Pastor's Blog

Rhea Wilkinson departs today for Illinois and basic training.  Pray for her along with Raymond & Tina.  Pray that her brother, Jace, will wipe that smile from his face!  LOL!

The family of Dick Fore will meet with the funeral home directors at 12:30PM today to set the arrangements.  As far as I know, the family is uncertain as to what the final arrangements will be until they can find out what the funeral home’s schedule is.  Pray for Barbara and the family.

Miss Merle Phillips will have a scope done this morning to check for a blockage in her lung (as I understand it).  Pastor Travis was scheduled to arrive late yesterday afternoon and I assume he did. 

Nanette Fontenot has been keeping me updated on Jayne English and there is really no significant change.  There was a death in Nanette’s extended family so please pray for them. 

Keep praying for Carla Kyser, Miss Joyce Bosarge, & Pelham McGehee in their respective battles against cancer. 

One of my first cousins, Brad Turrentine, was diagnosed with a brain tumor this past weekend.  He will have surgery at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham next Wednesday, 2/24.  Your prayers are appreciated.

Pastor Jack Bailey’s mother is not doing well and they have called hospice to help with her care.  My sister-in-law, Sue, and her family will most likely place Sue’s mother in assisted living this weekend. 

News items that have caught my attention in the last few hours – peta (lower case is intentional) is mad at Rep. Steve King of Iowa because he killed a racoon trying to get into his house.  They say the animal was merely cold!  I am going to go out on a limb and say that the members of peta don’t have living rooms full of coons, rabbits, squirrels, and other small animals simply because it is cold outside!  Tom Compagner & peta!

I have never seen the television show “Family Guy” but they made fun of Sarah Palin’s 22 month old son, Trig, who has Down Syndrome.  How low is that?  Who the family is does not matter!  The Palin family has called them “heartless jerks” for this cruel act.  I think you know my thoughts!

A firm politically connected to a friend of Bill Clinton’s was awarded a no contract bid for work in Haiti.  I can hear the audible gasps! 

I was saddened, but not surprised, to learn that the moutain climber who fell in the crater on Mount St. Helens had passed away.  However, it is good that they recovered his body yesterday. 

On to the curling news – the USA men had a tough day yesterday losing to Germany (7-5) and Norway (6-5) while the USA women lost to Japan (9-7).  I think we need new brooms!  The men take on Switzerland today while the women battle those pesky Germans!  Congrats to the Canadian teams as they won all three of their matches (is that what you call them – help me Rex) yesterday. 

I squeezed in a game & a half of high school basketball yesterday at the USA Mitchell Center.    It was good!

T. Garrett, you gave me bad info!  I’m shocked!

Regular Wednesday around here.  I have a funeral at 3:00PM today for a family without a pastor.  The only thing is know is that the lady was 90 years old.  Pray that I can be a witness. 

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

P.S. – Why doesn’t Joe David “Mason” Bailey blog any more?

Received an e-mail from Bro. Jerry at 6:00AM to let me know that Mr. Dick Fore, Barbara’s father, passed away around 4:30AM.  Pray for Barbara, Bro. Kerry, and the family as they go through this time of sorrow.  We will post the arrangements once they have been completed.

Pastor Travis Northcutt sent me an e-mail last night to tell me that his grandmother is in the hospital.  Her condition appears to be potentially very serious.  Keep her and the family in your prayers.

Barbara Kelley’s father, Mr. Fore, remains hospitalized as does Jayne English.  Pray for these folks too.

Kevin Sprinkle’s mother has been moved to an assisted living facility.  Pray for her along with the family.

I am actually writing this during the night as I just can’t sleep.  The anticipation is killing me!  Yes, the curling competition in the Winter Olympics begins in just a few hours – is that great or what!  Why do I like curling?  My wife & daughters have curly hair, my dad’s name is Curly, the John Curl family is a part of the Friendship family, need I go on? 

I am told that curling is a close second to hockey in Canada when it comes to fan support.  So, I assume Tim Mast is a huge curling fan too!  The round robin competition begins at 11:00AM today and it is must see tv! 

JD got challenged and disappeared!  What’s up with that? 

My brother Eddie, and his wife, Sue, are in Manila and went to a church where Neal Seaborn was preaching this past Sunday – how about that! 

Going to visit the hospitals and hopefully peep in on a basketball game or two today.   

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

I was very pleasantly surprised with the attendance in our worship services yesterday morning with school being out this past Friday, today, & tomorrow.  We had a really good attendance in our early service.  I appreciate the members of the Friendship family who are faithful! 

Our 2:00PM service as very special as we had four adults pray to receive Christ.  Praise the Lord!  Pray for them and us as we seek to lead them in the area of discipleship now. 

Jayne English remains hospitalized and Mr. Fore (Barbara Kelley’s father) was placed back into the hospital.  I am not sure about Kevin Sprinkle’s mother.  Patty Suthoff came home from the hospital following her surgery.  Jodi Crawley & Bob Trout both had outpatient surgery.  Carla Kyser has sores in her mouth due to her treatments.  I didn’t get a chance to ask Liz about Miss Joyce.  Courtney Hubbard did well through her surgery and should have gotten home around midnight last night.  Pray for these folks!

The AHSAA south regional for basketball will be played at the USA Mitchell Center this week so I hope to be in and out for a few games.  I love high school basketball during this time of the year.  Faith Academy has both of their teams in the regional but Morris tells me one of the best players on the girl’s team injured a knee in Saturday’s game. 

Speaking of FA, Jamie & Jessica Hall signed scholarships to play volleyball at Spring Hill College.  That signing took place while I was in Guatemala so I want to give a late congratulations to these girls. 

I will probably not be able to sleep tonight !  We are a mere 27 hours away!  Slow down my racing heart! 

Please pray for Patty Suthoff & Courtney Hubbard today.  Patty is scheduled to have her gall bladder removed at some point today.  The doctor believes this is connected to the recurring problems she has with her pancreas. 

Courtney is having surgery at the M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, TX this morning.  This has been planned for many months and the prayer is that it will find her to be cancer free.  Pray for her husband, Mark, as he waits during the four hours or so surgery.

We will gather at noon today at Holder Wells Funeral Home  for the visitation with Miss Kathleen Richards’ family followed by the funeral service at 1:30PM and the committal at 4:00PM in the Gulfport area.   

I was wanting to report that it is snowing in South Mobile County but that isn’t true as of yet.  Yes, it is true in the northern part of Mobile County, Washington County, et cetera but not here.  Honestly, there has been so much rain that I don’t think any snow will stick here.  They do say it is coming – we’ll see!

I pray that you will have a great weekend.  Go to church!

Happy  birthday to my dad (74th) and my mama (71st)!  Yes, they share the same birthday.  Ironically, they share the same wedding anniversary too! 

There are really no significant changes to report this morning in regards to those folks hospitalized, battling cancer, et cetera.  Miss Joyce Bosarge is having a MRI today.  Jodi Crawley is having knee surgery but I am not supposed to know about that so I can’t report it! 

The weather reports call for snow tomorrow on the Gulf Coast.  I will have to see it to believe it!  Have those weather folks not been listening to Al? 

I pray that you will have a great Thursday with Jesus.

I ask that you continue to pray for the family of Miss Kathleen Richards.  You can read the arrangements in my earlier post.

Liz Whalen e-mailed last night to say that her mother, Miss Joyce Bosarge, will have an MRI tomorrow as she is still having a lot of pain in her neck.  Hopefully, they can do something to help with that pain as she has an appointment with the doctor on Friday.

Speaking of pain, Patty Suthoff is experiencing a great deal of it in her battle with pancreatitis.  It appears she will be in the hospital for a few more days as they treat her condition. 

Kevin Sprinkle’s mother has made a turn for the better to the surprise of the doctors.  They have moved her to a room and are now talking of recovery to the point where she was before this past weekend.

Jayne English remains hospitalized and in the ICU with no major change.  She does exhibit signs of waking up but hasn’t regained consciousness yet. 

Miss Kathleen Henderson was discharged from the hospital yesterday.   Keep praying for Pastor Jack Bailey’s family too.

Our friend, Tico Vargas, was involved in an automobile accident last night.  He, and his son, David, were not injured but both cars were damaged.  According to Tico, it was his fault.  Thank God that no one was injured. 

Bama got beat by UK in basketball last night which was no surprise.  I felt for Dr. Karen as I watched the Spartans lose their third straight game.  I smiled as Vandy trounced UT. 

It is a normal Wednesday at Friendship with our morning service and evening activities.  I pray that you will have a great Wednesday with Jesus.

The funeral arrangements for Miss Kathleen Richards are as follows:

Visitation with the family from 12:00 noon until 1:30PM on Friday, February 12 at the Holder Wells Funeral Home in Moss Point, MS.  Funeral service at 1:30PM. 

The committal service will take place at 4:00PM at a cemetery in Coalville, (Gulfport) MS.

Around 9:00AM today, Miss Kathleen Richards departed this life and entered Heaven.  The family is doing well as they know where Miss Kathleen has gone but they do need our prayers. 

The arrangements are incomplete at this time but will be finalized later today.

Hural Jones passed from this life earlier this morning.  He went into the hospital on October 26, 2009 for a knee replacement and it just went downhill from that point forward with infections becoming the problem. 

Pray for this family as they go through this valley.