Programs Over People, Entertainment Over Ministry

It warms my heart when I see a church leader put the wants of a program over the needs of hurting people. Joy flooded my soul today as I learned that the opportunity to minister to many was passed over to make a way to entertain a few. Being the church just doesn't get any better than this.

Take Your Elbows Off The Table

"Take your elbows off the table and lean back in your chair. Sip your drink, pretend to enjoy the sunset and the warmth of the fire in the fireplace. If you can't learn to find some enjoyment in each moment while you're young, by the time you're my age you'll be burned out."

Hannah Alexander

My friend is gone

A phone call you never want to take. Words you never want to hear. Pain you never want to see. It all came without warning, without welcome Friday night. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening..." has run through my mind since then. Three adored children without their mother. A much loved husband without his wife. Parents that have already said good-bye to one child say good-bye to their daughter. A son becomes an only child. I don't understand. I just hurt. A happy face is put on for the youngest son. We talk, laugh, run and play. He cackles when he discovers I have stepped in dog pooh. Out of his sight the tears come. My friend is gone.

I Think The World Is Coming To An End

Britney Spears has not been listed in MSN's entertainment section all day. Something is terribly wrong!

Pray

I got this off of dreaming(Big)dreams blog. She got it off a friend's blog. Having spent time in Guangzhou going through the adoption process I can "see" the consulate red tape mounting for this poor woman. I can't comprehend the grief. I don't know what I would have done if Phil had died while we were there.

"I just got an e-mail from one of my friends who is in China right now. One of the families in her group has experienced a tragedy that is so hard to comprehend. The wife Sandi and her husband Dennis have been married 18 or 19 years, and this is their first child. Hannah (who is being adopted in China) is their daughter, and they were preparing to return to the States when Dennis fell ill.
Dennis was struggling to keep his blood glucose levels in check while in China and fell in to a diabetic coma yesterday. He died in Guangzhou two nights ago.
Sandi’s mother and brother are trying to get emergency visas to get to China to help out, and now there is concern that the US government (via the Consulate in Guangzhou) would deny Hannah’s visa to return to the States with her mother, as her father’s death affects the status of her adoption (on paper only, though).
Please pray for Sandi, Hannah, and their shock & grief. Please pray that the Consulate would not deny Hannah’s visa and that they would be able to return home unhindered, and for all arrangements for Dennis’ body. I ache for them….this just seems unfathomable! PLEASE PRAY!"

Jamie adds: Please if you think about it pray for this family and all the circumstances around this tragic event. Pray for the mom and her unimaginable loss. I can’t even begin to understand her life right now.

Missing Waco

I got homesick for Waco. We were in town for Baylor Homecoming and to visit our Baylor Bear. Leaving Plano at a little after 6 a.m. I gave up trying to sleep sitting upright before we got too far down the road and laid my head on my husband's lap. He woke me just before we pulled into campus. And he bought me coffee after we found our spots for the nation's longest collegiate homecoming parade. The man knows what I need to function.

The parade was much shorter than it has been in the past. Phil sent me an article about one missing entry. It was struck twice on its way to the starting point. Haley and her Tech Raider (she made him wear a Baylor shirt) joined Callie, Clay, Phil and me in our place across from Morrison Constitution Hall. Callie stayed busy diving for candy. She couldn't understand why people kept throwing the the young children next to us and not to her, a thirteen year old. It just didn't compute.

My favorite moment came when the Indian Students Club stopped in front of us and danced. A small girl from the crowd joined them in their dance. The saddest moment was when the bear came and a little boy jumped from the curb and tried to join her. After being stopped by the handlers he found refuge in his daddy's arms and sobbed his eyes out. He eventually rejoined his brother on the curb but his heart wasn't in it.

Lunch was at the fabulous hole-in-the-wall burger joint, Duble R Burgers, in west Waco. There isn't even a readable sign to mark the place and yet it was packed. I miss these kinds of eating establishments that have been around forever and don't need mass advertising to keep them opened. They have so much for character than chains.

Waco has more character than Plano. We have our historical area in Plano, but it isn't the same. I miss the beautiful neighborhoods with the big old houses surround by giant trees and the areas of cozy homes all nestled around downtown. Maybe it is the hilliness and how the streets run all different ways and sometimes make no sense at all. I guess I can't put my finger on the one thing I enjoy the most. Everything tied up together makes Waco what it is. I love it and I miss it.

Relief for Hurricane Hit on Yucatan and Cuba

Received today from my friends, Harlan and Norma.


MISIÓN YUCATÁN
A.C.Colegio de las Américas Seminario Teológico Cristiano Una Institution Bautista

November 1, 2007

Greetings in Jesus Name, the Name above all names! Thank you for your faithful partnership with us in prayer and financial support of Mission Americas. We appreciate you friendship! We want to focus this letter on an act of prayer and advance praise for an area of His Ministry that we are involved. The floodwaters, generated by the recent Hurricane Noel, have devastated many Christian Families on the Island of Cuba and the States of Campeche and Tabasco in the Yucatan Peninsula. They are in need of our prayers and any financial help we can spare to send them for food and water. We have sent them all that we have available for food and water, but it will not be enough. Some homes and churches were destroyed and will need to be rebuilt. I am remaining in contact with our national leaders and I will keep you updated. I will send you some photos tomorrow. If you can help these wonderful people devastated by Noel, please send your gift to FBMI, P.O. Box 863763, Plano, Texas 75086-3763 and designate your gift Noel and we will see that it gets where it is needed the most. You can call at our international telephone number of 214-347-7843 and leave a message and I will call you back. You can also send an email to admin@fbmi.us and I will always answer you. Thank you in advance for all your help in prayers and financial aid and may our Lord bless your generosity!
Your friends and missionaries,
Harlan and Norma Capps
www.fbmi.us

Unexpected Phone Call

My son calls when I'm about a mile away from his little country school. The conversation goes something like this:

Aaron: Are you coming to get us?
Me: I'm almost there.
Aaron: You're gonna have to come in the building. We can't go outside.
Me: What are you talking about?
Aaron: There is an escaped convict and we can't leave the education building.
Me: You are pulling my leg. What are y'all up to?
Aaron: No really, we're in lock down. Mrs. Kuhnast is standing right here. And Mrs. Montgomery.
Me: You are so full of it.
Aaron: No one is walking around outside. No one can go outside. Wait til you get here, you'll see. Here ask Layne.
Me: Oh, like I'm gonna believe Layne.
Layne: He's not kidding. I don't lie. I'm a honest person. Ask Mrs. Kuhnast, she's even more honest than me.
(Mrs. K laughing in the background)
Layne: Mrs. Kuhnast, are we on lock down?
Mrs. Kuhnast: Yes we are.
Me: Okay, I'm almost there.

Sure enough. Dads are guarding the school grounds and a helicopter is flying overhead. I asked one of the "guards" to cover me as I went inside.

Read the official story.

Heard on DART

The oddest thing I heard on the train today came from a college aged white guy:
"Our government, which is Christian, gave HIV to the Black Panthers in an attempt to control what they viewed as riff-raff, not realizing that it would mutate and finally attack the rich and all levels of society."

The nicest thing I witnessed on the train today was:
A woman commented on the beauty of an other's silver necklace. The owner of the necklace said, "Thank you" and continued her conversation with her seatmate. Many stops later, as the necklace lady was getting off, she handed the necklace to the complementor and stepped of the train. The gifted lady was in shock.

The Oregon Trail

My wonderful neighbors have moved to Portland. Now, they didn't take a covered wagon, but their journey has been rough and painful. We moved in almost four years ago across the street from Al and Feta. Feta was in good shape and loved to work in their yard. I noticed something was a little off when she asked me after we had been their for three months if we had moved in yet. We had four busy children at that time and they have a lot of busy friends, so I thought it was strange that she didn't realize we were moved in. She stopped working in the yard and began looking very fragile. One day while out walking with her sister we met in the little park next to our homes. She asked me if I had any children. I knew at that point what was going on. Feta was traveling the rutty, hard, dusty, stormy road of Alzheimer's. We had to make sure that the children knew so they could help if she ever wondered off or seemed very confused. Al takes such beautiful care of her. And he still took beautiful care of the others in the cul-de-sac. Al is still extremely spry for being a man who fought in World War II for the Scandinavian Special Forces. He was at the Battle of the Bulge. Al always had a big hug for me and a kiss on the cheek. He gave my youngest son his old, beautiful drafting table, light, and boxes and boxes of markers, pastels, etc... He sent off to National Geographic for a beach ball globe for our Callie. She was thrilled. He would help with everyone's trashcans and gave me his coupons.

Al realized that he was at an age that something could happen to him and Feta might not remember how to get help. He knew it was time to move to a safer place for both of them. So, after living in the same home since 1973, Al and his daughter cleaned out and prepared for Portland. The last few days were so confusing for Feta. Why were they packing and getting rid of things, why were they staying with friends? They didn't bring her back to the house after the moving truck was loaded. It would have been too much. I can't imagine living in the same house thirty-four years and the next day be in a completely different environment. From warm to cold, from familiar to everything strange. My heart breaks for her and the confusion she must be trying to sort out right now. My heart breaks for Al as he helps her deal with it, watches her fade, and misses his home. My heart breaks for Chrystal as she gets them settled in and watches her mother fade.