Give Me Diesel in My Dodge

[This update actually went out August 20, but I was unable to post in online until now.]

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a good start to the meeting here at Gilead Baptist Church in Macon, GA. I am eagerly looking forward to the schedule of preaching twice a day every day this week through Friday. Please pray that the Lord will give me an entrance into the hearts of the young people and the adults of the church.

The Lord supplied our needs in an unusual way today. After the afternoon meal, I had to fuel my truck. I had noticed diesel for $2.89 a gallon, but passed up the intersection without making the proper turn. I found another corner station that also had fuel, but the young man in charge of setting the pump had made a mistake. Instead of setting the pump to charge $2.89 a gallon, he set it to $1.89 a gallon. I paid with my credit card and pumped and pumped as much fuel as I could fit in my tank. I got over 30 gallons for less than $60. I tried to communicate to the store owners that their pump was set wrong and they argued with me. It may have been hard for them to understand since they all spoke English as fourteenth language. At any rate, it was a blessing from God to be able to save $30 on fuel today.

Terminator-Teacher

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a great meeting in Macon, GA. For those of you that prayed that the Lord would give me an entrance into the hearts of the young people, be assured that God answered your prayers. I suppose the culmination of my friendship with the young people at Gilead Christian Academy was the opportunity I had to attend a volleyball game on Friday afternoon. I was amazed anew at how much it meant to everyone involved. We also had a great beginning to our meeting here in Semmes, AL (Mobile area) where beginning tomorrow, I will once again be preaching twice a day. Thank God for the busy days of service! The meeting runs through Friday and for all of those concerned, we do have a contingency plan in case of a hurricane. God knows whether or not we will have to use it; at this point I am putting little confidence in meteorological predictions.

Please pray for our fall schedule, it having been decimated with cancellations. I would love to see those empty weeks fill up. As always, God knows and He has a specific plan for us. Your prayers for us are always greatly appreciated, and I will do my best to keep you informed of how God answers.

Paul

Family Update

Well, the last time we were in this area, some of you may remember, we were invaded by hordes of ants. Guess who dropped in for a visit? You got it – the ants! It must be something about the area. I really don’t think it has anything to do with Paul’s preaching, as good as it is. We have sprayed ant killer stuff outside the trailer in vain. They still come and come and come. Did you know that Windex multi task spray will paralyze them in their tracks? It is kind of cool. I feel like the Terminator. The house is really clean, too.

The pastor told us Sunday morning that tropical storm Ernesto had just been upgraded to hurricane status and that it was headed straight for us. The people of the church scoffed, saying that it will change directions fifty times before landfall. That is a great comfort. By Sunday evening, it had downsized to a tropical storm again. What a relief. The humidity right now is extreme, even though the temperature is only in the 90’s. We are anticipating a great meeting anyway. Pray that Paul doesn’t preach up any more storms. Ha!

Most of you know how hectic a Sunday morning can be trying to get everyone ready and out the door in one piece. We were doing well as far as time was concerned, and I was pleased with myself for getting everyone ready not just on time, but early! I had set my shoes out by the door while I finished my hair and makeup, etc. So, I was very unpleasantly surprised when I went to put on my shoes and there was only one! Of course, the kids knew nothing about it. Josiah blamed it on Abigail, and Abigail “didn’t know.” It resulted in a ten-minute, four man search around the trailer. As I limped around the trailer on one shoe, feeling like Cinderella, I muttered under my breath about how many places it could be in a 38 foot trailer. I mean, really! We looked under the chair, the couch, the beds, the toy box (as if anyone puts anything in there), and even outside, thinking that it might have fallen out when Paul opened the door. I don’t think I looked in the refrigerator, but we checked the bathtub and the trash. It finally came to light under a laundry basket full of clothes. How it got there, I can only imagine. I threatened the children about ever touching my shoes again, and we all went happily off to Sunday School. Of course, by that time, we were no longer early. Oh, well. We will try again next week!

Josiah has completed his second week of school, and has learned to write almost all of his vowels legibly. There is something to be said for handwriting practice. He is still very excited about the whole thing, and I am capitalizing on that fact. Someone gave him a three-foot inflatable bat in junior church on Sunday, and it has already been doomed to the trash can. I told him, while we were driving down the road, that if he hit me in the head with it again, I was going to bite holes in it. That calmed things down a bit, and I have to wait a while longer to get rid of it! I am such a heartless mother! I suppose I could always deflate it and send it on a mini-vacation under the bed. That would be nicer than biting holes in it.

Abigail is as wild as ever. She climbs, jumps and falls with such regularity that it is no longer remarkable. However, the other day, I was getting ready to give Esther a bath, and carried her into our bedroom while getting out her towel and washcloth. I heard a commotion in the kid’s room at the other end of the trailer. I turned nonchalantly and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. There was Josiah, lying on the floor with the bunk bed ladder on top of him, and hanging on for dear life above him on the bunk railing was Abigail! I quickly (but gently) dumped Esther on the bed, and sprinted for the impending disaster, calling out to Abigail to “Hang on!” Thankfully, I reached her before her arms gave out and the disaster was averted. Somehow, between the two of them, they managed to unhook the ladder form the top bunk without realizing it. I lectured them once again about being careful, and they continued playing.

One of their favorite things to play is “puppies” where they crawl around on all fours, barking, panting, and whining. There is a slight variation of this game called “dinosaurs” in which they crawl around the house roaring. Lovely. Anyway, it was not long ago when I overheard Josiah telling Abigail, “No, I will be the Mama dinosaur, because I’m the prettiest!” What will he think of next?

Sarah

Last night after the service as we were having a time of fellowship with the pastor and other members of the church, I looked up to see Abigail picking up each of the CD's on our table and running them through the drinking fountain. She had finished about a third of them before I was able to stop her. This morning, while I was preaching in a preacher's fellowship meeting, she irrigated my sermon notes from last night's message. Evidently, she finds my pulpit ministry dry and wants to help in that regard.

Paul

Terminator-Teacher

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a great meeting in Macon, GA. For those of you that prayed that the Lord would give me an entrance into the hearts of the young people, be assured that God answered your prayers. I suppose the culmination of my friendship with the young people at Gilead Christian Academy was the opportunity I had to attend a volleyball game on Friday afternoon. I was amazed anew at how much it meant to everyone involved. We also had a great beginning to our meeting here in Semmes, AL (Mobile area) where beginning tomorrow, I will once again be preaching twice a day. Thank God for the busy days of service! The meeting runs through Friday and for all of those concerned, we do have a contingency plan in case of a hurricane. God knows whether or not we will have to use it; at this point I am putting little confidence in meteorological predictions.

Please pray for our fall schedule, it having been decimated with cancellations. I would love to see those empty weeks fill up. As always, God knows and He has a specific plan for us. Your prayers for us are always greatly appreciated, and I will do my best to keep you informed of how God answers.

Paul

Family Update

Well, the last time we were in this area, some of you may remember, we were invaded by hordes of ants. Guess who dropped in for a visit? You got it – the ants! It must be something about the area. I really don’t think it has anything to do with Paul’s preaching, as good as it is. We have sprayed ant killer stuff outside the trailer in vain. They still come and come and come. Did you know that Windex multi task spray will paralyze them in their tracks? It is kind of cool. I feel like the Terminator. The house is really clean, too.

The pastor told us Sunday morning that tropical storm Ernesto had just been upgraded to hurricane status and that it was headed straight for us. The people of the church scoffed, saying that it will change directions fifty times before landfall. That is a great comfort. By Sunday evening, it had downsized to a tropical storm again. What a relief. The humidity right now is extreme, even though the temperature is only in the 90’s. We are anticipating a great meeting anyway. Pray that Paul doesn’t preach up any more storms. Ha!

Most of you know how hectic a Sunday morning can be trying to get everyone ready and out the door in one piece. We were doing well as far as time was concerned, and I was pleased with myself for getting everyone ready not just on time, but early! I had set my shoes out by the door while I finished my hair and makeup, etc. So, I was very unpleasantly surprised when I went to put on my shoes and there was only one! Of course, the kids knew nothing about it. Josiah blamed it on Abigail, and Abigail “didn’t know.” It resulted in a ten-minute, four man search around the trailer. As I limped around the trailer on one shoe, feeling like Cinderella, I muttered under my breath about how many places it could be in a 38 foot trailer. I mean, really! We looked under the chair, the couch, the beds, the toy box (as if anyone puts anything in there), and even outside, thinking that it might have fallen out when Paul opened the door. I don’t think I looked in the refrigerator, but we checked the bathtub and the trash. It finally came to light under a laundry basket full of clothes. How it got there, I can only imagine. I threatened the children about ever touching my shoes again, and we all went happily off to Sunday School. Of course, by that time, we were no longer early. Oh, well. We will try again next week!

Josiah has completed his second week of school, and has learned to write almost all of his vowels legibly. There is something to be said for handwriting practice. He is still very excited about the whole thing, and I am capitalizing on that fact. Someone gave him a three-foot inflatable bat in junior church on Sunday, and it has already been doomed to the trash can. I told him, while we were driving down the road, that if he hit me in the head with it again, I was going to bite holes in it. That calmed things down a bit, and I have to wait a while longer to get rid of it! I am such a heartless mother! I suppose I could always deflate it and send it on a mini-vacation under the bed. That would be nicer than biting holes in it.

Abigail is as wild as ever. She climbs, jumps and falls with such regularity that it is no longer remarkable. However, the other day, I was getting ready to give Esther a bath, and carried her into our bedroom while getting out her towel and washcloth. I heard a commotion in the kid’s room at the other end of the trailer. I turned nonchalantly and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. There was Josiah, lying on the floor with the bunk bed ladder on top of him, and hanging on for dear life above him on the bunk railing was Abigail! I quickly (but gently) dumped Esther on the bed, and sprinted for the impending disaster, calling out to Abigail to “Hang on!” Thankfully, I reached her before her arms gave out and the disaster was averted. Somehow, between the two of them, they managed to unhook the ladder form the top bunk without realizing it. I lectured them once again about being careful, and they continued playing.

One of their favorite things to play is “puppies” where they crawl around on all fours, barking, panting, and whining. There is a slight variation of this game called “dinosaurs” in which they crawl around the house roaring. Lovely. Anyway, it was not long ago when I overheard Josiah telling Abigail, “No, I will be the Mama dinosaur, because I’m the prettiest!” What will he think of next?

Sarah

Last night after the service as we were having a time of fellowship with the pastor and other members of the church, I looked up to see Abigail picking up each of the CD's on our table and running them through the drinking fountain. She had finished about a third of them before I was able to stop her. This morning, while I was preaching in a preacher's fellowship meeting, she irrigated my sermon notes from last night's message. Evidently, she finds my pulpit ministry dry and wants to help in that regard.

Paul

Sowing

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a good meeting with Pastor Roger Maxwell at Emmanuel Baptist Church of Keene, NH this week. It was his first revival meeting in the history of the church and Pastor Maxwell was very pleased with the faithfulness of his members. We had visitors every night of the meeting in addition to the members who were so faithful. We also had a group of teenagers from Northside Baptist Church in Charleston, SC who provided special music and did whatever was asked of them.

Every night we met in a room of the local YMCA building. Last night when we arrived at 6:30, we found the pianos rolled out of the room, the chairs taken down and the room prepared for a rock concert featuring several bands from all over New England. The Y had doubled booked and in the end, we relocated to another church in town that was gracious enough to lend us their building on the spot. In spite of the relocation, we still had visitors, two of whom were in their late fifties or early sixties and heard the Gospel for the very first time last night. Although they did not move during the invitation, the response to Pastor Maxwell after the service was very positive. He reminded me that we very well could have planted seeds that will take some time before they yield the fruit. He was very gracious.

A week from today we leave for another meeting, this time with the whole family and the trailer. We will start in GA in August and will not return to NC until December. Thank you so much for your prayers.

Family Update

It has been a busy summer for us. Esther is adjusting well to the family, and the family all loves her. She is proving to be a very happy and “good” baby, for which I am very thankful.

Josiah is now five years old (can it be possible?) and ready to start kindergarten next week. As I was going over my lesson plans, the thought occurred to me that before I started reading the lesson plans, it seemed a lot simpler than it did after I finished them. Josiah told me that he is “very exciting” about starting school. I believe my biggest challenge in schooling Josiah will be Abigail. Consequently, both children have new crayons, pencils, and folders. Perhaps Abigail will be easier to handle if she is doing “school,” too. Only time will tell.

We had a birthday party for Josiah last weekend and invited a bunch of his little friends. There were eight boys from 4-6 years of age, so, as you can imagine, it was quite wild. They played pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs, and balloon volleyball inside, and then the fun began! What little boy doesn’t enjoy running, jumping, yelling, and throwing things? We went outside in the extremely hot afternoon and had relay races and a huge water balloon fight, complete with squirt guns and a water hose manned by Paul. After the 200 water balloons were gone (I actually had blisters on my fingers from tying them all), we went in and ate hamburgers, hot dogs, cake, ice cream and Popsicles. Josiah was so excited that he actually was able to have cake. This year, I made him baked oatmeal and put cream cheese icing on it. Everyone commented on how surprised they were that it tasted good. After the last “cake,” I was a bit surprised myself! Anyway, Josiah ate lots of birthday cake. He even tried to eat the piece he dropped on the ground! I have finally found the perfect recipe for his birthday cake, and I am thrilled!

Abigail is slowly being potty trained. I say slowly because she stays dry all night long and will go in the morning, but will not tell me any other time during the day. We are, however, making progress, so I am not the least inclined to complain. I have a lot of other things on my plate right now.

This past week, I had Esther’s picture taken with a coupon for a free picture. The photographer told me that the packages were comparable in price to the hospital pictures that we purchased earlier, so when I saw the proofs I was excited about getting some pictures. The photos were so good! Then she showed me the packages. After I fell off my stool, I got back up and pretended that the prices were not really outrageous, and smiled and nodded politely – all while in shock. I sent the lady away with nothing but my free pictures. I suppose every mother’s heart squeezes when she sees the cutest baby pictures walking out the door never to be seen again, but I have survived, and am now wiser than ever. Lesson learned: don’t believe anything a salesman tells you.

This has been an extremely long update by reason of the fact that I have procrastinated in writing the last few weeks. Please forgive me… Hopefully, the next one will be much shorter. Be in prayer for us as we head out next weekend for several months. We will be gone until late November/early December. The Lord has been so gracious to us, giving us safety over thousands of miles, but we do not want to take that for granted. Thank all of you for your prayers.

Sarah

Home Again

Ministry Update

I arrived back home around 1:00 this morning. It was good to be home. The Lord gave us a wonderful meeting in New Castle IN. The meeting went Sunday through Sunday with no services on Friday or Saturday. During the week, each service was a teen rally in which I did almost all of the public work: piano, program, preaching, etc. The only thing that I didn’t do was pray for the meal each night. It was a tiring week, but a fruitful one: we saw 8 teens trust Christ as Savior.

I leave again Saturday headed for Keene, NH to preach a revival meeting for Roger Maxwell. Thank you for your prayers last week and I covet them again this coming week.

Family Update

My wife and family are glad to have me home. Sarah had a list of things for me to do from unusual cleaning projects to fix up things around the house. She took a few hours getting used to having a man to order around the house again. Before long, however, she was back to normal. When I went outside to take out the trash Tuesday, Abigail got a forlorn look on her face and asked, “Is Daddy gone again?” She was much encouraged to hear that I would be right back. After the NH meeting we will take off driving and be together again.

Paul