And Once More...

Here I am just after midnight blogging again. This is getting to be a habit! I had a great day today with my friend Gary Kirkendall by my side. We started off the day going to find some of the workers and take some pictures. Gary had never seen the destruction along the coastline in Pascagoula, so we took a ride down beach boulevard. David called to tell me about a lady that we were delivering some sheetrock to so that some work could be done in her house. She attends a large congregation in town, but had received very little attention. She also was diagnosed with cancer and give five years to live. That was twelve years ago. This bright and beautiful woman was so thankful to be receiving some help. We prayed with her and said goodbye. Next we drove over to Cheryl's house. I have told you about Cheryl. She has lung and throat cancer and has only been given six months to live. She will spend the rest of her life in a FEMA camper located in the parking lot of a dilapidated stripmall. Thankfully she has Dana, a longtime friend who is living with her and helping her. Cheryl was in fairly good spirits for her sufferings. She did shed some tears, however, when talking about her desire to see her father. He lives in Arizona and is also a cancer patient. It is, of course, our hope to bring some joy, peace, and care into the lives of the people we are able to visit. After lunch, we met some other workers from Georgia Southwestern University at Albany (Gary's hometown) at a warehouse and began unloading twin size mattresses and box springs. These were from Churches of Christ Disaster Relief. I do not know how many there were ... we thought we heard 295 sets ... and that wouldn't be far off! It took a long time but we got it done. At the church building Gary finished some preparation for his message tonight and I worked on the power point. I led the singing tonight, and we focused on the old hymns. We've been singing all new songs the past few nights because of the great crowd of college kids from North Carolina that are here. They had their own bonfire devotional tonight and did not join us for worship. Gary had an awesome message on the concept of our home in heaven pictured in the New Testament as a Marriage and Marriage feast. Following the message the college kids from North Carolina came in so that they could witness a new birth. I'll tell you more about Jeff another time, but he was baptized tonight. David Kilbern baptized him. For Jeff it was a major life-changing decision. For David, it was a first time to birth a new child of God into the Family. There were lots of cheers, hugs, and tears. Tex Nolan from Monroe is here in town and we got to visit with him a bit tonight, which is always a joy. Those are the highlights of my day. I'll leave you with a few images. Below: Gary Kirkendall preaches tonight at Central.

Below: Carrying mattresses off of the truck. Below: David and Jeff after Jeff's baptism.

Below: A line of hugs for Jeff.