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.

Had a great day

It's been almost a month since my last post. It's not that I have nothing to blog about, it's that I have so much I can't get it all in.

I had another awesome, prayer answered Angel Food distribution. My good friend Betty Moore-Bell had 14 people who had no money for food and had 3 boxes to divide between them. Just so happens that all the Sunday school classes and youth groups pitched in enough for 11 boxes and 4 fruit and veggie boxes. That means that all 14 people got their own box!! Wow, God really does give you what you need. He saw the need and guided his sheep in the direction they should go and BAM!! need is met. How awesome is that!!!

Do prayers get answered?

Do prayers get answered? We talk about it, we hear every Sunday, we want it to be true. Is it? I must give this a firm YES. I have seen this many times in my life, as many of you have, so I just blows my mind that I, we, don't commit more time to prayer. I guess we truly think we can do it all and we don't need Gods help.

I spent most of last week sweating today's Angel Food distribution. I had lots of people lined up and one after another they fell out for one reason or another. I'd say " no problem, there's always next month" when in fact I was freaking out with the fact that I was not going to have enough people. I worked, called. e-mailed and set up things all day Friday. At 11:00 pm I was at the car wash cleaning dirt out of the church van so I could put food in it the next morning. As I feel into bed at around mid-night I said "OK Lord, it is in your hands, I can't do it with out you."

Saturday morning at 6:30am I was at the church doing my final check and unlocking the door for a few faithfuls and folks that I hoped could make it. I drove to Highland and was expecting to see the usual crowd of monthly vols. but it just me, Laura Taylor (the lead person for HPUMC), the truck driver and 2 older gentleman with the unloading equipment. Oh Lord, i thought, she has staff issues too. We didn't know exactly what we were going to do.

Then it happened, I saw Aaron Chainey and Christian. Then David and Jimmy Daniel. Before long Robbie Roof, Tory Brown, Brad Kempson, Tim Jordan, Scott Rainer and my nephew Blake Lee were there. A couple of other guys showed up and we could unload the truck. As we were working our cell phones started to ring and it was the group at the church checking on our status. I couldn't believe it, but I should. God always gets things done that should be done if we just get out of the way.

When we got every thing off the truck and I got all of the EBC stuff together the guys got it loaded in the van and we raced to the church. When I turned the corner I saw people standing in the parking lot waiting to help unload. My "Odd Couple" friend Philip Kennedy, Mike Hill, Jimmy Cox and some boys (young men) from my Sunday afternoon book study, Dustin Hayes, O'Neal Kennedy and Thomas Miller. My buddy Scott Taylor, my niece Jill Huggins ( who like my nephew drove from Bennettsville to help) the ladies who help me take orders during the week Melissa Miller (who's daughter was running the welcome desk), Debra Wadell, Linda Jordan, Denise Rainwater and Ms. Anita Shivley.

In minutes the food was off loaded and staged for distribution and we started giving it out. It was running like a watch made by a master craftsman and that wasn't me. We had a couple of shorts that my beautiful wife Wendy ran and picked up for us, but other than that it was smooth. My prayers had been heard and answered, but not just my prayers.

Ms. Betty Moore-Bell buys these boxes and she divides them up and takes the to Creekside Apts. and hands them out to the needed handicapped residents. She had asked to come at the end and if we had any unclaimed could she have it for these folks. I said certainly but I didn't expect any to be unclaimed. When she came in she said she prayed for me and this distribution last night, that it would be a success. Her prayers were answered too, and guess what. At the end after everything was handed out and boxed up we had 1 lonely grill special left. I didn't think to much about it until my good friend and head ram rod Amy Daniel came and said lets give it to Betty. I picked it up and took it over to her and she was over come with emotion. I wasn't expecting that. You see, where I only saw 1 little grill special, she saw several meals for people who really have nothing. She knew what that 1 box could do. As I looked around I noticed that she and her friend were literally counting cookies and putting them into zip lock bags. They were stretching those boxes as far as they possibly could.

So yes, prayers do get answered, YES, YES, YES. Not only do they get answered, they get connected and twisted in ways that we never see. When a plan is Gods plan and it does his work. There is no limit to the awesome power of PRAYER.

Death of a friend

I went to a friends funeral this past Saturday. It was a bummer. He was 2 days short of his 64th birthday. That's not that old. He wasn't sick, no accidents, no self inflicted injuries. He just went to bed Tuesday night with his wife and didn't wake up. It was such an uneventful death that it almost doesn't seem real, but it is. It is very real to the friends and family that he left behind.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you just didn't wake up one day? Would you be missed? Could the ones you love carry on with out you. Who would pick up where you left off? Does a single life really matter? Do you matter?

I watched my friends as they sat and listened to the minister speak about the life Tex lived. They were dying as they listened to the countless good deeds and genuine love and respect with which he treated everyone. He and his wife Linda took in 14 foster kids over the years not to mention their own 3 girls. He was a real "stand in the gap" kind of guy. I watched them again in the reception line. I have no idea what held them up. If too no one else, Tex mattered to them.

I know allot of smart people but I must say Tex was one of the smartest. He worked with the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) and was one of about 500 people in the country who could do the jobs he did. You don't get guys like that from Labor Finders or Monster.com. He was very smart but, he had a way of making you feel like the most important person in the room. He cared about people, all people. He will be missed.

As for me, I don't know if I will be missed by many. I do know that I have a place that belongs only to me. A place in my family, my church and my community. Yes, the world will keep turning and my family will push on but, I think I will be missed. I think you will be too.

Look around at your family, friends, community. You would be amazed how much of an impact you have on them. Even the worst of us are missed. So I'll say god bye and God speed to my friend Tex, you will leave a huge void to fill. God bless you and your family.

For the rest of you, stop surfing the net and go hug your family.