Ashley came by to pick up some materials from our house for a missions conference she’s going to at Skidaway Baptist Church in Savannah.

Never too much Ashley! She also brought by their dog Mooglie. I enjoy having her around. She’s the reason I haven’t had a single rat/mouse this whole cold weather season! What an awesome dog.

Put my taxes together to send to my tax man. Mailed it certified mail at the Post Office.

Dropped off the paper work for my house refinancing. Literally cutting my interest rate in half to 4%. There’s a Fed Ex express box near my house.

Deposited some money into our account at Whirlwind. Amen for that.

Still some salt on the ground at the ATM.

Talked to my friend Bayo about sharing with a partner about how to reach Muslims for Jesus.

Printed off the insurance card from Geico for my new car.

Went for a 5.04 mile run. Always something interesting to see.

Someone lost control coming down the hill.

My right knee hurt afterwards. Guess I ran too hard after having two weeks off.

Enjoyed talking with my Mom today in Texas. Family is doing great. Amen, to that!

I recorded a new feature. Little two minute encouraging videos called “Two Groovy.” I think it’ll be a fun series.

Took Kathy to Golden Corral this evening.

Enjoyed watching Suits with K this evening.

Feel tired. I’ll take an early night tonight. I have a team in town in the morning. Had a hard time sleeping last night. I was still awake at 2am. That’s not zesty.

This morning I worked on getting the utilities from one of the missions changed over to the missionary who lives there. I sure am glad Ashley has been doing this, because it’s a real hassle. Got it figured out though.

I had a meeting with my partners in Norcross and Marietta, Matt Johns and David Tate.

It was great to see them and hear the work that they’re doing for the Lord. Always a blessing being around them!

Also met up with my friend Cathy Wilson who I’ve been working with for years.

She’s now affiliated with Youth Outreach United. I hope she’ll be happy with them. Larry Anderson is the administrator of the group.

They seem to have big plans for working in the International Village. I’m certainly pulling for them!

After our meetings, I took David Tate over to see the Buford Highway Farmers Market. I needed to talk to managers about bringing a team there to sing on Saturday. Dave liked the cookies.

Every day I see something I’ve never seen before. I’m not eating anything with “bug” in the title.

The schools were closed due to bad weather. Here’s the total amount of ice I found on the roads.

It was in the Cracker Barrel parking lot. I’m pretty sure it fell off the back of a truck.

No after school program.

Ashley and I folded up the newsletters and got them in the mail. THANKS to the Atlanta Metro Baptist Association for their help in printing!


Home now working on admin duties.

I took our Expedition to get the shocks replaced. K and I will pick that up after I get her from work.

Had a little over 1/2″ of rain.

Tuesday I spent writing and producing our newsletters.

We got them to the Atlanta Metro Baptist Association to print them. They are out of toner for the yellow cartridge so we have to wait till Friday or Monday to get them.

Also posted some creative writing.

Went to the Post Office to get stamps.

I liked the circus poster stamps.

Did some grocery shopping.

Enjoyed lunch with Ashley.

Gloomy weather.

Over to Azalea to get the labels and envelopes ready for the letters.

They love the doughnuts afterwards.

Helped the kids with their homework.

GREAT to work with MY kids!

Freezing weather in the ATL closed the schools today. It didn’t seem that bad to me.

Recorded a new podcast! That always helps improve my mood.

Check out “Rock Hard!”. Basically I preached to myself for thirty minutes about how we can get through the hard times!

Went to Westside Baptist Church to see my friend Pastor Ben Lehman. He asked me how things were going. When I told him how depressed I was over the financial situation at Whirlwind, he took up a collection to help the Cummins family. They were very generous and really helped pull us out of a hole. The money went straight to my Visa bill.

Nearly paid it off. Thank you, Jesus!

I’ve been enjoying driving my new car! Sure has been a blessing. I call her “Lil’ Red.” Kathy drives the Expedition which has been “Big Red.”

With lots of sleet, and the schools cancelled, K and I have stayed around the house most of the day.

It was much worse forty miles north of Atlanta. We dodged a bullet this time!

Admin duties now.

Sure wouldn’t want to be homeless in this weather.

Audi leaves their gift wrapped cars in the parking lot.

Cleaned out my hummingbird feeders since I was stuck inside. I’ll put out some fresh juice for them in a couple of days when the weather clears off.

I was in bed all day long Sunday besides going to church at Westside. Sunday night, Kathy thought I’d enjoy a movie. She was right! We went to see Kingsman.

That movie was about as far as humanly possible from being a chick flick. I thought it was AWESOME. Kathy fell asleep. I reckon that’s why they make chocolate and vanilla.

I spent this morning working on quotes for insurance and how much the tags and titles are going to be for the NEW CAR that my dear friends the Barringtons gave me this evening! What a blessing they have been to our family. Carl reminded me that we first started working together back at Southwestern Seminary THIRTY years ago. That’s half our lives that we’ve been friends!

Ashley came over to check out her car before going to Savannah this weekend for the missions conference at Skidaway Baptist Church.

Worked at the mission with Ashley and Jesse.

Not much homework, so we left around 6pm.


Jesse followed me home and took us over to the Barrington’s house. The Expedition has suspension problems and just bounces all over the road. It’ll cost about $600 to fix. Ay caramba.

On the brighter (MUCH BRIGHTER) side, we picked up the PT Cruiser from the Barrington’s house this evening.

It’s a real beauty and is a lot of fun to drive. What a blessing they’ve been. I’ll transfer the title over to the ministry’s name tomorrow.

Really tired. I’ve been a bit sick, although my only symptoms now are headache and being tired.

Admin duties now.

I never grow tired of shooting diffused sun through bare branches.

On Friday the suspension in the Expedition went out. It was like driving a moon walk. I took it to the mechanic.

Apparently, that truck has a type of air bag suspension. One more thing to deal with. See how low it’s riding in the back?

Saturday I wasn’t feeling well. Spent all day in bed except for going to lunch with Kathy. Super tired with a sore throat and headache. Jesse is dealing with the same issues.

Paid bills.

I’m feeling a bit better today. I’ve also been able to sleep on my back for the first time in two weeks. That sure helps.

Foggy day.

I met up with Miles and Ashley who brought our ladies from Michigan Vickie and Michelle to Westside Baptist Church.

Pastor Ben is always a blessing to me.

I shared with him the financial difficulties we’re experiencing right now. He had good words of encouragement and how to handle the transferring of the utilities from Whirlwind Missions to the on site missions organizations.

The feedback from the missionaries when I told them that they HAD to transfer those utilities was quite positive. They all understood that we can’t pay with money that we don’t have.

Our music director at Westside Baptist Church is a marvelous piano player and vocalist. Roger is also from Michigan like Vickie and Michelle.

I’m back in bed now to rest and then handle admin duties.

I talked with two of our other missionaries to make sure that they handled those transfers of utilities tomorrow.

I didn’t sleep well at all last night. With Whirlwind Missions enduring such hard financial times, I stay awake and worry about all my missionary friends.

Ashley picked me up from our car mechanic’s building. The Expedition I’ve been driving since the Chrysler started having such oil pressure problems has a serious problem with the suspension. It’s like riding a jumpy house. They took a look at it, but can’t get parts till Monday. Ride ’em cowboy! They assured me it was safe, it’s just like riding on roads in Kenya.

We met up with our team from Michigan and went to Marietta to check out the Brazilian population and see some of the antique stores.


Great food and cool stuff to see.

We came back from Marietta and went to the Post Office to mail off some books that Vickie had purchased to teach a series on different world religions. Cheaper than carrying them back in her suitcase!

Then over to Enigmas to see one of the most bizarre botanicas in Atlanta.

I bought this super cool sugar skull there.

Worked with the kids at the mission.

I told them the story of Joseph. I always enjoy telling stories.

We also decorated “bags of love” to fill with candy and tracts for our residents.

Then threw candy to the kids. The ladies had fun tossing goodies to the children.



Stopped by Subway to buy some sandwiches for Jesse who’s not feeling well. I’ve got a sore throat too. Been gargling with hydrogen peroxide today. That always seems to help.

K and I watched Elementary and part of the Lego movie. I really liked the Lego show. Kathy less so.

Admin duties now.

Ashley and I had fun with our new friend from Cross Pointe church, Mark Maynard! He has a lot of experience in Africa, so I felt like I was with a kindred spirit.

We showed him around Plaza Fiesta and had some authentic Mexican food. Then over to the Buford Highway Farmers Market to experience multiple cultures up close and personal.

We also took our team from Michigan with us and also to the Buddhist Temple.

I had a very powerful and moving conversation with one of my good friends and Pastor, Ben Lehmann. He gave me some sound advice about dealing with some of the missionaries that we work with that we support.

Went to the Dollar Tree to pick up some supplies for the mission. I also picked up some plastic ware to put under plants in my house.

Then over to Azalea to work with the kids. I was especially proud that my Bengali girls chose to wear shoes today! I told them their toes could turn black and fall off if they were outside in 20 degree weather for very long. I reckon they took me seriously.

Our ladies told the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors and the brothers throwing him down the pit.

Home now to work on admin duties.

The suspension in the Expedition started acting really weird. Man, that’s all we need, more car problems.

I did the grocery shopping this morning.

Then Ashley, Jesse and I took our ladies from Michigan to Decatur.

We enjoyed eating at The Brick Store.




It was a cool place, built in the 1800s and reminded me of England. I had fish and chips. Yeah, baby!


I loved the door handle.

Never seen a no smoking sign outside before!

Interesting and beautiful downtown Decatur.


We had snow flurries while we were there.

Then we went to Lawrenceville to explore the BAPS Hindu temple. It is a beautiful place.

Unfortunately, photography isn’t allowed inside the temple area. There were some amazing carvings of Hindu deities and avatars carved out of marble.

After seeing the temple we went back to Asian Square. They were preparing for the big Chinese New Year tomorrow.

Lots of firecrackers!

I’ve never seen a string that long. Thousands and thousands!

Then over to Azalea to help the kids with their homework. We did a lot of multiplication tables.


We also played a Bible character matching card game. The kids had a great time.

Home now to enjoy time with Kathy. We watched the series finale of the Mentalist. Patrick Jane was my favorite TV character of all time. I’m so glad that they got to do a final season and see Jane and Lisbon get married.

Admin duties now.

I found this on the ground at the QT station near the pump I used to fill up the truck.

Fantastic sunset colors.

We were supposed to get super bad weather in the ATL last night. They even cancelled school for Dekalb county. Didn’t turn out to be that bad in our area. Much worse further North.

Still really cold. The birds appreciate me feeding them. I always feel like the Father feels the same way about me when I worry about money. He always takes care of me.

Cars for Kids came by and picked up our old van this morning. It’s been sitting in this spot for over a year. Kathy finally decided it was time to say, “Goodbye, Nellie.”

I met up with Vickie and Michelle from Michigan and Ashley this morning. I worked on the paperwork for the refinancing of my house. We dropped that off at the FedEx building near Perimeter Mall and had lunch together.

Then off to see the Muslim bookstore Kitab.

Then to Al Madina to see N. African and Middle Eastern products.

Rounded off the afternoon at Global Mall to see part of the Shiva worship.

Then to the mission. Freezing weather. All the kids were confined to their houses. The ladies worked on organizing and cleaning the mission.


Jesse and I went to the Post Office to mail packets to the leaders from the teams last weekend and to a church where I’ll be speaking in March.

We also went to Plaza Fiesta to pick up some pants that Kathy needed hemmed.

Ashley took the ladies back to their hotel while Jesse and I spent time together and had supper.

Came home to watch Castle with Kathy.

Admin duties now.

This guy outside of QT made me sad.

I liked his shirt.

I thought this was interesting. I wonder if it’s still living?

Beauty.

Sunday evening I edited the video that I shot for our teams from N. Georgia.

I also put some creative writing on line.

Ashley and I had a fun day taking the leaders from Brookhaven Baptist Church in Mississippi around the International Village. Jason Holmes and Ben Sticker are the leaders for their youth group. TJ is a college campus minister.

AWESOME folks!


It was great to see our friend David “Jonesy” Litton today too!

We saw Asian Square and the Buford Highway Farmers Market. We ate at Penang Malaysian restaurant.

Also checked out their housing at Crossroads Community Church of Dunwoody.

These are the Russian leader nested dolls I bought last week. How many can you name?

Really miserable weather. It was a holiday so we didn’t try and round up the kids at the mission today.

I thought this headline was weird. How can something be “pretty” brutal? Seems like it’s either brutal or it’s not.

Speaking of hard times, Whirlwind Missions is still in the red. We are almost back in the black, but we still really need your prayers!