Pastor's Blog

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”  (Psalm 119:11)

Terry Brooks is scheduled to have a heart cath this morning.  Pray that the doctor can get a good look and then for wisdom if anything needs to be done.

I did not make it to the hospital until around 3:30PM or so yesterday and Elaine Brown had already been discharged.  I am happy for her.  Pray that she can completely recover from the surgery and the heart issues she has been dealing with recently.

Visited with Danny & Anita Lafferty yesterday.  He was a happy camper as he is set to be released from the rehab on Friday.  He will then have home health for a while followed by outpatient therapy.  Remember, we will receive a special offering for Danny & Anita on Sunday, 1/13, in all three services.

Roy Blodgett took a fall and had to be admitted to the hospital.

JoNell Barnes has gone back to Birmingham to be with her daughter, Carol.

Keep praying for Tim Knighten’s father, Les Knighten.

I have not spoken to Bobby Jack regarding Bobby Joe’s visit with his surgeon.

Jeanette sees the doctor again tomorrow to have the stents (I think that is what they call them) removed.

We had a good first Wednesday of 2019 yesterday.  Our morning attendance in the auditorium was better than our evening attendance.  I am very thankful to folks who are faithful to attend on Wednesdays.

The momentum for the construction of a school in Guatemala continues to build.  We received a one thousand dollars pledge yesterday and received word that a five thousand dollars check is in the mail.  So, that equates to being twelve thousand dollars once it is matched.  Praise the Lord!

Ticket prices for the national championship game on Monday have dropped to around two hundred dollars upper level.  Several reasons – game is in California, folks cannot afford to attend both a semifinal game and the championship game, the nation is tired of Alabama vs Clemson every season.  They should change the venue to Ladd Stadium and it would be a sell out.  Just saying.

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

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”  (Psalm 119:11)

Edna Pearl sent me a message yesterday to let me know that Elaine Brown has been moved into a regular room.  I plan on visiting Elaine today.  Keep praying.

Terry Brooks will have a heart cath tomorrow morning.  He saw a doctor in December and he scheduled this for Terry.  Terry received two stents last January.  Pray that all goes well.

Bobby Joe Felps has an appointment with the surgeon today as he continues to experience pain.  He will also see an oncologist on the tenth of this month.  Pray for Bobby Joe.

As far as I know, Danny Lafferty remains in a rehab facility.  Pray for Danny and family.  Remember, we will receive a special offering for Danny on Sunday, January 13.

The arrangements have been set for my Uncle.  There will a service for him this Saturday, 1/5, at 1:00PM in Columbus, Georgia.  Prayers for his family are appreciated.

Regular schedule for the Friendship family this morning and evening.  No choirs until next Wednesday, 1/9.  We will begin our prayer lists with a clean slate today/tonight and build them from there.

We had another person make a financial donation to the construction of the school in Guatemala yesterday.  Spoke to another person on the phone who said they would be giving in January too.  Remember, we have a dollar for dollar match during the month of January.  It would be nice if folks like Ross Genzink, Tom Compagner, Eddie Turrentine, Jordan Lollar, Steve Compagner, Dean Kapenga and others outside the Friendship family would step up and accept this challenge.  Just saying!

We had five more people ask to begin receiving this blog via their e-mail.  Combine those with the three already receiving that service and we are now at fifty percent of our thirteen readers.  Nice.  E-mail me if you want to receive the blog notices via e-mail. Deidra is one of the ones who signed up and she loves it!  Says it is one of the best things to ever happen in her life!

Well, I finally watched a bowl game outside of the playoffs.  I am a SEC homer so I was pulling for Georgia in the Sugar Bowl but that did them no good.  The reporter tried to bait the Texas quarterback after the game but he used wisdom in not being trapped.  I did watch some of the LSU game earlier in the day and was glad to see them win.  No conference can really brag after this bowl season.  Either the ACC conference or the SEC conference will have the ultimate bragging rights following next Monday night’s game.

I am ready for Winter but it does not appear we will see any temps below forty degrees over the next ten days which is not good in my book.  Oh well, the Lord knows.

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

My cousin, Tony Gettig, who lives in Michigan has produced a video about the January matching challenge for the construction of the school.  Soy has already put it on his FB account.  Deidra is working on getting it on their website (shininglightabroad.com) and her blog.  If you have FB then please share it however that works.

I really appreciate Tony and his help with this project.  We gave him very short notice, paid him nothing and he did a very professional job.  The dude is really good!

Folks, I really believe that together we can, with God’s blessing, reach the challenge of giving and/or pledging one hundred thousand dollars by January 31, 2019.  Let’s do it to the glory of God!

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”  (Psalm 119:11)

Happy New Year!  I got to working on some stuff and stayed up until well after midnight.  I do not really remember the last time I was up when the new year came in.  It really does seem that time passes more quickly the older I become.

Visited with Elaine Brown yesterday afternoon.  She was in ICU but was gracious enough to speak with me and to ask us to keep praying.  So, please do.

Continue to pray for Tim’s father, Les Knighten.

The church office is closed today.  It will open tomorrow at 8:00AM.

Regular schedule tomorrow morning and evening with one exception – no choir until next Wednesday, 1/9.

A challenge has been issued for folks to give to the building of the school in Guatemala.  Every cent given or pledged during the month of January will be matched dollar for dollar up to one hundred thousand dollars.   Folks, this is an incredible offer.  Yesterday we received over fourteen thousand dollars and the anonymous donor has agreed to include that amount in the challenge.  So we now need eighty four thousand five hundred dollars to match this challenge.  God can do this – through us!  There is going to be a video/audio blog on shininglightabroad.com either today or tomorrow.  It is only a tad over three minutes long so watch it and then share it with others.

I have learned how to add folks who would like to receive this blog via e-mail.  If interested, please send me an e-mail and I will add you to the list.  The daily blog will then be sent directly to your inbox once I post.  Three of our thirteen readers are already using this service and they like it!

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