VBS Finale

17 Jun

Yes, tonight is the last night of VBS at Ebenezer.  I don’t know the numbers from every night, but they were all in the mid-400s.  And that’s not REALLY the important thing at all …

This week, we’ve had the opportunity to share Christ with HUNDREDS of children and adults.  We’ve had rough spots and rocky roads.  We’ve seen storms and endured heat.  Our walk-in freezer decided to resign this week, probably carry-over from the lightning strike.  We’ve dealt with death, sickness, and probably pestilence.

And we are still standing!!  TO GOD BE THE GLORY!  And our prayer is that somehow, some way, somebody has received a seed of the Gospel that will flourish in their life.  And they will continue building the kingdom.

And if that only happens to ONE person this week, it is all worth it!!!!  And I mean that from the bottom of my heart!

Safety

16 Jun

I started to subtitle this post “ACS is the devil!”  Yeah, I don’t believe that for a SECOND!!!  ACS is AWESOME!!

Several years ago we started talking about using the ACS CheckPoint system, in which people check their children in to activities and events at our church.  The software logs their attendance and prints a badge for each child and a parents badge with a transaction number that matches each kid.  This number can be used to verify the identity of the parent when the child is picked up.  In a VBS that is running about 450 children and adults, and many of the kids are from the community and NOT regular EBC attenders, this is the SAFEST WAY I know of to protect children.  Having NO security makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER in this day and age.

I never thought anyone would ever complain or criticize the fact that we were taking measures for safety.  And last night I was proved wrong.  I won’t go into details, but let me just say that I do NOT believe Ebenezer is enabling the Mark of the Beast by using this system.  The numbers are randomly generated and we neither keep them nor upload them to any type of national database.  We are NOT taking the easy way out in this.  The system works when we do it right, and it makes me feel safer as a pastor that we do it.  Kudos to ACS for this system!!

And I will NOT apologize for taking steps to ensure the safety of children at Ebenezer.

Latest on Dad and VBS2010

15 Jun

Dad:

Dad was moved back to the Cottages at Brushy Creek today in Greer.  Hopefully for a limited stay.  More details to come on that as they develop, but at least he’s out of the hospital!!!

VBS2010:

AWESOME!!  This is hump day for VBS.  It ends on Thursday.  Tons of kids, adults, youth (or as My Cousin Vinny said, “Youts”) on the campus tonight.  We are hoping for a good night with NO STORMS!

God is at work in this place and for that we are grateful!!!

An Incredible Feat

14 Jun

VBS 2010 is in FULL SWING!  And I just have to write this:  Watching such a volunteer machine work, and work WELL, is just unreal!  Yes, the EBC staff is there in supportive roles, but the heart of this VBS is found in THE WORKERS!!

This is truly the Church doing what the Church is called to do.  And it makes me glad to be the pastor of EBC!!!

13 Jun

Yes, you read it here first:  I love it!!  There are very few things I cannot do with it.  Most of all, I’ve been PREACHING FROM IT FOR SEVERAL WEEKS and very few people have NOTICED!!  And, I LOVE not having to shuffle papers while in the pulpit!

I know somewhere someone will hear about this and accuse me of trying to be state-of-the-art or “cool” or trying to hard to be modern, but they can just say and think whatever they wish:  It really does help me do a better job at what I do.

Another night at GMS

11 Jun

This week has been one of the toughest weeks at Ebenezer on many different levels.  For those who’ve been there for more than 12 years, you might really understand the depth of that previous sentence.  I never should’ve mentioned that anniversary thing … Jinxed myself and the EBC staff!!!  😉

And here I am, after another semi-sleepless night in Greenville Memorial Hospital.  Dad slept.  I didn’t.  He has a bed.  I have a medieval rack of torture, and for some reason this room does not have a recliner I could jump into.  Just the rack.

Dad says things that are way out of left field.  It’s hard to know if this is still the UTI talking, or if this is where he is.  Today we will talk with the social worker and make a decision about which facility to move Dad to.  They say it’s only for a couple of weeks, but we’ve been down this road before.  I see quicksand on the trail.

Yesterday was a unique day.  Drew rode with me to Kershaw.  There we did Archie Catoe’s funeral.  It was very well attended for a graveside.  And it was HOTTTT!

Then Drew and I embarked on a journey from Kershaw to Greenville.  You CANNOT get here from there.  We drove to Lancaster and picked up SC 9.  SC 9 took us all the way into Spartanburg, where we hit I-85 South into Greenville.  I guess it took us about two and a half hours.

So now I sit here.  Man, I could use some sleep.

Again, the hospital becomes quicksand

10 Jun

Dad is in Memorial again.  A one or two-day stay has become “we’ve evaluated him and think you need to put him in a rehab facility for a little while.”  Honestly, the doctor is only recommending a couple of weeks.  But as quicksand goes, that could quickly become three months again.

We certainly will do whatever is best for Dad, and if that was all the news, it wouldn’t be so bad.  The doctor also recognizes and talked to Mom and me about the fact that she cannot possibly go on taking care of him by herself.  We’ve already reached the place where she needs help (which I’ve been begging her to do for a couple of months) and this will help convince her of that.  But there will most probably be a day when we will not be able to care for Dad at home.

This is part of the circle of life, albeit a very difficult one.  Thanks for all of the prayers!

The Latest on Dad

8 Jun

What could be the cherry on top of a weekend like I had?? A phone call.  Mom called yesterday morning to let me know she and Dad were en route to the hospital.  Dad was very listless and something was going on.

IRONICALLY … That morning I’d heard a brake noise on my car.  I’ve only had this car for about six weeks, so I had no idea when the brakes were last checked.  But this was the first time I’d heard this noise and I knew what it meant.

Drew and I bolted from the office (yes, Drew was there yesterday doing MORE IT stuff helping Robbie).  We ran by AdvanceAuto to get some brake pads and came home.  This car has disc brakes on all four wheels, so it wouldn’t be too difficult, and since I couldn’t get an emergency work in with my mechanic, we would have to do it.

So Drew got a lesson in doing a brake job.  And we HAD TO.  And when we pulled the pads that were noisy, we found it to be almost obliterated so I was glad we did!  As we finished, I called Mom and we decided to wait for a diagnosis before we hit the road.  I was suspicious that it was a urinary tract infection, which would not be near a serious as another subdural hematoma.

Long story short, after a series of tests they decided it WAS a UTI.  The doc offered to treat him and send him home, but Mom asked that they keep him in for a day or two while they give him the antibiotic.

So Dad is in Greenville Memorial right now.  But the diagnosis was the best possible result!  Please pray for him and my Mom!

What good is love is we don’t do it?

7 Jun

Yesterday I shared something God put on my heart.  Mostly from I John 4.  LOVE.  Loving with God’s kind of love is the key to abundant life.  If we say we love God but do not love our brother, we really don’t love God.  If we live in His love others will see what His love is all about.

Jesus said people would know we are His disciples by how we LOVE ONE ANOTHER and how we LIVE HIS TEACHINGS.  That brings me to Matthew 18 this morning.  Jesus Himself said in verse 15, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.”  Where I come from, that means ONE ON ONE.  Jesus said “if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two of three witnesses.”  WOW, did Jesus know what we needed to hear, or WHAT???

To me, this translates to “if you have a problem with someone, you go to them.  Try to settle it with them.”  I wish we did that more.  Instead, we like to spread our dirty laundry, to attempt to garner people to “our side” of the fight.  When we do this, we damage the Kingdom of God, each other, and the reputation of the local church.  And we all have a responsibility NOT TO DO THIS and NOT TO ALLOW IT TO GO ON.

Because, when we do things like this, we hurt people in ways we cannot even imagine.  What good is love if we don’t do it?

Some days are good, some not so good

7 Jun

How did my Sunday go??  Well, have you ever felt like a kid playing in the surf when the surf gets rough.  A powerful wave knocks you down, and about the time you get back to your feet, another one hits??  THAT is what my anniversary Sunday was like.  Wow.  You really can’t imagine it and I can’t blog about it, although it definitely will make it into my book.

All I can say about it is, at least today is MONDAY.

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