Rules for husbands to live by #2

Husbands should honour their wives. Peter 3:7, TLB.
"You husbands must be careful of your wives, being thoughtful of their needs and honoring them as the weaker sex. Remember that you and your wife are partners in receiving God's blessings, and if you don't treat her as you should, your prayers will not get ready answers."

Rules for husbands to live by #1

How should husbands relate to their wives?Ephesians 5:25-28, TLB.
"And you husbands, show the same kind of love to your wives as Christ showed to the church when He died for her. . . That's how husbands should treat their wives, loving them as parts of themselves. For since a man and his wife are one, a man is really doing himself a favor and loving himself when he loves his wife!

The way of the worm

Every morning as I walk into work from the I-95 parking lot I pass the fresh green grass the is the front lawn of my company. I usually arrive just after the sprinklers shut off. I've started to notice earth worms, everywhere. I have concluded that the vibration and increased water level from the sprinklers drive them to the surface and then as the ground settles and the water drops they return to the safety and comfort of the green grass. Some, however, don't make it. The ones in the center fair very well. The ones on the edges, not so much. You see, on the edge, when the sprinklers come on and shake up their lives the worms will sometimes go towards the middle and there they are safe other times they end up on the sidewalk and that's not a good place to be when you are a worm. On the sidewalk it gets hot and people are walking on top of you and eventually your lost. Some head bake to the safety of the green grass and they make it. Some just keep going and soon nothing is recognizable. Soon you are on the blacktop and the sun is up. You, the worm, are cooked and it's over.

Day after day I ask myself ,and the worms, how did you end up here where you don't belong? Then it hit me, these aren't worms. These are people. Yes, people. The green grass is the presents of Christ sent by God to keep and protect us. We have a job to do to keep the green grass living and growing. We get shook up from time to time but if we just hold fast and head to the center (Jesus) and stay strong we can work our selves deeper into him and eventually no amount of disturbance can force us out. If we get on the edge, we may catch some heat and even get stepped on a time or two but if we head back to the safety of the green grass we can once again head to the center and reclaim our spot and get back to our purpose of working and growing the green grass (the kingdom of God) and live for eternity in it's comfort. If we find or self on the sidewalk and just continue to press on in vain hoping that we live long enough to so other place to call home we will almost surly perish on the hot black top.

I have found my self stopping and picking up the odd worm and tossing him back to the green grass. After all, he didn't want to be on the hot sidewalk he just got turned around and lost his way. I know I've been there at times and I wished some good hearted person would have picked me up and tossed me back.

I know this story is a little bazaar. I know I'm sometimes a little bit crazy, but, what if you are the worm. If you are the worm today, head as fast as you can back to the center of our green grass (Jesus).If you are the worm today and you find your self on the black top, STOP and find you way back to the green grass. DON'T take time to answer allot of questions like, why am I here or why did this happen to me or should I wait for someone to come get me. The sun is getting hotter and you are about to be cooked. You can get those answers after you are back in the green grass. If you are NOT the worm today and you see one on the sidewalk or the black top, Stop and give them a hand. They would be grateful and blessed as will you. It takes allot of worms to keep our green grass growing and we need all the help we can get.

Love ya worms, thanks for the lesson.

Honduras- Day 2- The Dump in La Ceiba

Thursday and it was time to go to the dump and help with a medical clinic. This was a very powerful experiance. The people at the dump are squaters. They wait for the trash to be covered up and the build a shack on it and that I home. the kids are running every where. Most with no shoes and very little clothes. Most all of the clothes I see are donations from the US. It is strange to see kids running around with old uniforms shirts sponcered by some hardware store in the US. The people here are awsome. Very nice and open. Health care is none exsistant here. Sores in the mouth, worms and skin wounds are every where. It rripped my heart out. Lucky for me I had to leave to buy building supplies for Limon. This is the nearist store. I will have to come back to this because I still have not processed what I've seen.

We went to church with Mario, his churched welcomed us and rewally had a great worship session with some great music and powerful messages. The passion for Christ is huge and right in your face. You don't have to wonder are these people are Christiens, you only have to look.

I hope I look like that.

Later

Honduras Day 1- San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba

Man, it is a long way from Florence to La Ceiba. I've been moving for 19 hrs. We made it to Honduras with no problems. When we arrived we loaded everything up and thought we would be eating lunch in San Pedro Sula, well we ended up eating at the airport.

The police closed the road leaving the airport because of protesters. Well they were not really protesters, the ousted pres. had some friend hire some guys to protest. It got real hot out on the road so they just went home. We only got held up about an hour.

Drving it very interesting here. They haven no rules and very little signs and signals. We almost killed several people but no one seemed to mind. The people are very nice. Hotel is nice but has a mildew problem. I will have to put up with it for 2 nights.

We are going to the dump in the morning for a clinic then shopping for supplies. I'm sure that will be very interesting. Well I got to go andwash the fear of t he road off of me.

Later

Honduras

As I write this I've noticed that it's been 7 months since I updated this blog. Gotta work on that.
It is my last night at home before I leave for Honduras. This trip has been a totally new thing for me. In every thing I have done I have always done it my way. From the start all I have done is say yes to what ever God ask of me and that is it.

Had no money for the trip. God touched the heart of lots of good people and bam, money taken care of.

Not sure about work. God times it so an awesome Christian manager gives the ok.

Military coup. Ok, didn't see that coming. So what to do? Well, God made every thing else happen so no since changing things now. If God wants my there, then there I'll be.

Say a prayer for me. I'll try to update this blog as much as possible.

Later

Love you Wendy and Sydney

Thanks

Ever been thankful for bad luck? How about an illness? Sound crazy...thank about it for a minute. I have had many times in my life when things have, for what ever reason, gone completely wrong and the end results was for the better. I have come to look at these times as God saying " slow down and look around".

I had one of these earlier this month. I had what seemed to be just another case of strep throat and it turned out to be the mother of all strep encounters. For the first time in my life I ended up in the hospital. As I waited for my room some of my friends from EBC showed up. When I got to my room more men came. Soon I had around 10 in my room at 10:00pm. It turns out that just down the hall another man from EBC was in the hospital, Wallace Fulmore. The men started to shuttle from my room to his and all got to visit and pray with him. The next day my Dr. cleared me and I made my way to his room and sat with him for awhile. We talked and laughed and then we prayed together.

That was the last time I saw Mr. Wallace. The last time I heard him talk about how excited he was to see what was happening at our church. The last time I heard him laugh. The last time I saw him smile. The last time I got to pray with this wonderful brother, this man of God. So for that I say...thank you God for strep. If it had not been for that, 10 men and myself my not have had that last encounter, that last memory.