In a few minutes, my family is planning to get on the road and get to Paducah, Kentucky. Tomorrow is my mother’s birthday, and we are looking forward to seeing her for awhile. We also plan to visit with my grandmother, who is not doing well at all. Paducah has been in the news quite a bit recently. The ice and snow that came through earlier this week has totally crippled the Heartland. Paducah, Metropolis, Mayfield, and other towns in that area are without power, cell phone service and other things. Some places are starting to get those back, but many are being told it will be weeks before power…

Next week, my family is planning on attending the annual Freed-Hardeman University Bible Lectureship. The week is filled with so many wonderful lectures. When we leave, we are certainly tired, but we are also spiritually filled to the overflowing. In past years on this blog, I have mentioned some of the lectures I would be attending. While I’m planning on attending both the Old Testament preaching track (delivered by Marlin Connelly) and the New Testament preaching track (delivered by Dan Winkler), those are the only two I’m going to specifically mention this year. Instead, for those who may have never been to the lectures before–or have not been in some…

If you have been reading this blog for very long, you know that I quite often read books by Charles Swindoll. Most of his books are exegetical (delving deeply into one text) or biographical (such as his “Great Lives from God’s Word” series). The most recent book of his I finished is the best “topical” book I’ve read of his so far. Improving Your Serve deals with service and all that it entails. Being a servant goes so much against human nature that it is a subject we need to study often. I highly recommend this book as one to add to your library on service. While I don’t agree…

What a great day! While worshipping God is always an uplifting time, yesterday those who led our songs, prayers, and readings seemed to go above and beyond. It also didn’t hurt that our attendance shot back up yesterday! The weekend got off to a good start on Saturday, when the ladies had a luncheon. Leah was the speaker and several have already told me she did great. I knew she would!!! About 50 of our ladies attended and enjoyed a devotional, great food, fellowship, and planning. The ladies are using “Let Your Light Shine in 2009” as the theme for their meetings and activities. These ladies truly live that theme,…

I’m not much of a story-teller. While I try to be as much like Jesus as I can, He was the master story-teller and that is one trait I do not have! Sunday, though, I am going to try to tell a story. I’m planning on presenting a sermon at Lebanon Road that deals with one of the most moving events of my life. It deals with how Mary Carol came to be a part of our family. While I’m not planning any crocodile tears, it’s hard to tell the story without some tears. It truly was a special time, and I hope to use it as the backdrop to…

I finished reading a spiral-bound book dealing with the history of Lebanon Road a few days ago. In 2003, the congregation celebrated her 50th anniversary. As you might expect there was a large weekend, and a book was produced that gave much of the history of the congregation. It has been informative and uplifting to look through past events and to see how many have come to the Lord through the efforts of this wonderful place. It has also been helpful to see names of people I now know and to see when they were baptized, or when they moved their membership to Lebanon Road. Then, last night we were…

[NOTE: I wrote the following prayer to appear in our bulletin at Lebanon Road this past Sunday. Several have said they appreciated it, so I thought on this Inauguration Day it would be appropriate to reproduce it here. May Christians treat all governmental leaders in a Biblical way.] Father, We are grateful for the honor of living in the United States of America. We are thankful that you have blessed us with the privilege of electing our officials at all levels of government. May we never take this lightly. This week, we will say goodbye to President George W. Bush and we will welcome President Barak Obama. We are grateful…

It was another uplifting day at Lebanon Road. Our singing was very good and all who led our worship did a tremendous job. Beyond our worship services, it was great day, too. Before we get to Sunday, though, we have to mention the new addition. If you scroll down to the previous post, you can see a picture of Cleo Cofer, born Saturday morning to Shea and Mandy Cofer. What a cutie! Mandy was baptized into Jesus Christ just a few weeks ago, meaning that Cleo was born into a Christian home. What a blessing for this precious little one! Everyone is doing well, and should be able to go…

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Leah and I are quite focused on getting out of debt. We aren’t perfect with the process, but we are trying to finish as quickly as we can. This week reminded me of one of the times we were, as Dave Ramsey puts it, “Gazelle intense.” When we moved to Nashville, we only had one car. I looked and looked for a cheap car to drive to work and around town so I could pay cash for it. I wasn’t looking for anything new or fancy, just something that could last a year or so while we finished getting out of debt. The car I bought cost less than $1000…