NYC In November

FOR KIDS & OTHERS

Hi!  It's been a long time since I wrote.  Last weekend, Darlene and I joined about thirty others from our college on a bus ride to spend the day in New York City.  We love visiting the city.  We took a carriage ride through Central Park, road the subways, and visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  We shopped around in the Apple Store, American Girl Doll Store, had Starbucks in Trump Tower, ate at Roxi's Deli and had the best burgers ever at a place called The Counter.

It was a fabulous sunny day for sight seeing.  We spent most of the day with Rick and Judy Dunham, a couple that work at the college with us.  It was a great day in the city enjoying the sights and fellowship with the Dunhams.  They had never spent time like this in NYC so much of it was new to them.

Have you ever noticed that some experiences are just more fun when you share them with others?  God created us to live and work and grow in community with other believers.  There are some things that are fun to do alone, but even coloring seems more fun when you do it with a friend.  Darlene and I have been to the city many times.  It is always more fun to see things when we are with somebody who is experiencing them for the first time.

It's Thanksgiving week and you will have opportunity to enjoy spending time with family and friends.  I pray that you will have fun visiting and celebrating all of the good things God has done for you this year.

 Carriage ride in Central Park

Inspired by Liberty

A view of the City from Ellis Island

Miss Liberty at Sunset

Just Got Back From Kenya

4 Kids

Hi!  I flew home from Kenya on Saturday and Sunday and boy are my arms tired.  The picture above is one of me with kids from one of our school shows.  My team and I were blessed to share Jesus with over 6000 kids last week.  Many children raised their hands to ask Jesus to be their Savior and Friend.  After doing school shows and a crusade, we went on safari.

That's me just a few yards away from some elephants.  We saw lots of elephants, lions, zebra and many other African animals.  I am home and safe and thank you for praying for me while I was gone.  Here are a couple more pictures for you to enjoy.

The Great Rift Valley

Our big blue safari truck.

Kenyan children praying at school.

Preaching at a school in Nairobi, Kenya.

Flying my kite at Maasai Mara game reserve

African lion

Darlene and Dawoodee on safari

Going to Kenya

4 Kids

I am going to Kenya, Africa today.  My wife Darlene and ten college students are joining me to go and minister to boys and girls on the "dark continent."  Do I look excited or what?  I am so pumped right now.  All of my life and ministry I have wanted to go to Africa.  This is my first chance.  I was in a missions service when I felt God's call to become a minister.  I dreamt of one day going to Africa, sleeping in the dirt and eating bugs.  My idea of missions was not very well developed.  Today is the day.  I finally get to go.  Be sure to check out my Kenya blog at the link over on the right of this page.  I will try to update that whenever I can.

Weekend in Pittsburgh

4 Kids

Hey Friends!  I just spent the weekend with the most amazing kids on planet earth, my grandchildren.  We gathered in Pittsburgh at a Residence Inn so that the moms could attend a baby shower for Tim and Brittany.  We had fun staying in a couple of rooms, eating food made in a small kitchenette area, and playing with toys.  On Saturday night, the boys had a sleep over in grandma and grandpas room.  Sunday night, the girls took their turn.  I must say that girls giggle and talk much more than boys.

Someday, we will all have a sleep over in heaven.  Everyone who knows Jesus as their Savior and Friend will come together to eat and play and spend time in God's presence.

Here are the kids watching grandma tell a Bible story.

Grandma gets ready to tell the Bible story 

using pictures from the See With Me Bible.

On Sunday morning, we had our own little children's church time.  We sang songs while the kids played percussion instruments. We had story time and the Ninja duck even visited and received hugs.  It was a fun time, but boy am I tired. I am so thankful that we got to spend time together. I am thankful that God gave each family member safe traveling to and from Pittsburg. 

What a day!

Ellie opening presents.

4 Kids
What a day!  Yesterday, we went to Aaron and Jenny's house to celebrate Ellie's birthday.  She turned four this week.  It was so much fun watching her open presents.  She was so full of joy.  Tim and Brittany came to the party too.  As the day rolled on, Aaron played the Angry Bird game with Caleb on the computer.

Caleb blowing up birds on dad's computer.

Just when it seemed the day couldn't get any better, Marvin, Betty, Aaron, Jenny, Darlene, and I went to a sweetheart banquet at Aaron's church.  The banquet was fabulous as the food was prepared by Top Chef winner, Kevin. (He attends their church.)  Aaron did a prawn head puppet for ours and other tables.  I spoke for the event.  Darlene and I drove home.  We were happy that we had enjoyed such a fun day with family.

Marvin and Betty at banquet.

Making goofy faces for the camera.

Oh yeah!

Here we are with Top Chef Kevin.

An Accident is an Accident

Our car is banged up.

4 Kids
Today, I am writing about our accident.  Yesterday, while driving home from the college, we had an accident.  I stopped at a four-way stop and allowed a car to cross in front of me.  I then took my turn and the truck that was behind the car, ran into me.  It was an accident.  It was also kind of upsetting.  I am sure you get upset when somebody plays out of turn or jumps into a line in front of you.  That is kind of how I felt.  The other driver did not wait his turn.  On one hand, I was happy that Darlene and I were not hurt.  On the other hand, I wished it would not have happened at all.  The driver did apologize.  He didn't see me because of a glare form the sun.  He was very sorry he hit us.  I was too.

That's the way it is with accidents.  We call them accidents, because we don't plan on having them.  They just happen, accidently.  One wrong choice and bam!  Rather than getting upset with the other driver, I tried to show him the love of Christ.  That is what we do.  The natural reaction to accidents or others crowding our space is to get anxious or mad.  I breathed, prayed, and spoke in a kind voice.  I even invited the guy to come to church with his family.

I have to admit, our accident was not easy for me.  Now I have to get the car fixed.  I am just glad that God helped me to act and talk like a Christian should act and talk when things do not go as planned.  Remember that the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord.  He is there to guide you when the driving is safe and even when you have an accident.

Snow Day 2011

VFCC students making a snow fort.

4 Kids
We had a snow day!  Last Wednesday, Darlene and I were scheduled to fly to Detroit to see the Quinones family (Our daughter Rachel, her husband Felix and the kids), and to speak at the Michigan Winter Blast.  It snowed several inches in the morning. As we left campus at 3:00 that afternoon students were playing in the snow.  We parked our car, checked in for our 8:40 pm flight and began to wait.  A storm blew in that ended up dumping over 15 inches of snow at the airport.  We were snowed in.  All flights were cancelled and we got to have a sleep-over at the airport.

That's me sleeping at the airport.

The news stations reported that over 1500 people slept in the airport Wednesday night.  Many were given space blankets in the middle of the night by airline helpers.  I woke up to see dozens of people wrapped in these silver aluminum foil-looking blankets.  As I looked down the rows of seats, I was reminded of a church potluck just before the ladies unveil the food.  It also kind of looked like foil wrapped dinners at a Royal Rangers camp out.  I must have been hungry.  Darlene and I slept as well as we could.  We people watched, read, crocheted, and watched video on my Mac.  I wrote part of a paper and we ate scrumptious airport food.  God is good.  In the morning, the sun came out and the airport was buried.  we didn't get to fly out until about 4:00 that afternoon.  Huge machines were set up that melted snow super fast.  Front end loaders would dump in the snow and water was gushing out of the bottom and going down storm drains.

A front loader dumping snow in a big melting machine.

We finally made it to the Rachel and Felix's house in Royal Oak, Michigan on Thursday evening.  Felix was speaking at a youth event so we never got to see him because of our late arrival.  We missed him, but had fun with Rachel and the grandkids.

Elijah and grandma playing.

The Winter Blast went great!  Winter Blast is the Michigan Assemblies of God kids retreat.  Over 700 boys and girls were there to have fun and attend our services.  We did puppets, lessons, and prayed with the kids.  God is so good. Oh, by the way, it snowed four inches the night we were in Lansing for this event.

One of our students, Shannen, leading worship.

There was no problem coming home.  Our snow day (weekend) was over.  We learned that God always provides for you even when you get to stay over night at the airport.  We also tried to treat everybody kindly as many people were tired and frustrated.  We had a fabulous time with Manny and the other leaders at Winter Blast.  We get to se them all at camp this summer.  The best part of the weekend was hanging out with Joaquin, Isabella, Elijah and Rachel.  We played, ate at Mickey Ds, and went to Real Church.  God is good.

Re-Birthday

This is me back in 1975.

4 Kids

I just celebrated my re-birthday.  What's my re-birthday?  That is the day I gave my life to Jesus.  That is the day that I prayed and trusted Jesus to forgive me, save me, and be my Lord and Friend.  I became reborn on January 19, 1975.  Jesus talks about this in John 3 in the Bible.  He tells Nicodemus that a man must be born again.  That means being born both physically and spiritually.

My brother, Greg took me to a Bible study.  At the conclusion of the study everybody was singing songs and hugging.  I stepped into the kitchen and suddenly knew that I needed Jesus.  I prayed for His forgiveness and He came into my life.  I have never been the same.  My life was radically changed.  As a result of that one great decision, generations of kids, grandkids and more are, and will be, affected.

God is so good.  If you have never been reborn, do it now.  Just pray.  Admit that you have sinned.  Ask Jesus to forgive your sin and accept Him as your Savior.  Then you can celebrate your re-birthday.