Today was a special day for me as I celebrated my 53rd birthday on US soil. The day also brought about a good deal of reflection about what has happened in the last year of my life… and the life of my family. On my birthday, the 28th, we have officially been back home in Tennessee for 1 year. It is difficult to believe that it has been a year… time does fly as they say. So please allow me to share a few thoughts about how my day went today and what major changes have occurred since we returned from missionary service in Europe. Let’s see:
- My birthday started off yesterday with an opportunity to teach Sunday School twice at my new church, Englewood Baptist Church. It was a joy to be used in the Master’s service in this way. Thank you David for the blessing.
- After church, my children met us for lunch and we went to Ruby Tuesday’s and enjoyed food and fellowship together. I love my kids! Dawn too!
- After lunch, we came back to the mission house and relaxed a bit and caught up a few things.
- In early afternoon, I went to by with my group on Burkett Street with Mission Jackson. This was a special day (pictures below). We had a cookout for the kids, had a lot of fun and games, presented a Bible story to them, had opportunities to be a witness to some of the adults around the neighborhood, and then gave the kids backpacks filled with school supplies for the new school year. Please specifically pray for a man named “Ty” as he is struggling with many life issues right now, especially with health concerns. Pray for him by name. This is an awesome ministry!
Now to reflect a little on the last year as a whole. As I mentioned earlier, this day marks a full year since we came home. We are connected to Woodland Baptist Church (our host church) and they have been SO very gracious to us and have agreed to allow us to stay in the mission house for a longer period than is usual. They are awesome! We give back to their church in various ways to show our gratitude but their love and concern for us has been uncommon. Also, Dawn and I are both back in school (at Union University) and have a goal to finish our BA degrees as quickly as possible. This process will take several months but we are already making strides in that direction. Of course, we have enjoyed the blessings and challenges of reconnecting to family and friends… especially our children. Lastly, we prayerfully made a decision to join the ministry and body of believers at Englewood Baptist Church here in Jackson. We have already made good ministry friends there and have been embraced into the Mission Jackson outreach ministry. There are some awesome folks there at EBC. I continue to send out resumes around the country as I see opportunities to do so and I am doing enough technical development work to feed us and take care of our needs. Hopefully, after I have graduated with degree in hand, churches and organizations will be more willing to consider me for ministry positions. In the end though, God “IS” in control of all of this and we are simply trying to be conscious of His will and be obedient to follow it. Bless you all and may the Lord be glorified in our lives… amen.
