Apr
30
2008
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WEDNESDAY, 4/30/08

Where did April go?  Or the first four months of 2008?  Wow, time does fly when you are having fun!  I am posting early again this morning as my body continues to remain in China.  I have been advised to take Tylenol PM but I am not much on taking meds plus it turns AM at midnight so that wouldn’t last but a couple of hours! 

I forgot to mention that yesterday, 4/29, was Tom Werkema’s birthday.  Of course, when you get as old as Tom you don’t worry about birthdays anymore!  He helped Noah on the ark!  Happy belated birthday, Tom! 

I don’t understand the fares on airlines or computers.  Tanya Bosarge posted a comment on 4/22 and I just got it for moderation this morning.  It relates to Stephanie’s expertise in yard work, house work, et cetera.  Give it a read, please! 

Lisa and I attended the funeral service for John W. Joyner, Sr yesterday morning.  He passed away late last week.  He is a grandfather-in-law to Amber Rogers Joyner and an uncle by marriage to Traci Wells Holifield.  It was a difficult funeral but I have to say that Pastor Derrall Marshall, 1st Baptist Bayou La Batre, did a great job.  Also, Mark Jones (Nadine Holifield’s brother) and Mr. & Mrs. Steve Johnson (Dirk’s parents) did a very nice job in sharing special music.  Pray for the Joyner family.

I went to the visitation for the Sean Dickens family yesterday afternoon too.  I went early because I knew the place would be very crowded as the evening progressed.  I will not be able to attend the service at 10:00AM this morning due to our service at the same time.  Pray for the Dickens family. 

Remember, the memorial service for Judy Ziglar (Jodi’s mother) will take place Friday, 5/2, at 10:00AM from the Theodore United Methodist Church.  Pray for the Ziglar family.

David Wynn was released from the hospital yesterday.  He has an appointment with the doctor this morning so please keep praying for David and his family.

We are on a regular schedule today.  I hope each member of the Friendship family will join us for one of the Bible studies and/or services.  We will have our college/young professionals Bible study at 8:00PM with free food!  (That’s how we get TJ Vice and Dale Bosarge to come faithfully!)

I mentioned Mark doing a nice job on his solos and the Johnsons doing likewise on their duet.  What happened to Nadine and Dirk? 

Rumor has it that Jennifer and Jordon are moving their wedding date to July 12 instead of having it on an Alabama football home game Saturday!  Actually, Jennifer simply wants to beat Pam Landry to the altar!  You ever wonder where all these rumors come from?

I pray that you will have a great Wednesday with Jesus! 

Written by Teddie in: Daily |
Apr
29
2008
1

TUESDAY, 4/29/08

It is imperative that I hear from some folks today relating to Wild Week.  I did not receive forms from Deanna Crawley, Brittney Teasley, Juleigh Medrano, Alyssa Brown, Kayla & Matthew Porter, Whitney Webb, Konnor Brannon, Devin Johnson, Dalton Bartlett, or Joshua O’Bannon for the middle school week.  The same is true for Kristen Whitehurst, Lauren Patterson, Cameron Watson, Drew Crawley, Ben Mallett & Dustin Bartlett for the senior high week.  I must hear from these folks today so please help spread the word! 

Raymond Wilkinson – I need you on the first week so give me a holler today!

The family of Sean Dickens will have a time of visitation tonight from 5:00 – 8:00PM and a service tomorrow morning at 10:00AM.  These events will take place at the St. John’s Catholic Church in Grand Bay.  Sean will be buried in Serenity Memorial Gardens. 

The family of Judy Ziglar will have a memorial service on Friday at 10:00AM from the Theodore United Methodist Church.  That church building is located next to the high school in Theodore.  Pray for these families! 

David Wynn remains hospitalized and in need of our prayers. 

Today is Mariam Moates’ birthday.  Happy birthday to Mariam!  What a sweet lady!

The girls and I continue to be affected by jet lag from our China trip.  The good news is that I did not wake up at midnight last night!  (I guess it helped that I didn’t go to bed until 2:30AM!)  Dana & Gina are waking up between 4:00 – 5:00AM each morning. 

I pray that you will have a great Tuesday with Jesus! 

Written by Teddie in: Daily |
Apr
28
2008
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MONDAY, 4/28/08

A couple of families are going through the beginning stages of the grieving process right now and need our prayers.  Sean Dickens’ life was taken in automobile accident early yesterday morning.  He was 20 years old.  His mother, Linda, has been a teacher in Grand Bay for many, many years and presently teaches at Brietling Elementary.  Pray for the Dickens family.

Jodi Johnson’s mother, Judy Ziglar, passed away in the early evening hours last night.  She has been battling cancer for some time now and has lived much longer than the medical folks believed she would.  I can remember Willie calling me in November to say her death was imminent but she just kept on living.  However, we are never fully ready to lose a loved one so the Ziglar family needs our prayers during this time. 

 Christy Wynn was in the service last night but I didn’t get to talk to her.  However, I assume David is still hospitalized and believe that is a safe assumption. 

I did hear from Gena Davis telling me that Gene did well during his surgery last Tuesday and came home from the hospital this past Friday.  He is looking at additional surgery in the very near future.  Thanks for the update Gena.  Keep praying for Gene (actually Gena probably needs prayer more than he does!). 

The Lord blessed and we had a good day in our services yesterday.  It was good to be back in the pulpit. 

Any students who missed the Wild Week meeting last night need to contact me personally today – if not sooner!  This is important!

We will have our senior recognition day on Sunday, May 18, during the 10:30AM service.  We need all members of the Class of 2008 to contact the church office this week to let us know of your graduation. 

I read this morning of a train accident in China today.  A bullet train going from Beijing to Qingdao jumped the track and hit an oncoming train with at least 66 folks killed as a result and many others injured.  That got my attention as we were on the bullet train traveling from Qingdao to Beijing just last Sunday night.  When Lisa, Dana, Gina, & I got home early last Thursday morning, the first thing we did was stop and pray thanking God for His watchcare over us as we traveled via car, plane, bus, train, boat, et cetera during our trip.  We are grateful for His protection! 

On a lighter note, our missionary friend in Canada, Mark Mast, e-mailed me Saturday night to say they were getting 15 – 18 inches of snow and the wind was causing huge snow drifts.  Amazingly, they had church services yesterday morning.  Wow! 

T. Garrett, your grandmother gave me some advice in regard to Johna joining us on a GRACE trip! 

I pray that you will have a great Monday with Jesus! 

Written by Teddie in: Daily |
Apr
26
2008
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KAYLA BROWN GETTING MARRIED?

Melissa Brown e-mailed me yesterday to say that Kayla had some good news to share with me so I am assuming that she is getting married!  Congratulations Kayla!  (Odd thing is that she didn’t even have a boyfriend before I left for China)  Is this how rumors get started? 

Written by Teddie in: Daily |
Apr
26
2008
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SATURDAY, 4/26/08

David Wynn, Christy’s husband, was taken by ambulance to a local hospital late yesterday afternoon.  He was initially unresponsive and then began to respond before the doctors decided that it was best to sedate him as they did some testing.  I left the hospital a little before 9:00PM and haven’t heard an update through the night so the situation must be unchanged.  Pray for David, Christy, and the family. 

Written by Teddie in: Daily |
Apr
25
2008
1

FRIDAY, 4/25/08

My body is in China!  I will not bore you with the details but suffice it to say that I am (we are) going through an adjustment with this sleeping thing.  It’s all good! 

Eddie & Sue arrived in Hartselle, AL safe and sound last night and I am sure they have held and rocked Jace for several hours already!

As far as I know, we do not have anyone in the hospital at the present time.  That is a good thing!  We continue to have folks battling various afflictions and we certainly want to keep praying for them.  Genesis, from Casa Aleluya in Guatemala, received a kidney via a transplant this past Wednesday and is doing well, as is the donor, Danissa, her sister.  Pray for these various needs. 

By the way, Gene Davis was to have had surgery on 4/22.  Gena, is he okay? 

We are there on our pastors’s conference as we now have 100 donations/pledges for scholarships in hand.  Actually, we may be one over but I need to confer with Miss Edna before making that determination.  However, I do know that we are there – glory to God!  Thank you Friendship family for giving graciously to the Lord! 

Several folks from outside the Friendship family have expressed an interest in helping financially with this conference.  In the coming weeks/months, I will be letting you know what the other needs are related to this conference.  We want to equip each of these 100 pastors with a small library of three or four books that will help them in their studies/ministries.  We will for sure be needing your help to finance this portion of the trip.  Thank you for giving to the Lord!

We are having a mandatory meeting of all Wild Week participants this Sunday evening, 4/27, immediately following our worship service.  All WW participants and at least one parent of each participant must attend this meeting.  This is important! 

We have received a number of calls, e-mails, et cetera from folks welcoming us home.  Thank you!  Again, the trip to China was totally awesome.  The English poet, John Keats, is reported to have said, “nothing becomes real until it is experienced.”  I have found this to be very true and I can now add China to my list of “real” things in my life. 

I know he is my brother but Eddie, along with Sue, went way above and beyond in hosting us.  (You would think that he would not have been so kind considering that I used to beat him so badly in basketball, football, et cetera in our childhood days)  Words can’t adequately describe our appreciation for their many kindnesses to us. 

Also, we are very appreciative to the members of the Friendship family and staff for doing whatever it took while we were away.  Lisa, the girls, and I are blessed and we don’t take that lightly!  Of course, our ultimate thanks goes to our Heavenly Father for His manifold blessings!  We serve an awesome God! 

Tomorrow, 4/26, is Adrian Bates’ birthday!  It is also Tyrone Crawley’s birthday.  (I mention Tyrone’s because mama taught me to always respect my elders!)  Sunday, 4/27, is Raymond Wilkinson’s birthday!  Happy birthday to these three wonderful folks! 

T. Garrett Wright, who is supposed to be cramming for finals in a difficult law school at Fordham, graciously takes the time to read this entries and point out my grammatical mistakes!  What a great friend!  Deidra, Lindsey H., & Jennifer W. can find the obvious like “he dun good” but the deeper ones escape them but not T. Garrett!  I stand corrected from yesterday’s entry.  All I can say is that TGW will probably feel really bad in a day or two when he checks his mail! 

In closing, Mrs. Elsie Culbreath was my 8th grade English teacher.  She had us learn a poem, America For Me, by Henry Van Dyke and that came to my mind this past Wednesday as we readied to come home.  The last stanza says, “Oh, it’s home again, and home again, America for me!  I want a ship that’s westward bound to plough the rolling sea, To the blessed land of room enough, beyond the ocean bars, Where the air is full of sunlight, and the flag is full of stars.”  Truly, there is no place like home!   

I pray that you will have a great Friday with Jesus! 

Written by Teddie in: Daily |
Apr
24
2008
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THURSDAY, 4/24/08

God is good – we arrived home at 1:30AM this morning having arrived safely in Atlanta by plane at 6:00PM and on to Grand Bay by way of our own vehicle.

Mediacom is experiencing difficulty in our area so I walked over to the office to update the blog.  My body is telling me it is daytime (China) but I slept only an hour or two total on the plane while it was night (China).  So, I am about to try and get some sleep but not too much as I need my body to turn around. 

Pray for my brother, Eddie, and his wife, Sue, as they have just left China on the same flight we had yesterday.  (You probably should pray that they can recover after ten days with the four of us!) 

I think we are there on our scholarships for the pastors’ conference.  I will let you know in my next update which could come later today. 

Thanks for praying.  I hope you will have a great Thursday with Jesus!   

Written by Teddie in: Daily |
Apr
22
2008
1

TUESDAY, 4/22/08

This entry is late and it is also the final one I will write from China on this trip.  It is late because we checked out of the hotel this morning and just now got to another hotel in Shanghai.  It is the final one because we will be traveling in the air from 2:45AM (Alabama time) until 5:25PM (Alabama time) on Wednesday, 4/23.  Our Delta flight number is 18.  We are scheduled to arrive in Atlanta and then drive home either tomorrow night or Thursday – depending on what my body tells me. 

We have had a good Tuesday.  This morning, Eddie did some work from the hotel, Lisa & Sue went shopping (imagine that), and I took Dana & Gina swimming in the hotel pool.  Eddie, the girls, and I then met Sue & Lisa for lunch at another Chinese restaurant called Outback Steakhouse.  We then spent some time in the market before going to view some of the venues for the Olympics – you should see The Bird’s Nest (soccer fields) and the swimming building – wow! 

The traffic in Beijing is terrible so we had to leave early for the airport as our flight left at 7:00PM.  We arrived in Shanghai at 9:00PM and got to our room shortly after 10:00PM.  Eddie made it possible for all of us to sit in the first class section which was a nice gesture.  I actually ate my first Chinese food on that flight. 

We will do some sightseeing in the morning and then head to the airport.  I will recap our trip in a later blog but Lisa and I agree it has been an absolutely wonderful trip!  We thank God for His goodness to us! 

Back on the home front, we are at 97 scholarships for the pastor’s conference with one Sunday to go.  Bro. Jerry, with an assist from Edna, has done a wonderful job of promoting this in my absence and I am thankful!  Three more and our goal will be reached.  Thank you to each person who has given thus far! 

Jack Leasure came home from the hospital but is not well physically.  Pray for him.  Carolyn Barkley continues to rehab at home.  Carla was to see the doctor today, I believe.  Pray for all of these folks. 

Need your grass cut, flower bed worked, house cleaned, car washed, et cetera?  Vince Bosarge’s brother, Jeremy, and his wife, Stephanie, are in financial tight right now due to a medical setback and they are willing to help you out.  I can’t vouch for their work but you can reach them at 865-0648 or at stephaniebosarge@juno.com.  I do know they will greatly appreciate the opportunity to earn some funds.  Obviously, you can also contact Vince or Tanya if you need more details. 

Pray for us as we travel tomorrow.  It is going to be a long day but it will be fine.  We look forward to getting home and seeing family and friends. 

I hope you have a great Tuesday with Jesus. 

Written by Teddie in: Daily |
Apr
21
2008
1

MONDAY, 4/21/08

THE GREAT WALL

I received a good report from Bro. Jerry about the services at Friendship yesterday.  He complimented Dale, Ed, & Benny for jobs well done in bringing the message.  I appreciate these guys filling in for me and I thank each member of the Friendship family who was present for the respective services. 

We arrived in Beijing around midnight on Sunday night and have had a busy Monday thus far visiting The Great Wall and Tiananmen Square.  We entered The Great Wall at the Badaling Pass and it is an amazing thing when you consider how long that wall has been in place, how folks died building it, and how many men have served there protecting China’s borders.  I realize that much of the wall has been rebuilt and/or repaired for tourist purposes but it is still quite a sight. 

We then made our way to Tiananmen Square in Beijing.  My mind immediately went back to 1989 and the constant news coverage of those events.  There were many people on the square today and that will be a focal point during the 2008 Olympics. 

It rained all night and almost all of the way on the drive to The Great Wall.  However, the Lord stopped the rain the entire time we were touring The Great Wall.  It then rained on our return trip to the city but stopped the entire time we were on Tiananmen Square.  We thank God for even the small things!  He is a good God!

Tonight we are attending an acrobatic show that Eddie & Sue say is amazing.  I know Dana & Gina will enjoy it as will Lisa and I. 

I hope you have a great Monday with Jesus. 

P.S. – I may add a picture to this post at a later time but don’t have one available right now. 

Written by Teddie in: Daily |
Apr
20
2008
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SUNDAY, 4/20/08

A THREE HOUR TOUR

We have had a very rainy Sunday but that is perfectly okay as we didn’t have any plans except for church and traveling. 

Last night, Uncle Eddie completely surprised and spoiled Dana & Gina by giving them (Lisa and I tagged along) a night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the presidential suite on the 38th floor.  The views of Qingdaq and the Yelow Sea were spectacular!  Of course the girls loved the indoor swimming pool and the bowling lanes the best!  Too much!  (I have learned that Eddie has some real pull in this city of 7 million folks!) 

This morning we attended the service at the Qingdao International Christian Fellowship which is where Eddie & Sue attend on a regular basis.  You had to have a passport to get in and there were folks from many different countries.  They have a different lay speaker each Sunday and this morning the speaker shared about fasting – of all things!  I think that I have gained about twenty pounds since being here eating this Chinese food!  We eat and discuss where we are going to eat next! 

We are about to get on the bullet train and head to Beijing.  It is about a six hour train ride from Qingdao which will put us there around 11:00PM. 

Bro. Jerry told me that Pastor John Womack did a good job in a difficult situation with Richie Freeman’s funeral service.  He also told me that the bus going to the rodeo had a mechanical problem but it was corrected and they were on their way. 

Bro. Jerry also wrote this in one of his messages, “I am going to the funeral and I am not going to prison.”  I didn’t realize he had been in trouble with the law and I am glad he is avoiding prison time! 

Chris Taylor, Ben Vickers, and Dewayne Lavelle should be very proud of the fact that I actually uploaded a picture with yesterday’s post.  I am going to try again today but no promises!  (Chris is probably saying it is too big but I am doing the best I can!) 

I hope you will attend the services at church today.  Dale, Ed, & Benny are the messengers for today.  I hope you will have a great Sunday with Jesus. 

Written by Teddie in: Daily |

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