TBI, FLOWERS, WALK

I went over to see Janie's uncle Trenton this morning. He seemed to be doing well. Friday is trash day and so the Taylor's trash and uncle Trenton's trash had to be put out. I enjoyed our visit. I returned to the Taylor's to pick up Janie and head to town. She stayed in the car working on the computer while I went in and visited with Bro. Brooks at TBI. I really enjoyed our visit. We left a load of clothes for the store room and went into town to take care of some business for my in-laws. We went over to Bro. Brook's house after lunch. Janie visited with Sis. Brooks while I got some files off of Bro. Brook's laptop. He has several sermons that I am going to put on his website.

We went to visit with my mother. We took her some pecans. Her yard looked really good and her flowers were outstanding. She is doing very well. I personally think she is working too hard but she sure would argue with me about that. We left mother's and returned to Janie's parents house and took them something to eat. We went back up town to buy them some groceries and a few other things. We got back to their house just a little bit before our oldest daughter arrived with her kids minus one. Scott and Joshua are at a men's retreat. We ate pizza with the kids and then went for a walk. Little Elijah got tired of the stroller and so I carried him the rest of the way. The first picture was taken today of my mother's house and yard. The second is of me carrying Elijah. The third is of Janie leading Jonathan and Stacie pushing Elijah. God bless you.

60 pounds

Janie and I took her parents to Tyler today. I dropped Janie and her mother off at the hair dresser's and then took her dad over to the cancer center. We waited for 2 hours for his blood work to be tested and approved. There was a problem so the doctor had to be consulted before they would give him his treatment. He finally approved it and just as they were getting his I.V. going Janie called and said they were finished. We were talking to the nurse while she started his I.V. and he was telling her that I was his son-in-law. I mentioned I had been his son-in-law for some 36 years. He had made the statement that I was a lot bigger now than I was back then. I replied that I was 60 pounds bigger now than then and he said that he was too. I think Janie has not gained an ounce in 36 years except when she was carrying our children. I left her dad getting his treatment and drove 20 minutes back to where I had left Janie and picked them up. When we got back to the cancer center my father-in-law was finished and ready to go. We stopped to eat at the Cotton Patch about 3:30 and since we had not eaten anything since breakfast we were, needless to say, hungry. My father-in-law did not eat much at all. We made it back to their house and Janie paid bills for them while I mowed the yard. The yard needed mowing really bad. It looks a lot better now. We took a walk after I finished mowing. My in-law's are sleeping in their recliner/lift chairs right now and Janie is cleaning in the kitchen.

I am going to go to TBI in the morning and then go by to see my mother. We plan to spend the night here Friday and go home on Saturday. The picture is of us loading up to leave the restaurant. God bless you.

21 Cards

I have 21 cards now. I am reading, what is stacking up to be, a really good book on the Song of Songs. It is a thick book and very thorough on the subject. The author is very logical and his arguments are well founded. It is refreshing to read and it is my intent that my book on the Song of Songs will also be logical, well ordered, and its conclusions based on facts, truth, and hard evidence. It is particularly delightful to read the works of someone who backs up his statements with good arguments after having spent time listening to a radio evangelist who was just the opposite. I feel challenged to guard my words trying to always speak the truth firmly based in God's word.

I was called by one of our church members today. She asked a deep and difficult question and I was careful to let her know that the Bible did not give a direct answer to her question. I shared with her some scriptures that hint at the answer and that seemed to satisfy. It is my intent to teach the people whom I pastor to always base their answers to religious questions in the scriptures. Answers must be based in scripture that has been interpreted and kept in its context, Harmonized with the rest of the scriptures, and properly translated. In other words "rightly dividing the word of truth."

We had good services tonight with our usual crowd. We are about to head for Henderson now. We will spend the day with Janie's parents in Tyler and hopefully on Friday I will spend some time at TBI and then go by and see my mother. We need to get by and see Sister Davis also. The picture is my song of songs taken back in 1979. God bless you.

Onomatopoeias

Whoosh, the cover flew back and then, thud, I was on my feet. This day was off to a good start. The whop of the shampoo bottle lid opening echos in our shower so loud it has to wake Janie up. I say to this uncaring inanimate object "shhhhh." When your spouse is trying to sleep and you are doing all you can not to wake her it would be nice if the objects around you would cooperate, but nooooo.

I had spent the last hour before bedtime listening to a radio evangelist talking about the timing of the rapture and the more I listened the louder my objections rang out. Awww, I would shout as one untruth after another came from the speakers of my laptop. It ended up giving me nightmares. I gave the ladies at the Bible study an ear full of my complaints about this man's sermon. Our discussions went long and we were late finishing up. The lady who had brought the refreshments fed us hot dogs that were really good. During our Bible study we were interrupted with a ding dong. The Schwans lady was about 2 hours early so Janie asked her to come back later which she did.

I took Janie to Curves and dropped her off there while I went to the post office to mail a package. A lady who does a lesson at the nursing home service the first Monday of each month saw me there and asked if I would take charge of the services this coming Monday and I gladly said yes. I visited with another lady at the post office who had joined our church several years ago but has not been back to our church services since. There was still time to kill so I went to the car wash and then parked out front of Curves waiting for Janie.

This evening we went down to Lorena and had a really good service with the Faith church. We were greeted with the meow of a cat that was crawling toward our feet. The meowing continued until its master had enough and put the cat in the garage. We stayed afterward and had a short visit with the couple in whose house we were meeting. The traffic coming home was not bad at all. We stopped for fuel on our way to the services and while I was filling up the car I heard this loud varoom varoom sound and looked up to see a big motorcycle pulling up close to me. For a second I could not figure out what he was doing. It looked as though he had no reverse gear and was trying to back this thing up by walking it while sitting on it. It just looked strange. He awkwardly got the thing where he wanted it.

I have a busy day tomorrow which will no doubt begin with a whoosh and a thud. I will work on my thesis all day tomorrow except for one small chore. Tomorrow it will be click click click on this keyboard. The picture is of the grandkids going pop pop working over some bubble wrap. God bless you.

Cabelas

I went by the hospital this morning at 8:00 and had prayer with a lady who was about to under go surgery. She does not have a pastor nor does her children. After I visited with them a bit I returned home to pick up Janie and head for the nursing home. I read a passage from the Bible and led in prayer before the special music. When we got home we ate lunch and then drove about 70 miles north of Hillsboro. We spent about an hour in Cabelas and I spent my gift certificate on a new shirt. It is a very light weight long sleeved shirt that protects from the harmful sun rays. I think I am going to like this shirt better than the ones I have now. It is far lighter and well vented. I will put it to the test on my next hike.

I just finished mowing the lawn and watering our tomato plants. Jason dug a ditch along side our driveway to help the water drainage problem we always have when it rains. This last rain storm that came through gave it a good test and it passed with flying colors. We put pine bark mulch in our flowerbeds and they look real good.

I am going to work on my thesis tomorrow afternoon and hope to finish another of the 65 books I have left to read. Wednesday I plan to spend all day on the thesis so I should make some very serious progress on it this week. I talked with my mother today and have invited her to our house for Mother's day. She consented so Janie and I will pick her up the Saturday before and she will stay with us for a few days. The first picture is one Janie took of me in front of Cabelas and the second is one I took this morning during the services at the nursing home. God bless you.

Visitors Day

This picture is of Janie at 2nd Ave. Baptist Church in Coriscana. She is the president of our district Ladies Auxiliary. She is very good at it. I tag along as a visitor to drive and to enjoy the program, preaching, food, and fellowship.

We had eleven visitors in our services today. It is always good to have visitors. With these present and most of our regular members back we had a good crowd of people. I spent the afternoon working on next Sunday's bulletin. I have taken to putting in the bulletin a section I call "What does it mean." I take a verse of scripture that is difficult to understand and I show the steps it takes to figure out what it means. I am trying to give the people the tools they need to understand the scriptures for themselves. I also worked on the sermon for next Sunday and have it ready to go except for printing it out. I am thinking about preaching through the book of Hosea. In the morning I plan to go by the Hospital to check on a patient there who is having surgery. I should be out in time to make it to the nursing home for the services. Monday afternoon I hope to get the Wednesday night lesson ready and the Sunday School lesson.

I am excited about our church. It seems that things are going very well. I am expecting the Vacation Bible School to be a big success. The camp sign up lists continue to grow. It looks like we are going to have lots of kids at both camps.

Angie called us this morning thinking that Lilia's school work had been left here but it was not. They found it in one of their suitcases. They are doing very well and ready to get back into a normal routine. This last picture is of the grandkids being silly. God bless you.

TOOK

I took the day off today. I even took a nap. I took a walk. I took a steak out of the freezer and cooked it for supper. I took time to look over my 2008 and 2009 blog books. They took me down memory lane. I took time with my wife. I took a pill for a headache. I took time to pray for those who are active members of our church. It took me a while to do that. I took my time studying the 46th psalm which I will preach on Sunday. The Sunday School lesson took from me a half hour or so this morning. My brother whose desire to hike took him to California, is going to head out in the morning on the trail. He called and I took some time to talk to him though his weak signal took away our conversation. I would have enjoyed being with him on this adventure but duty took me from it. The picture is of my son and son-in-law with their laptop computers. They took time on this occasion to teach their sons lessons they will never forget. (Matthew 8:17) That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
God bless you.

They Arrived

Jason called this morning to let us know that all went well with their trip back to France. They were met by friends in Barcelona and the luggage fit but barely. They are going to stay up all day and try to get back on schedule with France time. Jet lag is always tough to get over. We thank God for their safe trip. Jason said he planned to watch our church services Sunday on Skype. Thanks for all your prayers for Jason and his family. The picture is of them in the security check line at the airport. God Bless you.

Good Byes

We got up at 5:30 this morning. I fixed breakfast for those who wanted breakfast that early which was certainly not everyone. We left the house at 6:45 in the rain. The rain stopped about the time we got to the halfway point of our journey to the airport. The traffic was really bad in Fort Worth. The trip without traffic problems takes about an hour and fifteen minutes. We got to the airport at 8:32 which means it took almost 2 hours. I parked at the curb side and everyone piled out. Jason and I unloaded the 10 duffel bags and set them on the curve. I left to park the van and Jason paid the attendant to haul the luggage to the ticket counter. Money well spent, I say. By the time I got back from parking the van they were at the counter weighing in. Only one bag was over weight. Angie quickly removed a handful of items and put them in another bag and all was well. We walked them to the security line and said our final goodbyes. It was not a tearful moment for anyone because we do plan to see them again sometime in September or October. We will see them on SKYPE at least weekly as well.

Janie and I waited until they cleared security and were out of sight then headed back to the van. We paid our $2.00 parking fee and drove home. I worked putting the dinning room back together and putting away some things. Janie wanted to take a nap and so while she got a start on that I checked my email then joined her in making some z's. After a short nap we worked on a few things and then headed for Palestine. I ordered and received in the mail a new GPS for our car. It is very very simple to operate and I think it is a big hit with Janie. She asked it to direct us to Sarah's house and it did. It has an icon on the screen that says "go home" and all you have to do is touch that and it directs you home. This will be really handy for Janie when I am not with her.

When we got to Sarah's house I found the problem with her electric stove that was shocking her. It was a bad heating element and needed to be replaced. We took it with us and with Justin and Sarah in the front and Janie and me in the back seat we went out to eat and then went by the store and got a new "eye", as Justin called it, for the stove. It installed quickly and worked just fine. When we came out of the store we saw the most unusual cloud formation. I took one of these pictures looking strait up into the clouds. There were round pillow like clouds hanging strait down like pears on a tree or giant grapes hanging from a vine. In my whole life I have never seen anything like it. There was a tornado watch in effect for the area so we left Sarah's and headed home. Janie took this other picture of a cloud that was out in front of us and with a tornado watch in effect it caused us a little concern. Our car passed directly under that cloud formation. We did not have any bad weather on the way home and only a little bit of rain. Janie is on the phone with her mother letting her know how our day went. I am looking forward to a busy day tomorrow. God bless you.

Final Goodbyes

I have not blogged for a couple of days choosing rather to spend the last few days enjoying the kids and grandkids since we will not see them again for a while. This first picture is of Sarah and Justin saying goodbye this afternoon. They came over Wednesday night and spent the night with us. We all stayed up until 1:30 Thursday morning visiting. Jason and Angie spent the day packing. They came here with 4 bags and are heading back with 10. This second picture is of the sorting and packing process where they moved the table off to the side to make room for sorting and packing. Janie and I added to the problem by going to the store and buying the kids a toy for a goodbye present. The kids were thrilled to get the toys and very excited.

We will head for the airport at 6:30 in the morning. We will park the van and help them get into the check in area. We will stay with them until they clear security and then if the Lord is willing we will see them in September or October.

Our life should return to normal next week. I need to go over to Palestine Saturday and fix an electrical problem at our daughter's house. That job should not take long and I expect that we will stay for lunch with them and then return to Hillsboro. God bless you.

AM PM

In the AM we had Bible study with the ladies and it was really good. In the PM we had church services in Lorena and it was really good. In between we went to the church and did some work and then I worked on camp registration packets and got them ready to mail. I will head over to the post office in the AM and get those sent off. In the PM we will spend some time with our grandkids and then go to church for services. Thursday will be our last day with Jason, Angie and the kids. We will spend AM and PM helping them get ready for the journey home. The picture is of pizza with Jason and the kids. God bless you.

It's a Girl

Our niece, Jill, had a baby girl born today. Time has gone by so quickly. It was just two years ago that I officiated at Jill's wedding. This is Janie's youngest sister's first grandchild. I can tell them right now that they are going to like being grandparents a lot.

Janie and I visited the nursing home this morning where Janie played the piano for the service. The lady who brought the Bible lesson did a very good job. When we got home we ate lunch and I worked on the church bulletin for Sunday. I got that finished and it was time to go for my hair cut. Janie got hers cut also and when we got home we worked in the yard setting out flowers and putting mulch in the flower beds. I swept off the drive way also and when we were through we had supper and watched the news. It was a quiet day.

Tomorrow morning we have the ladies Bible study and then tomorrow night we will be in Lorena for church services. In between these two I will go to the office to do some work there and hopefully make a few more index cards for the thesis. The picture is of the flowers in front of our house that my mother set out last year. They have really done well. God bless you.

Week End Week Begin

Last week ended with a district ladies auxiliary meeting that was really good. The ladies of 2nd Ave. put on a good skit and the pastor brought a really good message. The food afterward was outstanding. Janie and I missed being at her mother's for the final reunion of our grandkids and so we did not see their tearful goodbyes nor did we see the sweet smile on the face of our newest grandson as pictured in our son's blog. We lay these precious moments as a free will offering on the altar of service to our Lord.
This week began with good services and a sermon on the timing of the Resurrection and rapture of the saints. It continued with a mid-afternoon service at a nursing home where Janie played the piano and I led the singing. I preached a sermon to what seemed like a hungry and grateful audience some of whom were very expressive of their joy and agreement with the sermon. It was a joy to be there. The business meeting closed our day at church and that went well. Janie and I have spent the evening watching TV and enjoying some quiet time together.
Tomorrow we will help in the nursing home services and I will get the sermon ready for next Sunday and the bulletin. Tuesday we have ladies bible study and services in Lorena, Texas with the Faith Missionary Baptist Church.
The volcano in Iceland "Eyjafjallajökull" might cause some delays in Jason's flight plans but hopefully not. We are keeping and eye on it. They say that Eyjafjallajökull's bigger brother might go off next and that can't be good. The increasing number and intensity of volcanoes and earthquakes are signs of the end times. Having just finished the Revelation series of sermons and the timing of the rapture I can't help but be aware of the signs of Christ's coming. He will be here sooner than we think.

My brother, Steve, is headed for California Friday. He is planning to hike on the PCT. He will be sending me text messages to let me know of his progress and I plan to post those here on this blog. Sometime after things settle down a bit Janie and I are going to try and take a couple of days off and do some day hiking together.

The first picture is one I took a few weeks ago of the field behind my father-in-law's house. The second picture is one I took of my father-in-law on his 86th birthday (in the background is Janie and her sister Connie. God bless you.

Golf

Jason and I fixed breakfast for the kids this morning. Jason and Angie were given a huge bunch of hamburger buns so we made cinnamon toast out of them. After breakfast Jason and I loaded our golf bags into the trunk and headed off to play 18 holes. There were not many on the course. We let a group of 3 play through and then later a young man by himself caught up to us and we let him pass us. The sky was overcast but I got sunburned anyway. We both hit some really good shots and some really bad ones. Jason scored 2 strokes more than I did. I will not say how many strokes we had each, suffice it to say it was a lot. I lost as many balls as I found so all in all it was not a bad round of golf. We stopped for a hamburger on our way home.

Janie and I went to the store and picked up some things we needed including some flower bed border. With Jason and the kids help we got the border installed and some tomato plants set out. Between 18 holes of golf and the yard work I should not have to be rocked to sleep tonight.

It's off to the district ladies auxiliary meeting in the morning. I will spend the afternoon getting things ready for Sunday services and maybe even get some more reading done for the thesis. God bless you.

Dallas and Back

I went to Dallas this morning for Clint's surgery and arrived there just a minute or two after they did. They were crossing the street in front of me before I turned into the parking garage. I enjoyed visiting with Clint's parents while he was in surgery. His surgery went well and he is due to have another in May. I got to see Clay and his parents while I was there. Clay is a young boy who was burned badly a year ago in February. Clay looked like he was doing real well.

When I got back home Jason was mowing the yard and I ate some lunch and then went out and trimmed some tree limbs and did some other yard work. The grandkids pitched in and helped. The first picture is of Caleb handing me bricks to stack. I do not have a working wheelbarrow so we put the bricks we wanted to move in a trash can with wheels. He handed them to me and I stacked them. I rewarded his hard work with a fudge sickle. Jason climbed upon the roof (pictured) and trimmed some limbs that were hanging too close to it. We now have a large pile of limbs for the trash man to take off.

Janie set out some flowers and dug weeds out of the flower beds. I cooked supper tonight making spaghetti and Jason made garlic toast. It was all good.

Jason and I are going to try to go play golf tomorrow, weather permitting. I have not played in well over a year. Saturday we will be in Corsicana for the district Ladies Auxiliary meeting. God bless you.

17 Cards

I made biscuits for breakfast this morning and enjoyed eating with the grandkids. I visited with them for about a half hour before heading off to the office. They will be leaving for France a week from Friday.

I worked on a number of things this morning before taking a lunch break. I printed out a list of church members who joined or church between 1930 and 1960. I gave that list to a couple of our ladies at church tonight and they marked the ones that they knew had died. We are trying to clean up our membership list and see if we can contact those who do not attend to see if they will start.

After lunch with the grandkids which consisted of fish sticks, macaroni and cheese, pork and beans, and sliced tomato, I headed back to the office and got to work on my thesis. I am in that phase of the thesis where you read a lot of books and make a lot of 3x5 cards with quotes from the books. I have read 5 books so far and have 17 cards. I am going to have to spend a lot of time on this project this summer because I have about 65 more books to read.

I am off to bed now because I have to get up at 5:00 in the morning and head for Dallas for Clint's surgery. I should be back home, if all goes well, about 2:00 or so. The first picture was of the supper we had in honor of my father-in-law's birthday. The second is of my mother on the left and Sis. Davis on the right. Janie and I sat behind them during the ladies auxiliary meeting yesterday. Janie and I sat many hours over the course of 18 years in these pews at Pleasant Hill. What we learned in this auditorium and the time we spent in these pews helped us greatly to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. God bless you.

Old Acquaintance

We went to the nursing home on Monday and I led the singing of three old hymns of which all were acquainted. We returned home and I went up to the office at the church to do some work. It was all in all a good day.

Today was Old Acquaintance day. We went over to Henderson Monday night and got up this morning to attend the East Texas district ladies auxiliary meeting. Janie, our neice Susie, and I sang a special entitled "Through It All." Jason reported on their work in France and then he preached a really good sermon comparing Zechariah and Mary from Luke chapter one. After eating a very good lunch provided by the ladies of Pleasant Hill there was a funeral at their church. It turned out to be an old acquaintance of ours who had died and so after a short visit with my mother who had also come to the meeting we returned to the church for the funeral. It was good to visit with the family of the lady who had died. Many of them we had not seen in years. We stood in the parking lot of Pleasant Hill church and reminisced of old times. It is somewhat sad that it is so often at funerals that we meet our old acquaintances. The picture was taken when we went over to my mother's for a visit. Mother had an appointment at 2 and Angie stayed at her house while Jason, Lilia, Janie and I went to the funeral.

After the funeral we went to my daughter's house in Palestine. They have been fixing their place up putting a lot of flowers out in their yard. This second picture is of their Azaleas. We went out to eat with them at a Mexican food place and enjoyed our visit. We are home now and waiting for Jason and his family to arrive. It is looking like I will be in bed before they get here. Tomorrow I will be at the church office and Thursday I will be in Dallas for Clint's next surgery.

Sunday I was called by a man who was on a pulpit committee. He wanted to know if I would be interested in coming to his church in view of a call. I told him that I felt very very strongly that I was exactly where God wanted me to be and would not waste their time nor mine by going there. I feel very good about the work here in Hillsboro. I want to stay, as long as God wants me to, right here in Hillsboro until I become to the people here an old acquaintance. God bless you.

Anything But Moribund

Our services today were anything but moribund (lifeless, stagnant). We had a good number in attendance and exciting texts in both Sunday School and the sermon. I finished the book of Revelation and next Sunday will cover the timing of the rapture. We had a quiet afternoon. I will be helping in the nursing home services in the morning and Tuesday morning we will be in Henderson for the Mt. Zion District Ladies Auxiliary. I plan to attend a surgery on Thursday in Dallas and visit at the jail on Friday. So my week is going to be anything but moribund.

The picture is one I took Saturday in our daughter's back yard. My son-in-law built this chicken coop and it is a beauty. It holds a dozen chickens and judging from the eggs Sarah and Caleb (seen here standing at the door) gathered on this day egg production is anything but moribund. God bless you.

Watching Work

I got up about 6:30 this morning and went with Jason and Caleb over to my daughter's house in Palestine. They had a leaking pipe in their attic and they needed some electrical work done. Jason fixed the leak right off the bat. While he was working on that I went outside to take a look at the breaker box and while I was out there I noticed the smell of natural gas. I went back inside and asked Sarah for her dish washing soap. The soap revealed a leak at the meter so she called the gas company. We left to go and pick up the wiring and such that was needed for the installation of my daughter's cook stove. We arrived back at the house the same time as the repairman from the gas company. He fixed the leak and lit the pilots and left while Jason was in the attic pulling wire. My part in this project was to watch. I did very little of the actual work while Jason did the hard part. On the way back to Henderson Caleb fell asleep. We had lunch together and then Jason and his family left for a church activity and we left soon after to return home. Janie drove the first half of the way home while I took a nap. I drove the second half while she napped.

I do not know how many varieties of wild Flowers there are in Texas but its got to be a lot. I took the pictures you see here while walking Friday afternoon. The first one I am not sure of but the second is Texas Buckeye tree according to my father-in-law.

I just finished reviewing the sermon and Sunday school lesson for in the morning. I still have not decided on the sermon for Sunday night. I will, as they say, sleep on it and make up my mind in the morning. God bless you.

Father-in-law's Birthday

Today is my father-in-law's birthday. He turned 86 today. After breakfast I went back to the living room where he spends most of his day and visited with him. I looked up on the Internet and told him things about the year 1924 when he was born. It seems that Doris Day is just six days older than my father-in-law. He told me stories about his past and we had a good visit. We are going to have a party for him later on today.

I have been working on my thesis today putting in about four hours so far. I down loaded a book to my laptop that was written back in 1914 on the subject of the Song of Solomon. It is a good book though the author's arguments that the book should be taken allegorically are not sound. He does make some good points in the book and I am enjoying it. I have made six note cards so far. It is amazing that I can sit here in Chapman, Texas and without leaving my chair I can go to a library and buy a book for a dollar and read it immediately. Technology can be a wonderful thing.

I am going to need to run to town for my mother-in-law and to pick up a few things for the party. We will head over to Palestine, Texas in the morning to fix a leak at our daughter's house and do a little electrical work as well. Its back to Hillsboro Saturday night while Jason and his family spend the night in Henderson. They will be in Greenville, Texas Sunday morning and Mt. Pleasant, Texas Sunday night.

I have the Sermon for Sunday ready to go and the Sunday school lesson as well. I have not chosen the text for Sunday night yet, still thinking on it. The picture is of my daughter Sarah with her newest nephew, Elijah. God bless you.

The List

I went to the post office to check the mail and to mail a letter that I wrote to an inmate in our county jail. I went there this morning after making scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon for the grandkids. I returned home and took a walk with Janie and the kids (pictured). I went over to the church this afternoon and started working on the list. I am talking about our membership list at the church. Currently there is no list. We have a card on each member in a card file. I am making a list on the computer that can be sorted and searched. I will publish this list so people can review it and see if we can remove those who have moved their membership or have died. We have over 400 cards in the file. I entered 176 names this afternoon.
Tomorrow I will be in Waco for a surgery and then tomorrow evening or maybe Friday morning we will head to Henderson. God bless you.

Baby Sit

We had a good ladies Bible study this morning. Angie stayed for the Bible study while Jason took the kids to the park. After the Bible study and lunch I went to the office where I walked and caught up on some Bible reading. I outlined the sermon for Sunday, looked over the Sunday School lesson text, and got the materials ready to mail out to the churches for camp registration.

We are baby sitting the kids while Jason and Angie get away for a night and day. Tomorrow I am going to have the kids help me stuff some envelopes and get them ready to mail. I took this picture of the Kids right before I read them a bedtime story. They had a little trouble settling down but all is quiet now. God bless you.

Witnessing and the Circus

Today was an interesting day. The Lord brought to me a lost man and gave me the opportunity to witness to him. I told him how to be saved and though he did not accept the message right then I believe he may one day. I will keep the door open and keep working on him. It was completely of the Lord that I had this chance to share the Gospel. There is no explanation or reason for the man to be where he was, when he was. I saw right off that this was God at work and I jumped right into it. Thank you, Lord!

After spending time in the office at the church this morning working on the bulletin I took a break for lunch and then returned to the office to continue. I decided to walk while reading the Bible and before I knew it I had walked for an hour and read the first eight chapters of Jeremiah. What a book! I got a good start on the sermon for Sunday and I got the bulletin done so all in all it was a productive day.

About 3:30 this afternoon I went back home and we all loaded up and went to see the Circus. The kids were excited about it and had a really good time. It was a good show and afterward, when we were all loaded up in the van I suggested that we go to McDonald's to eat and Micah threw his arms around me and gave me the biggest hug ever. I wonder if McDonald's Corporation has any idea how much kids like them. The first picture is one of the grandkids during the intermission at the circus. The last picture is of a flower in our back yard. We noticed lots of these on our way home from McDonald's. God bless you.

Easter

We had a very large crowd in church today. The sound man from his loft high above the auditorium counted 93. We had really good services both morning and evening. Jason preached tonight and did a very good job. We had lunch at the house with Jason and his family and Sarah and Justin. We had good conversation afterward. Justin and Sarah left and we took a nap.

Tomorrow I will head over to the office to get some work done. It is going to be a very busy week. Jason and Angie are going to leave the kids with us Tuesday night and Wednesday to get a away for a bit. Janie and I can certainly handle spoiling the grandkids for a night and a day.

Thursday I have a surgery to attend and Friday is Janie's father's birthday. I am not sure of our plans at this time. We will just have to see what the week brings.

The picture is one I took the other day of Jason and Scott playing music together. They are far from cutting a record but they sounded pretty good to me. God bless you.

Prayer In the Sanctuary

I went to the church house today and was there all alone. I went into the sanctuary and had some time alone with God. When I prepare myself for earnest prayer I meditate for just a moment about the one to whom I am praying. It causes me to approach the prayer with great solemnity. I prayed for the services on Easter Sunday. I prayed for the people that would be there and the ones who will be listening on the radio. I asked God to lead me with His Holy Spirit that I might present His word and His message the way He wanted it to be. I ended my converstation with the Lord and started into the sermon, preaching it to the empty pews. About 5 minutes into the sermon I knew that the way I was approaching the text was not what the Lord wanted. I changed and started over. This time I went through the sermon and it just felt right. I even offered the invitation but none of the pews responded. I am really looking forward to preaching Sunday.

This evening Sarah and Justin arrived in time to see Elijah before they left. Then as Stacie and her family headed off there was a trail of transmission fluid left by their car as they started down the driveway. Justin and Scott worked on it and found a leaking hose to be the problem. We went to the car parts store and got a new hose. They had a lot of trouble getting the new hose installed but finally got it done. They are going to try to make it back home tonight and hopefully their van will not give them any trouble.

It is not often we have all of our family together at the same time but I love it when we do. The picture is one I took tonight. From left to right in the picture is Scott, Stacie, Justin, Sarah, Jason, and Angie. God bless you.

Good Friday

It is a good Friday indeed. All of my Grandchildren are here and we are enjoying them. Janie and the girls have gone shopping and the boys are all here at the house except for Elijah. I made a casserole for supper and with the help of the two oldest grandsons I made homemade rolls. They came out really good. The picture is one I took this morning of all nine of our grandchildren.

This day is a holiday for some. Some believe that Jesus was crucified on Friday and rose again on Sunday morning. This is not the truth. A close study of the Gospels reveals that Jesus was crucified on Wednesday and rose from the grave on what would be our Saturday night about sunset. I will not be addressing this issue in the sermon Sunday. I will be talking about the resurrection from the dead. The title of my sermon is "The Death of Death."

My son-in-laws van was having some transmission problems. He worked on it today and it seems to be working right now. It has a transmission fluid leak. I bought what has to be my 10th set of wrenches today. I just could not find the one he needed. Hopefully this set will stay with me.

Tomorrow Jason and his family will return to Henderson and Stacie and her family will return to their home. I will spend the day getting ready for Sunday and working on my thesis.

I had some collect phone calls today from an inmate at the Hill County Jail. It is a sad case and I am praying for this person. I hope my Lord will work things out that this person might repent and be saved. When a person commits a crime they need to confess, plead guilty, throw themselves upon the mercy of the court, be truly sorrow for their actions, repent, vow never to do it again, and then never do it again! The woman caught in adultery was not condemned by Jesus but He did instruct her to "Go and sin no more."

The second picture posted here is of the girls getting their hair ready to go shopping. The third picture is of our son-in-law working on his van. God bless you.