Whew!

The drama has been written. The decorations have been hung. The songs have been rehearsed. And now it is time for it all to come together. Tomorrow we will gather as the body of Christ called Southside Baptist Church with a few hundred of our closest friends in attendance all for the purpose of...? The first thing that pops into our heads, of course, is to "Celebrate America." After all, isn't that what all the hard work has been about? And for all who have been involved in the preparation for this great event, please know that I am extremely PROUD of what you have done. I know that it is going to be one of the greatest patriotic presentations in Decatur, Alabama this year. I cannot wait to see the pageantry, to hear the songs, and to witness the drama. But what I have had to pause and remind myself of several times and what I want to remind you of today is that the purpose of all the hard work and all the money spent is to GLORIFY GOD! We come together tomorrow to recognize the blessings of our Holy Father upon this great nation, but let us never forget, as the Psalmist tells us, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord!" The reason the United States of America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth is that He has blessed us. So while we honor our veterans and we recognize our elected officials, let us come together to worship and praise the One who truly deserves it all.

Be Careful What You Pray For -- or You should have listened to your wife

Well, we are finally home from our trip down to South Alabama. We went with several purposes in mind: to bring my pickup truck back home, to check on Sonya's mother, and to spend time with our girls (and Jon and Rob). We were almost 100% successful. We checked on Sonya's mom and had a great time with the girls (and Jon and Rob). The bringing the truck home didn't work out too well. Let me give you a little background. Jon and Ashley borrowed my truck to take a large dog from North Alabama to South Alabama. That was months ago. When they started to bring the truck back, Jon decided to get the oil changed. On the way, he gave me a call and asked, "Does your truck always overheat?" The answer of course was, "No, it never has!" To make a long story short, a belt had broken and the water pump wasn't working. They got it fixed, and it worked fine. We arrived down south on Sunday, and Sonya drove the truck on Monday. The belts squealed and the air conditioner didn't work very well, so when she got back, she said, "We probably should take the truck somewhere and let them check it out." Prophetic words, to say the least. Like a husband, I responded, "No, it will be okay. We'll get it checked out in Decatur." So we left Friday around 11 a.m. to head home. Before we left, I prayed, "God, please just give us air conditioning all the way home." Not, "protect us while we travel." Not, "take care of the truck all the way to Decatur." "Just give us air conditioning all the way home." Now understand, He did just that. We had a/c all the way to Bay Minette where we stopped at Burger King. We had a/c all the way to the Rabun/Perdido exit. But then the truck died, and we barely limped into the gas station. But the a/c worked. The lady from the car dealership in Atmore came to get us, and the car had a/c. The car we bought in Atmore had a/c all the way back to Summerdale and all the way back to Decatur. So God answered my prayer. Now I just have to forever put up with, "I told you you should have had the truck checked out." I say forever, because the statute of limitations never runs out on "I told you so." At least in our family it doesn't. Now it is usually said in fun, so it really is okay. But I just have to wonder -- what would have happened if I had just listened to my wife.

I Love Vacation Bible School

O. I., O. I'm living God's unshakeable truth.... What a great song! Everything about VBS excites me. The first day was kind of shaky with all the running around like crazy and the crying for mommy. But the teachers eventually settled down, and everything went smoothly. No major accidents. Just a few bumps and scrapes. At the end of the week, though, we saw nine children profess their faith in Christ. And I know that all of the children heard the message of hope and salvation from the teachers and workers. Everyone from the snack ladies to the music ladies to the sound man (and everyone else) deserves a great big thank you. Especially Tanya and her family for the countless hours they put into getting it all together and leading it. More than once, however, I have heard a truth spoken that is irrefutable. We could not have done it this week without our youth workers. They were a tremendous help and support. Having said that, I can't decide what my favorite part was (professions of faith excluded because that always goes without saying). It was either the chocolate sundae cake (thanks Sara Henderson), the Cajun crab dip (thanks Mrs. Mary Anne) or the Mississipp Mud brownies (I have no idea who brought them). Maybe it was seeing all the smiling faces come Friday afternoon. Or the little children painting tables with shaving cream. Oh, I just don't no. But I will be singing "O.I., O.I." for a long time.

Doctor's Appointments

I had one this week. I waited two and one-half hours to see him. He breezed in wearing jeans with holes all up the legs -- no kidding! From there it turned into an Abbot and Costello routine. You see, I was there to get the results of blood tests checking my cholesterol levels. It went something like this:
Doctor: I've got some good news for you.
Me: Great. My cholesterol levels must be down.
Doctor: No, they are up a few points.
Me: Oh, that's bad.
Doctor: Not really. It's only up 3 points and its in the good level.
Me: Oh, that's good.
Doctor: No, that's bad because your good cholesterol went down and it's in the red zone.
Me: Oh, that's bad.
Doctor: No, that's good because your bad cholesterol went down, too, and it's in the good zone. So all you need to do is take a few thousand milligrams of niacin and a coated aspirin every day.
Me: Oh, that's bad.
Doctor: Yeah, you bet that's bad because now your daughter is going to say you're an old man because you have to take an aspirin a day.

And he was right.