Connections At OC

I enjoyed a very busy day at Oklahoma Christian University today. I attended a morning lecture on coping with suffering. Then I attended a University class (not a Lecture for the Lectureship) taught by my friend Richard May. He's doing a great job with the young Christian minds present. After that, Richard, Jeanna Lynn, and myself got a burger on campus and talked with a lady who was kind enough to let us sit at a table with her. Interestingly, she is a campus nurse and so nurse Jeanna Lynn and she had lots to talk about. After lunch I went to Open Forum. To be honest, I wasn't very interested in the subjects of the day. Except for one question on the subject of suicide. Suicide rates on the Coast are soaring as people lose hope. I thought the panelists answered some questions about that subject very delicately and with much compassion for hurting people. I don't know all of the panelists' names. I do know that Stafford North, Lyn McMillon, and Jim Baird were on the panel. Not long afterwards I met Richard and Jeanna Lynn once again for the Preachers and Elders Banquet. It was an interesting night, aside from the excellent food! Herschel Dyer was honored for his preaching ministry in Tulsa at the same church for 44 years. One brother was present who was 94 years old and who has been preaching for 67 years. Jerry Jones gave the address of the night, and it was very stirring. I attended the last evening lecture and then headed to our late night class on disaster relief. Because everything was behind time, and it was so late, we didn't have as many as we had hoped. However, it was a great evening of sharing about disaster relief. At the end of the class, Hugh from Calhoun, LA asked everyone to surround me, lay hands on me, and we prayed together. It was a beautiful moment in my life. Thanks, Hugh. I was pleased to meet Ray Hughes, the Executive Director of Rapha International - a worldwide Humanitarian organization. They do not usually do hurricane relief - but then again Katrina was not your usual hurricane! They have done so much good for so many people around the world ... so I was very blessed to meet someone who helps turn impossibilities into realities! Ray was very encouraging about our work on the Coast. They have been involved in the work in Slidell from the beginning. It was also good to see Carla Calhoun again - who made so much of this possible. She is simply a wealth of information. I did catch a picture of her talking with Alan and Marvin Phillips. I look forward to staying in touch with her throughout this time of work. I have heard a report from back home that things are going great at Central. Someone donated a big bunch of fish and shrimp, so the workers have been working for their supper ... peeling the heads off of the shrimp. I know they will always remember that! One of the people we helped and who spent a good bit of time at the building was Terry. Terry was a black man about 35 or 40 who had some health problems, but he just kept on doing all he could. If the McPhereson, KS guys are reading, he is one who helped us unload all those mattresses! Terry had a lot of struggles in his life and he talked openly about leaving behind some of those things for the Lord. He was a big talker and an enjoyable person to be around. His sister came by yesterday to inform us that he had passed away. There wasn't much explanation ... but she knew that we had tried to help him some. We never know when a conversation or encounter with someone will be the last. My flight home leaves Oklahoma City at noon. I'm looking forward to being back home. However we leave again on Thursday. But I'll tell you about that then! Thanks for reading!