Pastor's Blog

Can someone please tell me where the first quarter of 2010 went?  Wow, it got by in a hurry! 

We had five guys show up last night to finish getting Phase II ready for the sheetrock guys today.  Those five did a great job!  Sammy Bowden is doing a nice job of leading the electrical work.  If everything goes as planned, we will have those classes back in their rooms on Sunday, 4/11.  (I am putting John Curl & Kenny Lingle on notice that we should be ready for paint by next Monday, 4/5) 

As was the case with Phase I, we can always use folks to clean up along the way through Phase II.  You can come at any time to assist in that effort.  It helps tremendously as we move through the process. 

Wow, Theodore beat Bryant 2 – 1 in girl’s soccer last night.  They played two scoreless overtime penalties and then Theodore won the game by outscoring Bryant 3 – 2 on penalty kicks!  Girl’s high school soccer. . . . .

Regular Wednesday with the morning service and evening services/Bible studies.  Hope to see a large number of the Friendship family members in attendance. 

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

Tuesday, 3/30/10 – Take Two!  Yep, this is my second entry for today.  A little after midnight I wrote an entry, hit publish, and all was well except for the fact that the post mysteriously disappeared into cyberspace.  I feel so Jack Bailey like!  Al is not going to be happy when he finds out about this cyber theft because I am certain someone stole my blog entry to use as their own today. 

Phase II of the CAB renovation has officially begun.  Several men, one woman, and one student showed up last night and got much done on the first night of Phase II.  Sammy B. will lead a small team tonight to do some electrical work while Tony H. will do a bit more carpentry work.  The drywall guys will hopefully be here tomorrow.  Our goal?  Phases I – IV finished by the end of May.  Pray, help, & give!  Thanks to all who have done so thus far!

Lisa & I visited Gage Hudson, April McNiel, & Megan “Bo” Older yesterday.  Gage was moved from the unit to a room yesterday afternoon and may go home today.  April’s problem seems to be a viral infection but they will run more tests today & tomorrow.  Megan will be discharged today but will stay in the hospital until Lora & Leah are discharged and I don’t know when that will be. 

Jayne English remains hospitalized.  Lois Kirschenman will be hearing from a surgeon soon to set up her surgery.  Susan B. Quinn will be going to M.D. Anderson within the next couple of weeks.  Carla Kyser continues her treatments.  Miss Joyce Bosarge will have more radiation soon.  Bill Abendroth has another round of chemotherapy Thursday.  I don’t have an update on Hayden Davis.  Reb’s brother, Chuck Medchill, remains hospitalized as he recovers  from his heart surgery.  Pray for these folks!

Pray for our Easter weekend services & activities.  It begins Saturday with Sunday School & services for our preschoolers & children.  On Sunday we will have services at 7:30AM, 9:00AM, 10:30AM, 2:00PM (Spanish), and 6:00PM (cantata).  (Joe David, please don’t post any more about your “busy” schedule!)  Pray that this will be an exciting weekend that brings glory to God!

Gotta take Chris to court this morning.  Second time in two weeks!  Thankfully, it isn’t for him! 

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

P.S. – Did Joey Switzer show up for the work effort last night.  Good question!  Joey is a Jason Bowling/Joe David Bailey wrapped into one!  So, there’s your answer – NO! 

P.S.S. – I had “Catfish” in my bracket for the BL @ DBC and he did it!  JDB can’t hang with the Fish!

God is faithful and He blessed us with another good day in our services yesterday.  We give Him the praise!  What a joy to baptize Callie Hodges as a part of our evening worship service. 

It is anticipated that Megan, Lora, & Leah Older will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow.  Gage Hudson, April McNiel, & Jayne English all remain hospitalized.  It was good to see Miss Joyce Bosarge in our service last night.  Keep praying for her along with Carla Kyser, Bill Abendroth, Lois Kirschenman, Susan Quinn, Hayden Davis, & others in their battles against cancer. 

Tonight, we begin Phase II in the renovation of our CAB.  We will have a “work night” beginning at 6:00PM in anticipation of the sheetrock workers beginning on Wednesday.  We will be working upstairs on the east end.  Carpenters, electricians, & grunt workers needed!  Joey Switzer will be leading this effort!  It will be his first participation in a “work night” ever!

I correctly picked two (WVU & Duke) of the Final Four teams.  I will either end up at 44-19 or 43-20 depending on the WVU/Duke game.  Not good!  Kansas killed me as they are five of my incorrect picks!  I will never watch “The Wizard of Oz” as a means of protest.  Among our young adults, only Kristen Kathleen & Caryn have Duke.  Since Kristen’s mom, Nanette, and I dated and almost got married many years ago, I will see to it that Kristen wins.  Kristen, Rusty Suthoff, and I were the only ones among the young adults to get two teams in the FF.  Soy?  Please!

However, the real excitement begins this Thursday night with the Frozen Four taking place in Detroit!  Miami of Ohio versus Boston College in one semifinal game and Wisconsin versus the Rochester Institute of Technology (are you kidding me?) in the other.  Does it get any better? 

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

It is odd for me to posting on a Saturday especially at 9:00PM.  However, I wanted to give a few updates.

First, I went to visit Bo & the babies in the hospital but they had the “mother is resting sign” on the door.  I think they perhaps saw me coming down the hallway.  At any rate, I did learn that the babies arrived at 11:37AM & 11:38AM yesterday and both were 18 inches long.

I then went to visit Gage Hudson who is an an ICU due to breathing difficulties. They did a MRI on him today.

April McNiel went with us to Guatemala last June.  She & Jaclyn Weaver have been in our services twice since then to lead us in worship.  April was taken by ambulance to a local hospital today with chest pains as she had gone completely unresponsive.  They are doing tests to determine her problem.

At this point, I only have one of the Final Four correct.  I hope it ends that way as I have Duke but don’t like them.  I would love to see a MSU, Butler, WVU, & Baylor FF but I know CBS would scream about that!  So, it ain’t happening!

I hope to be joined by many members of the Friendship family in our services tomorrow.

Lora Louise & Leah Danielle Older made this appearance into this world today.  One checked in at 4 lbs 9 oz and the other at 5 lbs.  Megan has an infection so she & both babies are being treated accordingly. 

The emergency c-section was brought about b/c Bo’s water broke as they were heading to the doctor’s office.  Bo said she couldn’t get out of bed this morning so Scott came home from work to be with and to take her to the doctor. 

I was wishing for a boy & girl as I think Scott & Bo would have gone with Theo & Thea for the names.  We’ll never know! 

Through all of this, I learned that Emily Louise had surgery this morning too.  She didn’t bother to share that bit of info with me!  So, pray for Megan, Lora, Leah, & Louise!

Megan Older is being taken in for an emergency c-section.  I am out the door to go to the hospital.

Reb’s brother did well but the next 24 hours are cricitcal. 

Hayden Davis is being placed on life support.

Pray!

Can’t explain the “why” but I could not access our website to blog until now and I have been trying since early.  It is my “off” day but I do blog anyway unlike some (one) of my minister friends!  Chris thinks our server was updating or something during the night.  Maybe we should pay our bill? 

I went to the hospital early this morning to see Nancy West but she was discharged yesterday.  Reb Nevin’s brother, Chuck Medchill, is having heart surgery in FL today.  Gage Hudson is taking another radiation treatment. 

Jack Ciak e-mailed from Arkansas yesterday to ask that we pray for Carolyn’s niece Carly who has been diagnosed with cancer.  She is 19 years old and Carly’s brother has cancer that is in remission.  Carolyn’s sister, Seal, is obviously concerned with two children having cancer.  Pray for Carly as she begins treatments.  Stephanie Davis’ baby, Hayden, had a tough day yesterday.  Keep praying for Carla Kyser, Joyce Bosarge, & Bill Abendroth in their respective battles against cancer. 

Bill Unrue’s brother passed away in Ohio.  Bill & Bea are there.  Pastor Benny Still’s mother passed away and that service is today in Mississippi. 

Our daughter, Daphne passed her state board yesterday so she is now officially a licensed Nurse Practitioner!  Lisa & I are very proud of her!  She & Deidra have both done well!  (Okay, so Deidra married Soy but you can’t bat one thousand!)  Lisa & I thank God for all five of our daughters.  Now we are praying that Hien can pass her driver’s license test.  Do you believe in miracles?

I was 3 of 4 last night in the NCAA tourney.  I have Duke, Baylor, & Ohio State in tonight’s games.  I am pulling for Michigan State because of my friends i.e. Dr. Karen in Michigan but will not be surprised if NIU pulls another upset.  I had KU in my “one & only” bracket unlike folks like Joe David Bailey who has 137  brackets – does he fill those out on church time? 

Thanks to Tony Hacker, Chris Taylor, & Tyler Russell for basically finishing Phase I (minus the carpet & base) yesterday and cleaning that area so it is ready for Sunday. 

Don’t forget bus visitation & the outreach visitation tomorrow morning.

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

Nancy West did well through her surgery but did not come home last night.  She should be discharged today. 

Eula Mae e-mailed me to say that Susan’s cancer is rare but the statement I made about only finding two other cases was wrong.  (Imagine that – I made a mistake!)  The doctor could only find two other cases to compare it too.  The rest of the info i.e. going to M.D. Anderson, et cetera was correct. 

Gage Hudson begins his treatment today so pray for him.  Carla Kyser had a treatment yesterday and the treatments continue to give her problems with sores.   Miss Joyce Bosarge is still waiting to begin her newest round of radiation.  Bill Abendroth sees his doctor today in preparation for another chemotherapy treatment next Thursday. 

Nate “Rifleman” Miersma and his wife, Danielle, are the pround parents of McKenna Brinn Miersma who made her debut into this world last night.  She checked in at 8 pounds & 3 ounces and was 21 inches long.  Congratulations to Nate, Danielle, and the entire family including Grandmother Jean!  (These are dear friends of GRACE Ministries from Michigan)

We are so very close to being finished with Phase I of the CAB renovation.  We could use some folks to help do a final cleaning of the renovated rooms.  Interested?  Just come on down!  Of course, it would hurt to call in advance to make sure that someone hasn’t beaten you to the punch. 

The Lakers won their seventh consecutive game last night as they prep for the playoffs.  I hope to catch the NCAA games tonight.  My bracket has Syracuse, West Virginia, Kansas State, & Kentucky winning tonight’s games.  Didn’t know WVU would lose their point guard to injury.  We’ll see. 

Hope you have a great Thursday with Jesus.

I don’t know the “why” but I do know that Nancy West had surgery today.  She did well and will be home in a couple of hours.  Thanks to Bro. Jerry for covering that for me as I had a prior commitment. 

Susan Quinn met with her doctor and he told her that the cancer she has is very rare.  As a matter of fact, he could only find two cases.  He is sending her to M.D. Anderson next week.  The good news is that it was not in the blood. 

Miss June Bailey’s surgery began later than they expected.  It is a little after 4:00PM and the doctor just talked to Pastor Jack.  Miss June did well and may go home tomorrow night.  If not, she will go home Friday morning. 

Stephanie Davis sent an e-mail asking us to pray for her 19 months old son who has liver cancer.  It has now spread into his lungs and he has pneumonia.

Pastor Jack Bailey’s wife, June, is having surgery this morning in Cullman, AL.  Nancy West is scheduled to have surgery tomorrow.  Pray for these ladies. 

Reb Nevin’s brother, Chuck Medchill, is facing another triple bypass surgery on his heart.  He needs to be moved to a different hospital in order for the surgery to happen.  Pray for Chuck & his family. 

I forgot to give an update sent by Nanette Fontenot regarding Jayne English.  She will stay in the same hospital until they can get her off of the ventilator.  The doctors have decided to keep her more sedated so as to allow her lungs to rest. 

I should have given the update on Jayne yesterday but Nanette sends me so many e-mails that I simply overlooked one that was actually important. 

Keep praying for all those who are battling cancer.  Again, Gage begins his treatments tomorrow. 

Pastor Travis did a very nice job of ministering at his grandmother’s funeral.  Thanks to Miss Vinnie & Miss Edna for coordinating the food and thanks to all who helped with the cooking.  A “thank you” goes to the members of 1st Baptist Grand Bay who helped also. 

The hockey professor, Tim Mast, has spoken and he isn’t giving the UAH Chargers any chance at all in their game against Miami this Saturday.  We have ice in Alabama!  Rex, keep the faith!  UAH may “charge” into the Frozen Four! 

We have someone who is going to do the caulk/painting work.  He is a professional and is giving us a fair price.  Folks, if you could see the work of our “expert” carpenters regarding the trim work, you would realize we need a professional – LOL!  (They did a great job!) 

I need to meet with Tony & Dawn Hacker, Ed & Leslie Williams, and Glen & Carla Cooper at 6:45PM tonight. 

Regular Wednesday around here today.  I pray you will have a great one with Jesus!