Gator Morals

Ministry Update

The Lord gave us a rather interesting weekend. We started out for the Maranatha Baptist Church of Yorktown, Virginia a day early on Friday of last week. After driving as far as Emporia, Virginia, we received a call from a member of the church staff telling us that they were not expecting us until September 28, two weeks later. We were scheduled to be in another church that week. After a few phone calls, I was able to get a replacement for my September 28 meeting so that we could honor the preparation that Maranatha had made as well as the preparation that the other church had made. In the end, both churches got to have their meetings when they had planned, but that left us with no place to preach on Sunday. After calling some friends in the area, the Lord opened a door for us to preach in the Great Hope Baptist Church of Chesapeake, Virginia, a little less than an hour from where our trailer was parked.

Financially, times were tight for us. The reason we continued on to the Tidewater area even though the church had not been expecting us was that we did not have the fuel or the money to go back home. In fact, when we arrived at Great Hope Sunday morning, we had an empty fuel tank, and empty bank account, and a nearly empty pantry back in the trailer. Pastor Godfrey of Great Hope Baptist Church was gracious enough, not only to give us an honorarium, but also to nearly fill our truck with fuel. The scheduling faults of men were overturned and God provided for our needs. We are grateful for the work that God did in providing for us in His usual, unexpected way.

Family Update

All is normal around the house, with the everyday squabbles over favorite toys and books, as well as the usual tattling over insignificant incidents. The other night, Abigail came in to tell me that Esther bit Josiah. As I launched my lecture on the evils of biting and its dire consequences, Esther happily shrieked, “I alligator!” Is it morally wrong for an alligator to bite someone – especially an evil pirate who is chopping at her with a sword?

We had a toy purge on Saturday in which all the old, broken, and unused toys were cleaned out and donated to the Goodwill. This is always done with much excitement on my part just to be getting rid of it, and on the children’s part because they think that, now that the old toys are gone, they will soon be getting new. This is a sad reality, because Christmas is not that far away, and we will once again be inundated with more worthless Chinese junk. However, for now, it is nice to have a little breathing room in the trailer.

Josiah is feverishly working on his loosest tooth, trying to wiggle it loose enough for me to pull out. He is such a snaggletooth already. I am not sure how he is going to eat with another missing tooth. Perhaps this is the answer to the astronomical grocery bill – just pull out all his teeth and he can live on Jello! Abigail keeps telling me she has a loose tooth, but it is just peer pressure.

For those of you who are waiting for my next piano arrangement book, I have good news. When our trailer was in the shop, I was able to write out several of my arrangements that have long been swirling around in my head. While they still need some editorial tweaking, the bulk of the work is done. Now I just need to come up with enough to fill a book – at least eight more arrangements. I would appreciate your prayers in this matter.