I’ve been working on admin jobs this morning.  I’m at FBC Doraville right now.  Needed to pick up the mail so I can take it over to our treasurer.

I’m going to the mission in a few minutes to check on the kids.  I have a team coming in from Texas to help us this weekend.

If all goes well I’ll get to see Jesse this evening. Pray for his continued progress.

Love you guys!

Today I spent time trying to help Kathy and Ashley.  I went through the closets at the Lamb’s house in the rooms that we’re in and organized and compressed the clothes and stuff left there by their kids.  I was able to free up a lot of space.  Then I hung up Kathy’s clothes that had been in boxes and straightened up our room.

Then I went over to K’s sister’s house and picked up Ashley’s clothes and her shoes.  Her sister Ann had washed Ashley’s clothes twice to remove the smoke smell then organized them into baskets.  I brought them back to the Lamb’s house and took them up to Ashley’s room.  I spent about 2 hours cleaning Ashley’s shoes.  What a job!  I scrubbed and scrubbed on them and most came out looking pretty good.  She seemed really happy with the results so that made me feel good.

Edwin Lamb was kept up late on Sunday night by coyotes in the back yard!  Their dog Rosco was fighting them.  I got really concerned about that because they can carry rabies.  So I went over to U-Spray on 78 and picked up a coyote live trap.  I also got coyote bait and a bottle of coyote urine.  Believe me, you don’t want to know how it smelled!  Edwin and I set up the trap in the lower part of their property near the river.  They own about 8 acres in Lilburn.  It’s a beautiful property and obviously the coyotes think so too!  When I talked to the guys at U-Spray about the problem they said, “We have a ton of coyotes in this area.”  I remember seeing one when I was running early in the morning.  They love to eat pets, especially cats.  When we catch them the animal control guys are supposed to come out and get them.

I’m going to visit Jesse in a few minutes.  Apparently, we’re only supposed to be able to visit him twice a week.  BUT, since I’m a pastor I can see him more often.  I hope that my business card will work for that, otherwise I’ll have to generate a clergy card the next time.  We’ve been seeing him just about every day.  The main supervisor told me that that is not really supposed to happen.  We’ll keep trying anyway.

Keep praying!

Love you guys!

I had a great day today!  I preached at Sweetwater Church in Lawrenceville.  They’re meeting in the Simonton Elementary School.  They had a great set up and the music was awesome.  Mike Fountain is their music director and Assoc. Pastor.  He did a great job leading the worship.  Jackie Fenley is the Pastor.  He’s helping us with the mission at Greens at Hillcrest in Lawrenceville.  He’s one of the very few pastors I’ve ever seen at a mission and he has a real heart of reaching the unchurched.  Praise God for Jackie, Mike and his team!

I did my mission presentation for the church. I did my best!  Ann Mitchell, Kathy’s sister, also came with us today.  It was great to spend some time with her too.  She’s been a huge help in cleaning our stuff at the house.

I’m supposed to sign the contract to begin rebuilding on Wednesday.  Hopefully, that’ll go through fast.  Ashley is negotiating with Kathy and I about getting the master bedroom.  I’m not for it because I like the bathroom in there, but I usually end up giving the girls their way.

Just got back from running 4 miles.  Felt really good until about the last quarter mile and my left knee started hurting.  Next time I run I bet it’ll be completely pain free.  Pray for that!

We get to go see Jesse this evening!  I always look forward to that.  They’re going to let us take Ashley in with us too.  They’re not supposed to let more than 2 people in the room, but the staff is making an exception.  Everyone that I’ve met at the Gwinnett Detention Center has been super nice to us.

Love you guys!

Had a fun family day today!  Ashley and Miles came with Kathy and I over to Walmart to pick up some stuff we needed at the house.  Primarily bird seed.  You like watching birds?  I go over to my house every day to fill up the feeders I have.  The birds and squirrels are really tame with me, especially the chipmunks.  I’ll have them actually crawl right beside my legs!  I guess I’ve been feeding them for several generations now so they don’t see me as a threat.  I’m just another part of the forest.

We got to see our dog Sugar today too!  She’s really a neighborhood dog and many of the kids and parents really love her.  We have one of our neighbors watching her while we’re staying at the Lamb’s house.  It was good to see her.  Sometimes we go over there but she’s inside our neighbor’s house so we don’t get to see her.  She’s her usually sweet ol’ self.  She’ll throw herself down on her back like, “Here’s my belly, what are you waiting for?”

Also went by Best Buy today.  I needed to get a couple more pieces of software to complete what I need for my new computer.  I do a lot of video editing and I got the new version of Studio Plus by Pinnacle.  I’m looking forward to editing some of the video I shot recently for a promo video we’re doing for First Baptist Mountain Park.  I shot a lot at Ashley’s mission at Kensington Station as well as with Bennett Ekandem and his mission at Willow Branch.

It was super cold today.  Around 21 degree wind chill.  We actually had snow flurries.  Something’s not right when we get snow in March!

Kathy took me to see 10,000 BC today.  I really enjoy movies and I liked this one a lot.  Big movie with wooly mammoths and saber tooth tigers.  Sweet.

We just got back from seeing Jesse at the Detention Center.  He’s doing a LOT better. He was talking about his psychotic episode and seeing it for what it was.  I believe the first step towards healing is knowing that you have a problem!  Keep praying for Jesse and that we can get him into the Peachford Hospital really soon.  He’s doing better and seems to be pretty happy!  There aren’t any convicted felons where he’s at.  All of them have only been charged, so I think that everyone is really on their best behavior.  They have too much to lose otherwise.  Mail really does help him feel better, so if you’re concerned for me–drop him a note too!  Jesse Cummins–9935-7554, Gwinett Detention Center, 2900 University Parkway, Lawrenceville, GA 30043.

I’m looking forward to preaching at Sweetwater Baptist Church in Lawrenceville tomorrow.  I’m doing my regular mission presentation plus preaching from Isaiah 6–Send me!

Love you guys!

I had another Ashley day today!  And her boyfriend Miles came with us.  A double blessing!

We mailed some letters including my daily letter to Jesse first thing this morning.  I’d appreciate it if you’d drop him a note of encouragement too.  He’s at Jesse Cummins, ID 9935 7554, Gwinnett County Detention, 2900 University Parkway, Lawrenceville, GA 30043.  Keep praying for him.  He needs a miracle and God is still in the miracle working business!

We went by FBC Doraville to check on the mail and make sure everything is ok at the office.

Then over to Peachford Hospital.  I’m trying to arrange it so he can be transferred over to their hospital from the detention center.  I need to figure out how much our insurance will cover this sort of situation.  I’m always scared that they’re going to pump him full of drugs and not really help him with his problem.  If he gets in there we can only see him four times a week for an hour each time, which I think is kind of weird.  Pray for that situation too.

We stopped by Guitar Center to pick up a Djembe for our church partners at Stone Mill church.  It’s just a small gift to help them with their ministry.  Lester Ruiz’ wife Nadia helps with the music and she’s been playing different percussion instruments.  A djembe is sort of like a small conga.  It’s got a great tone and I believe it will be used to give God glory!

I ran four miles today.  That’s the first time I’ve run in about 2 weeks since my burns and my cold.  My left knee hurts now.  That’s pretty normal for me when I’ve laid off exercise and jump straight back in.  I’ve lost about 15 pounds since the fire.  Not a great way to diet, but seems to be pretty effective.  Grief and pain is a powerful combination.

This evening we had some fun family time with the Lamb family.  I enjoyed shooting pool with Edwin and his son Kevin.  Kathy played cards with Debbie and the daughters and daughter in law.  She seemed like she had a good time.

I just caught up on my email and my blog.  Then I’ll watch the last of an episode of House with Kathy before I crash out.

We hope to be able to see Jesse tomorrow.  Please pray that that will be possible.

Sure love you guys!

What a day!

Ashley and I got to spend time together.  Never too much Ashley!  We started out our day in Alpharetta.  We met with Dr. Bob Montes who is helping us do the psychological evaluation on Jesse.  Just before we went in to see him I called the Detention Center to talk with the counselor.  Apparently Jesse had tried to tear up his mattress and so was back in the Mental Health unit.  Kathy and I just got back from visiting him there.  He made it sound like the mattress thing wasn’t a big deal and that he didn’t actually tear it up.  It was the first time we’d seen him since Saturday.  It was cold there and he was kind of shivering, but he was in great spirits.  He kept telling us how much he is learning and how he is helping people there.  He really sees himself as a kind of messiah who can help people get to God.  Hard to understand, but he seems happy and for me that means a lot!  If all goes well, Dr. Montes will be able to see him next Friday.  Pray that that will happen.  When we had finished visiting Jesse, Kathy noticed our lawyer who was just leaving the jail.  We had a good visit with him, told him what Jesse had been telling us and he told us he’d work on getting the doctor into the facility to do the evaluation.  He looked really tired.  We left the jail about 9:15pm.  We had a prayer with him. I think he felt better after that.

Most of my day was spent with a team from Louisville, TX–right outside of Dallas.  We went around the Clarkston area and I also showed him the Buford Highway corridor.  They’ll be doing sports camps with us in June in 5 locations.  I’ll coordinate half of them in Chamblee.  They were a good group.  I took them over to Cafe Istanbul for Turkish food.  We sat on the floor on cushions.  People always get a kick out of that.  I also got to meet Scott Kelly who is one of our new team members who will be helping Pat Maddox and the Friends of Refugees group. He’s a really nice guy who reminds me of one of my mentors: Fred Sorrells.  I miss Fred.  He taught me a lot.

I’m feeling better every day.  I was thinking about running today!  I decided to rest instead.  Sometimes I get back in the saddle a little too fast and then end up having a relapse with the cold.  Rest is hard for me.

The best news of all?  The insurance guys said that our house is covered!  What a weight off of my shoulders!  I knew that even if they didn’t I had so many churches that would take care of us I wasn’t really worried, but I’d prefer that that money was spent on reaching people for Jesus, not replacing sheetrock!

I also heard that my two friends Tim and Cathy Palmer were appointed with NAMB yesterday.  Great news!  I’m excited about having them come to Atlanta.

Thanks again for all your prayers.  Keep praying for Jesse!

I went to Lawrenceville today to meet with two of my partners:  Sweetwater Church and Pure Fun!  I gave them a briefing as to what our ministry is about then a quick “how to” on block parties.  We’ll be hosting a block party at Greens at Hillcrest on March 22nd.  I’m looking forward to that!  We’ll also have some folks from Crosspointe Church and 12 Stone Church coming by to see how we do it.

I got a call from the psychologist that will be working with Jesse today.  I’ll meet with him tomorrow morning.  If all goes well he’ll be able to go into the Gwinnett Detention Center and do the evaluation on Jesse.  I haven’t gotten a clear answer from the lawyer about that.  One of my partners highly recommended we get our own lawyer.  We’ve been using a public defender.  We’re doing some research on that.

I was supposed to get an answer about the insurance today.  I called the adjuster and he was off on a big job and hadn’t heard.  Supposedly tomorrow morning for sure.  Be praying that those goes well.

We haven’t gotten to see Jesse since Saturday.  We really want to see him.  It’s much more complicated to work out since he was moved out of the Mental Health unit.  We are dying to hear from him so he can tell us if he’s ok in the new environment.  Please keep praying for that.

Ashley and Kathy will be home in a moment.  We’ll drive on over to Conyers for the Mission Banquet this evening.  I’m still feeling a bit sick.  I was able to lay down and rest a little while.  Pray for my health.

Sure love you guys!

Today I worked on a promotional video for FBC Mountain Park.  There will be a series of three videos, one of me, one of Ashley and one of my partner Bennett Ekandem.  I shot video at Willow Branch and at Kensington Station.  The kids were really cute and I got some terrific shots.  You can’t beat kids singing, “The BIBLE, yes that’s the book for me!”

I enjoyed visiting with Terry Earl, Susan Coker and Bennett Ekandem at Willow Branch.  They are three prayer warriors and I know they made a big difference in my recovery.

I’ve enjoyed working on my new computer.  I still have some programs to add, mainly for editing photos and videos. I don’t have to edit what I shot today so I’m not under pressure to get it installed too fast.

We were hoping to visit Jesse today.  Everything takes so long to get set up.  I got some really good information from a partner at 12 Stone Church today.  I’ll follow up on her suggestions asap.

I had a meeting with the house adjuster contractor today.  He looked through the house and overall seemed pretty optimistic about  getting it back in good condition. It all comes down to tomorrow when the insurance people give us the go ahead that they will or won’t cover the house damage.  Please pray that they will come to a positive decision for us.

I’ve been able to keep my hands completely unwrapped today! It is miraculous how fast my hands have healed!  I was in Grady Hospital’s Burn Unit exactly two weeks ago today.  That was the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life.  Morphine did nothing for that!

It’s been raining buckets today!  My rain gauge said we got over an inch last night.  Awesome!  Temperatures are supposed really drop soon.  I hope it doesn’t freeze and hurt the trees.

I’m feeling a lot better today.  I really appreciate your prayers.

If you’d like to write Jesse a note you can contact him at:  Jesse Cummins, ID#9935 7554, Gwinnett Detention Center, 2900 University Parkway, Lawrenceville, GA 30043.  Thanks for helping with this!

Love!

Worked on admin stuff today.

I finished up my financial report for my treasurer.  It was kind of a hassle because of having to use other people’s computers, but I got it done!

Most of my time was spent setting up my new computer.  I had really good insurance with my old computer from Best Buy.  When I had the last problem with it (a fried motherboard because of the fire) they gave me a credit to get another one.  So I’m typing on my new machine: a  Sony Vaio.  God is good!  It’s a beautiful machine.  I’m still getting it set up with the programs I need.  It runs Vista so most of the software I had doesn’t work.  Plus all the installation disks I had were destroyed in the fire.  It’ll work out over time!

I’m still kinda sick.  I feel weak.  This is the first time I’ve been sick in nearly 2 years!  The fire and emotional turmoil must have weakened my immune system.

It was a beautiful day.  Wish I’d felt good enough to run.  It’s what I call Nakuru weather.  I was raised in equatorial Africa but at nearly 7,.000 feet! Spring time weather all year round.  No winter, no summer.  Perfecto!

I talked with Jesse’s lawyer.  He’s being put into the general housing units and out of the Mental Health unit. The lawyer assures me that he’s safe, but it’s still scary for me.  LORD, put a shield of protection around my little boy.  Keep him safe from evil men.  AMEN.

I know I’ve said it before, but I really appreciate your prayers and concern for my family!

They’ve finished drying out the house so hopefully we’ll be able to start rebuilding soon.  We get a final word on the insurance coverage on Wednesday.  Please pray for that too.

Love,

Tim

Today, Kathy, Ashley and I went to First Baptist Church Conyers. I spoke to the Jr. High class. They were very responsive. We look forward to getting them mobilized this summer! Pray for those kids.

Yesterday we had a fantastic time at Azalea Mission with the team from Peachtree Corners Baptist Church. They did a terrific job with the kids. It was such a blessing to see so many kids having fun.

Kathy and I went to see Jesse last night. He’s doing a LOT better! Thank God for his healing touch. He is so sorry for what he did. He’s looking forward to helping us with the rebuilding process. I know that the hundreds of people that are praying for our family have made the difference! Thanks for your concern! Here are some pictures we took with Jesse a few days before the fire. He was helping the kids at the mission.

I’ll be going back to Conyers this evening for the missions conference. Keep praying for me. I’m still sick and it takes a lot out of me. I had a good rest this afternoon.

Thanks again for your concern and love for our family!!