Pictures

We had 40 families show up for picture taking at the church. We were not here but for about four hours. I would like to have seen all of them. I pray that all forty families will be in church this Sunday. Janie and I are waiting here at the church for the camera man to load his stuff up and depart.

The picture is of my mother and father taken a few years back. My mother had to go to the emergency room today. She got sick on the medicine that she was given for shingles. She is back home now and resting. My brother Steve is going to stay with her and keep a close eye on her. I am glad that he and my brother Ralph were there to help her. My niece, Melissa was a big help. She took mother to the hospital and afterward made her some home made chicken soup. Steve and Ralph arrived at the hospital later and took mother home. Steve and Melissa kept me informed via the cell phone while I was here at my office. I kept my sister, Jean updated via email. We are about to finish up here at the church and head home. It is almost 11:00 p.m. and I hear my bed calling me. God bless you.

Bread

We went down to Waco this afternoon to visit with a lady in a nursing home there. They have a room off of the cafeteria which can be reserved for entertaining family and friends. We were stopped at the door to the cafeteria because they were having a staff meeting. It was about over and they asked us to wait just a few minutes. Through the window we watched in disbelief as the staff of about 30 began to violently through bread rolls at each other until the floor was littered with rolls of bread (pictured above). I am not sure of the purpose for this game but we wheeled her across the bread strewn floor to the meeting room. We had a good visit with her and when we left the cafeteria was back to normal and the bread was all gone.

I made cream of wheat cornbread for supper tonight. I am allergic to corn so we make cornbread out of cream of wheat. It tastes real good and has the texture of cornbread. We had purple hull peas, chow chow, and a casserole with this, what I like to call, fake cornbread. It sure was good.

Tomorrow is picture taking day at the church. After the Ladies Bible study here at the parsonage we will head over to the church to have our picture made for the new church directory. The photographer will arrive at noon and will finish up about 9:30 tomorrow night. We will head back down to Waco tomorrow night for Bible study and then spend Wednesday getting ready for the mid week Bible School. I better head for bed, it is going to be a long day tomorrow. This picture is of our bus with all the seats finished. God bless you.

Walking

I frequently walk a circle inside the house. Yesterday as I walked for an hour and a half I passed by this lovely scene. Janie was playing the piano, going over the songs for Sunday, so I picked up the camera and snapped this picture. It is a great blessing to have a wife as good as mine. Truly the Bible is right (Proverbs 18:22) "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD."

We had a good day today, great services at church and we talked to Jason and Angie over in France, I talked to my daughter Sarah, to my brother Steve, to my mother, and to my Sister Peggy. It was a busy afternoon. After our evening services we went home and had pizza for supper then watched the movie "Enchanted." I just thought it would be nice to take an evening off and enjoy sitting and watching a movie with my sweet wife.

The week is going to be really busy. Monday finds us out on visitation at the nursing home in the morning. We plan to make a trip down to visit a lady in a nursing home in Waco after lunch. Sermon for next Sunday will begin to take shape Monday night. We have the Ladies over for the ladies Bible Study on Tuesday morning and Tuesday night we will be back in Waco for Bible Study with the Faith church. Wednesday we run the bus and Thursday I will spend with my mother and help her get a new TV while Janie spends Thursday with her parents at the doctor's offices in Tyler. Friday I will be at TBI to work on my doctoral prospectus then its back to Hillsboro where Saturday I hope to do some serious spring cleaning around the parsonage. The picture is of the people gathering at the Towne Hall nursing home here in Hillsboro for the Monday morning service. God bless you.

B-Day

My granddaughter, Hannah, had a her 4th birthday yesterday. The best part for me was when it was bedtime she was absolutely ecstatic that she now got to eat a whole vitamin tablet instead of a half. You would have thought that she had been given a million dollars by her reaction. I told Janie that when she gets her Medicare card I am going to watch and see if she is as happy as Hannah over that vitamin. At some point in life turning a year older loses its joy.

I spent the morning with Janie's uncle Trenton. I had a good visit with him. We watched a cattle auction on TV and I had a million questions. One of my questions he could not answer. If any of you who read this blog know what "PI FREE" means as related to cows please let me know. I spent the afternoon with Bro. Davis and fixed a problem he was having with his computer. He had a problem with his TV and DVD player which I could not fix. His TV is very old and I told him since his birthday is coming up in May perhaps Sister Davis would buy him a new one.

I talked to my sister, Jean, today. She had just finished shoveling 14 inches of snow off her driveway. She sent me this picture of her backyard. It will be good to see her in May. She is coming for a visit with Mother after mother's day.

I will be attending an ordination service Saturday in Corsicana then be back in Hillsboro Saturday night. I am looking forward to the sermon on Sunday. God bless you.

Rain

This picture is of my grandson on our recent hike. There was a light mist in the air and it was cool so he had his hood up for most of the hike.

It rained a little here yesterday and it sure looks like rain today. We need the rain for we are behind in annual rain fall. I do not run the bus in the rain. The kids we pick up are usually standing outside by the street looking for the bus and I don't like for them to stand out in the rain and most of them will not stand out in the rain and if I don't see them I don't stop. I also do not like to drive in the rain. It takes a great deal of concentration to drive a big bus through the narrow streets of Hillsboro. Kids are distracting enough without adding poor visibility due to rain. We make the decision to run the bus or not at 5:00 pm if it is not raining then and does not look threatening on the radar we run the bus.

I did not explain in my last blog that the picture was of my family back in the 60's. It was taken in the kitchen of our house in Ayer, Mass. If the curtain had been open you would have seen the church building that my dad built. It is still there and the church he organized is still meeting there. It was organized about 1964 making it 45 years old. Wow, how time flies.

The two largest Baptist churches in Hillsboro are both without a pastor. There sure seems to be a shortage of men surrendering to the call. I pray that God will call more men to preach and that they will answer that call. A lot of good churches are without pastors. I was in our church library yesterday and was looking over the pictures of the pastors who were at Walnut Street before me. I have been pastor of Walnut Street for over 6 years now and I will have to be here 3 times as long to surpass Bro. Paul Owens who was here for 18 years. I look forward to serving the Lord here for as long as He allows. God bless you.

The 60's

The 1960's were an eventful year for me, my parents, and siblings. We moved from Timpson, Texas to Harvard, Mass. in 1963. We moved to Ayer, Mass about 1966 where my dad built a garage, house, and a church building. Most of what I remember of that decade was the work. We tore down an Army chapel building on Fort Devens and piled it in our backyard where we spent untold hours pulling nails and stacking lumber. We moved that pile of wood to Ayer where we built the church building. Looking back on the 60's I admire my dad. He was ambitious and hard working. He set a goal and achieved it. The above picture was taken by Ted Sauceman whose son my mother baby sat. I think he was a photographer for the Army. He was stationed at Fort Devens.
We had a good day today. I preached at the nursing home and then went to a going away luncheon for the lady who coordinates the Monday morning nursing home services. We finished installing the bus seats and have it ready to go. I spent this afternoon working on lessons for the ladies Bible study. I will be teaching them each Tuesday morning for the next several weeks. We will be going over the end time events in the book of Revelation. Our services Sunday were well attended and we had good services. Tuesday night we will be going down to Waco for services there. Wednesday I plan to be in Waco for a surgery there and then over to Whitney for the family visitation connected with the funeral on Thursday. We will run the bus Wednesday night and Thursday I will preach at a funeral. Thursday night I will visit with my brother and my mother in Henderson and Friday I will spend with Bro. Davis. Saturday I plan to spend working on my prospectus. Sunday the sermon will be from the book of John if I can get it typed up by then. God bless you.

Parade

We went to see the Dogwood parade in Elkhart, Texas today. Elkhart is a small town and the parade lasted about 10 minutes. My son-in-law's church had a float (pictured) in the parade. A few minutes before the parade began an old pickup truck pulling an old flatbed trailer with an old refrigerator laying on its side went by. I told Janie the parade had started. We noticed that 75% of the vehicles in the town were pickup trucks. The last float in the parade was a truck pulling a trailer which had 2 porta potties on it (pictured). I am not sure what the significance is or what that would have to do with a celebration of spring and the blooming of the Dogwood trees but it definitely gives one something to think about.

In the first picture you can see my daughter and son-in-law standing next to the float. We had lunch with them afterward and then they took us sight seeing down the Dogwood trail. Justin drove and took us to see several houses which he and his grandfather had built. We enjoyed the parade, the lunch, the ride, and the visit with them. This last picture is of the parade after it passed by us. That is my daughter in the center of the picture. She was handing out Bible literature while her father-in-law next to her was passing out free Bibles to the crowd. Justin was on the other side of the float handing out Bibles.

I am expecting great church services tomorrow. Spring break is over and we should have a good crowd. God bless you.

Dealing with Doubt

The sermon I will preach Sunday is entitled "Dealing with Doubt." It is taken from the story of the apostle Thomas who said he would not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead unless he put his finger in the nail prints and thrust his hand into the spear wound in His side. From this story you learn four things about dealing with doubt. Listen live Sunday on http://www.khbrhillsboro.com/ at 11:00 am USA central time.



We picked up the last of the bus seats today and will install them tomorrow. It will be good to have this project behind us. There are six more weeks of Mid-week Bible school left and for those last weeks the kids will have very comfortable seats for their ride thanks to the hard work of a very hard working generous couple who live in Lorena, Texas. We are going to put together a scrap book for to give to them along with a large thank you note signed by all the kids who ride the bus.



The picture is one I took while hiking on Monday this week. We passed 2 dogwood trees on the trail and this was one of them. In this age of TV and movies we have our senses bombarded with bright flashing colors and fast paced action. I highly recommend turning the TV off and getting out to enjoy nature. The exercise and fresh air are invigorating and stopping to smell the flowers and to enjoy the sights and sounds of the great outdoors gives one a renewed appreciation for our Creator. I am thinking about returning to the Pacific Crest Trail in California to hike another section. I would like to go this year but if I can not maybe I will try again next year. I have not given up on the Idea of hiking across the Grand Canyon. If I can not make it to California this year I may try for the Canyon in the fall.

I will be at the church tomorrow installing the bus seats and getting some work done at the office. I am going to try to get the yard mowed at the parsonage and help Janie with a few things around the house. God bless you.

Typing

My mother (pictured here on our last trip over to see dad's grave) made me take typing back in 1967. No one could have known then that computers would be everywhere and that their keyboards would be the same as a typewriter. I remember protesting that typing was for girls and secretaries and not for me. She insisted and so I learned to type. I spent several hours today typing. I typed my sermon into the word processor and saved it for posterity. I am so glad now that my mother insisted on me taking typing. I remember that me and my brother Steve took typing together and we were the only boys in the class. It was an easy course and if I remember correctly I could type 35 words a minute when the course was over. I am not sure now how fast I can type but I can type way faster than I can write using pencil and paper.

I called to check on Janie's parents and found out that my father-in-law fell down today on his way into a restaurant. He was not sure how bad he was hurt but the problem seems to be his hip. He was at home resting and said he was a little afraid to look at his hip. Janie talked to her sister and it does not seem as though he has any serious injury.

Tomorrow I plan to work on the prospectus and a few other things. Janie is about to get the hang of playing Sudoku. I bought a small book of Sudoku puzzles a few years ago and only worked a few of them. Janie found the book recently and she has been enjoying it. She is getting pretty good at it. God bless you.

Hiking

It was a very busy day today. It is now late evening, almost bedtime, and I am just now blogging. I went hiking with my son-in-law and grandson. The picture is of them looking down the trail that is covered with water. A lot of the trail was covered with water. Our feet got very wet. We hiked 4 miles on Monday and 5 miles on Tuesday. We tried to keep our feet dry but one slip and your foot was soaked. After that we just waded right through the water. We had sandals to wear while our shoes dried out. They did not dry over night so in the morning we used the hand dryer in the rest room on them. We ended up having to set up camp in the dark. We used the headlights on the car to set up the 2 tents and we cooked our supper by flash lights. The hot dogs were good. We sat at the table and visited for a while before bedding down for the night. I slept in a one man pup tent while they slept in my two man home made tent. I called my wife and told her good night and drifted off to sleep fairly quickly. My down sleep bag kept me warm during the 50 degree very damp night. About 2:30 in the morning my grandson awoke and thought he heard wild hogs outside the tent. He woke his father up and asked if it was a wild pig he was hearing. Scott set his mind at ease when he explained that the noise he was hearing was not a pig at all but was his grandfather snoring. They said they did not sleep very well but I slept just fine. The whole side of my one man tent opens up and since it was too cold or too early for mosquitoes I was able to leave it open. The stars were amazing. This picture is the one I took with my cell phone right after I woke up. I was laying on my back and took this shot. We had pop tarts and milk for breakfast, took down the tents, stored our gear, dried our shoes with the hand dryer in the rest room, and then it was off to hike again. The last picture is of Joshua and Scott standing on one of the many board walks that were along the trail. All the low places were filled with water and a lot of the trail was covered with water. Again our feet got soaking wet but all in all we had a good time. First thing we did when we got back to the car was to remove our socks and shoes, dry our feet and put on sandals. At one point we let Joshua take a short cut while we took the long trail. We were to meet up at the intersection but he was stopped short by about 50 feet due to the trail being under water. We got to him and convinced him to just wade through it and with the assurance that there would not be any snakes in the water he marched right through. Upon arriving home we ate lunch and sat in a circle in the living room and told the girls our hiking tales. Janie and I departed for home and it is good to be back.

We took the last 2 seats out of the bus and delivered them to be recovered. Next week we will be finished with this project and Janie has made a scrap book of the project a copy of which we will give to the couple who did the work. I have the sermon ready for Sunday except I have not typed it up yet. I will try to get that done tomorrow and then get the sermon ready for Sunday night. I should finish my rough draft of the prospectus Friday and get that out to my daughters for proof reading and then off to my sisters for their analysis. Hopefully I will have it turned in by the middle of April. Well I had better head for bed. God bless you.

Quick Note

We are back from our trip to Moss Hill. Had a great time. I will blog tomorrow and post some pictures with the story of our trip. God bless you.

South

We had a visitor in our services today who is a truck driver. He had a layover here in Hillsboro and so he walked over to our church to visit. He came back for the evening services and we had a good long visit with him. He is from South Carolina. We will be heading South to visit with our oldest daughter and her family in Moss Hill, Texas. It is a 4 hour drive and we hope to be there by noon. I am going to hike with my son-in-law and grandson Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. We will camp out at a primitive camp ground which means there will be no running water. The trail is called the Turkey Creek hiking trail. It is about 15 miles long but we will only hike about 8 miles of it. I expect to get in about 8 miles Monday afternoon and then another 8 miles Tuesday morning. We will camp at a picnic area where we will park the car that way we will not have to carry all our camping gear on the trail. When my grandson is older I will take him on a real overnight hike where he will have to ruff it but for now I do not want to discourage him from the sport of hiking.

We had business meeting tonight at the church and all went well. The picture is of the property that the church we sponsored South of us in Hewitt, Texas has purchased for their building. We voted to cast our vote for them to receive the Texas Mission Development funds for the next quarter. I hope they get the funds for that will help them to get started on their building. Our church is going to take up a special offering for the France Mission to help pay off the debt Jason will owe for his schooling. We voted to receive this offering on Easter Sunday. We usually have the largest crowd of the year on that Sunday. Well I had better get packing. God bless you.

Rain

It rained all day today. It is rare to see it rain for an entire day. I left Janie at home today for she was not feeling well having a bad cold. Her voice is about gone. The traffic was heavy going into Dallas and was heavy going out. There was a wreck that had traffic at a stand still. I did not know what lane in which I needed to be but as it turned out the traffic started moving and I never did see the wreck. I got back home safely and Janie seems to be feeling some better. I got caught up on my Bible readings tonight but have only walked for 1/2 hour today. I did not feel 100% today myself so I took a short nap this afternoon. Tomorrow I will spend getting ready for Sunday, reviewing the sermons and lessons I have planned. I will also try to get ahead on my work for next week. Better head for bed now. The picture was taken yesterday of my wife and Hannah watching "Maverick" at my in-law's. God bless you.

Maverick

One of the definitions of "maverick" is "a motherless calf." One of the candidates for president kept being called a "maverick." Makes you wonder what is meant by such a term when it is applied to a person. Motherless calves will usually die unless someone goes to a lot of trouble to care for them.

This picture is of 2 of my grand kids watching TV at my in-law's house. Judging from the look on their faces you would think they were watching some suspense filled thriller but they were watching an old black and white episode of "Maverick." They do not watch TV at home but they do read a lot. Notice who has the remote. Starts early doesn't it.

I will be spending most of tomorrow in Dallas at a hospital. When I get back from there I will put the finishing touches on the sermon for Sunday night and work on the Sunday School lesson. I plan to go hiking with my grandson on Monday. There is a hiking trail near where he lives called Turkey Creek. We will camp out and hike some more on Tuesday morning. We will return to home on Tuesday and get back to the grind stone. I really did not get much done today on my day off. I helped my in-laws get their new van to the shop where they will install a wheelchair lift in it. We went out to eat with them before returning home. We are back in Hillsboro now and it is past my bedtime. Got to get up early in the morning. God bless you.

GREEK

It is raining and cold here today. I talked to a lady in Iowa today and told her about our 41 deg temperature and she said it was 12 degrees there. That made me thankful I live in Texas. We do need the rain here. The lakes and ponds are all way below normal levels. The farmers have planted their corn and it needed a good rain. We will not run the bus tonight due to the rain.

I do have an exciting text for this evenings service. We will be in the 2nd chapter of 2nd Thessalonians. Check out verse 6 and 7 in the King James Version. The word "withholdeth" of verse 6 is the same word as "letteth" in verse 7. The picture is of these 2 verses in the language in which it was originally written, Greek. I have highlighted in red the two words that are the same and it means literally "to keep down." All translations of the Bible into English lose some meaning and depth. It is good to be able to read the original to gain the best understanding of the text.

We will head for Henderson tonight and will get to see our grand kids for they will be in for a visit. We return to Hillsboro tomorrow night. God bless you.

Tarentaise

I have officiated at many funerals and frequently have problems pronouncing odd names listed in the obituary. Today was unique. I was unsure how to pronounce the name of a cow. That's right the name of a cow. The man we buried raised a rare type of cattle called Tarentaise (pictured). This breed of cow is from the country of France. This man may have been the only cattleman in Texas who had full blood registered Tarentaise cows.

It was a warm day today but that is about to change. It was 84 here today and by in the morning it is suppose to drop down to 44. It is a wonder that we are not all sick wearing summer clothes one day and winter clothes the next. We need the rain for we have not had any significant rain fall in a long time.

I hope to get the bus back tomorrow and am hopeful that the rain will be gone by tomorrow evening. It does not look like that is going to be the case according to the forecast. We will head over to Henderson tomorrow night so Janie can take her parents to Tyler. We will return on Thursday so we can get up early and head for a surgery in Dallas on Friday. Janie is considering a plan to have me teach her Ladies Bible Study for the next several weeks. She wants me to teach from the book of Revelation. I will need a day or 2 to get ready for such a study but I admit it would be one I enjoy. God bless you.

Sanitary Sewer

Sanitary Sewer seems like an oxymoron. I walked to the church to do some work at my office and on my way there I saw a sewer cover that had these words cast boldly "Sanitary Sewer." The term is one used of any sewage removal system. Sinful Saints also seems like an oxymoron. They are saints because they have been cleansed of their sins by the blood of Jesus Christ. They are sinners because they live in the flesh. Saved people, saints, truly are sinners saved by the grace of God.

The bibliography is finished as of today. It contains over 80 books that I will site in my doctoral thesis. The goal is to turn in the prospectus by the end of April.

I have a funeral service tomorrow and hopefully the bus will be finished and ready to be picked up. "From the Pastor" is on my schedule for this evening and I plan to return to the book of John this Sunday. Wednesday night we will be going over 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 and Sunday night I plan to preach on the subject of church discipline. The picture is of my son-in-law leading the singing at the church he pastors in Elkhart, Texas. God bless you.

My day

My day, great. Services, well attended. Fellowship, sweet. Food, really good.

I was greeted in the parking lot of the church this morning by a man asking for help. It seems he had an argument with his wife and while he was passed out in a drunken state she took off in the car and left him stranded without any shoes and no wallet. One of our deacons took care of him getting him to a bus station. Having our church building right off a major interstate Highway brings to our door a lot of people wanting help. Many of these people by their own testimony never attend church but when they need help that is the first place they go. In the six years I have pastored I have lost count of the number of people we have helped. Out of all of these we have received only one thank you note.

Tomorrow I will be preaching at the nursing home and then will take the bus to have its brakes repaired. Between the brakes and the weather forecast it is looking like we may not run the bus Wednesday. The picture is of me and my youngest grandson, Jonathan, taken just a couple of weeks ago. Judging from this picture I think we favor. God bless you.

Water On The Hands

Elisha was described as the one who poured water on the hands of Elijah. Elijah was a great prophet indeed and Elisha would end up with a double portion of his spirit. But in 2 Kings 3:11 Elisha was not known as a great prophet he was recognized more for the fact that He had been the servant of Elijah. In the eyes of the King and his servants Elisha was important and significant because of his servile relationship with the great prophet Elisha. Friday I went over to Bro. Davis' house and when I entered the first words I said to Sis. Davis were "I am here to pour water on the hands." Bro. Davis put me to work right away. We moved a pile of firewood, removed an electrical wire from the ground and disconnected it from the breaker box, went to the store and got an ink cartridge for his printer and installed it, and did some work on his computer. It was a great day and the whole time we worked we talked about such things as the Song of Solomon, The rich young ruler, saved by the blood, nursing homes, and strange noises in his house. At one point we were talking about Ezekiel chapter one that describes the scene that Ezekiel saw of God on His throne. Bro. Davis paused and said to me "I don't want to rub it in but it looks like I am going to get to see the Lord before you do." The picture above is one I took of him at Wal-Mart where we bought the ink and some paper for his printer. I plan to spend 2 Fridays a month with Bro. Davis and though he says that is a great blessing to him the real blessing, like with Elisha's double portion, is mine.

I did manage to go for a short walk while over in Henderson. As you can see from the picture I was casting a very long shadow while on my walk. The weather was great about 80 degrees. Janie and I help her mother fill out their income tax. It was actually fun. Janie filled the form in on the computer while I added up the numbers and her mother handed me the 1099's and such that we needed. I kept picking on her about first one thing then another kind of teasing with her and Janie kept saying "Hey that's my mother your picking on so cut it out." We got it done and off in the mail. We returned to Hillsboro Friday night and I went ahead and pushed the clocks forward an hour so we lost our sleep last night instead of tonight.

On Thursday I went over to my brother's to work on the house and I helped him install a ceiling fan and a florescent light fixture. He got the hang of it and when I returned several hours later to fix a problem with the light switch I discovered he had installed the light fixture on the front porch while I was gone. He was proud of himself and I was proud of him. They seem to like their new home really well and mother sure likes having them so close. I took this picture of my mother while I was there. We needed to borrow some light bulbs from her so Steve and I went down to her house for a short visit. She made it clear she wanted him to replace her spare bulbs and he assured her that he would.

Well I had better get to work on the Sunday School lesson for tomorrow. We are going to have a fellowship luncheon right after our morning services tomorrow and I need to help Janie plan what we are going to fix to take. I am thinking about cooking a brisket, we'll see. God bless you.

Schubert

I was not familiar with the works of Franz Schubert until today. I went to get my hair cut and the lady who cuts my hair baby sits her granddaughter who is 2 years old. She is a sweet girl and she had a toy piano which played music. I noticed 4 pictures of 4 composers and you could press them and hear some of their music. I recognized each composition except Schubert's. I was not familiar with his music. It caused me to google him and check out his music. We went by the church afterward and installed 2 bus seats. We are home now getting ready for tonight's Bible school. We will pick up the kids and try out our new schedule.

I feel much better today and have gotten my prospectus back from my oldest daughter. She painted it up real good, highlighting my mistakes and poor wording. She did a real good job working it over. I had to concur with all of her suggested changes. I have not gotten them all corrected yet but hope to get them done by this evening. After the proof reading and correct process is over all I will have left to do is complete the bibliography then bind and turn it in. Once accepted I will pay my tuition fee and then get after the real work.

The sermon I have prepared for Sunday is going to entitled "Saved by the Blood of the Crucified one." Its main purpose will be to express the importance of salvation. I am excited about this sermon because there is no doubt that it is the one God wants me to preach. It came to me as I was reading through the Bible that men's lives are full of vanity and only one thing really matters. Our relationship with God is the most important factor in life. I am praying that God will cause those who need to hear this message to tune in or show up for the services.

We will head over to Henderson tonight after services. Janie will be taking her dad for blood work and I will work with my brother on the Clark place. I am going to get some serious walking in also and will spend Friday with Bro. Davis. The picture is of my oldest grandson, Joshua, on our last hike. I am looking forward to hiking with him again here in a couple of weeks. God bless you.

Sick

I have been sick today. I got up feeling poorly this morning and thought it to be allergies so I took some medicine which made me sleepy. I went to the office and worked for an hour or so and then came home and took a short nap. I did not feel any better so I took some different medication and now that it is almost time for bed I feel much better. This picture was one I took of the last service I attended at the nursing home. We did not have services yesterday because they have quarantined the nursing home due to a flu out break.

I am planning to hike with my grandson during spring break. If the weather is good we will do an overnight hike along Turkey creek. I will post pictures on this blog afterward so stay tuned. Our spring break starts March 16th and while Janie enjoys the other grand kids at their home I will enjoy being with my grandson on the trail. We will hike half a day Monday and then all day Tuesday should be a lot of fun.

I had planned to finish my prospectus today but just felt to bad to work on it. I will try again tomorrow and hopefully finish it up. I want to take it with me to let Bro. Davis read it over and get his input. I will email it to my daughters and let them proof read it for me. They will just love that. I should email it to my sister Peggy and let her proof it also for she has had to do a doctoral dissertation and would know the pit falls. The prospectus needs to be well ordered and terse (pithy). It needs to express enthusiasm for the subject and I believe it does that quite well. God bless you.

5000

I prayed a year or so ago that the stock market go down to 5000. It looks as though my prayer is being answered. My reason for praying such a thing was based on the empty pews that are so abundant in every church of every religion. Talking to the pastors in our town I found that all of them have had a decline in attendance. My prayer was that since God had given us prosperity and what He got in exchange was a people forsaking worship services He should give us poverty and perhaps that would return people to the pews. Every human being ought to be thankful to God and ought to pause at least one day a week to worship and thank God for His blessings. The quality of the American way of life is directly connected to the quality of our relationship to God.

I walked for an hour today and have caught up on my Bible readings. We took another bus seat out today and after spending about three hours at the hospital with some of our church members I took that seat and exchanged it for one that was finished. We have just 2 seats left on the bus that have not been removed. I expect that by the end of this month the bus seats will be all done. We have changed our schedule for our mid-week Bible school. We start at 6:45 now and will stop giving the kids refreshments. They are active enough without adding sugar to the mix so I think this was a good move. I am looking forward to spending Thursday with my mentor and father in the ministry the man I call my pastor. I consider it a part of my on going education and training to spend time with Bro. Davis. Friday will be my day off and I will help my older brother with some electrical work at the Clark house. My brother has moved in now and I know that mother is glad to have him living on the property.

I have some work to get done before I can retire for the day so I must leave off blogging for now. I will spend the day at the office studying tomorrow and hope to get my prospectus ready for proof reading next week. The picture is of our church auditorium on Wednesday night just before the services started. We got to the church earlier than usual and we took pictures of the kids so we could put a name with a face when we pray for them. God bless you.

Eucharist

Eucharist is another word for the Lord's Supper. It is taken from the Greek verb which means to give thanks. It is what Jesus did before He gave the cup to His disciples. The Lord's Supper is certainly an observance that makes one thankful. We observed the Lord's Supper in our evening services tonight and though it is sobering to think about the suffering of Christ it does make me thankful that He died for me. This picture is one I took at our church and used it for the cover page of my masters thesis on the Lord's supper.

Tomorrow we will not have our services at the nursing home due to a quarantine there. I will instead get some work done at the office and will be going down to Waco where one of our church members is going to have surgery. I will carry another bus seat with me and bring back the one that is finished. We only have three more seats to go and that project will be finished. We will run the bus this Wednesday night.