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I am so blessed by God when it comes to the people He has brought into my life lately. In particular, the people in our corps (church) have been teaching me so much. A few weeks ago, someone made a statement that really impacted me. He said that the greatest regret Christians will have when they get to Heaven will be when they realize how powerful prayer really is and how lightly they regarded it while here on earth. They will realize how much more of a difference they could have made, but it will be too late. All of a sudden, I find myself approaching prayer in a whole new way. | | |
| Well, we have made it through Christmas and from all indications, we are still alive! The one thing though that hit me today is that I miss the kids from the neighborhood around the corps. They have been to the corps several times on Sundays through the season, but we haven't had our normal weekday programs so we have seen them far less. Three of them (Tre-Shawn, Devin, and Tyree) came by the corps when they saw me in the parking lot today and when I told them we would be starting programs soon, one of them broke into a dance and gave me a whoop, whoop! They are such a blessing! It's amazing to think how crazy they drive us at times. I guess some time off can be a good thing for my perspective. | | |
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OK, so I take Sue to the mall after her Doctor's appointment (which went well by the way), and we decided to get a bite to eat. Seems simple enough. Anyway, Sue settled quickly on Chinese food and had her meal in a matter of moments (although they gave her the rice free since they didn't have the kind she ordered prepared yet). I decided I wanted a burger, so I went to a deli/burger joint next to the Chinese place. However, I was promptly informed that they couldn't serve me lunch food for another 10 minutes. Afterall, it was only 11:20 AM. So, I decided to go to Dairy Queen, but apparently this particular Dairy Queen doesn't serve anything but Ice Cream (unlike all the other Dairy Queens in town). Soooo, I decided to try a new place. It was called Big Top Foods, or something like that. Essentially, they serve the foods you get at the circus. A footlong coney sounded good to me, so I ordered the combo. She asked for $5.25 and I gave her $6.00. She put it in the drawer and walked away to get my order forgetting to give me any change. When I mentioned it, she apologized and opened the drawer, only to realize that she had only nickels. She apologized and offered me the nickels. When she went to count them, she realized she didn't have enough. (Afterall, it was only 11:25 AM). So, she took some change from her pocket, combined it with the nickels, gave it to me and returned to prepare my meal. She soon realized that she had no footlong hotdog buns, so she apologized and offered to give me two regular sized coneys instead. (She informed me that the bakery hadn't delivered yet - still early, I guess). I figured there was no difference, so I said sure, go ahead. She put the two hot dogs on the tray (without coney sauce) and proceeded to go to make my fries. She soon realized it, apologized for the oversight, and fetched the sauce. She then asked me what kind of drink I wanted. While pouring my coke, she realized she had no lids, so, with apologies, offered me the uncovered version.. All the time, Sue is waiting patiently to eat her now cooling food. I finally received all I had ordered and walked over to the condements bar only to realize that the ketchup was empty. Oh my, it was quite an adventure. I thought about comforting her on her bad start to the day, but she didn't seem bothered at all by it, judging by how comfortable she looked sitting on the counter talking on the cell phone the entire time we ate. Thank the Lord that Sue had just received great news at the doctor and as a result, none of this really got to me. That is, until I dropped my coney upside down on my tray! | | |
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Well, tonight we started our newly reborn Sunday Evening service. Without forethought, someone from the corps this morning referred to it as "The Gathering." Sounded good to us, so . . . The Gathering it is! Thanks Mark! Actually, all of the corps in our county, along with our local ARC all joined together and we really had a great time. We really feel like God is doing something pretty incredible around here lately. He has put us with some incredible officers/friends and we are so grateful to Him for His timing and provision. We really appreciate the Coffelts, Coles and Stanfords as well as all of our own wonderful soldiers and corps friends (including our newest, the Johnsons.) What a fellowship! The service tonight actually felt a lot like an old camp meeting, which I guess speaks to my last post. A new soul was given to the Lord and another testified of receiving the Lord this morning in Barberton. Apparently he was one of three at that corps this morning. As Bill Gaither would say, "I Just Feel Like Something Good is About to Happen!" | | |
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I was out last night searching for a Disney Karaoke CD for Emily to use with her upcoming audition for the school production. I didn't have much success in that search, but I did stumble upon a couple great CDs of the Gaither Vocal Band! They even included a bonus CD of all my Bluegrass favorites. Wow, what a find!? The funny part is that I didn't realize I had Bluegrass favorites! I didn't realize, either, that I love just about every Gaither song ever recorded. I remember people teasing us in training about being from Ohio and I remember denying emphatically that we were any different due to our "country" roots. The more I have thought about this today, the more I am beginning to realize that I absolutely do have somewhat southern roots, at least when it comes to my religious upbringing. Don't panic Dad, I don't blame you! But the reality is, that the choruses we sang in church and the groups that came and performed both in the corps and at divisional camp meetings were definitely Southern Gospel in their style. And none of this takes into account the countless Holiness Camp Meetings we enjoyed, mainly in Camp Sebring and Camp Sychar. When it comes down to it, it is clear that there are a great deal of unrealized elements within my upbringing that are a very real part of my heritage. I just didn't realize it, I guess because I was too close to see them. I just knew that, in this case, there were songs that made my soul soar (Because He Lives, He Touched Me, The Family of God, Let's Just Praise the Lord, I Just Feel Like Something Good is About to Happen, Get All Excited, Something Beautiful, There's Just Something About That Name, . . .). I just never realized they all came from a common background. I think I may try to take a closer look at the things that make up who I am (especially Spiritually) to see what other unrealized influences I may discover. I'll let you know what I discover . . . | | |
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