our church building this morning where we met the ladies that were going to ride with us to the meeting. God bless you.

Miles and Miles

This picture is of Janie and the family of the lady whose funeral I officiated today. We drove to north Dallas this morning and after the funeral we went out to eat with the family. We really enjoyed our visit with them. After we returned to Hillsboro we took a short nap and I went and got the oil changed in the car. We went over to the church and took out another bus seat and then drove down to Waco to deliver it and pick up the one that was finished. Put in a lot of miles today. I am going to go for a walk now and put in three more miles then put together a few more pieces of the puzzle and head for bed. We will be driving over 150 miles tomorrow to attend the district ladies auxiliary meeting. God bless you.

Others

Today was about others. I suppose that is the way all days ought to be. I got a lot done for others today but little for myself. Things I do for myself would include filling out my income tax return, reading the Bible, putting together my jigsaw puzzle, walking, working on my doctoral thesis, playing a round a golf, and planning for a hiking trip. I did walk about 30 minutes today but have not read my Bible readings. I wanted to blog before I head for bed so I am sacrificing some sleep time to record how my day went. The picture is of my mother working in the yard at my house in Henderson. She has really worked hard to clean the yard up for my brother. While she was laboring in the yard we installed the sink and the water closet in the bathroom. My brother and I also hung 2 sheets of Sheetrock and went to the store and bought 6 more sheets. That should be all the Sheetrock we will have to buy. I feel best when I have done for others rather than for myself. I know of many who live their lives only for themselves and that seems such a horrible waste of the precious time God has given us here on this earth. When we do for others we are doing for the LORD. "If ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." God bless you.

Taxing

I have begun to work on my taxes. As a minister I am considered by the IRS as self employed. I have to keep all the receipts that are tax deductible and a whole host of other items like mileage on my car and any other travel expenses. As you can see from this picture it takes up our whole dinning room table. I will try to have it all sorted out and added up before Janie's Bible Study on Tuesday. I am at my father-in-law's house right now and will help with a few things around here while Janie is gone with her dad for his chemo therapy treatment. I am going to meet my brother Steve at the house and get some plumbing work done there before heading back to Hillsboro this evening. I plan to take my daily one hour walk and catch up on my Bible reading all before noon. We had 33 kids on the bus last night and over 40 kids in all for our mid-week Bible school. I plan to preach from the same text at the funeral tomorrow as I did three years ago at Betty Sauls' husband's funeral. I am waiting to receive the obituary from the funeral home and then I will have everything ready to go. We had a great time with the Faith church in Hewitt Tuesday night. One of the ladies was absent and we missed her. They are such a loving and friendly group that it is a joy to be around them. God bless you.

Ed

Ed Sauls' wife Betty died yesterday. Ed Sauls served on the pulpit committee that called me to come to Walnut Street Baptist Church. Ed died three years ago and I preached his funeral. I will be preaching his wife's funeral Friday. Ed is short for my middle name Edward. The Old Testament Hebrew word "Ed" means "witness." There was an altar named "Ed" in the Old Testament which was built as a witness that the Lord God of Israel was their God. There was a pile of stones in the old testament which served as a "Ed" to a covenant. God's children, saved by His grace, are to serve as witnesses before men of the reality of the one true and living God. This is done when we live by faith. We trust in God and obey His every command.

The picture is of the bus seat we picked up Tuesday night. It is in the trunk of our car. We fold the back seat down and it fits nicely. I am going to name the bus "Ed." It is a witness to those who see it coming down the street on Wednesday night that Walnut Street Missionary Baptist Church loves lost souls and children in particular.

We will head over to Henderson tonight and return to Hillsboro tomorrow night so we can be in Dallas for the funeral Friday morning. I do tech support for a company here in Hillsboro and had to go there this morning and work out a printer problem. I came up with a suitable work around for the problem but am a little frustrated that I could not find the solution to the real problem. There is now a new computer cable in place that serves as an "Ed" to my inability to figure out the real problem. Look around you today and count how many "Ed's" you have in your world. Consider what they tell about you and your world. God bless you.

Sins Will Find You Out

It was a good day today. We had no part in the services at the nursing home today so we just sat in the back and enjoyed the services. Had a good visit with the folks there and with one of our shut-ins. Did not get my oil changed today they are still waiting on the oil to arrive. I will check back tomorrow. We will be having Bible study with the Faith church in Hewitt tomorrow night. We will exchange bus seats again and this seat will put us half way through the re-upholstering process. The puzzle (pictured) is coming along slowly. I worked on it a little bit on Sunday afternoon and not at all today. Janie is at the ladies auxiliary meeting this evening. So I will try to get some work done on the sermon for next Sunday while she is gone. I have included here a picture of us talking to our son in France yesterday.

I have made good progress on my Bible reading. I read the place where Moses warned the tribes of Israel that their sins would find them out. I believe this to be true even today. You can not sin and get away with it. It will one day be brought to light. When I am in the public eye I am cautious about my behavior and my speech. We should be careful how we behave in public. The way we behave in private should also be guarded. A man named Achan hid the treasure he stole from the city of Jericho. No one knew of his sin and he thought he would get away with it. He did not. It caused the loss of his own life and the lives of his children and the men who fell in battle at Ai. Private, unseen sin is just as bad as public sin. Sin is sin. We should always remember that our sins will find us out. God bless you.

This Little Light of Mine

This picture was taken today of some of the kids of our church practicing "This Little Light of Mine." We had good services today and an interesting service at the nursing home this afternoon. We had only 4 people to show up for the nursing home service. Only one of them sang along with the songs. The piano was incredibly out of tune. It would seem to most that such a service is a waste of time. But the one person who sang along seemed to really enjoy singing and God's word never returns unto Him void. All things considered time spent praising and worshiping God is always time well spent.

We visited via the Internet with our son in France. They are doing well and may be coming back to the states this summer depending on the status of their visa. Tomorrow we will visit the nursing home and I will try to get the oil changed in our car. I want to get the sermon ready for Sunday morning and Sunday night. I have the lesson ready for Wednesday and my part of the church bulletin is finished. We will be going to Henderson again on Thursday and will be back in Hillsboro on Friday. Saturday will be taken up by the District Ladies Auxiliary meeting in Gatesville, Texas. It is going to be another busy week. God bless you.

Cabelas

I was given a Cabelas gift card for Christmas and we went there today to shop. We arrived at lunch time and ate there. It was fun looking around and I picked up a few things. Janie drove us there while I got some work done with my laptop. The picture is one I took with my cell phone of Janie filling up the car with diesel. It was a beautiful day the temperature reached 72 this afternoon.

I made some progress on the jigsaw puzzle today. At this rate I should have it finished by Valentine's day. The other picture is of a fish in the aquarium at Cabelas. God bless you.

Read

This picture of my father-in-law is one I took with my cell phone at the hospital today. I took him to get some blood tests, CT scan, and bone scan done. We left the house about 7:45 this morning and got back about 1:30 or so this afternoon. As you can see I got him a cup of coffee to drink while he was waiting for the bone scan. Just after this picture he asked me to throw the cup away the coffee was just too strong. We had lunch at the Dairy Queen afterward and he seemed glad to get back to his chair at the house. Janie is with her mother at the eye doctor. I call this tag teaming. She takes one while I take the other. I thought I would blog before getting to work on my thesis.

While waiting at the hospital I got my cell phone out and hooked up to the Internet and read 14 chapters of the book of Deuteronomy. I forgot to get my Bible when we left the house so I had to find some way to catch up on my reading. I read the place where God instructed them to talk about His commandments when they went for a walk or when they were sitting in their homes. Janie and I do this a lot. She is reading through the Bible and also studies for her weekly ladies Bible study. With it on our minds every day we find a lot about which to talk. In the same text God instructed them to teach His word to their children. I am so proud of my children and their spouses. They all have a love for God's Holy Word and they all read it religiously. I invite those of you who have not read the entire Bible to do so this year.

I am not sure what we will do this evening. We may return to Hillsboro tonight or we may wait until the morning. It will be whatever Janie wants to do. I am planning another hike. I want to take my grandson and possibly my son-in-law on a trail in south east Texas. Probably do this during spring break. Yesterday I saw a wild pig crossing the road about 1/10 of mile from our house in Henderson. She had at least 10 little ones with her. It was quite a site. On our way to Henderson Wednesday night we saw the most incredible Moon rising we had ever seen. The picture here does not do it justice. It was very large and red as it broke over the horizon. God bless you.

Well House

The well house has a new door. The old door was rotten and needed to be replaced. The new one looks good and seals a lot better. It is suppose to be real cold tonight so I turned the water off and drained the water lines in the house. The new door should keep the well pump safe from freezing. I had a good visit with my mother this afternoon. She was burning leaves and seemed to be enjoying herself. She fixed hot tea and served some of her ice box fruitcake with it. I got some of the plumbing work done and need help with the rest of it so will try to connect with my brother the next time we are in Henderson.

The picture is one I took the other day at my daughter's place in Elkhart, Texas. Her turkey was showing out for us. I plan to work on my thesis tomorrow. God bless you.

Last End

This picture is of the flower bed at the front of our house in Hillsboro. The green you see in it are the flowers my mother set out while we were visiting at the nursing home. It takes about 15 minutes on average to compose a blog post and yesterday I did not have even 15 minutes to spare. We got the bus seat installed and we had 40 kids on the bus last night. We are in Henderson this morning and I plan to go and work with my brother Steve on the house.

I was reading in the book of Numbers yesterday and something that the prophet Balaam said caught my eye. He said "Let me die the death of the righteous, let my LAST END be like his." The words LAST END refered to his death. Death is our last end. We have a life full of endings. We end each day and each week and each year. We even end decades and centuries. We end school and jobs. But the last end is the most profound of them all. Balaam wanted the death of the righteous not because there is no pain in their death for Jesus was the most righteous of all and his death was full of pain and sorrow. He wanted the death of the righteous because of the place were the righteous go after they die. It is a paradise of no more pain, sorrow, death, or tears. You become righteous when you go to Jesus Christ in prayer and ask Him to forgive you of your sins and to have mercy on your soul and to save you from your sinful state. The apostle Paul said "Whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be saved." I have believed in Jesus Christ that He is my savior and I will die the death of the righteous and my last end will be like His. I pray that you too have such a relationship with Jesus Christ and that you know Him as your savior. God bless you.

Free Fish

I am working on a jigsaw puzzle (pictured) which was given to me for Christmas. It was a free gift as are all true gifts. I got a hair cut today and it was free, it was a gift. I read in the book of Numbers today about the Israelites being tired of the Manna. They said "We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely..." They had all the fish they could eat in Egypt. Fish was free and readily available. They had taken fish for granted it was so free. Now that they were in the desert there were no fish. A couple of points struck me from this remark by the Israelites. First Job said "Naked came I from my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job was right we enter the world with nothing and everything we have until the day of our death is a gracious gift from God. He has provided us every meal we have ever eaten. The clothes we wear are a gift from God. True gifts are always free. All our food including the fish in Egypt is given freely by God. The next thing is our failure to be thankful for common things. When they were in bondage they cried unto the Lord with their minds completely focused on the negative aspects of their life in Egypt. When they were in the wilderness they did not remember the bondage just the positive things like free fish and onions. In hard times we should count our blessings. In good times we should do the same. We like to remember the good times in our lives and long to return to the good old days. Wisdom dictates that we remember every aspect of our life and thank God for the good times and the tough times. We ought to say as did Job "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

The other picture is of our Bible study with the Faith M. B. Church down in the Waco area. We had a good time of Bible study and fellowship tonight. Tomorrow I will be at the church all morning getting another bus seat installed and the lesson ready for tomorrow night. My mother made it home this morning without any problem and we sure enjoyed her visit. God bless you.

Nursing Home

The pictures are of me preaching at the nursing home today. My mother stayed at our house this morning while Janie and I were at the nursing home. Mother set out the flowers for us while we were gone. The flower bed looks realy nice. We had a big turn out for the service this morning. When we got back home Janie went to exercise and I took mother with me and we went to wash her car. After lunch we started a jigsaw puzzle and spent most of the afternoon working together on it. I had to run some address labels for our state association which caused me to have to run to town twice. I got them done and then we took mother out to eat. We came home and watched a movie and mother has now gone to bed. The weather was great today making it into the 60's. I hope it will be good tomorrow for I will be under the bus removing the next seat. I plan to preach about the burial of Jesus Sunday from John chapter 19. Looking forward to meeting with Faith MBC Tuesday night and picking up the kids on the bus Wednesday. God bless you.

Mother

My mother made it to church on time this morning. She drove 3 hours to get here and we had a good visit with her this afternoon and again this evening. She has gone to bed and we are still up. I did my Bible readings and did a little walking as well. I will complete this blog post and then head for bed myself. It has been a good day. We had a few visitors in our services today and several of our regular attenders were absent. Our new music director started today and did a fine job. I worked with the church treasurer this afternoon filling out tax forms. He was glad to get that all done. Next year will be much easier with only one 1099 form to fill out instead of W-3 and W-2 and 941 quarterly reports.

I will be preaching at the nursing home tomorrow morning and will spend the afternoon visiting with my mother. She brought us some flowers to set out in the front flower bed. It is suppose to be sunny tomorrow so we will try to get them set out. Tuesday morning she will return home and I will spend the day at the office working on the sermon for Sunday and the lesson for Wednesday night. If it is still good weather we will take another seat out of the bus and hopefully get that delivered and another finished seat installed on Wednesday. We are almost halfway done with the bus seats. One of the deacons is going to do some checking to see if we can get a good deal on having the bus painted. It would be nice if we could get that done. The picture of my mother is one I took this afternoon with my cell phone. God bless you.

I found this picture among some I had gotten from my father. I think it was taken the last time he was in New England. It is a picture of three of my aunts. Left to right they are Mary, Jeanette (dad's sister-in-law), and Muriel.

We talked to Jason, Lilia, and Caleb today. Caleb asked the Lord to save him and He did. That is so exciting to Janie and me to know our children are saved and that their children are also getting saved.

It was a cold and windy day today. The temperature was not that low but the wind made if feel like it was below freezing. We went to a funeral this afternoon and stood out in the cold wind with a fairly large crowd of people. My in-law's got a new flat screen HD tv today. My father-in-law spends a lot of time watcing tv and it is good for him to have a nice one. My mother called and is coming over to Hillsboro in the morning to visit with us for a couple of days. We are excited to have her come for a visit. I think it is great that she feels confident enough to make that nearly 3 hour trip by herself. She will attend services with us tomorrow and stay until Tuesday morning.

A few weeks ago I took a long walk out where my in-laws live and this is a picture of the road on which they live. The grand kids with Janie in tow were headed down the road to meet me. Out front is Joshua pushing his baby brother Jonathan.

God bless you.

Thesis Day

I worked on the prospectus for my thesis today and made significant progress. While Janie spent the day with her parents in Tyler I worked on my thesis and went over to visit with Bro. Davis. The picture is one I took today in his office. The little boy is the child they baby during the day. We had a good visit and did not get a lot done. He had 3 more things ready to go on his web page so I will try to get those uploaded as soon as possible. Tomorrow we will attend a funeral and get ready for the services Sunday. We may have time to take another bus seat down to Waco and if so we will. God bless you.

Shining Light

The picture is of Janie and our daughter Sarah in the back yard of my daughters home in Elkhart, Texas. The structure in the back ground is going to be a chicken Coop. Sarah likes raising chickens. She gets about 5 or 6 eggs a day. She has turned out to be a really good cook. I am so proud of her and her husband.

I was reading in the book of Exodus this morning how that Moses' face shined when he came down from the mountain after speaking with God. The people were all afraid to get near him because of his shining face. When he covered his face with a vail they were fine with being close to him. His face still shined, it was just out of sight. It is odd that you can cover up that of which you are afraid and though it still remains the fear is gone. Alcoholic beverages and cigarettes harm the internal organs of the body. But as long as you can not see the damage there is no fear. It is when you see the xray that the fear comes. As long as you can not see the problem the fear is gone. I have high blood pressure and as long as I never check it I have no fear. It is when I check it and it is high that fear comes. Don't cover up that which causes worry and fear. Face your worries and fears and take action to correct the source. The people did not need to fear Moses they needed to be like him. They needed a dose of the glory of God. They needed a vision of God in His glory. They needed to repent of sin and humble themselves before God and seek His face. Then they would show forth His glory to the world around them.

We are at my in-laws house and supper is ready. Janie and I took a walk in the moonlight and it was very enjoyable. She sure looks good by the light of the moon. God bless you.

Oil

I went to have the oil changed in my car and they were out of the oil that I needed. They will order it and I can go back next week. I went to put diesel fuel in the church bus and could not find the fuel card. I finally did find it in the glove compartment on the bus and filled it up. We had 37 kids tonight at church and they were very well behaved. We had 2 teachers out but had enough workers to get everything covered.

I was on the phone quite a bit today so when I was on the land line at the church I took out my cell phone and snapped my picture. Tomorrow is my day off and I plan to go over to Henderson and get a few things done there. I will work on my thesis Friday morning and spend the afternoon with Dr. Harold Davis. If all goes well we will be home on Saturday.

Reading in the book of Exodus today I noticed that the Egyptians were ready to let the Israelites go when all their first born were dead. They exclaimed "we be all dead men." They did not insist on the Israelites leaving when it was a matter of discomfort. But when their lives were threatened they were ready to obey God's command. It seems like human nature is the same today. We are willing to put up with pain brought on by our sin but when it threatens our lives we are ready to obey. I should have been eating right and exercising all along but now that I am closer to the end of my life than the beginning I am ready to be obedient and take care of myself. God bless you.

Pizza Pizza

I cooked my first homemade pizza today. It came out pretty good. The recipe made an extra large pizza and there was a lot left over. At the rate we are eating it will take a month to eat the leftovers. The picture is of our Schwan's man, Lance, who came buy today. He is a great guy and very friendly. We like to here about his wife and young son, he seems so proud of them. He is very good at his job and we count him as our friend. He is a christian and loves the Lord. I am sure that is why we feel a bond with him.

I was reading in the book of Exodus this morning about the plaques of Egypt. It was interesting to note that it was not until the lice came that the Egyptian magicians said to Pharaoh "This is the finger of God." They had endured water turned to blood and frogs but because the magicians could duplicate these miracles they thought it was no big deal. When the dust turned into lice they were impressed for they could not do this great thing with their enchantments and tricks. It teaches us a valuable lesson. There are things we can do by and with our power and ability and when God does them we think "so what." God can cut down trees and destroy a whole stand of timber and so can man. But man can not clothe the grass of the fields with beautiful flowers that is the finger of God. Man can not make an eagle or a fish or any life form, that is the finger of God. I love that joke that goes like this: Scientists told God they did not need Him anymore for they could do anything that God could do. So God challenged them to a "man making" contest. The scientist replied no problem we can do that. God said yes but you must do it the way I did it using nothing but dirt. The scientist said confidently "all right" and leaned down and scooped up a handful of dirt to which God replied "No you don't, you create your own dirt." There is but one true and living God who designed and created the heavens and the earth. He tells us all about himself and about us in a set of books we call the BIBLE. It should be required reading for every human being. It has been translated into virtually every language on the earth leaving man without excuse. God bless you.

Ice

God asked Job this question "Out of whose womb came the ice?" (Job 38:29) Every other element in nature shrinks the colder it gets and becomes more dense. God made water to become less dense as is becomes Ice. Ice floats and if it were not for this fact our earth would not be habitable. It is just one of many fingerprints which God left to prove that He created with intelligence the heavens and the Earth.

Ice, it is really good in July when it is in a glass of sweet tea but when you have to drive in it in January it is not so nice. I went, in the freezing rain, to a pastor fellowship meeting (pictured) in Arlington today and had a good time. I bought a friend and fellow pastor lunch afterward and the fellowship was sweet. It was a slow ride home and I went for a 35 minute brisk walk right off. Not to fear when the weather is bad I walk inside the house one big circle from kitchen to dining room to living room back to kitchen, round and round. Tomorrow I plan to work on the sermon for Sunday and the message for Wednesday night. God bless you.

The Things We Do For Love

I read recently the Bible story of Jacob and his love for Rachael. He worked 7 years to have her for his wife and the Bible says they seemed but a few days to him because of the love he had for her. I know exactly how he felt! When you love someone, the measure of that love is seen in the things you are willing to do just because you love them. So take an inventory of the people you love. Think back on the things you have done for them in the past and you will have a true picture of how much you actually love them. Jesus is the ultimate example of love. I would lay down my life for Janie because I love her and she loves me. Jesus laid down his life for me even when I did not love Him in return. He still provides for my every need even though I often fail Him. He truly is a loving Savior and Lord.

The picture was taken today of me talking to Jason via the Internet. Skype is a wonderful tool. It allows us to see and talk to Jason and his family over in France. It has made their being so very far away bearable. You can see him there on the screen. Got my walking in today and my Bible readings, stuck to my diet and all is well. We just put on a pot of hot tea and will enjoy that while working on next Sunday's bulletin. I plan to go to Dallas tomorrow for a pastor's fellowship meeting, weather permitting, and have lunch with them. My afternoon will hopefully be spent working on next Sunday's sermon.

I will mention again that at the bottom of my blog you will find a progress of my reading through the Bible. See if you can catch up and surpass me in reading through the Bible. I am trying to read it through 3 times this year. I am being careful to concentrate when I read the Bible. I am not just reading it for the sake of finishing. I am reading it from a hiker's point of view this time and will read it from an eschatological point of view the next time through. Reading from different view points helps me to see new things in the scriptures that I may have missed. God bless you.

Still on Track

As long as a running train stays on the right track it will reach its destination. So far I have in the first three days of the year read 24 chapters in the Bible and Walked 10 miles. I am not going to weigh myself for weight loss is not my goal. My goal is to be healthy without taking meds. I have been eating small portions and very well balanced meals. Near the bottom of this blog there is a place where you can see the progress I am making in reading through the Bible. I would challenge you to keep up with or surpass me in reading through the Bible this year.

The picture is of the day after my in-law's anniversary. They had a good day in Tyler and a good report from the cancer doctor. We left their house right after this picture was taken Friday night. We went by and visited with my mother and she is doing great. She saw that I had gotten the shower out of her shed and wondered what we had gotten done at the house. I filled her in on the progress of the house how I had gotten the shower stall in and did some electrical work.

We made it back to Hillsboro and worked on the bus this morning. We have seven newly covered seats installed and one being worked on now. We plan to run the bus every Wednesday from now until spring break in March. The bus has been running very well and I expect we will reach an attendance of 60 kids by the end of January. Sunday after next we will be having a junior choir at our church. I am anxious to see them sing in our services. We went by this afternoon after dropping off the bus seat to see the property that the Faith Missionary Baptist Church have in Hewitt, Texas. They have done a lot of work on the land (pictured) and it looks great. They are very eager to get a building started and will be applying for the TMD funds.

Looking forward to good services tomorrow. We will be having a guest speaker tomorrow night. I am in prayer about the violence that is going on in Israel and Gaza. I long for the Lord to return and bring peace to this earth. God bless you.

Memories

We got up early this morning for Janie to take her parents to Tyler. I cooked breakfast for everyone but only Janie and I ate it. Janie cooked my father-in-law's breakfast and my mother-in-law had a banana and a tablespoon of peanut butter. They were in kind of a hurry to get off on time. I did my Bible reading and then took off to do some plumbing. My two brothers went fishing today and I hope they had a good time. They both love to fish. I put the shower base in and the wall enclosure for the shower. They needed an electrical outlet for the washing machine so that was my next project. I have the room ready for sheetrock and will finish installing the shower and the sink when they have the sheetrock done. I worked as a plumber for two years after I got out of High School and every time I do a plumbing job I am reminded why a gave it up. My mother was not at home today when I was there. She had taken her car to have it worked on. This afternoon I will try to finish the sermon for Sunday and then get to work on my thesis. I took a one hour walk this afternoon and have eaten right so far today. That makes 2 days in a row that I have stuck to my plans, 363 more to go.

I found some objects that brought back some memories. The pictures are of two of the things that reside in my father-in-law's back yard. The car is a 1973 Opel GT which was Janie's second car and the one she was driving when I met her. The other is some sort of old farm equipment that has been under that tree for at least 35 years. When I went to take these pictures there were four buzzards standing together in the back yard. They looked at me for about 30 seconds and then one by one they took off to await, in a near by tree, my departure. By departure I mean leaving the area not my departure to Heaven, though either would have been ok with them. We plan to head back to Hillsboro tonight and work on the School bus tomorrow. The lady has another seat done which makes 7 so far. We would like to get it and bring her another one. The sermon for Sunday is entitled "Caesar's Friend." It blessed my heart and I hope it will bless all who hear it. God bless you.

2009 Day 1

Today is my in-law's 62nd wedding anniversary. They were telling us that on the day they married it was very cold and the roads were covered with ice. The groom was late and they had to send someone to fetch him. He was sitting with his feet propped up by the fire with his father when the man they sent to get him arrived. He said the time had slipped by. Well the time has slipped by fast for the 62 years have gone like the blink of an eye. Janie went shopping yesterday and bought each of them a gift to give to one another and also a card for each to give the other. She bought them a cake and we had a little anniversary party for them just the four of us.

Tomorrow Janie will take her father for his Chemo therapy and her mother to the beauty shop. It will be a long day for them over in Tyler. I plan to work on the house and get some plumbing done tomorrow. I will try to get some work done tonight on my sermon for Sunday. My New Year is off to a good start. I have walked 2 miles and read 12 chapters in the Bible. I have eaten like I should and plan to take another walk before the Sun goes down. I repaired a water leak for my in-laws and look forward to working on my thesis tomorrow night and Saturday.

We have six newly covered seats on the bus and I got a phone call that the seventh one is ready. I would like to get one more delivered before this coming Wednesday night when we will start picking up the kids again. Well I am off for a walk, God bless you.