Worked on getting ready for tomorrow’s events with 12 Stone Church.  Got the supplies I need and talked with my Kroger contacts to make sure that the supplies I need for next weekend will be ready to pick up next Thursday.

Went through all my email and made my follow up calls.

Ate ribs at Famous Daves with Ashley, Miles and Jesse.  Always good.

Picked up an Ipod shuffle for Kathy.  She loves listening to music while she rides around the mountain.

Kathy worked with the Mommy & Me program for our refugee mothers in Clarkston yesterday.  Sure are some sweet kids!

About half of the kids who come to my mission at Azalea Place are from Bengladesh and are Muslim.

Although we have had many of children accept Christ over the years, we’ve made little in way into their community.  Language can be a big barrier to communication, that’s why I put such a high priority on knowing other languages.

I grew up in Kenya, the son of Southern Baptist missionaries.  In those days the missionary kids (MKs) would call the adult missionaries “Uncle” or “Aunt” even though there was no true blood relation.  So I grew up thinking of Harold as “Uncle Harold.”


He’s been a big influence on me over the years. Especially with the thought that you can learn anything if you can find a book on it and are willing to work.

So I spent the day with my two sweet kids and Uncle Harold.  We also met up with Cathy Palmer and Harold’s wife Phyllis.

I enjoyed taking my friends to Cafe Istanbul for lunch.  It’s such a cool place.

Then I left them in Clarkston and drove back to Stone Mountain to do try and get Kathy’s phone fixed (I hope it works right) and do some grocery shopping.  After that I dropped Ashley and Jesse back at our house to put up the groceries while I went back to Clarkston to pick up Uncle Harold.

His big interest now is in Bengalis. Remember our need for a Christian that can speak Bengali to my neighbors at Azalea Place?  I see my Uncle Harold as a direct response to that prayer request.

God has His timing.

But it’s hard to be patient when I see so many people that we need to reach NOW!

Perhaps you might think, “What’s the rush?”

Last week we actually had a plane crash about a mile from the mission at Azalea.  It’s on the flight path for the pilots landing at Peachtree Dekalb Airport (PDK).

Bottom line is we don’t have any guarantee on how long we’ll live.

Life is fragile.

I worked in the News industry for years.  If there’s one thing I learned it was “life is fragile.”

It’s the sense of urgency that I feel in my gut that drives me to keep looking for the best people to come help us in Atlanta.  We have extraordinary talent in our team.

I’m glad YOU are a part of it!

I hope that Harold and Phyllis will sense a strong sense of the Lord’s direction to spend more time in our area working with us.

Uncle Harold seemed to have a wonderful time practicing his Bengali with the kids.

One of the moms invited us up to her apartment for some Bengali dessert. Uncle Harold just seemed so completely happy and in his element talking with the lady with her kids in Bengali.

My favorite part of my job is finding a person that really feels a call to do a very particular mission: like work with people from Bangladesh.  Then taking them over to the exact people group the wanted and watch them plug in.

It’s supah coo.

We also picked up Andrei Palmer, Cathy and Tim Palmer’s son–our missionaries in Clarkston. He’s really talented and makes cool cars and cakes.


One of the ladies from FBC Doraville made some beautiful doll blankets for the children at the missions.


I can hear Jesse playing guitar above me.  I dig that.

One of my favorite people on the planet is in Atlanta!  Cathy Palmer’s dad Harold Cummins came to visit and see how their missionary work is going.

It was great to spend time with him and his wife Phyllis and talk about the good ol’ days in Kenya as well as the great ol’ days NOW!

We ate at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market.

It’s always interesting to see the huge variety of vegetables and fruits from all over the world.  Of course the best part is speaking with the international population.  It’s alway fun to bring guests to see our work and our city!  They’re always so amazed by it all.

Even for someone like me who was raised over seas, it’s still pretty incredible.

Biggest news is I got gas!

No bean jokes.

So my car is filled up.  I’ll be heading into Chamblee tomorrow to check on the kids at the mission and make sure everything is running smoothly.  That’s great!

This gas thing is crazy. Still can’t find mid-grade for my car. I talked to my mechanic and he said I could use regular temporarily with no really bad consequences.

Picked up some things at Walmart, including more bird food. Ashley and Miles went over there to help me.

Been working on my financial report for my treasurer.

Making calls to verify the outreach this weekend and next weekend.

I think we have everything organized.  Hardest part is that I call the offices to set things up and then the word doesn’t get around to the other staff.  Then when my teams show up the staff hasn’t heard about it.  What a hassle.  Pure lack of communication on their parts.  Oh well.

Talked with my partner at FBC Atlanta about the list of materials we need to get from Kroger. I took that over to my partners there this afternoon.

Teaching Jesse how to string a guitar. 

He had a D string pop on the Stratocaster last night.

I talked to an oral surgeon today. Ashley needs to get her wisdom teeth taken out. We’re a part of a group that we pay into a few bucks every month, then we get discounts on the dental/pharmacy bills. If you do regular cleanings it’s definitely worth the money.

I’m headed out the door to run my 4 miles. Worked out hard on weights yesterday. Helps me to burn off stress. Got plenty of it.

It was a beautiful fiery ball sunset yesterday.

I love the way it lights up the huge cumulus clouds.

I had a great time with Neil Reddy and his partner Richard today.

We’re talking about starting more outreach in the Clarkston/Decatur area with their help.  I’m going through the process of appointment with the North American Mission Board with Neil and his wife and their friend Richard.  I believe I work with 18 NAMB missionaries that I’ve mentored.  What a great team they are!

Went by about 20 gas stations today, NONE had mid-grade gas and only 2 had regular unleaded. Not good. I have less than 1/4 tank in the Chrysler.  The Lumina is pretty much full, except for 42 miles that I put on it going to Chamblee last night.  Should be able to do the events next weekend on one tank, so I’ll need to save that car!

This is crazy.

Isn’t this the USA?

I went to the Bridge this morning.

Pastor Bob is preaching on why we should go to church. Maybe if they pray more they can find gas! Check out these lines!

Gas lines are out of sight!  They don’t even have mid-grade which is what my car uses.  This is causing me more than a little anxiety.  I have to go to Chamblee this evening to do a training with a team from the Vineyard.  I’m trying to figure out how I’m supposed to keep up the schedule I have and not be able to drive.  I average at least 45 miles every day.  We have the two biggest weekends for outreach coming up on the 4th and the 11th.

I have everything organized, but I still have to get to the places to take the grills the the churches.

Pray that this situation will be resolved quickly!

I went to Chamblee this evening to brief a team from the Atlanta Vineyard church which will host a block party at Azalea Place on the 4th.

I’ll be in Lawrenceville helping 12 Stone Church with 5 block parties that day.

We had a fun time with the kids at the mission. I’m sure the team is going to do a great job next weekend!

We had a party for Miles

and his parents Jim and Cheryl and his sister Roxy and her baby Izzy.

Such a sweet family! We enjoyed pizza and icecream cake.

Kathy’s brother Paul and his son Luke also came to the party.

I still need to finish up the newsletters.

For the last couple of days I’ve been working on the newsletter. 

Yesterday, I put the finishing touches on the newsletter and printed it up.

Today I worked on writing the personal note on them.

I’ve been watching the Dirty Harry marathon.  I love Clint Eastwood.  He makes my day.

Sunday Miles turns 20. Ashley took him out to a special restaurant: the artistree.

Watched the birds in my garden.  Saw 12 different speices in an hour! I can’t believe there are still a couple of the female hummingbirds around my feeders.  Most have already taken off for the border of Mexico!  What an amazing trip for a little bird.

I took Kathy to Red Lobster for lunch. It was good to spend some extra time with her! I love the view from the patio.

Big news is that there’s hardly any gas in our area! Don’t know what we’ll have to do next week.
Check out these lines.

Had my kids with me today!

We went over to Miller Music to pick up a couple of guitars for the new music class we’re starting at Villa Nueva.

Keith Harrell is a great musician and I think this idea will be a big hit with the residents! Jesse is rocking too!

We’re getting the newsletter together, so we bought stamps and brought all the labels for the kids at Azalea to help stick ’em.  They always enjoy helping out.

Had a talk with Daisy today.

She’s another of my second generation kids having kids.  Her brother was accused of shooting a gun out of his car.  Cops were looking him.  He wanted to talk to the police.  So I called my buddy Ernesto who is a Detective with the Chamblee Police Department.  He came over and talked with the mother and daughter and found out what had happened.  The Dekalb County cops are supposed to come by later this evening to talk with the brother.  Pray everything works out.

I need to finish up the newsletter so I can print it tomorrow.

Beautiful sunset tonight!

I was in the Norcross area today.

I met with Debra the manager at Hampton Woods today.

I told her about FBC Atlanta and the block party we wanted to do at her complex. She’s a prayer up woman and was all for the idea!  I also have my partner Carlos Salaverria who is bringing five families from his church to mingle with the residents.  This is EXACTLY the strategy I’m trying to accelerate.  We can let the white folks come over and bring all the stuff and have games for the kids and we can have the Spanish families interacting with the residents inviting them to their church!

Also had some time with my partner Keith Harrell.

He’s doing a great job at Villa Nueva, in a very tough location.  We’ve had difficulty getting volunteers to help us over there.  We were trying to start an After School program, but kids didn’t seem to need the help.  So now we’re trying a music option.  I’m going to buy a couple of guitars tomorrow and Keith can start teaching residents how to play!  We’ll also probably set up a soccer tournament for the residents.

Pray for our missions.  Our leaders are getting tired.  It’s hard to stay the course year after year.

Kathy rode about 15 miles on her bike today!  She rode from our house to Kensington Statn in Avondale and got back to Stone Mountain.  I went to pick her up because it was dark and dangerous.

We ate at Waffle House on our way home.

It reminded me of how shocked people from out of state are about Waffle Houses.  They can’t believe how MANY there are.  The whole time my Dad was here from Texas he’d say, “There’s a Waffle House”  A minute later. . . . . “There’s another Waffle House.”  We do have a plethora of them.

After we ate at Waffle House, I saw this cool Yamaha motorcycle. I liked the way the motor was lit up.

I’m working on newsletters.  I’ll get the kids to help me do the labels tomorrow.

Peace.

I focused on Impact Atlanta today!  This major event will be hosted at 26 different apartment complexes by around 400 volunteers! Amen!

Lots of logistics involved with an effort of this magnitude.  I called 25 different managers today to give them the good news that we have a tream coming to help! 

We’ll serve hot dogs, have balloon animals and face painting.  Most importantly we have someone in each team to do evangelism!  We’ve had over 50 people come to the Lord as a direct impact of this outreach each year.

I have one more complex to go talk to.  Some of them I need to do in person.  Most I can just call and let them know.

I spent most of my day with Bill Hickey. 

We had a car donated last week that we gave him.  Today I helped him get his insurance for the first couple of months and his phone turned back on.  He’s been such a HUGE help to our mission effort in so many ways, I’m glad I’m able to help him.

We also went by Hamptons at Lenox.  I needed to give them some money of a water bill at one of the missions and to take a look at the bridge near their complex. 

Apparently, they’ve had a real increase in crime in the area and they think the homeless folks may be responsible. It didn’t look too bad.  I was glad to have Bill with me.  I don’t dig going under those bridges without back up.  Some dem folks be looney toones.

Love you guys!