China

Well, my family is asleep and I am staying awake so I can prepare my body for the China time zone.  The good people over there are 15 hours ahead of us so it is 2:30 tomorrow afternoon as I write and they will be going to bed about the time I get to the airport tomorrow.  I am all packed and ready to go, and really looking forward to this trip.  We will have the wonderful opportunity to be fulfilling 2 Timothy 2:2 -- committing to faithful men the words of truth, who will in turn, will be able to teach others also.  The work in China is the closest I will ever come to first century preaching and I am privileged to be able to participate because of the generosity of so many, both here in Bremerton and elsewhere.  I pray that God will bless our work, keep us safe, and that the truth may have an impact for good for many more people than we will ever see.  Your prayers are very much appreciated...

Preparing

This week and next I will be finishing up and polishing the lessons that I will present to new brothers and sisters in the land of the East as well as teach unbelievers.  I am excited about this trip for several reasons.  One, and most important, is the opportunity to teach teachers - to equip the saints there for the ministry to their own people in their own tongue in their own land.  I ask that you pray for my efforts in this initial teaching, and doubly for theirs  in the spread of the truth to others.  The topics are a wide range of first principle and a deeper topics to challenge and feed them.  A second reason is that I will be going to different places than I went before.  That means I will meet new members of the family as well as have an opportunity to see some different places.  Of course, the downside is that I will not get to see the many friends I made on the first trip.  And the third reason is the person I am going with this time -- a gentle and godly person named Durrell.  He has this work down to a tee as far as logistics is concerned -- now all I have to do is blend in, a task that you who know me is easier said than done. But with God's help, we will go and return safely...
Pray for me while I am gone, pray for my family and especially pray for our efforts there.
Father man and Poppa

San Antonio

What a whirlwind two-day trip this has been. I am in San Antonio, Texas to officiate at the funeral of a dear friend from our Fairview days, Bob Cann. I have learned a lot more about Bob and Alicia in the last 24 hours than I ever knew in the 6 years we were in the same congregation. That is very sad to me, because looking back I would have enjoyed talking to Bob about his life in the Air Force -- how he accidentally soloed long before he ever went up with an instructor, and how he eventually flew a B-25 in the Pacific theater during WWII. To the left is a picture of Bob in his training plane - I think this is a Corsair -- though I could also be very wrong!!

Bob also loved being a lawyer and got his degree going to night school while he was in the Air Force. And even in the hospital during the last week of his life, he wanted to "do some business" in helping some of his nurses set up trusts. He never retired from his profession until the day he died!

My point, I guess, is that there are people all  around us, who we think we know, or in a more problematic way, think we know well enough already. And we really have no idea who they are and what their lives have been. This event has encouraged me to reach out to people around me more, especially those in our church family. Our whole family loves reading books and sharing what we read. Well, those around us all have a story,too, and it can be a neat challenge for each of us to open the book of other people's lives and let them share it with us.

Joining the bloggers of the world

Well, here goes... Most of my family has already become citizens of this world. I am fascinated by the amazing things that they produce from their fingertips at their respective keyboards. And while I have much lower expectations of my own productions, I will marshal all my courage and go forth.

Most of my blogs will probably be about interesting (at least to me) things I come across in my personal Bible study.  The other end of the spectrum of offerings will be about my fishing and hunting exploits -- tame as they may be, they are all tasty in the end at the dinner table.

So be patient with me as I learn, stumble, offer poor syntax and dangling participles (whatever those things are) in my infrequent offerings. Here we go....