2 Timothy 2:2

"And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Victory!

I've never felt this way before.

I'm sad, yet I'm happy.
I'm sorrowful, yet I'm joyful.
I am in anguish, yet I am comforted.


At some point last night while he slept, my daddy closed his eyes here and opened them in heaven.

And while my heart is broken, and my spirit is weak, I am comforted that he knew Jesus, and lived his life for Him, so he will never stop living.

The next few days, weeks, months, even years will be tough.

Yet God is still in control, working His master plan for all of us for His good and His glory.
Dad just entered God's eternal home, and I'll miss him. Oh I will miss that old white haired man who told silly jokes and loved children and the St. Louis Cardinals.
And I know I'll post more about him in the next few posts, but for now.

Mourn and rejoice! He is not here! He is risen! His spirit lives on in our hearts.

I love you all.
Please remember our family in this time.

TJ

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Don't have much time, but wanted to shout it out

It's 11:22 and it's been a long day. Jim's snoring in the bed behind me, so I'm typing as quietly as I can.

2 salvations tonight...Griffin and Trey. That's right. Trey.

Griffin was first. Today's theme was "Choose Jesus," and they hammered it home all day. They heard it in Quiet time, "I can't Wait!," Bible Study, REC, Track Time, and Worship. And I topped it off presenting the ABC's in Church group time. I stressed that any kid that wanted to talk about becoming a Christian, I wanted them to talk to an adult. Griffin said as we walked out the door that "he wanted to talk more when we got back to the condo." I assumed he meant the dorm, but we only went a few feet out the door, when he told me that he wanted to be baptized. This is the kid that was crying because he didn't want to leave his dad yesterday when we left! And about 30 hours later, he was wanting to start a relationship with Jesus. We stopped right there and went over the ABC's with a hybrid Roman road. He said he understood, so I led him in the sinner's prayer! Another party in heaven! Woo hoo!
We called his mom on the spot to let her know what we had talked about! It was great!
And my arm is covered in sharpie...I digress. More about that one tomorrow.

After the party time, there was some free time and Trey got into it with Pam because she wouldn't allow him to spend any more of his money. I backed her up, and he stormed off, doing his sullen walk. I let him know that if that's the way he wanted to act, he needed to go back to his room. He ran into new Terry on the way, had the same talk I had had, and Terry told him to go to his room, as well. After a long talk with Kim re: my dad, and some boys throwing rocks and sand at our girls, I made it back to the dorm to find Trey and Griffin and 2 staffers playing a game out front. Trey wouldn't even look at me. I asked him if he was still mad. He said he was, so I made him head on up to his room, where he slammed the door. I waited a few minutes, and went in to talk to him. The conversation was about our anger and healthy ways to control it. But then it morphed into talk about his grandma who passed away earlier this year, the one who brought him to church, and his mom who is in jail. We talked about what it meant to be a Christian, and I asked if he thought he was one. I asked if he wanted to be, and then we talked about his grandma in heaven. After some more conversation, I told him how easy it was to become a Christian. He agreed and prayed the Sinner's Prayer, and now he's living, and he's never going to stop! Woo hoo, double time!

As I said, it's late, and I need to finish getting ready for bed. 6:30 comes early!
Feel free to comment as anonymous, if you want!
Good night from G'town!
TJ

Monday, June 12, 2006

Did you know if you push the shift key five times in a row, it activates "sticky keys"?

I found that out the other day. My computer lets out this funny little noise, and sends me a popup. I don't know what "sticky keys" are, but it sounds delicious.

Reflections since June 1:
Going to have a baby girl. Daddy's little girl. Will have to pay for a wedding one day (hopefully). Will have to buy prom dresses and such. Will be subjected to soccer?!? Never. Just kidding. Will have to buy a shotgun. Not kidding. Any boys out there think I'm joking, just come on by.
She'll be my angel. I hope she looks just like her mommy, 'cause if she looks like me, that'd be one funny looking girl, what with the balding and all.

Friday, Nerdawg got a crew together and we cleaned out the Billie. Way overdue! We took all the seats out. Then we cleaned all the windows inside. Then we picked up as much trash as we could. Then Chuck brought his leaf blower up and we blew all the dirt and stuff we couldn't pick up out the back. Then Nerdawg mopped it. Then we took the hose and washed it out. Then I drove it really fast so the water would go out. Then we washed the outside top to bottom. Props to Nerdawg, Justin and Jenn Eaton, and Melissa for coming to do this!

Student Sunday! Where do I begin? EVERYONE was there on time (save 2 brothers who shall remain nameless...cough...wesleybradleybarnette...or maybe not). I walked around to all the classes and peeked in. Everyone's classes went incredibly well! All the adults were raving about the students preparation and guiding of the lessons! And if that was the only thing awesome about the day, that would be enough.
But wait, there's more!
Worship service kicked off with Dallas playing the prelude. As soon as her accompaniment track started, I knew it would be a monumental day in the history of worship at Mt. Carmel. She nailed it on her viola or violin or whatever it is she plays! Walley had the invocation, and then the Youth Choir rocked us with the call to worship. After a brief mixup on my part, we had Graduate Recognition. 8 of the 13 graduates were there. I was pleased to present them with their copies of The Message. Mike B was reading his almost the whole service.
After that, the youth band led basket auction, but I checked in from time to time and Lance was on fire in his sermon!
I was worried after such an incredible service, we wouldn't have a good attendance at the auction, but was I ever wrong!
We had just the right amount of food for the snack luncheon, and we had 25 baskets to auction off! The highest one (which included a week in Florida at one of our ladies' place) went for $400! A record for Basket Auction!
Overall, we raised over $2100 on the baskets, which translated to $60 per kid! The guys and girls did a great job cleaning up and all.
Several students are paid for for Fuge now. Several still owe some. If they worked all three fundraisers, they only owe like $13 for Fuge. At $325 for camp, only having to pay $63 is pretty awesome if you ask me.
Our church has always supported our youth, and this year has been no exception. It's a blessing to be a part of a family that values its young people!

Now it's off to Centri-Kid for the week. I love Georgetown. They treat the adults like kings! And the kids have a great time! I'll try and post some updates this week at camp. I'm taking the church's laptop to try and keep current.

Have a great week!
TJ

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Moment of Truth

Well, here it is! We're having a
















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Girl!

And I love her. And I don't even know her, yet. But I love her more than anything.