Thanks, Prayer Warriors!

Just to let everyone know that Jeannie got home with the boys at about 4 this morning. It was a LOOONG drive, but she said it was well worth it.

Thanks to all for the travel prayers!

Family Prayers

Please be in prayer for traveling mercies for my wife Jeannie and mother-in-law Wanda as they drive from Missouri to Ohio to pick up my two boys, Jordan and Jonathan, for Christmas. It’s been about 18 months since we have seen them last and we are all excited about spending time with them.

I would have went with them but one of our parishioners passed away late Thursday evening, and visitation is tonight, followed byt he funeral tomorrow morning at Wright-Baker Funeral Home in Brookfield. I will be conducting services along with a Mennonite pastor, Rev. Dale Byler.

Jeannie should be back either early tomorrow morning (if she drives straight through) or tomorrow early afternoon.

Thanks in advance for the prayers.

Now That The Dust Has Settled…

There have been many people who have asked me why in the world I stopped writing my column in the Linn County Leader; the simple reason is that I have decided to devote all of my energies into both the ministry that God has called Jeannie and I into, plus I am picking up where I left off many years ago with my creative writing projects that have sadly been neglected.

On January 1st, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to begin that novel that I have been dreading to write for many years…and that is my autobiography. Not for myself and for fame and fortune; not for people to read and point fingers at; but for the legacy I will leave behind for my children, and my family.

You see, God has truly blessed me with wonderful kids; yet even they do not know what I have been through in my life–the homelessness; the drug and alcohol abuse; the very bottom depths of the pits of hell that I found myself in, time and time again. No one was to blame for this tragedy but myself…yet the Lord in His awesome love, mercy, and grace, gave me a new life. A life in Him; a life that was no longer my own but was to be lived spreading the Good News that Jesus can, indeed, save souls.

I was one of those souls. And my children; my wife; my friends…they all need to hear this story. A story of a wretch, mired in the sludge of life’s pigpen, who was given a second chance at life.

So, my friends, the challenge begins on Jan. 1. Please pray for me as I set aside a couple of hours per day to embark on this amazing journey once again. I only imagine that there will be tears; there will be memories dredged up out f the muck; but, ultimately, there will be freedom as I share God’s power to give peace to a man who was once blind…but now can truly see.