Summer Fun

What did you do this summer?

Well, we went to Paris!

That's right. And we drove the whole way! Here's a picture to prove it:

The four of us visited Arizona, New Mexico, Texas (including the town of Paris), Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

The next picture was taken at a favorite park just down the street from Nanny's house in Carrollton, Texas.

While we were in Arkansas, one of the geocaches we found was next to an old church—so of course we had to take a picture of the church:

Another geocache was in a park where Caleb found an old vehicle which he identified as an Arkansas Geocaching SUV:

Coming into Louisiana from Arkansas, we found these two hitch-hikers:

And here's a shot of Badcau Bayou just out of Cotton Valley, Louisiana:

We had a great trip visiting the Walker family in Arizona, the Ellis family in Texas, and more Walkers in Louisiana. Summer fun!

May June July

It's been how long since my last post?

Well, don't expect much from this one. The work of ministry has been exceedingly busy which allows little time for blogging. I do make the time to read the WEBNET posts, but it is difficult to allot time to create anything new.

Close to two months. That is the answer to the opening question.

Since then, the progress on our church building has been encouraging (click here for some pictures).

We went to a "make-shift" Village Missions conference the first part of June. Our regular VM Conferences have been cancelled due to financial strains with Village Missions, but our district organized our own conference. We met at the church of a Village Missionary in Graeagle, CA. The weather was significantly cooler than June in Pahrump. Caleb and I went canoeing one morning (about 5:30am) and it was 36 degrees.

Following the conference, we spent a few days in Redding with the family (click here for a few pictures of our adventures).

Shortly thereafter, we took Lauri to Riverside to begin her official registration at CBU.

Then Lauri went off to Awana Scholarship Camp close to Oakhurst, CA, and Kim went back to Redding to Emily-sit while Brenda did a scrapbooking retreat (click here to view some examples of her incredible scrapbooking abilities).

Last week we had Vacation Bible School here at Pahrump Community Church. Lauri was in charge of music and I was signed up as her assistant (really!). Unfortunately, she was fighting a cold (or something) all week and with very little voice, she was unable to lead well, so we sort of switched roles. Everything worked out alright, but it was an exhausting week. The great news is that nine children prayed to receive Christ!

That brings us up to today (Saturday, July 18). This has been the hottest day of the year so far. After Caleb's Jeep wouldn't start while Kim was at a midday church event, we replaced the battery and the temperature was at 112 degrees... And the wind was blowing to beat the band... And there were storm clouds with lightening on the mountains just east of Pahrump... Which started several fires on the mountain... Yeah, good times!

Fortunately, we are preparing to leave on vacation tomorrow after church. We'll be going to Arizona to see the Grands (click here for the latest "grands" pictures); the temperature there was supposed to be 115 today!

Then we'll drive over to Texas to see Nanny. We'll take a short trip to Louisiana via Oklahoma and Arkansas. Along the way we'll pick up some geocaches (click here to get a brief overview of our geocaching hobby), then we'll see some extended family in Loisiana and we'll visit the old Walker homestead (this picture is from my April trip for Neen's funeral).

Please pray for safety as we travel.

Family Celebration

Our youngest has now graduated from High School! Congratulations Lauri!

To celebrate, we invited the family to join us for a special graduation party. Zachary, Brenda & Emily and Katie Ellyn & Justin all made a long trip to Pahrump to join the party, which also included several of our church family. Here is a picture of our great kids:

Katie Ellyn & Justin had to head back home on Monday morning after the graduation party, but the rest of us drove over to San Diego. We went to the beach on Monday evening, and to Sea World on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we drove north to LegoLand only to find out they were closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so we drove back down to spend another day at Sea World. On Thursday, we did spend the day at LegoLand, then returned late that night to Pahrump.

Emily provided hours of entertainment for everyone. Z, B & E left for Redding late Sunday evening. We are tired out after all the non-stop partying, but happy and thankful for our wonderful family.

Also, Happy Memorial Day, and thank you to all who have served and are serving in the armed forces for the protection of our country and our freedoms. Yesterday's sermon was entitled Worth Dying For and will be available on the PCC website in a day or two.

Empty Promises and New Life

Back before Easter, I announced in my new blog that you could listen to my sermons online. I even posted the titles of the two messages scheduled for Easter Weekend. Although I have received no comments indicating so, I assume that you, my faithful readers, have been sorely disappointed after repeatedly visiting the link only to find no recent updates.

Here’s the story: Even as I wrote my opening post, the church’s computer in the sound booth was being replaced. Due to “technical difficulties” (the sound board software was incorrectly configured), none of the Easter Weekend messages were recorded. The following Sunday (April 19), the computer problem was resolved, but I had invited one of the missionaries we support to share the message (and that message is now available online).

The next Sunday (April 26) we did “Search the Scriptures” (an interactive Q&A session) during both services, but the first service didn’t get recorded because it turns out we were using “trial” software whose demo period expired sometime before Sunday. Something was done before second service, so it is recorded and now available on the site.

I believe that things are finally back to normal, so you may once again go back to regularly checking for the newest sermons.

Fraxinus Velutina

No, that is not the newest sermon in Latin. But I know you are probably also eager for an update on the tree stump. Alas, it is no more. Greg and Zelko volunteered their time, energy and resources to remove the stump.

Then they donated a Modesto Ash (Fraxinus Velutina) to replace the poor willow.

So, in place of the stump, we now have new life and will one day have a large shade tree!

A Stump is born.

The last two days have been filled with cleaning up the debris from the tree.

In this shot I am starting the trimming using pruning shears and a hand-saw:


And an hour or so after that (with Kim's help) we cut it back to this:
From this angle it is impossible to tell that the vast majority of the work is yet to be done. The tree split into three sections and the largest section was away from this perspective laying in the oleander bushes.

Then a guy from church (and his teenage son) came over with a chain saw and we were able to tackle the big stuff. So after several more hours (just before we cut it down to a stump), it looked like this:

Although I have no picture of the short stump yet, the tree is gone. We hauled several loads to the dump and have a trailer full of firewood to give back to the man who loaned us his trailer. The yard is sunny (we'll miss the shade), and we are grateful our house wasn't damaged by the accident.

Stumpy's Revenge

No sooner had I written Stumpy out of the script than he found a way to extract his revenge. Stumpy, of course, was the remains of a willow tree at the old parsonage next door to the church. When we moved to Pahrump, the tree was already diseased and on its way out. We consulted with a horticulturist who informed us that treating it was fairly ineffective and curing it was impossible. The stench emanating from the diseased sap (which constantly dripped) was overwhelming. His advice? Cut it down.

So we did. But not completely. We left the stump and found some limited uses for it (mostly tomahawk practice). A short time later, a picture was taken of me praying beside the stump and "Stumpy" was "born."

Two years ago, we relocated south of town so as to make room for the new Youth Pastor to move into the parsonage. Our new home had a wonderful large Willow in the back yard.

This evening as the wind blew (not at all unusual around here), I heard a crash and found the tree broken and lying across the yard!

Looks like Stumpy has the last laugh after all.

A Louisiana Bayou

While down in Louisiana for Neen's graveside service, CrazyUncle and I took some pictures at Dorcheat Bayou in Minden (about 20 miles from Cotton Valley). This night photo was taken using my Nikon D40 with a 45 second exposure. The light is coming from mercury-vapor lamps in the parking area.

Goodbye Stumpy

Stumpy's blog is gone. After suggestions and exhortations (and even threats) regarding the need to update my blog, I have taken a drastic step. First, let it be stated once again that I didn't have a blog... Stumpy had a blog. I refuse to take the blame for any negligence (or even slanderous comments) that were published at any time on a blog that WAS NOT MINE!

With that settled, I will confess that I have been a faithful reader of WEBNET blogs for a long time. Having no personal blog identity of my own, however, I was at times prohibited from posting comments, and almost always discouraged from doing so. (I found it disturbing to read "Anonymous said..." every time I would leave a comment.)

So, during a recent trip to Louisiana, CrazyUncle urged me to get more involved in the blogging community. Once again, so as to not incur any blame, let me quote CrazyUncle's recommendation: "You could at least give us the title of your sermons each week!" And thus we witness what impact one poorly thought-out statement can make. Welcome to "The Preacher Man."

Happy Easter! This Sunday's message is entitled "Evidence of Life." But even before that, I will be preaching "It Is Finished" on Good Friday. For the bravest of you (and those with a surplus of time on their hands) my messages are usually published on line within a week after they are delivered. You can find them at here along with previous messages from all of last year.