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.