Summer Fun

The summer is off to a HOT start already. We keep looking to meeting Spring, but she passed by so fast we never got more than a glimpse of her. Having a little boy means spending lots of time outside, rain or shine. We've already had so much fun & we're just getting started. Here's some random pics from the last couple of months. Enjoying a popsicle after playing in the hot sun. (Thanks Aunt Stephanie)

Uncle Danny took us for a ride w/ Cousin Kara in the tractor bucket.

He LOVES tractors, "dig digs," lawnmowers, etc. Uncle Danny scored serious points by having his very own tractor & getting to ride in the driver's seat.

Random pic showing off mommy's shades!

I've also got a good helper when it comes to washing the car. I was using both hands so he had to hold onto my wrist to stay close to daddy while mommy sprayed the water & took pics.

Anything involving water is also a big hit. Swimming, washing the car, & even playing in the rain. We got caught in a random afternoon shower & he decided it wasn't time to come in so we played in the pouring down rain.

"Oh no, I'm getting soaked!"

Very proud to have the water hose (whatever good that does in a rain storm)

A Day in the Louisiana Senate

On Tuesday I took a trip to Baton Rouge to the State Capitol to open the afternoon Senate Session in prayer. It was a great honor to be invited and to represent our church. I was introduced by Senator Mike Walsworth who is the State Senator for our district. Senator Walsworth is a fine Christian man whom I first met back in October when he visited our church along with Governor Jindal. Mike is one of many Christians serving in our State Senate & I was pleased to hear of the strong Christian presence in the Senate.



In the Louisiana Senate no official business can take place until after the opening prayer & pledge of allegiance. A group of chaplains who work for PRC Compassion make the arrangements for pastors to come & pray in the Senate. I look forward for more opportunities in the future to be involved in helping pray for & support our state government. I look forward for future opportunities to attend Senate sessions and to get to know better the men & women who serve in our state government.



I was a bit nervous praying in such a formal setting but I hope my ministry was well received. They ask us to limit our prayer to 3 minutes & though many doubted my ability to do so, I concluded my prayer in 1 minute & 7 seconds. I figured most would forget the words I prayed, but I bet they will remember it was brief. You can actually watch the video here. (Click on the "Chamber" video link for part 1 on May 25th).

Journey

Our church purchases a monthly devotional magazine for the women called Journey. It's a great resource we are glad to supply for our women. This most recent issue had special meaning for one lady in our church. Her son recently enlisted in the United States Air Force & is currently attending boot camp. The 1st phone call she got from him (4 days into training) all he could talk about was how much he loved the church & couldn't wait until Sunday to go again.



Inspired by this she began to tear out the devotional pages of her magazine every 0ther day & send them to her son. He started a prayer meeting at his bunk with one other wingman every night at 10:30 P.M. Within only a few days he had 22 wingmen gathering around his bunk every night & he would use the page from the Journey for their devotional (each page had one devotional on front & back).



In less than 2 weeks these wingmen will graduate from basic training & disperse to various areas of training. I shared this story at our "Night of Praise" last night & our church is praying God will use these 22 young men to start devotional times at their locations.



It's amazing how God is using a women's devotional book to challenge & inspire young men training for the Air Force. God is ready & willing to use the most likely & unlikely sources to reveal Himself to others.



You may be the next unlikely source God wants to use to bless someone else!

Death & Life

I was asked a couple of weeks ago to preach the funeral of a man I've never met. A visitor of our church lost her father & he, nor anyone in the family, had a pastor to officiate, so she asked me. My schedule allowed me & I was glad to attempt to give this family the peace of Jesus & personal comfort. It quickly became evident this man was most likely not a Christian, which makes for a tough job, but incredible opportunity for me as a pastor.

I spoke briefly from Matthew 11:28-30 on Jesus calling all who are weary & burdened to come to Him. The service went well & I prayed only to make much of Jesus & let God do the rest. And He did...

The next morning in our worship service the daugther (who's in her early 60's) stepped out on the 1st line of the invitation song & gave her life to Jesus & truly experienced the peace I had spoken of the day before. It was an incredible celebration that morning & I baptized her the following Sunday.

I prayed by faith, as many others were praying as well, that God's Word wouldn't return void (as Scripture promises) but He gave us an almost immediate return on our investment. Many individuals heard a clear presentation of the Gospel at the funeral & my prayer is this is only the beginning of the lives touched by Jesus.

This new Christian is already actively involved in the ministry of our church. Everyday I can't wait to see how God's going to work in His Church. I'm so grateful to be able to be part of such a great move of God as we've already baptized 10 new Christians in 2010.

I'm reminded regularly, as I remind our church family...God's still in the business of changing lives!

Easter Weekend

We had a wonderful time enjoying the beautiful weather, the great time w/ family, & the reason we can live abundantly & eternally - Jesus. Cade had a great time playing, eating some candy, learning how to hunt eggs, & of course going to church w/ a huge crowd (largest since I've been here & maybe one of the biggest in the church's history). Here's some pics from the weekend.

Closely examining the dyed egg, which was way more interesting than the plastic ones.

Post-church family pic right before his 3+ hour nap


Hunting eggs at our church's Easter Bash on Saturday.

Trying to get a good picture before church.

Checking out his Easter basket before breakfast.

Dying eggs on Saturday.

Reading his Easter book from Papaw & Nena he got in the mail in his Easter Envelope (guess a basket wouldn't fit in the envelope).

Cade also got some great stuff from Pops & Mimi but we didn't have the camera handy at the time. We tried to talk about the true meaning of Easter & maybe next year he will be able to tell us what Easter is really about.

Our Little Dancing Man

Here's a fun evening of entertainment at our house these days.

Poor quality video...high quality dance moves.

Bless Bastrop Project

Grace is setting out to be a light in the darkness right here in Bastrop, LA. This is our "Jerusalem" & we want to serve our city through hard work, generosity, & the love of the Gospel. Several Sunday nights have been set aside for service in our local community. Our prayer is this will instill within us a greater heart to serve others as Jesus did. We need to be reminded as well as display to others we don't exists for ourselves but the world around us.

Our great group of volunteers showed up Sunday afternoon ready to serve. We've adopted the part across the street from our church & we're renovating the playground equipment. Another team picked up trash at the park & 3 local school campuses. Others went to a local grocery store to bag groceries, carry & load groceries, retrieve buggies, & greet customers with a smile. The overall purpose of this initiative is to be a blessing to our town. We want to get outside the walls of the church & love our neighbors as ourselves. We had a blast serving together & many have expressed excitement in the next opportunity to serve.

Some of our volunteers were able to share the Gospel with people we met at various places in town, but most of us were able to be a positive example of love & service to others. Here are some pictures from Sunday afternoon.