Another Productive Day

Today was another beautiful summer-ish spring day in beautiful Kentucky. Once again, my wife and I had a very productive time, cleaning and organizing. I thought it was funny when I read about the Horne's cleaning the shed, etc on Sister Becki's blog. Amazingly enough, although my office is not new, I also put a lot of my books, etc. into my office from the storage shed. We got BOTH our storage sheds cleaned out and reorganized all our stuff(junk). We put the Christmas decorations ( all three of the trees we own plus umpteen boxes of decorations, etc.) and all our yard sale items for the upcoming sale in the lower shed, down the hill from our house. My tools, fishing rods, painting supplies, ball bats, camping supplies, etc. went in the upper shed, near the house. Got almost all my office items and books, some of which had been in storage for nearly three and a half years, in the office to be unpacked. Found some books and old church items I had forgotten about. Plus there are about fifteen boxes of books my dad handed off to me last fall. I think there are three hundred books or so in that bunch! Awesome! He has had close to two thousand at the height of his personal library. I am probably closing in on five hundred, three of which I've read.(that was a joke, honest).
We also got both air conditioners in the windows of our little house.It is much cooler now, thankfully. In addition to that, I got a chance to do a little planting. I got my main flower bed done Saturday morning, but tonight I got some potting done. I got my Early Girl tomato plant and the hot banana papper plant in small pots. Then I planted a very nice Hosta in a large pot on the side porch where it can get a little sun, but not too much. I also painted an old metal watering can with red spraypaint, and planted a pretty white flower I forget the name of in it, and placed in on the front porch. It looks very pretty with the little stool and table we painted red. Kind of a semi-distressed look. We have maybe decided against our initial plan to paint the porch swing red. It is white now, but we keep some "Americana" style pillows and throw on it. It looks nice. I repainted the porch Friday...I missed the old color by a bit. It was darker beige, but now is a lighter almond color. It looks good though. All in all, it was a very satisfying day.
I have enjoyed this month off work so much. I've spent a lot more time with my family than work usually allows. Just great...but tomorrow I go back to work. The hand is all healed up. It is still a little weak, but I can use it so back to work I go. Oh, well. I won't complain. God is so good to me, and my family is so wonderful...they are gifts from God.
I really should take more time to just realize how blessed I really am. I guess we all should, huh? Yeah...we should.

Great Day!

So, My youngest daughter Taylor turns four this coming Tuesday! Yay! I love birthdays! I've told all that before so there's no need to go into it again. But let it suffice to say, I love birthdays! Since her birthday is on a weeknight, we had her party today. It was such a good day. The sky was clear and blue, the sun was shining brightly, and it was warm, not hot. Marsha and I have worked on the house and yard four three or four days this week to get things in top shape for company. Spring cleaning, right? Marsha Renee got the indoors clean, and sparkly, and smeeling good. Okay, she keeps it that way all the time, but it is a lot of work, what with the kids and dog. She also handled most of the shopping, and party prep indoors. I handled the outside. What fun. I would rather work in the yard than almost anything I can think of. I've been off work for a month and have done very little while recuperating from my surgery, so it has been awesome getting out and getting sirty, and sweaty, and smelly. Haha, I love it! I have mowed chopped, picked up limbs, pruned things, weedeated, ran the blower, cleaned up trash, mowed... oh man, it has been a great week. We got the place looking great, overall. At least the area right around the house. There is more to do over by "the holler". There is an area near the storage shed that I have allowed to really get grown up the last two years, There are three nice, mature apple trees in there, so I think my next major outdoor project is to clean that up, and get those trees in shape. I'm also considering planting grape and blackberry vines in that area. There was an old grapevine there once before. After that, I am working on a plan to build a goldfish/koi pond in the front of our place. A pator in the district has one, and I think it is awesome. He said if I will build it, he will give me some goldfish to get started. His are HUGE! Very cool.
So, anyway, back to Taylor's party. She has been excited about it for weeks! We really do go overboard and all for birthdays, but oh well. There is usually a weeks long build-up and then, because we normally hold the party the weekend before their actual birthday, then we hold the whole thing over until the actual day. Taylor helped us go and pick out her party decorations...Barbie princess themed for the girly girl. Marsha got her a great cake. So today, Taylor got all dolled up and wore her princess crown all day long! We had 20 plus people here and I cooked burgers and dogs on the grill. We ate outside, and Marsha set up cool scavenger hunt for the kids. Taylor opened up all her presents, including the doll who gets sick, and of course wets it's pants. Then we just sat around and enjoyed the day as the kids all played. It really was a great day. I go back to work Tuesday so this was a great day. Taylor is a beautiful baby doll, and her birthday was awesome. We sat around the farm with family until well after dark, just enjoying the last little bit of the day. Thank God for a beautiful time.

New Job?

So, a friend of mine who used to be my boss has been trying to get me to come to work at his new employer. He was my supervisor at Stanley Steemer before they (wrongly) let him go last summer in a corporate shake-up/housecleaning. Well, after these several weeks off following my surgery, I have come to some conclusions. I like Stanley Steemer. The company has been good to me personally. They are as flexible as they can be in many situations with my scheduling. This doesn't mean I get a lot of time off, or even every request, but they often allow me to manipulate my day.s off to land on a certain date, when possible. They have treated me well, and put a lot of effort into my training. There is a possibility of a pretty good future wuth the company. My boss thinks I could become a good corporate "travelling" trainer, with my ability to handle public speaking and to communicate ideas. I am close to a promotion. Lots of good things. But here's the problem. For nine months of the year, I work alot. I mean it. A LOT. Sometimes fifty five to sixty hours a week, often six days a week. I work until 6 to eight most evenings during the summer and fall. And even though they are as flexible as they can be, often they simply can't be. I think they sincerely try. But as mentioned before, I have had to turn down several preaching/ministry opportunities just in the last month. Six, I think, to be exact. I am starting to get a lot of offers to go and preach, like I used to. It feels great, but then when I realize I can't go, it feels horrible. I have asked God before to give me a different job that wiil offer more freedom to work my local church, raise my family/enjoy wife, tend to my district and regional church responsibilities, and even go and preach some revivals, and camps when called. It seems impossible...BUT, my former boss called me last week. It seems there may be an opening after all at his new place of employment. Of the two possibilities there, one wouldn't make much financial sense. The other would be very good. A good move. I have been praying and trying to re-learn to leave it in God's hands. He has been working with me and teaching me a lot of lessons lately, almost as if He is getting me ready for something. I feel He is in this situation. Please, friends, help me pray for His will. There would be some sacrifices involved, financial and otherwise, but it would involve a schedule that would enable me to be a more active pastor, Husband,, Father, District Overseer. It would be a great thing...IF it is Gods will. If it is not His will, I don't want it. Help me pray, and may God's will be done.

The Piano

So I've been a musician for nearly 20 years. I started playing drums one day almost on a whim. Doug Hogsten was preaching a revival at the church I was attending, Church of God of Prophecy in Versailles, KY. I was probably fourteen. After church one night, Brother Doug was playing the piano in that old Jerry Lee Lewis style that he loves. I believe he was doing his rendition of "Great Balls of Fire", called "Holy Ghost Fire." A couple of different guys tried to keep up on the drums, but no one really knew how. I thought "Hmmm...Why not?" So I sat down and picked up the sticks, and POW! I was keeping beat. Didn't even know I could! It was a bit choppy, and not at all great sounding, but it was obvious I might have some ability. Within a couple of weeks I was playing in church. I played for a travelling"weekend warrior" southern Gospel group for a couple of years. I've played a lot and was at one time pretty good. Later on I started playing guitar about the same way, then on to the bass guitar. My family is full of musicians on both sides. I'm no prodigy, but I can play a little and sing along or provide music for song service. But here I am at thirty four trying to learn the piano. I have four or five cousins, three aunts, at least one uncle, plus my dad who are all quite good. So it stands to reason that I might be able to play, right? WRONG. This thing is whipping me! It is the hardest thing I've tried to learn! But I'll figure it out...I think.

Rainy Monday

So it's a rainy Monday in old Kentucky. Oddly enough, I don't get all gloomy when it rains like a lot of people do. Even when working out doors, I actually like to work in a light, steady rain. I don't know why, that's just the way I've always been. i have a bit of a slight melancholy turn to my personality anyway, so maybe the rain just suits me. Not that I never get tired of it, but a few days here and there is just fine. Now, thunderstorms on the other hand are a whole different story. I DO NOT enjoy thunderstorms. All the noise! Good grief, that really loud, sudden thunder really tweaks my nerves. Then there's the lightning. I don't trust electricity anyway, and that much of it coming from the sky, seemingly at random...ugh-none for me, thanks. I'll be having the nice, calm light rain. I don't particularly like seeing things destroyed, either, so that's another reason to dislike major storms. I guess for all my boisterousness and general noisiness, I'm actually just sort of a calm guy. I like calm things.
Having siad that, as contradictory as it sounds, I also love it when my girls,and Marsha and I can just let loose and get rowdy. Our house is a rather rowdy place. We jump, holler, wrestle, dance, and laugh 'til we can berley go on. My wife, and both daughters have these amazingly deep, loud, from the gut laughs that I never get tired of hearing. As time goes on, and they have heard all my jokes, and seen all my best antics, I am forced to continually find more and more goofy things to do and say to get those wonderful, happy noises to come out of them. It's an addiction. I cannot go very long at all without hearing it.
(took a break for a couple of hours to do other things)
Had a couple of good conversations by phone today. One with Brother John Talley, a member of TCOG at E'town. I was his pastor for three years, poor guy, and he is one of my closest friends. Brother John is the builder who is heading up the effort to finish our General Headquarters building in Charleston, TN. He informed me that things are going well, and gave me some updates on the progress. I may go down there with him for a couple days later this week. It would be nice to travel with my old friend and get to see some others. I haven't seen my old buddy Bishop Ard for a while. I really miss that guy. Maybe I could sit with him for a while and remind him how good a pastor I was to him when he was our overseer! Ha Ha. Some time I will share some funny Brother Ard stories on here...he is one of my favorite "funny story" subjects. Brother Talley also told me things were great at E'town yesterday for Easter sevices.
Later on I spoke with Brother James Hargraves, our pastor in Greenup,KY, and his wife Sister Barbara. He shared how great their services were. They had 31 in Sunday School! COnsidering they were operating with no pastor just a couple of short months ago, this is a great blessing! Thank God! Brother Shane Wilcox told me they had 70 in Sunday School, and 85 in morning worship at Sturgis, KY!! Praise God! I need to cal Brother Hamilton in Somerset to get an update from him. All these churches, except for Sturgis, are in my district. I am very excited for what God is doing!Please pray for us! We also had a great time in Winchester yesterday. God blessed us with 17 in Sunday School, and even my dad was there! God is so good!

Random Notes...

So here's a little rundown of the last few days/weeks. There has been plenty going on, some good, some not so good. First of all, God has been good to us, as always. That should come as no surprise to anyone. He is always great! Our services at church have been very good for awhile now, starting at District Convention, going through revial, and still going well. We, as a church have been teaching, preaching, and studying subjects directly related to the foundational doctrines of the church. Some things from the 29 Prominent teachings, as well as some other subjects such as the One Fold. I think it is healthy for any church to be as well versed as possible in the fundamentals of our faith. We were challenged a while back when our Victory Leaders Band (youth ministries) director spoke about the need for each of us to have a working knowledge of what we believe so that we could at any time give answer to those who do not understand or who question what we believe. It has been eye opening and a real blessing for all of us, and we are all learning so much. Thank God!

Nothing much going on...

So there ain't been much happening that would probably be of interest. Things are good at church. We had a good revival a while back. That would be interesting, I'm sure. Brother Matt Wright from Sturgis, KY was here. He is a good fellow. Known him for a while. We had one to be saved in the Saturday night service. A young girl, about twelve-ish. It really was a good revival. Last week on Saturday night I was invited to preach the word at a local pentecostal church. It is the same church we used for our District Convention. Very nice people. They were great to preach to and they fed us. I enjoyed that. They do not currently have a pastor, so the leader there suggested I add myself to the rotation of preachers who come and preach once a month until they find a regular pastor. I may well do that.
In other news, we are getting ready for a Spring Sunday School campaign. My wife is our superintindent. She is new at it and is doing a really good job. She plans well, and works hard. We are hoping to beat our current SS attendance record of 24. Please help us pray that we can get as many people to church as possible to hear the word. That is so important to us. We really want to be a soul-winning church!
In home news...everything is going pretty well. We are healthy. The girls are doing great. Haley just finished her basketball season, and we are all looking forward to softball season. Also, Taylor is playing t-ball this year. I can't wait to see them play.
Marsha is doing well. She is thinking about going to school. I think she would do well, and hope it works out. We'll be praying for direction about that and other things.
I have been getting so many calls to go and preach lately. It's great because that is where my heart really is. I want to be able to go. I miss the days when I could go most every time I was asked. With my job, nowadays I just can't. Sometimes I can. But mostly I can't. I don't have enough vacation time, I also have regional responsibilities, and the church work, locally and district. My job requires sometimes 50 to 60 hours per week. It is hard to keep up, as it is. Now, it is really frustrating to have to miss out on all the opportunities to go and preach. Work is going good. I am up for a promotion maybe very soon. But, honestly, I really need to be more active in the ministry. I prayed for most of last year that God would put me in a better employment situation so I would be more available in the ministry work. The answer seems to keep coming back the same way. God seems to have me where I am for a reason. I don't understand it, but am trying my best to abide in His will. Sometimes I wish we could just go out somewhere else and pastor. But, honestly, I do't think that is the answer. Our little church has only three families. We couldn't feel good about leaving them, as it takes what all three families of us have to keep the church going. We are happy where we live. Maybe if we could see some substantial growth here I could switch to a less demanding job. I don't know the answer. God does, I know. I am still praying that somehow He will get me in a situation where I can give more time to His work. If anyone reads this, please help me pray.