One Pastor's Perspective

I cannot say enough about the Youth Revival, that is really for ALL AGES, happening through Thursday night at EBC. The Michael John Clement Band is doing the music, and did an AWESOME JOB last night. Nationally known youth speaker Joe Shelton brought a powerful message and will continue to do the same throughout the week. We’ve started in the Family Life Center, but hope to be in the new Youth Assembly Building by Wednesday night.

Come on out!! If you are a youth worker at another church, bring some youth!! God is being lifted up in a mighty way and the more the merrier!! (Unlike some other churches, I PROMISE we won’t try to steal your kids!!!!!!!!)

Life has been crazy these past few weeks. I haven’t had the time to blog as usual. Things are now settling down and I hope to rectify that.

Krissy’s first week seems to have gone well for the most part. Classes are going okay. She has some good friends from WF up there, so that is a good thing. Pray for her … there are tough things about being 3 hours away from home. But she is making it.

We are doing okay, too. Yeah, we miss having her around. But WF is a daily adventure for Drew, and so far, so good. And as the routine settles down, I should be blogging more and more.

The Wholesale Tackle Outlet in Florence is a MUST for any fisherman. It’s no Bass Pro Shop, but it does have great deals on rods, reels, tackle, and other fishin stuff. But the reason I blog about it today it what happened yesterday.

Last week I was able to use my Father’s Day gift for the first time … A Zebco 733 reel. I love that reel. I fished with it for four days, and then the college freshman got hold of it. Next thing I know, the reel was jammed open and seemed to be worthy of nothing but the trash can. Another reel I bought Drew on the last day of school was broken.

I went there hoping he could help me or tell me how to get send them off for repair. The salt water reel was just busted, but he did have a replacement spool that fit it. He gave that to me. He then showed me the 30 yards of fishing line caught under the spool cover on the 733 and showed me how to clear it next time. No charge.

In the days of looking for the best deals, I shop at the WTO because HE DOES have the best deals. But when he adds that kind of service to it, you gotta go back. And I will.

In the last ten days, several significant things have happened in the Wike household. You want the list??

1. In the past 15 days I’ve put over 1700 miles on Diana’s car …
2. Went to Sunset Beach for a couple of days with Diana’s family.
3. Took my fam down to Isle of Palms from there to meet up with my parents, my sister Elaine and her husband, Karl, my sister Donna and her daughter Jill and Jill’s boyfriend, Joe.
4. Went out on the beach a couple of times.
5. Fished several times with Drew. (He fished for BOTH WEEKS. DREW caught a 15 inch flounder that we ate … YUM!! Caught a similar sized sheepshead fish that was equally as good. Caught a bunch of shrimp, a couple of rays, a couple of sharks, and a ton of spots and croakers. I caught a bunch of croakers and several spots.)
6. Drove a golf cart all over the Isle.
7. Went to Wal-Mart about a million times.
8. Went to downtown Charleston, of course to make the obligatory trip to the Market and to King Street. Did NOT see Erica there, but saw a million shops. Shopped them all.
9. Had a great time with my folks.
10. For the first time EVER, missed two Sundays in a row at EBC.
11. Left late Friday to come home, dump suitcases, repack for Clemson.
12. Left Saturday morning at 7:30 for Clemson.
13. Got to Clemson at 11:00. Krissy found Tyler Yaken, who provided 10 strong backs from FCA to carry her stuff up. Joel and Allyson were there to help, but the FCAers had already carried it all off.
14. Drove to Easley for the second load of stuff we’d already stored at Mom & Dad’s house.
15. Came back to unload again. Another couple of helpers grabbed the stuff.
16. Found a parking place and FINALLY walked to the dorm. At this point, I have carried NOTHING upstairs.
17. Helped unpack stuff.
18. FINALLY got lunch at 3:00pm at Fuddrucker’s in Anderson.
19. Had to run BACK to Clemson because Krissy forgot her keys.
20. Went back to Anderson to go to Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Ross, Wal-Mart, Sams, and Target.
21. BACK to the dorm to unpack that stuff. This time, I got to carry a case of bottled water about a half-mile and then up the stairs.
22. Went to Fatz to meet the Whites and Jesse’s roommate.
23. Back to Easley with Diana and Kristina!!!
24. Back to Clemson on Sunday morning to go to church with Krissy, Jesse, and the Whites. Went to DCF with Stuart and Shannon (Busha) Hayes. It was a great morning of worship!
25. Drove Krissy back to dorm. As we arrived, she told us she didn’t have time for a long goodbye. I reached back, grabbed her hand, told her I love her and I am proud of her. DID NOT CRY!!!
26. Cannot say the same for my lovely bride.
27. Watched her walk back to her dorm. Okay, as I write this my eyes are getting moist. (Moist … A word, used for Jessica Brown)
28. Went to Easley to meet my folks for lunch.
29. Back to their house to pack the car.
30. Drove back to Florence and then STARTED getting Drew ready for his first day at West Florence.

So, what have YOU been up to???

If you want to know why I probably won’t be spending any more of my money in Starbucks, read this blog by my pal, Ty Suggs:

http://livingproof.us/faith/the-tale-of-the-good-samaritan/

This weekend our community was touched once again by tragic death. Several families at EBC have older relatives who either died or are near death. A tragic accident on Saturday claimed the life of a rising senior at West Florence AND placed a rising junior in critical condition at MUSC. Then a boating accident on Sunday places a young girl in serious condition. The list could go on and on.

All of this MUST remind us, the church, that our mission is URGENT. Just this sampling around us shows me that life is precious and we have a job to do. And we had better get busy. It is no accident that God put that sermon on my heart yesterday … He knew what we would face this weekend.

Just goes to show you … He know what we will face everyday. He knows what is best for us. God will lead us in the right direction, if we will only follow!

The pastor of a local church had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and was afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc. The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and drove away so that the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get the kitten.

He did all this, checking his progress in the car frequently, then figured if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved a little further forward, the rope broke. The tree went BOING and the kitten instantly sailed through the air – out of sight.

The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they’d seen a little kitten. No. Nobody had seen a stray kitten. So he prayed, “Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping,” and went on about his business.

A few days later he was at the grocery store, and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. Now this woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, “Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?”

She replied, “You won’t believe this,” and told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her little girl, “Well if God gives you a cat, I’ll let you keep it.” She told the pastor, “I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat.

And really, Pastor, you won’t believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of her.”

www.mikeysfunnies.com

I took a day off yesterday to go and help my parents. To make a long story short, my folks are having a hard time with a tennant and decided to ask him to leave. Much, much easier said than done.

At the magistrate’s office, the hearing went as well as it could. After all evidence was carefully considered, the judge basically told the tennant he had to vacate the property. It was difficult to hear the evidence, the f-bombs dropped on my mom a few months ago, the range of emotion from the tennant from accusing my mom and dad of being driven by greed (if you knew my mom and dad, you would realize how absolutely RIDICULOUS that is), to admitting he tried to get them to give him 50k and he would GO AWAY, along with a few other things.

The part where life hurts came when I had to leave to come back last night. It is hard to see how volatile this guy was, even with the judge, and not wonder if he will try to do something to my folks. That makes me kind of sick. On one hand, this thing IS headed in the right direction. And that is a good thing. Just gonna be a rough few weeks.

We pay ATT aLOT of money every month. They have our home phone, dsl, Dish TV, and our cellular service. A cellular service that is a family package that, alone, we pay mucho dinero for. So, you would think their customer service would be first rate, right??

Krissy is having multiple problems with a Palm Centro she bought in January. It drops calls. It misses text messages. Diana and Krissy have gone back to the ATT store a couple of times, and to no avail.

I will say the assistant manager of the ATT store on Second Loop was very helpful. He seemed to understand the intermittent problems we are having. HOWEVER, the person on the toll free warranty line, who we had to call FROM THE STORE, was not.

She tried to convince me that Krissy is dropping texts because she has too much stuff on her phone. Untrue. Then she tried to call the phone and it went straight to voicemail. THAT IS ONE OF THE PROBLEMS. Then she called again and it went to the phone. “Well, Mr. Wike, it seems the phone is fixed.” “No ma’am, the problem comes and goes.”

“Well, it is working now.” “Ma’am, you JUST CALLED IT AND IT WENT STRAIGHT TO VOICEMAIL.”

I could go on and on. She simply refused to hear the problem and tried to convince me I should buy a NEW PHONE. Wait a minute … isnt she the WARRANTY DEPARTMENT!! She even would not listen to the assistant manager when HE TRIED TO EXPLAIN THE PROBLEM TO HER.

The resolution is they are sending a refurbished phone to Krissy and we are trying that. I am not a happy camper with AT&T right now.

She was very friendly and nice. But her customer service was HORRIBLE. And when my contracts are all up, I might just be looking for a new provider.

Yesterday was an extraordinary Sunday. In many ways. It was one of those days when the planets aligned and there was SO MUCH GOING ON I could barely see straight in front of me for the next event.

Morning worship was great. Dawn Smith Jordan presented a mini-concert AND led worship for Ed, who is in Honduras right now on medical mission. We commissioned Bryan and Tracey Braddock for their work in Chicago.

After lunch with DSJ and the family, it was off to Freedom Florence. The Dixie Youth State Tournament is here this week, and yours truly is assisting by lining up people to pray and sing the national anthem at the beginning of each day. Yesterday, Ethan Pettigrew prayed and Abbie Norton sang. And BOTH did an amazing job. I almost choked up.

Then, off to Antioch Baptist Church, another church planted by Rev. Sampson Ham back in the mid-1800’s. They were having a mortgage burning and, in light of the fact Ebenezer is their parent church, they asked me to come and pray an ancestrial/roots prayer. That was fun.

THEN, off to Ebenezer (I had to leave Antioch early) for Sunday evening worship. Sunday evenings have become more of a small-group Bible study. I love it, but I do wish more people would come.

Then, home again (I did see the inside of my home twice in the afternoon, for only for about 30 minutes each time). After preaching in the morning, I usually stay home in the afternoon and chill out. Takes a lot out of you. Now, this morning, I NEED A TRIPLE SHOT … Of espresso, of course!