Walking with Friends

Well, I started this a couple of weeks ago, but I did not finish it a couple of weeks ago. Oh well.

For the second time in a week (two weekends), we have guests from Texas! Yee haw! Last week, Bec's best friend just popped in -- at least that is the way it felt to Bec, as she was the one person in PA who did not know Tammy (and Clifton) was coming. This week, Irvins came for a weekend visit. What a HUGE blessing. We would love to get back to the Valley to see folks, but I do not know if/when that will be possible, so it is great when the Rio Grande Valley comes to us. This time it was Brie who was unaware of coming guests. She is somewhat like her mother in that her response was not exactly muted. Should anyone else from the Valley want to stop by, just let us know. We look forward to seeing friends.

Life at school has been a whirlwind lately. We are obviously working through this year, but in the office we have next year well underway. Setting fees, planning the calendar, preparing promotional materials and events.... We are staying busy, that is for sure.

• Graduation plans
• End-of-the-year awards
• Achievement testing
• Programs
• Fundraisers
• Promotions
• Yearbook wrap-up

There are just a few things happening at this time of the year. And that does not even reflect what is happening in church an home. Busy, busy, busy.

We celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Emmanuel Baptist Church on Apr 22. It was a big, busy weekend. During the weekend, we broke ground on a new addition to the church complex. It will add a Fellowship Hall, kitchen, and eight classrooms. We hope to be completed with construction before the 2013-2014 school year begins. We shall see; we have little control over the speed of construction.

After the Anniversary weekend, we had a BRIEF respite before we began special meetings at church with Evangelist Rich Tozour. It was a great week, but with all that was happening it sure was tiring. God greatly blessed and we had tremendous services. The messages were wonderful and very powerful.

I have been reading/listening to the stories of the kings of Israel and Judah recently. What a mess most of them were. It did not matter what lessons were taught, they refused to learn. They could see God powerfully judge sin and then turn and do the same or worse. Why not just ask to be slapped around? I wonder how often I behave somewhat similarly. How often do I hear truth, see error judged and then go ignore the truth? I need to remain committed to living the truth of God's Word each day. That alone brings blessing.