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