Today was our last day of going to sites and official "mission" activity. We went to two senior centers where we played cards, sung some songs (I'll fly away, Amazing Grace, and some silly songs), put puzzles together, and just hung out.

At our last site we met with about fifty seniors. The workers there were Christian ladies who when we began to sing, would sing louder than we did. They clapped and danced with the residents. There was true joy before the Lord as we enjoyed a few hours together.

As we sung Amazing Grace one woman who could barely speak began to stand, lift her hands, smile, and sing (she remembered all the words). As we went through the song she began to weep and one of the workers hugged her and they stood embraced and worshiped the Lord together. The Lord's Spirit was there and I am glad that the Lord allowed me to be there among them.

Tonight at our group devotion time we had one salvation among our group and we prayed for each other. I believe that God brought me just to experience this time of prayer. I was able to tell some of the youth how special they are to me, and was blessed by their prayers for me and my family.

I am looking forward to getting back and preaching on Sunday.

At M-Fuge I don't have e-mail (but I do have internet access, so Cathy, Phil, and Matt here's the sermon outline for Sunday. Everyone else sorry for the "insider" stuff on my blog -- but it's my only way to get them the outline -- God bless.

When Those We Love Fall
Ezra 9

I. Responding To a Turned Life (vv. 1-4)
• 2 Samuel 10:4-5

II. Responding To the Fallen Life (vv. 5-15)
A. Get Up and Kneel Down (v. 5)

B. Own It (vv. 6-7 )

C. Show What’s At Stake (vv. 8-9)

D. Recognize the Sin (vv. 10-14a )

E. Cry Out For God’s Mercy (vv. 14b-15)

Scripture Memory: same
Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:5-15 (congregation to read vv. 9-13)

This is Margaret. She is Ninety Two and is mentally sharp. I did not have enough time to spend with her as I would have liked. In the background you will see a man named Donald. He and I talked in his room for well over thirty-minutes. He told me all about his life and it was very interesting. The two teenage girls in the foreground are from our "track group" and have wonderful voices. We are singing and ministering is nursing homes today. Tonight our church group will go to our "free time" outing. We are planning to spend our time at the mall. it is a break that we all need.

Please pray for Margaret and Donald and all those in nursing homes who need Jesus' love and to know someone cares for them, and that they are not forgotten.

I won't bother you with how busy the day was, but I would like to pass on a story of a guy I met today. As part of our ministry in the city of Philadelphia, my group went to a nursing home. We visited with the residents , sang some songs, and did a puppet show.

One of the men that I had the privilege of meeting today was John. John has no legs, not even a waste really. He is elderly and lives in facility. He is the type of person who makes the best of where he is. The phrase "bloom where you are planted" completely applies to John. He rides around on a motorized scooter, and had the idea of taking the plants that many would throw away (plants they would get on Easter, Christmas, Mother's Day, etc...) and decided (own his own) to plant a garden in the back of the facility. It is amazing! As I talked with him he pointed out hundreds of various flowers, plants, and shrubs, and could tell me the "scientific" name for all of them. The director of the facility eventually ordered him some four foot by four foot raised boxes to plant these various plants on the patio.

He encouraged and inspired me. Please pray for John today and all the other residents out there who need to know someone loves them.

My day began around 6:15am, getting up, shower, last minute packing etc… Hannah-Grace was up early and was excited that she had been able to see me before I left for the trip. I drove to Bobby W. house (who has the Gordon’s van pulling a trailer) and together we went to get a rental van. We arrived at Donna S. house, figured out how to get where we were going, prayed and loaded up the team. No major drama getting there (we were actually 30 min. early). A quick lunch at Taco bell and started check in around 1:30pm. Donna, Bobby and myself went through several stations, a lot like a typical DMV, including a picture! We settled into our dorm rooms at Eastern University (www.eastern.edu).

Then it was off to dinner around 5pm for some delicious college cafeteria food. The drivers of vans met for a driver orientation. All the campers then met together for an opening celebration and were dismissed to meet with our ministry tracks. Each person signs up for various ministries throughout Philadelphia and are assigned to different groups with other kids and adults. We planned what we will be doing for the week. Somehow I ended up in the “creative track” which involves singing, puppets, drama, etc… We’ll see what God is up to on that one. We had another rally with the kids on a soccer field (at least I think it was a soccer field, it was dark). At 10:15pm, it was off to Daybreak’s evening devotion with our youth group. We finished with just enough time to get all the way back (we have to hike everywhere), to the guys dorm by “lights out” at 11:00pm.

No problem sleeping at all.

Here are some ways you can pray for us:
1. That we will have a significant impact on the city of Philadelphia with the gospel.
2. That all the kids and adults will keep a positive attitude (it will be a hectic week)
3. That all will be open to what God desires to do in their lives, and tell each other what they see God doing in each other’s lives.
4. That there won’t be any distractions as to why we are here – that everyone stays focused.

We have a friend who was generous enough to give us a truck load full of mulch for the play set. He owns a tree cutting business and has to pay to dump his chipped up trees off site; so we asked him if he would let us have a load, instead of him paying to have it dumped. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

When the truck arrived it was six inches too big to pass through our gate to the back yard. The plan was for him to dump it inside our timber box and all I would need to do was to spread it out. (six inches!!!) When we realized that it would not fit in the back he pulled back around to the front yard and I asked him to pour it on the parking pad.

He backed pretty close to our garage door and the truck bed pitched upward. The mulch began to flow out and flow out, and flow out. It was five foot high and ran the entire length of our drive way. We have been parking on the street for over two weeks now. I don’t know how many cubic yards that is, but man it looked like tons! I began by taking my wheeled barrel and knew after half dozed trips around to the backyard that this was not going to work.

I borrowed Crag G.’s truck (again) and have loaded the mulch truck load after truck load. In the rain, the dark, and the severe heat I have loaded mulch. The other night I actually had a dream I was shoveling mulch. As I write this entry, there is a full load on the truck, which I will move in the morning, and what I hope is one last truck load on the ground. Then I will be finished with the pile of mulch.

Drew, how interesting! Ok, I do have a point to make. Kimberly asked me several times, “why don’t you get some help!” But that would have completely ruined this whole thing for me. When I saw the pile as it avalanched off the truck, I knew this would either break me or make me stronger – I wanted the challenge. There were times when I wanted to quit. But as I saw the pile get smaller one truck load at a time, and one shovel full at a time it became something that I had to do. If I could move all this mulch, then I could do some other things that looked impossible as well. I will just attack them one shovel full at a time. We have also scheduled a children’s camp at our house so everything has to be completed by Monday.

Have you ever just wanted a challenge that seemed a bit overwhelming?

Many of you have asked how Caleb is doing, so sorry for not posting anything about him sooner (regarding his health anyway). He is doing fine and has had no complications. Yesterday he ran through the house to find me and with absolutely no cloths on he said, "Look dad!" And I asked, "what am I supposed to be looking at?" "And he pointing to the area where the surgery was performed (if you are confused look back a few posts). The discoloration is almost gone and everything is almost like it should be. So I said, "yeah! it looks great!" -- What was I supposed to say? Thank you for your prayers and support.

There are times in leadership when you have to react in such a way as to get people’s attention. In stage acting when you make gesture you exaggerate your movements and words so that those far away understand what the actor is seeking to convey. So there are some instances when a leader has to over react to show the significance of what has happened. Even when his temperament is “even keel,” he must take up a few notches just to make a point.

In the instance I want to tell you about today it is with me as a father, the leader of my home. Caleb and Joshua got off the bus a couple of days ago as usual but upon entering the house Caleb disappeared. I knew something was up, because he always wants a snack. Joshua was more than willing to tell me what had happened earlier in their classroom. Joshua while cautious not to repeat the same motion told me that Caleb had held up his middle finger while the other fingers were held down, and made this gesture toward his teacher. He was copying another boy in the class.

In that instance I knew this was one of those times when the normal sit on the step, lose a toy, etc… simply wasn’t going to be impacting enough. I sent Caleb to his room until I had a second to think. There are times as a parent when you have to have a heavy hand and that was one of those instances. He needed to know that we don’t disrespect adults, and we don’t follow others if we don’t know what they are leading us to do. Even if Caleb did not know what “the bird” means, he did know it was wrong and that is was disrespectful. I wanted him to remember this day and what happens when he crosses the line, and when he does something he knows would disappoint his father.

After his punishment we talked about what had happened and how not to make the same mistake again. We discussed at how God had given him to me to make sure that I raised him according to His ways, and how I would one day be held accountable for this.

When our boys entered the public school system last year I was concerned that they would see and be exposed to this kind of stuff all the time. But this is the first this year, and I don’t even remember anything from last year. Figures it would be the last week of school!

The Take-Away Point: Some times you just have to go ballistic to make a point. But don’t do it too much or people will think you are neurotic. This is a magic bullet you tuck away like Barney with a bullet in his pocket on Andy Griffith.

There is something very special (and fun) about a baseball game. There is the smell of concessions, the feel of sun on your head, and the excitement of the crowd. Families are having fun, couples are experiencing first dates, children are jubilant. There is a sense of common patriotism as you remove your hat, hold your hand over your heart, and sing the “Star Spangled Banner.”

Joshua, Caleb, and I went to a Frederick Keys game tonight, and it was their first. They had millions of questions and I did my best to explain everything. There was so much “newness” that they sat very still, looked, asked questions, and never even got out of their seat.

At the end of the second inning it began to rain, so we went under cover. We bought popcorn (which was awfully stale), a Pepsi drink, chicken tenders, and fries. We leaned against the wall, huddled with hundreds of others escaping the rain and ate. We laughed, talked about the game so far, and answered even more questions.

Eventually the rain stopped and we watched the grounds crew remove the ground cover tarp, and then put it back again. I decided it was time to go, when there was no sign of the game resuming and it looked like another front was coming.

The boys were happy and I believed they enjoyed their first game – even if they missed the seventh inning stretch, and the other five innings -- perhaps next time. We did get to see one batter splinter a bat, and a double play. One last thought – this is why I don’t watch baseball on tv very much, you miss all the real excitement of the game.