Friday, October 30, 2009

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.



Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Confidence

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

notes from my guitar

Monday, October 26, 2009

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!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Expression

Monday, October 19, 2009

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!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Joyfulness

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Aspiration

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Justice

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

from this view

I stand on the platform , looking out over all these attentive faces. Folks from the city. Folks from the country. Rich folk, poor folks. Black folks, white folks. All different kinds of people. They're here to hear from heaven, and we are the privileged ones charged with delivering the goods.

The piano begins to play, and Mom starts in on the first verse:

He moves among us; all that he does,

In all of his mercy, all of his love.

10 year old Lydia joins in harmony...

If the pen of a writer could write every day;
Even this world could never contain How I've been blessed.

You can see the stir, people sitting up, paying attention, nodding their heads with understanding as God begins to speak to their hearts.

and all of us sing...

Warmth in the winter, flowers in spring

Laughter of summer, the changing of leaves
Food on my table, a good place to sleep,
Clothes on my back, shoes on my feet,
I have been blessed.

A hand is raised in praise as we begin the chorus:

I have been blessed, God's so good to me,
precious are his thoughts of you and me.

No way I could count them, there's not enough time,

So I'll just thank him for being so kind,

God has been good, so good,

I have been blessed.

It's Sunday morning in Richmond, Virginia. Community Bainbridge Baptist Church. Standing where I am, I can see the sin-hardened faces of depleted down-and-outers as the begin to realize how good God has been to them. The mission that the church runs had brought in over half a hundred of them. Young and old.

They came wanting a hand out; but in desperate need of Jesus.

Arms that will raise, a voice that can talk,

hands that can touch, legs that can walk,
ears that can listen, eyes that can see,
I've got to praise him as long as I breathe,
I have been blessed.

A broken man makes his way down to the old-fashioned alter to pour out his soul to the Lord.

A father and mother, who nurture and raise,
sisters and brothers, memories made,

Our pastor to lead us, this alter to pray,

stripes that can heal, the blood that still saves,
I have been blessed.

How can you tell me that God no longer moves in peoples lives? I see it happening as we sing a simple love song to God.

I have been blessed, God's so good to me,
precious are his thoughts of you and me.

No way I could count them, there's not enough time,

So I'll just thank him for being so kind,

God has been good, so good,

I have been blessed.

The beauty of holiness is in changed lives! I wonder how people can live life without seeing it up close and personal. Or even at all.

We live in a country, the greatest on earth,
where the flag stands for freedom, and what it is worth,
She stands in the harbor, Miss Liberty calls,
all gave some, but some gave it all,
so we could be blessed.

He's my shoulder to lean on when I am down,
that rock where he leads me, when I'm overwhelmed,
the place where he hides me, under his wings,
he's not just a song, he's the reason I sing!

We've been blessed! God's sooooooo good to us! Our song's just a period at the end of this sentence compared to the UNIVERSE of praise that he deserves.

I have been blessed, God's so good to me,
precious are his thoughts of you and me.

No way I could count them, there's not enough time,

So I'll just thank him for being so kind,

God has been good, so good,

I have been blessed.

The final chorus. We take our seats, in awe of what God just did. It makes you want to spend forever and ever recounting His goodness in your life.

Isn't it great to know that we will in heaven?

***




Friday, October 9, 2009

Washington D.C. wrap up!


On our 3rd day in D.C., we explored the Smithsonian Museums, as well as the Capitol building. The air and space museum was pretty cool, they had a lot of the original artifacts that I had heard about all my life. Like the Bell X-1 and the Spirit of St. Louis! After this we looked around outside the Capitol building.

Here's a crazy little story. We were standing around the step of the Capitol ... Dad was just asking around for a bathroom, and the security guard that he just happened to be talking to (Dad can talk to just about anybody) told him that if he went to a certain area and asked to see the senate in session, they would let us into the capitol building! It sounds crazy, but before the night was out, we had sat in the senate meeting room while they were debating about health-care! Crazy. Dad has the touch, I tell you. :)

Anyway, here are some pics of the day:




Our family (sans photographer Dad in front of the Capitol building.




This is the flag that inspired our national anthem as it flew over for McHenry in 1812...




yours truly...




Jonathan and I...




Standing on Capitol Hill!





and the night view.

It was an exciting tour of D.C. this week, and I am very thankful to be living in the Good 'ol U S of A!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Monday, October 5, 2009

Guess where I was today?





































Mini missions conference

We were blessed to be able to sit in on Fairfax Baptist Temple's mini missions conference yesterday! Dr. Don Sisk, bro. Tom Crawford, and others preached, and God's people were fed the heavenly stuff. :) Thank the Lord for his mercy and grace.




Our faithful 'home on wheels'!




Going to Sunday School!




My Dad and mom are awesome spiritual leaders.




Bro. Tom Crawford, missionary to Indonesia since 1973.



Dr. Tom Sisk, Chairman of missions at West Coast Baptist College.



A men's ensemble from FBT.



Missions is high priority at FBT, here some missionaries receive gifts from the church.



Saturday, October 3, 2009

Traveling blessings and woes :)

I love traveling! We are so blessed to be able to be a part of something that's nationwide, and sometimes global. I get to spend my time helping people. Take last Wednesday for example. God has allowed us to have a ministry of singing and preaching, and we were able to minister to Gateway Baptist Church in Rising Sun Maryland. It was a blast just being with God's people, and letting God have his way in out hearts and lives.

On the flip side, life does have its surprises! We just got done changing a flat tire on our trailer, but even so it could be MUCH worse. Thank God for his provision.

So I guess the moral of the story is trust God and keep your powder dry. (Oliver Cromwell.)






















 
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