Driving

The ladies Bible study was good this morning and I have stuck to the regiment for day two of my tooth extraction. I ate carefully chewable food today and the pain is just about all gone. Having licked and sealed 300 envelopes yesterday did not seem to harm the hole in my jaw. I got some work done at the office today and am ready for our local Baptist association messenger meeting Saturday.

We have a lot of driving to do this week. Tomorrow morning will find me driving over to Tyler to go with Bro. Davis to his doctor's appointment. I will drive back to Hillsboro for our evening services and then drive over to Henderson to take Janie's Dad and Mom to their respective doctor's appointments. Friday night we drive back to Hillsboro then Saturday we drive over to association meeting in Corsicana. I figure starting tomorrow we will put in about 700 miles. On our way home from Henderson last Saturday we had a flat tire. We stopped at a station where I pulled a drill bit out of the tire and then plugged the hole. It is still holding air so the plug worked good. The next four days will really put it to the test. The picture is one I took the other day while my father-in-law and I were waiting for our wives to come out of that beauty shop door. God bless you.

Tooth Extraction

The Tooth is gone!! It took her some doing but she got that pesky tooth out of my mouth. The decay under the filling was extensive and it was either a $2000 repair or a $200 repair so I went with the later. "I don't want to make you feel bad but you have worn me out and I have two more extractions to do this morning" the Dentist said as she bid me farewell. It was quite an ordeal and though she was about the size of my wife Janie I thought she was going to break my jaw with the pressure she exerted on that tooth. I have to leave this wad of gauze in my mouth for another 1/2 hour then I can eat things that do not have to be chewed. Tomorrow I should be able to eat normally being careful not to let food get stuck in the hole. I have to rinse it with warm salt water 3 to 5 times tomorrow. The picture is one I took at the dentist's office (Dr. Hurt) in Henderson.

I need to take it easy today because of this tooth so I plan to mow the yard, work on the ladies Bible study lesson for in the morning, work on my thesis, and cook some soup for lunch and supper. I will run over to the church after lunch and get some work done there and then return home to finish off the day. I have already been to the Post Office and the business supply center this morning.

The feeling is beginning to return to my tongue and lips so I think I'll get started on lunch. God bless you.

Tooth Ache

There is a savior. Jesus Christ the righteous. His blood cleanses us from all sins. I am so glad that He sought me and called me to repentance. I am so glad I responded to His call by confessing my sin and asking Him for mercy. I became a child of God in October 1962.

Clint was in Church again today. He seems well though he still has a long road to recovery. What a great Lord's day this has been in spite of the fact that I have a tooth ache. I told my dentist a year ago that I thought I had a problem with this tooth but he said it looked fine to him. It just did not feel right to me. Now it hurts and I am guessing it may need to have a root canal or pulling. Which ever it may be I hope they can do it Monday cause I need some relief. I have not had a tooth ache since 1979 when my only root canal was done. I probably could have had it fixed last Friday but I just chose not to. I felt my tooth should take a back seat for the welfare of others.

Our new cable TV service is working very well. It took us a little bit of head scratching to figure out how to set it up but all in all it was not bad. I was proud we could do it without calling tech support.

The doctoral work is not progressing well. At this rate the deadline will be missed. The best thing to do is set a time for working on it and stick to it. In Henderson helping those in need keeps ending up taking the place of working on the Thesis. Right now the work can be done anywhere but later on it will have to be done at the TBI Library.

Well it is time to head back over to the church house. I have prepared a new sermon this afternoon from the 15th Psalm and I am anxious to preach it. The picture is of supper at my mother-in-law's. She cooked Salmon patties, biscuits, and gravy. These Salmon patties had buttermilk in them and had an interesting flavor. God bless you.

Ayer Jr./Sr. High

I graduated from Ayer Jr./Sr. High school back in 1971. The Taylor's took us out to eat at lunch today and we saw the man who took the pictures at our wedding some 36 years ago. He was stationed at the army base in Ayer back in the 60's. It is a small world when you think about it. He knew all about Ayer, Mass. and remembered it fondly. I have not been to any of our high school reunions though I think it would be interesting to see how everyone turned out. Though fall time in Ayer was always pretty I like the winters in Texas a whole lot better. The picture is one I took in my in-law's back yard today. When fall arrives in East Texas the Spider Lillies come forth and they are beautiful.

Mother is doing well. Janie's parents are doing well. Bro. Davis is not as well. He has been sick and has no appetite. Since we did not have much sleep last night I felt it best to go home in the morning. We plan to stop in and check on Bro. Davis on our way back to Hillsboro. Janie and I are going to go for a walk. God bless you.

Surgery

Mother came through her surgery okay. She was nauseated afterward and her blood pressure was very low after they gave her something for the nausea. After a bit they checked her again and it was up enough to let her go. We made it home about 12:30 and she was still nauseated. She lay down on the couch and we began the regiment of replacing her "Swiss Mask" every 10 minutes. We have to dip this thing in ice water to keep it cold. The picture is of my brother at her bedside after the surgery. He is sitting with her right now and Janie and I will go back over there this evening to spend the night. In the morning the mask will not have to be changed as often only enough to keep the swelling down. My brother must take his wife to the train station in the morning. Her mother lies near death in California. Steve will return to relieve us Friday morning so that Janie and I can see after her parents and their appointments.

We will see how tonight goes and stay through Saturday if we are needed. Janie is napping while I blog and I need to awaken her so we can get some supper and head back over to mother's. God bless you.

Expression Web

I loaded a new software program onto my laptop yesterday. It is used to build and maintain websites. It replaces a software I have been using for the past several years. I like it real well. I will be using it to spruce up my website http://www.baptistville.org/. I use it for http://www.sullivansupply.com/ and as I have time that website will be overhauled. Time is the key word. Blogging and websites take a back seat to pastoring and study.

This weekend we are going to cancel our satellite TV service. We are replacing it with one that is Christian oriented called Sky Angel. Sky Angel comes through our high speed Internet connection and can be carried when traveling and used in Motels that have Internet access in the room. It costs less than half what we were paying and there is no contract. My youngest daughter uses it and is very happy with it. I have to confess that I watch FOX news channel a lot and this new service has it and that was a major plus to me.

The picture is of a chocolate pie that one of the ladies of our ladies Bible study brought over. It was so good. We are headed over to Henderson tonight to be there for my mother's eye surgery in the morning. I will post here how it went. God bless you.

Visitors

We had visitors Saturday night. My daughter and Son-in-law came over and spent Saturday night and Sunday night with us. We enjoyed their visit and that was the reason I did not blog over the weekend. Services were good Sunday and it was wonderful to see Clint walking into our auditorium under his own power. Everyone was so glad to see him. He is doing very well though he still has a lot of therapy to endure.

Today we had the Ladies auxiliary visit our house. Their monthly meeting was held here. We enjoyed their meeting. I visited over the phone with the IRS. I visited with H&R Block today and told them my IRS woes. They were very helpful and gave me some good pointers. I visited by phone with one of the people who works at the office of my U.S. Congressman. She also gave me hope concerning my IRS dilemma. All in all the visits today were very enjoyable and productive.

I did not visit at the nursing home today. I chose rather to work on my tax audit. I composed a letter to my congressman and have that on stand by should I need it. I made the changes that the IRS requested and got that faxed over to them this evening. While the ladies meeting was underway I finished the Bulletin for Sunday.

Tomorrow we will have visitors in the morning, the Ladies Bible Study. Tomorrow evening we will visit the church in Hewitt and enjoy a good time of singing and Bible study. The picture is one I took on our last visit in Henderson. It is a group of what we call stink bugs visiting with each other on a pomegranate. God bless you.

Errands

We had mid-week services at my Father-in-law's house. This picture is of my brother-in-law who provided the music for our service. The second picture is of Janie and her sister reviewing the medications that their parents take. After the services were over we moved to the piano room and recorded six songs for County Line Baptist church to use in their services.

Thursday found Janie and I taking her mother's motorized chair to be repaired, visiting with Bro. and Sis. Davis, shopping for clothes for Janie's mother, picking up groceries and other things for the Taylors, looking at recliners for my father-in-law (which he decided he did not want).

Friday found us going our separate ways. It found me taking the trash off, going over to the school (TBI), grocery shopping for Janie's uncle Trenton, working on the Sermon and Sunday School lesson for Sunday, and blogging. It found Janie taking her mother to Tyler to the beauty shop and a few other stops, working on the financial report for her mother, and working on her orders for sullivansupply.com. We will head home this evening and make a hospital visit tomorrow. Last night my niece (Ralph's daughter) had her baby by emergency c-section. Both mother and baby are doing fine. They called him Tyler James and he weighed 3 pounds 9 oz. Another of my nieces (Peggy's oldest) had surgery yesterday and is doing fine by last report. Mother's surgery is scheduled for the 24th of this month and Janie's oldest sister is to have surgery very soon. Pray for each of these. God bless you.

P.S. I had to end the is blog abruptly when I got a phone call from Janie's uncle Trenton. He had fallen and so I rushed over to get him up. He is not hurt seriously just cuts and bruises.

Consult

Mother's surgery turned out to be just a consult with the surgeon. They have scheduled her actual surgery for September 24th at 7:30 AM. We got to her appointment this morning an hour early. Even the receptionist was shocked we were there that early. The picture is one I took while we waited to see the doctor. My aunt Maxine came in while we were waiting for the Doctor in the exam room and sprang the news on us that this was not the surgery but just a consultation. It was good for us to be there so we could here for ourselves what the surgeon said. They will be putting her under for the surgery. She will have to have someone to stay with her for a few days afterward.

My father-in-law's PSA was up and I am not sure what they plan to do about that. Janie's oldest sister is going to have surgery the same day that her dad is having a bone scan. Health care is in the news so much and as a pastor and a member of the baby boomer generation I spend a lot of time in health care facilities. It makes me thankful that my wife and I are healthy.

I must get to work on the sermon for Sunday. This second picture I took on our way to Henderson yesterday. It is a cotton field in Hill county. God bless you.

Tuesdays

Tuesday is one of my favorite days of the week. There are only seven so if I have very many favorites it would be pointless. Tuesdays at 9:30 the ladies begin to arrive for Bible study. We are taking our time going through the end time events and are currently looking in depth at the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine. It is an excellent workout in both logic and argumentation and proper Bible interpretation. Two Tuesday nights a month we go down to Hewitt and have a mid-week service with Faith Missionary Baptist Church. They are wonderful people and I enjoy fellowshipping with them.

We made it to Henderson without an problems. Visited with my mother when we arrived and she is doing well. Janie and I will get to her house about 8:00 in the morning and take her in our car to Longview for her surgery. My brother will be going with us as well. I will post here on this blog how everything went with the surgery.

Janie's parents are doing well. Her dad fell again Saturday night. Skinned his knee and his elbow but other wise is okay. He was beside his chair and Janie's sister and brother-in-law were able to help him get back into his chair without having to call 911.

I am going to head for bed early tonight, I expect to have a long day tomorrow. The picture is of me holding Cole (age 5 days), the youngest of our church family. God bless you.

Infernal

One of Webster's definitions of infernal is "extremely troublesome, annoying." I looked that word up today while I was waiting on hold with the IRS. I have spent almost my whole day with the IRS. Though I am a God called Spirit led Pastor and preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I am still a man of "like passions with you." (Acts 14:15) I consider myself a fairly patient and gentle soul. If that word comes to my mind when dealing with them I shutter to think what must be on the minds of those with less scruples than I. One of the agents with which I spoke asked me "How are you today?" I replied, "Well I am on the phone with the IRS so it can't be the greatest of days." He was the third person to whom I had spoken during the course of the day. I did remain civil at the least and pleasant most of the time. I know they have a tough job so I do feel compassion for them. I will call them every week until they get their problem straitened out. I do not want to go to Tax Court over this but may have to yet. It has become a matter of principle to me now. Don't you hate it when that happens. I have allowed them to kill my whole day. After this blog I will resolve to be in a better mood and enjoy the rest of my day. I may share my story one day here on this blog so that others may learn from my experience. I will change the names to protect the innocent.

We plan to go see this little guy (pictured) tonight. He was born Wednesday and I figured the proud parents would not mind at all me posting his picture here. Clint is doing very well. Here is the latest text message I got from his mother : "Clint is to be released from hospital tomorrow to go to apt. after 5 long months. Prayers have been answered and miracles still happen! Several more months of rehab and a few surgeries in his future but God is good!" God bless you.

Muse, Pews, Ewes, Muse

Sundays, they begin with meditation (muse) and prayer. They continue with an empty building (pews) which fills (ewes) and empties again. They end with meditation and prayer. What a great day. We went to lunch with some of our friends from church. We went to a Mexican restaurant which we had never been to before. The food was good and the fellowship was even better. This weekend we have had about 8 inches of rain and it has cooled off a lot. It is beginning to feel like fall weather.

There should be time tomorrow to get the sermon ready for next Sunday, take a form by office supply to get 300 copies made for the MBA of Texas, visit some of our church members who are shut in, and visit the nursing home. A four mile walk would be nice so in the cool of the morning I'll try to get that worked in.

I saw where I missed a call from one of the members of the church in Hewitt. I will try to call them in the morning. We will be heading to Henderson Tuesday afternoon to visit with my mother and to be there for her eye surgery on Wednesday. Bro. Miles is going to fill in for me Wednesday night so we will not have to make two trips to Henderson in the same week. Hopefully much progress will be made on the Song of Songs thesis this week. The Tuesday morning Bible study is starting to get really interesting as we begin to look at the various points of view on the timing of the Rapture. Better head for bed now, got lots to do tomorrow. The picture is one I took a few Sundays ago with my cell phone through a door window at the the church. God bless you.

Rain

Janie found her great aunt's unmarked grave. This picture is of her standing at the head of the grave. The marker nearest her is her great aunt's husband who had a marker only because he was in the Army. Janie's Dad has been wanting to find this grave for he remembers going to this cemetery with his mother. Where you see our car in the distance is where we parked when Janie's parents were with us. My father-in-law's memory is fairly good. He missed this grave's location by about 30 feet. Not bad for having last been to the cemetery some 66 years ago.

It rained on us just about all day today. Everywhere we were today it rained. I failed to check our rain gauge when we got back home this evening so I do not know how much we had. This morning I worked on a project for my mother-in-law and then on the website for Bro. Davis. We went by to see Janie's uncle and then we stopped by Bro. Davis for a visit and to return some pictures I had borrowed. He was feeling much better today. We stopped at Wal-Mart on our way home to pick up a few things. It is good to be home. I will finish the 15th chapter of Revelation this Sunday and may start the 16th.

Next week I need to start working on the church letter forms for our State Baptist Association. Maybe my grandchildren will help me fold and stuff those 300 letters and envelopes like they did last year. Our local association meets the first Saturday in October and I am the clerk for that Association as well. My goal is to have the minutes of the local meeting ready by the end of October.

Well its off to bed now and up early in the morning. God bless you.

Its 2 am and the ambulance just left. Every thing is ok except for one of the kitchen chairs which is broken beyond repair. My father in law fell as he was trying to get up. Janie and I could not get him up so we called 911. They arrived an hour and a half later and had no problem getting him to his feet. I will take him to his doctor's appointment at 8 this morning. God bless you.

Headache

Headaches are not so bad except when they cause nausea. I had one such headache today. The nap seemed to help a little. We went to a cemetery in a community called "Cross Roads." Janie has a great aunt buried there in an unmarked grave. It was only a 30 minute ride but it seemed like 3 hours to me. Janie walked all over that little cemetery (pictured) trying to find the grave but was not successful. She called a man who said he might be able to help and he is to call her tonight. When we got back to the house I laid down again and am feeling better now.

Janie and her mother are working together cooking supper. It sure smells good. Tonight, since I have slept the day away, I will stay up and work on my thesis. Tomorrow I will go by to see Bro. Davis while Janie is with her dad at the cancer doctor. He was not feeling real well today. I helped a refrigerator repairman fix a water leak this morning. The problem turned out to be the water filter and not the water line. Supper is about ready and since all I have had today is a bowl of cereal and a bologna sandwich I am ready for it. This last picture is of Janie adjusting the flowers on my dad's grave. God bless you.

School

This picture is of me the day I graduated from Kilgore College. I received an associate degree in machine tool technologies. This was in 1979 right before we moved to Houston, Texas. I took a job in the engineering department of Hughes Tool Company as a draftsman. That was back when drafting was still done with pencil and paper. I took my first course in computer programing there. I went back to school for more computer programing after returning to Lebus Mfg. Co. in Longview, Texas in November of 1980. I went to 12 years of public school, 1 year of plumbing school, 5 years to Kilgore College, and 9 years to Texas Baptist Institute and Seminary. I am back in school again for at least 2 more years. This means I will have attended 29 years of school. That is over half my life. One might think that Paul Clark likes school. I plan to be a student of the Bible from now on so school, for me, has no end.

Tomorrow finds me at the hospital first thing and then a meeting in the afternoon at 1:00. The sermon for tomorrow night will take highest priority after the hospital call. The Sunday school lesson will be next followed by Tribman episode 12. This should take me to the Wednesday night service then its off to Henderson. If the sky is clear when we arrive we may sit on that tailgate again and enjoy that waning gibbous moon. God bless you.

Preach The Word

I like to listen to sermons by Paul Owens. He was an outstanding preacher. Why I like his sermons is because he preached the Word of God. I love reading and studying the Bible. Sermons that I do not enjoy as much are those where the preacher tells stories or uses a lot illustrations and allegory. Preaching the Word is to explain God's word. The Ethiopian told Phillip that he could not understand what he was reading except someone should guide him. When someone preaches the word they explain what the text is saying. When the sermon is over the listener should have a good understanding of the text. I agree with a Presbyterian preacher who once said "Every preacher should preach an allegorical sermon once a year and then immediately repent of it and go back to expository preaching." I preached at the nursing home this morning. My text was taken from Acts 20:9 where the young man fell asleep while the apostle Paul was preaching and he fell out of third story window and died. Paul by the power of God brought him back to life. Paul's sermons lasted about six hours. I got carried away and preached for 30 minutes this morning. It was a good service with about 50 in attendance. The picture is of my father-in-law before he was a preacher. He pastored for well over 50 years.

This is labor day and our attendance was way down Sunday. I plan to celebrate this holiday by laboring. Going to work on the bulletin for next Sunday and then the Sermon for next Sunday. The Sunday School lesson will be next and then the Sunday night sermon. A four mile walk is between me and bedtime so I better get busy. God bless you.

Pizza

We are having pizza for supper. I like pizza. I did not make this one but I think next week I may make one. I like lots of veggies on my pizza.

We made it home last night and first thing this morning I prayed for those on our prayer list and I went through the names on my cell phone and prayed for each person or family. I made several phone calls to check on various ones. I have published Tribman episode 9 and read the book of 1st Chronicles. I walked about 4 miles and that has made me ready for supper. The lady who will play for our special Sunday came over and we practiced our song. I need to review my sermon for Sunday and the one for Sunday night. We watched a little TV while we ate lunch and talked a while before going to Wal-mart for a few things. We listened to the Christmas program on our way back to Hillsboro and it is putting me in the mood for Christmas. When we got to Wal-mart the Salvation Army had bell ringers at each door. It is early but the need is great so they have had to get started. I am thinking about volunteering to ring the bell for half a day or so. I think it would be interesting and helpful. The picture is one I took back in July in Henderson Texas. God bless you.

Summer Breeze

I went this morning to take my in-law's trash over to Janie's uncle's house. He has trash pick up and the Taylor's do not. Bare in mind that he is in his 90's. This picture is of Him and his wife a few years ago. His wife died a couple of years back. I sat in his living room and visited for a while and then he asked if I had time to take him to town to run a few errands. I drive very slowly when I am with him for he often points out things that I never notice. He tells me stories about the various houses and lands that we pass. We made several stops in town and then he wanted to take me out for lunch. There is a cafe in town that serves really good home style meals. We ate our lunch talking the whole time. When we got back to his place we sat outside and watched the breeze moving the leaves which have begun to yellow. He told me stories of people he has known and it came to me that I was as relaxed as I have ever been sitting there in the shade hearing stories that happened many many years ago. TV upsets me. The news is rarely good. Most places I go I have work to do. Work is good and one ought to live a productive life and work hard but its good to stop and enjoy a summer breeze and the company and wisdom of someone with a world of life experiences. I took out my cell phone which has the ability to record sound. I pressed record and caught 5 minutes of one of his stories. I offered to take him in his truck and check on the cows but he said "They should be fine." I suspect he was exactly right.

Janie has spent the day with her mother and father. The left this morning to go to the beauty shop. Her appointment is at 11:45 but some how they never seem to get home until 4:00. It was great that her father wanted to tag along. He is feeling good and said something about all of us going for a ride this evening and eating out. I expect we will head home sometime tonight. God bless you.

(P.S. it amazes me when I spell check these and it says "no misspelling found." Did I spell "amazes" right?....It says I did!)

2 Kings 3:11b

Bro. Davis was doing well today. He is very weak and has little appetite. When I arrived their niece was there to eat lunch with them and while we were eating another couple arrived for a visit. We had a good visit and then after take care of a couple of chores I left to let him get a much needed nap. This picture of Bro. and Sis. Davis was taken today.

I went by and visited with my mother. She is doing very well and told me the story how she tried by herself to replace an electrical outlet by her bed. She did not turn the electricity off and said she only got shocked once. She had to call my brother for help and he got shocked. The plug is repaired and I expressed concern about mother's pace maker and electric shocks. She seemed unconcerned.

Janie's parents are doing well. Clint is doing well. Jason and Angie are doing well. Stacie and Scott are doing well. Justin and Sarah are doing well. Janie and I are doing well. We arrived at the Taylor's house this morning about 1:45. After cleaning up the kitchen we went out side and sat on the tailgate of my father-in-law's pickup and enjoyed the 68 degrees and almost full moon. It was a beautiful night. It is not often that we stop and smell the roses.

We averaged 53 mpg coming over to Henderson and I averaged 49.9 driving around today. I am trying to get 50 mpg on this tank. I'll try to let you know if I make it. I have some work to do tonight and then will head for bed. Tomorrow I will take the trash off and check on Janie's uncle. I hope to get in a substancial hike sometime tomorrow. God bless you.

Carried Away

Okay, so I got carried away. Getting carried away means you have lost control. Temperance is a virtue and temperance means self control. I worked last night on the next episode of Tribman. After composing that episode I had the story line in my head and was anxious to see the story progress. I stayed up until 2:00 A. M. and wrote a total of three episodes. It was like the opposite of writer's block. I just could not stop. I have never written fiction before. I use to like fiction books when I was a kid. Writing fiction is fun. I had to have a general idea before starting of the basic story line with its plot and inevitable climax. As any educated person can tell I have never taken a writing course and those who know the rules of good writing could compose a long list of mistakes I've made. Regardless I am enjoying it and I can excuse some of my mistakes by saying that it's part of the story line for Tribman is writing an amateur blog not a college thesis.

I slept late this morning so had to hit the ground running. I worked on a sermon for tonight and also on one for Sunday night. I went to the office and worked on the copy machine. It needed a new toner cartridge and drum. It turned out to be an easy job. Janie was at curves while I was at the office so I met her there and handed her a chocolate milkshake when she got in the car. She said something about wishing she had gone a little longer on the exercise machines. She seemed to be happy about the treat. I guess I could have gotten her some flowers instead but the shake seemed to be a hit.

Its off to Henderson tonight and school in the morning. I will go by Bro. Davis' house to check on him and see if he needs anything. If not I will head over to my mother's house for a visit and then to my brother's. Friday is back to school in the morning and then the afternoon will be free. I may be able to squeeze in a 6 to 9 mile hike and that would be great, will see. The picture is one of my favorites of Janie. God bless you.