Skyscraper Steve

Here's a cool graphic

that Sharon made a few days ago... love the perspective...

Merry Christmas Ya'll!

A belated Holiday greeting to everybody out there, and hope you all enjoyed yours immensely. I sure did! We're here in Harrisburg, PA, to visit with family & friends over Christmas and new years day. God is good; the whole family was here for Christmas.

But not anymore! Jon flew out to visit folks in Michigan for a couple of weeks just this afternoon. And I'm flying down to Houston before long to begin pastor internship at Bayou Drive Baptist Church! Wherever the Lord moves us, he seems to have plenty for us to do... we'll not be letting the dust settle, that's for sure.

I sure am blessed this Christmas, but then again, aren't we all?

Paris Mountain State Park...

...is a great spot to take pictures! Enjoy!

to the Bayou and back

Just got back from Houston, Texas! Pastor Shawn Nichols, of Bayou Drive Baptist Church, flew me down for the weekend to candidate for a short term pastoral internship. The flight down was uneventful, and got set up on Saturday for the Lord's Day. The morning services went well, Pastor Shawn preached on Mary's song out of Luke 1. It was a great message! Then they had good old fashioned food and fellowship after the service, then for the 'interrogation and torture' session with the men of the church. :)

Starting at 2:00PM and running all the way up to the evening service, we exchanged questions and answers regarding our specific beliefs and standards. It was great to help keep things fresh in your mind about what you believe! And it all went well. In the evening service, I preached a message entitled, "A passion for God", out of Psalm 42:1. As I expected I was more nervous about preaching than I was about answering questions!

But God is good.

On Monday, I was dropped off at the airport at 2PM, and because a series of mishaps, gate changes, terminal changes, airline changes, and departure time changes, wheels didn't leave the ground until about 10:30PM. Crazy. But I'm thankful to be back with my family here in Greenville, SC. I'll keep ya'll updated on the status of the Internship as things unfold. LGBM!

2 choices

A Marine's thanksgiving note

This morning I ran across these thoughts from A U.S marine, Staff Sgt. Mark A. Wojciechowski, concerning the Holiday that we call thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving often passes to some as another holiday: a day of food, family and football, with little more than just tradition and routine setting the tone. To some, it reminds them of the "American Heritage," the whole pilgrims came, made peace with the Indians, shared a harvest together -- and we still celebrate that today.

Thanksgiving is also, to most, a time to give thanks to the Lord, from which all things are made possible and whom without, there would be nothing to be thankful or unthankful for.

Perhaps it is now, [as] I am growing older and have a newfound respect for simpler and less tangible things, or the fact that I am unable to be where I would like to be sometimes, [that] I can describe what Thanksgiving means to me.

Obviously, Thanksgiving means being thankful for the things you have, but what does that include? I am thankful for being blessed with a wonderful family, a family that supports me in every way and is always there for me, even though I try not to need them as much as I probably should. I am thankful for health and well-being, not only my own, but the health and well-being of those around me which I love.

I am thankful for the society we live in and the comforts we take for granted each and every day. Although many will think our system is far from perfect, at least we can rest our heads each night without even so much as a remote worry of bombs being dropped, bullets being shot or poverty in our future.

Of all of the things I am thankful for, none of them would be as rich as they are without giving proper thanks to all of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, in wars past and present, to give me the liberty and freedom.

Even though I am serving in the military and will be spending this holiday away from my home and my family, I am thankful for all of my brethren -- the troops that are currently serving in harm's way. Not only are they away from their families, but they won't even have the pleasure of safety or rest this holiday weekend.

I hope you have a happy and safe holiday. After all, I think being together is one of the things people overlook. It doesn't mean as much until you can't have it.

As for me, my holiday will be just fine. I will be surrounded by a great group of guys, which I have come to love as brothers.

Staff Sgt. Mark A. Wojciechowski ("Tony Wojo"), was killed in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, on April 30, 2009.

A Declaration of Freedom

Hey guys, this is something that you should check out. It's called the Manhattan Declaration, and it's really good. Check out this stuff from the last paragraph; it pretty much sums it all up!

"Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's."

Follow the link to go to the website where you can read the whole thing, and then sign it. It's the first really strong stand for christian morals anybody has taken around here in America in a long while.

manhattandeclaration.org

Pass it along!

Fishing tales

Yep, that's right, fishing. Never would have thought it, huh? Yeah right, ME? Do the fishing thing? OK, I didn't fish, but I was around fishermen, assisting in landing their prize(s).

Thursday night. We want to get involved in as much of the action as we can, so we go with Grace Baptist church to do some visitation. And guess what? Before the night is over, we're seeing 3 people bow their heads. Pray the sinners prayer. And be born again into the family of God. SWEEEEEEEEEEEET! Some awesome fishing story, I tell ya.

OK, so then, since we're near the ocean, and we hear they got fish in there, we get little bro Jason rigged up with a pole and some bait, and we're off the pier. And before we know it, he's hauled in a shark! OK, so it was 21 or so inches long, but until you can catch one PERIOD, we'll laud him for his achievement. And no, it didn't bite our heads off.

OK, so I like fishing. On the lake, on the river, on the coast, it's awesome. But as much as I enjoy the feel of a fighter on the end of my line, I'll trade it for fishing for men, any day of the week!

Just can't beat it.

Aviation Wednesday

Yesterday was a cool aviation themed day! A brother in the church that we're staying with took Jon and I to see the Harrier jump jets at MCAS Cherry Point. Very cool. Then later, on the way to church, we stopped in by invitation to see a former bush pilot friend of ours' airport that he uses for missionary aviation support. Had dinner with he and his wife, and a few other aviation missionaries that were with him, then to church! Pretty sweet day!

Harriers on the tarmac

One of the planes that the brother (who is a aircraft mechanic) is currently working on

Awesome to see 'em up close and personal

The missionary aviation station

inside the hanger? a Cessna 206 and a 152

an 1800 ft. runway is no problem... for a bush pilot...

Here's Dad talking to a WWII vet, who just happens to be the recipient of both the Purple Heart and the Navy Cross

Two veteran bush pilots, Jack Hunt and Mark Robertson.

Family time on the coast

This week we're on the east end on North Carolina. And with the weather being this nice, how can you resist a trip to the shore?

If nothing else, the pictures are nice...

















But, thankfully, they were not the only source of enjoyment. Sure do have fun with the family... :)

Question

Which is your most favorite picture on thebackporchview? Feel free to browse around, check out the archives, then let me know what you think!

Friendship Baptist Church

Pastor Hickman, his family, and his church have been a blessing to us here in St. Pauls, NC. We were in services with them on Wednesday, and for some unknown reason they amazingly decided to have us stay for homecoming services on Sunday! Has to be the Lord...

Well, we sang, and Dad, Myself, and Jonathan all got to preach!

And lo and behold, they still took us to eat afterwards!

LGBM

Hey Ya'll, update. Dad's back is doing a good deal better. We took him to the Chiropractor, yesterday, and then this morning. The Doc took x-rays, and I guess it's a bulging disk, which I guess is because of the tightness of the back muscles. Well, he gave him some adjustments, some kind of cream, and he seems to be improving. (at least he can walk now.. :) ) Thanx for all the prayers!

Hey ya'll, just a quick prayer request. My dad has had back trouble for years. There are good days and bad, but the past few days have been all bad. This morning the pain is to the point that he cannot move. If y'all could take a few minutes and pray for him, we would greatly appreciate it!

Your Life... Your Decision

Airborne and Special Ops Museum

Even though we are missionaries to the military, we won't let a chance pass to learn more, and to rub shoulders with our servicemen (and women). On Friday we went to a museum outside of Fort Bragg, which is the home of the highly decorated 82nd Airborne Division. It didn't disappoint. It's really incredible to see what the special forces fly in, jump out of, shoot, eat, sleep in, drive around in; the whole enchilada!

As we were walking in, over some memorials for soldiers killed in the most recent wars, this woman comes up and says, "That one is my husband." He was a Helicopter pilot that was shot down just 2 years ago. Amazing.

A tank...

A Humvee...




And a couple of fully outfitted (realistic) dudes.

Gone Fishing II

Yesterday it was the brothers on the river show! Here at the Raven Rock State Park in beautiful North Carolina, you just can't resist going out where the sun shines and the wind blows and the water washes by. Only issue: the fish didn't bite. Bummer.

Ah well, the pics were great, and it was a grand time out smack in the middle of God's created splendor!

Our budding fisherman, Jason.
(actually, the only fisherman that day...)

Big bro. baits the hook...

Found a beautiful spot to fish at!

Well, after a little wade (swim?) across the river, he was in need of a dry shirt, and I was the not-so-willing provider of the needed article of clothing.

Getting it done, just like so...

Ah, the photographer's delight!

Headed for home.

Confidence

notes from my guitar

Morning Star Baptist Church

Pastor Ron Young and his family were a real blessing to us this weekend. Doing everything from feeding us multiple times, letting us join in the fun with sports and doing some music too! on Sunday our family sang, Dad preached on the Holy Spirit, and...

Three people got saved! That'll make you day, for sure.

Praise the Lord for like-minded Christians to fellowship with.

Brand new building, just finished this past spring.

The auditorium is a beautiful white and blue theme... really cool.

Singing "What a savior"!

The four PK's singing quartet style!


LGBM!

Expression

The scoop about the 'troops'

Hello all, how is your October going for you? Good. Glad to hear it. It's hard to believe that we're 2/3s of the way done with it already! God's been good, and we've been busy. At the moment, we are in Fayetteville, North Carolina, because as military missionaries, we go to a military base and see if there is a way to interface it with a local church. The installations that we're working with right now are called Fort Bragg and also it's little brother, Pope AFB. Lots of servicemen in the area! Dad's been in contact with the chaplaincy, and the Lord may open the door for us to get something started here.

In the meantime, we're visiting some of the churches in this area, and God's been allowing us to get involved in the singing and the preaching as well! A week ago, I had the opportunity to preach chapel at one of the local christian schools, and Jon at the mission!

We've not been gathering rust, because the He's been pouring out the oil for us.

I've been reading through the New Testament lately, and today I started in on Romans. Verse 1 of the first chapter says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ..." and I thought that it's kind of like this. Let's say you ran across an ancient cure for a widespread and deadly disease. You knew that if you could just tell these sick folks about the cure for their ailment, you wouldn't have any trouble doing whatever it took to get the cure into their hands.

You would do it, even if some people thought you were crazy and weird.

I say, "but it's a little strange to stand on the street corner giving out gospel tracts." Paul says, "I don't care, because it changes lives." I say, "People will look at me like I'm crazy if I knock on their door with a Bible under my arm." Paul says "Jesus can fill the emptiness in their soul and life." And I say, "What will my lost cousin think if I tell him about God's love?" Paul says, "if we can just pull back the curtains and let the Light in, he'll be a totally new person."

This is convicting stuff. I have this phobia of wierd looks and stares. But I feel certain that 99% of you feel the same way. Nobody likes to be thought of a strange! But my desire for God's power to be seen in a HUGE way is going to overpower those feelings. My love for Him is going to be bigger than my view of them. With me?

Just a thought. It may require a thinking cap, and don't do it without a Bible handy.

Psalm 70:4 Let God Be magnified!

Joyfulness

Aspiration