10 Timeless Values of Christ

Our pastor at our church has been emphasizing 10 Timeless Values of Christ over the last several months.

• Prayer
• Fasting
• Study of Scripture
• Partaking of the Lord's Supper
• Being Baptized
• Joining in Christian Fellowship
• Witnessing for Jesus Christ
• Involving yourself in Acts of Mercy
• Regular periods of Sabbath (spiritual renewal)
• Practicing Faithful Stewardship

One comment he made after he read over them one morning was to look at the list and think about the different values. Which one's do you do well at? Which ones are real struggles? Then he encouraged us to pick one or two of those we struggle at and really make an effort to make the needed changes to improve that area or areas.

So all that to say that my goal over the next couple of months is to improve my Study of Scripture - and so I've been writing a small date in my Bible next each time I've read a section and hopefully that will help remind me to keep at it and stay focused. The other area I'd like to improve dramatically is my Prayer time. Thought I'd share this with you so maybe you can shoot me an email as a small way of accountability and also so you can reflect on your own life.

WGM, Remodeling. & Father's Day

We had a missionary couple who I have known for several years stay with us on Thursday night. They work with World Gospel Mission (WGM) and have been on deputation (homeland ministry assignment) or "rest & support raising" over the last year or so. They are planning on returning back to Mexico in about 2 months. I originally met them when I took a semester off at the end of my sophomore year at Asbury to work with WGM for 6 1/2 months. They were very influential in my life at a crucial point and I have been very grateful for their support and influence during that time. This has been the first time since 1999 that I have seen them and it was great to hear more about their ministry, family, and catch up on people we had both worked with. We had a great time hosting them and also had a few of our friends in the Berea area over to have coffee & dessert to have an informal time to get to know about the work they are involved in, about some of the experiences they have had with their family, and to simply get to know them on a personal level.

On a much different note I finally finished up priming the downstairs bathroom ... still waiting for Sarah to decide on the color but at least it looks nice. I also started really working on finishing pulling the wallpaper & old paint off the walls of the upstairs bathroom. It'll be awhile before it's done but I'm enjoying the work.

Sarah allowed me and Benjamin to go to Lowes last night to pick out my Father's day gift. Good thing she wasn't with us... I think she would have been bored after 30 minutes... Benjamin did great because we talked about hammers and I let him carry a little one around while I finished up my shopping. She worked hard helping me wrap up some loose ends around the house today and I really appreciate all that she had done.

Happy Father's Day pop. Look forward to celebrating a more in years to come. Thanks for all of your help and encouragement over the years. Glad to see you enjoying your grandchildren.

4 Weeks

Four weeks since my last post. A little amazing. In the middle of May we went to my niece's graduation in Hazard, KY. She is now officially in high school. We're very proud of all of her work these last several years. The next weekend we went to visit Sarah's family in Bowling Green. The following weekend our friends Mark & Anna came for a visit. It's always great to catch up with them and they were a huge help with both the kids over the weekend. They even brought along their new dog so our golden retriever would have some company as well. Then right after they left we had a baby shower at our church and Sarah's sister and our 2 nieces came in town. They visited a couple of days. Our nieces have really grown up and did a great job playing with Benjamin and assisting with little Jonathan. Then we left a few days later to head to Madisonville, KY in western KY so we could go to a wedding and also catchup with a few of our friends who we haven't seen in almost 4 years.

Oh and by the way we celebrated my father's birthday on Sunday. I've attached a picture of him and my Grandmother who is now over 90 years old. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I even got Benjamin to sort'a say Happy Birthday to him.