Studied Spanish!

The mother website for our ministry renewed today. It is my masterpiece and contains decades of work.

I get notifications from NASA when the ISS is visible! I’ll probably go out and spot it before I’m finished with this blog post!

I’m trying to get back into the habit of meditating every day. I spend at least an hour in prayer, but this is just being quiet.

Some days when I have big things going on, especially when they’re emotionally difficult, I’ll cut my hair. Helps me have perspective somehow. Like taking a vow to put my trust in the Lord and not in organizations. I’m full of quirks like that. I save my hair and put it by the bird feeders for them to use for their nests.

When I’m under stress, I normally go and record, which I call, “yelling at a tape deck.” I’m so extroverted that I do a lot of my best thinking out loud to myself. It really is my best therapy. I can tell when I’ve had a lot of hard stuff going on when I get ahead of my normal schedule of two per week. I currently have thirteen episodes “in the can” or ready for release. That’s over six weeks ahead!


It’s my best work. Verbal Surgery has helped me a LOT.

Last year, I spent close to 300 hours working on researching the churches within a seven state area around Georgia. I have over 1,000 email addresses of youth directors in my data base.

We’ve sent mail-outs but had very limited success. Most of the leaders I’ve talked with said they get at least a couple of letters like ours every day. Obviously, that strategy wasn’t workable. Email, however, is free and if the content is good, relationships can be built. If it all works out, this will lead to teams coming to work with us.

My goal is to have an email once a week with church growth tips and once a month with some info about coming to work with us in the ATL. It’s a really big goal. Once I’ve standardized the format, should be doable. One thing is for sure, I’m incredibly prolific and obsessively disciplined when I set my mind to something.

After recording, I went to Walmart to pick Ashley up a bat and some practice balls to use. We had fun at the mission practicing hitting. The kids enjoyed helping get the balls. Ashley is a natural! Kathy loved playing softball. I was more of a football and soccer guy.
Although, I also played tennis for my high school.

It was an incredibly difficult and emotional day for me today. I had a meeting with friends at Perimeter church which has been a terrific partner and strong financial supporter for twenty-one years. That’s a long time! Pretty much the entire time I’ve been doing ministry in the ATL.

My alarm just went off to go spot the International Space Station! Just got back from my 44th time to see it streak across the sky at 17,500 mph! Yowza. Absolutely gorgeous.

Plus the full moon was spectacular!

Back to sadder tidings. I had a meeting with my friends Drew, Debra and Jackie about the ceasing of financial support. We are still officially partners, since they will be sending teams our direction from time to time as well as remaining on their website for service opportunities. But the financial support was a big help to us and always causes me stress to think of a possible shortfall in the future. Fortunately, we’ve already tightened our belts financially and should be fine especially when we get more teams to come and work with us.

Whirlwind Missions was the first ministry that their church supported that did outreach. In fact, there was no community outreach before us. Seems sad to close support for the historic first partner, especially considering all the evangelism we do! But it happens. Can’t take it personally, but it’s hard not to.

I thought that being the first day of Spring was appropriate for the meeting. New beginnings! Let your face shine upon your servant, oh Lord!

I saw this light on the way home. Never seen one like it. It was almost a sign from the Lord. Do not turn around! Keep going forward! As I mentioned before, I have many quirks. One of them is that I believe the Father is trying to communicate with me all the time.

Went by FBC Doraville to check on the mail. Always great to see support!

Ashley is on a girl’s softball team. Neither of my kids really did team sports. Ashley was a cheerleader and ran track, but that’s not quite the same thing. I got her a bat that fits her size and some practice wiffle balls to hit. We had fun with the kids watching her hit the ball. She really has a good eye and really smacked the ball!

And in case you’re wondering, this is a posed shot. I certainly didn’t have her hitting the ball inside the house!
We had a good time helping the kids with their homework. That always makes me feel better.

Got some gas in Ashley’s truck. Penelope and I went to QT to get her chocolate. I got all the girls some, but when P tried to eat it she just cried. Her throat still isn’t feeling well. Too sad.

This close up shows we’ve already started to get pollen saturation!

One of the ladies from Rock Bridge BC collected fruit for our ministry!

I know the families will love it. Cool too, because fruit is a part of all cultures!

It was beautiful on their campus.

Practiced listening to Spanish radio from Madrid on the way home. The news segments I do really well at. But when all the football commentators are talking at the same time at about 90 mph, well it’s a challenge for sure.

I spent a lot of time in the car today just being quiet and talking to the Father. I really don’t understand how people go through life without a close relationship with God. Practicing “conversational prayer” where I imagine what He might say is also so powerful. I do hours of that every day. It really is a big part of my ministry.

I transported squirrel #47 to the forest five miles from my house when I got home. I continue to haul them off. My bird seed lasts a LOT longer without the squirrels. Plus they did over $1,000 of damage on my house last year.

You may remember I had a light repaired in my laundry room yesterday. One of the reasons I’m serious about getting any kind of electrical work done quickly is because I’m always slightly afraid that the squirrels chewed the wiring. The electrician said that rarely happens in a cedar house. They prefer the wood over the wires. I thought that was interesting.
The azaleas in my yard look like they’re going to be absolutely stunning this year. LOTS of buds!

Being the first day of Spring, I also thought it was appropriate to bring all my carnivorous plants in. I had them outside during the winter in a clear plastic box. They are supposed to have a dormant season. I brought them in whenever the weather got below freezing. I’m still sad that my ficus tree endured one night of a hard freeze. She’s still not over that.

But most of my little plants look ok. I was assured by the nursery that sold them to me that these particular species need the time of rest. I’ve been keeping Venus flytraps for over fifty years. I’ve only tried putting them outside once before and the plants got messed up by animals chewing on them. This time, as I mentioned, I kept them in a box for protection.

These calanchoes look lovely.

Admin duties now.