It's a Blessing to Serve the Lord

I can't believe that it has been a month since my last posting.  We have been so busy at the church with various things that I lost track of time.  We have been here in Lake Havasu City for 2 1/2 months already.  It has been such a blessing to be here and to personally see what the Lord is doing here at Bethany Bible Church.  We all have been praying for the Lord to bring in the people and since my last post He has brought us another new couple and one single man all of whom have said that they have found their new church home.  And the best part is that they are not snow birds.  Pastor Dennis has been on the Christian radio station a few times and his name and the church is once again getting out into the community.

Pastor Dennis, Deacons, Jim King, Eric Stephen, and Stan Broder, and myself attended the Shepherd's Conference at Grace Community Church.  As always, it was a great time of encouragement and instruction.  Dennis and two of the deacons stayed for the Sunday service while Stan and I  returned for Sunday services at BBC.  I preached in both the morning and evening services.

Last Thursday evening we had a concert by the Durocher family.  What a wonderful family and a wonderful concert.  They had nine of their 12 children and everyone sings and plays an instrument.  I would highly recommend them to your church.  As a matter of fact I gave them a few contacts in other churches so some of you might be getting a phone call from Paul Durocher.  It was very refreshing to fellowship with this family for a couple of days.  I even had some very intelligent and  deep theological conversations with them all....even the kids.  And yes, they are all home schooled.

The Durocher Family      http://durocherfamilymusic.com

I should keep a journal to remind me of all that I have been doing at the church.  I'll try to remember now though.  I have preached several times already and I will be preaching again for the Good Friday service.  I had to do some repair work on the church doors.  All the locks and door hardware needed attention and all the locks needed to be re-keyed.  This was a full two day project.  We also had to remove the rain gutter on the entire east side of the building and replace the boards to which the gutter attaches.  This was another two day project.  There are still many projects yet to be tackled and we are getting them done.  Fortunately they are mostly repairs which as of yet has not cost much money.

Two of the church's five air conditioning units had stopped working.  We had a repair man come out and he said that they both needed to be replaced.  So we figured that it would be a very hot summer in the church because each unit costs about $5000 which is just not in our budget.  Then one of the deacons decided to have a friend come out and check out the units.  After a couple of hours and replacing just a couple of parts we had all five a/c units working just fine.  That bill was only $900.  What a blessing!

Another blessing, a little more personal, was a new computer.  Yes, our computer problems continued.  Remember that all three of our computers had major malfunctions.  The replacement computer that I was able to find for Dayle died a couple of weeks later. I took my laptop computer and my desktop computer to the repair shop.  My desktop was repaired and is working great, but my laptop was not repairable.  On the Sunday after the Shepherd's Conference I was preaching on the doctrine of Biblical Contentment. Whenever I fill the pulpit I almost always preach on what I had just went through so it is like I am preaching to myself.  This Sunday was no different and I used the example of all of our computers crashing and two of them are now just paper weights.  Then after the service one of the men came up and asked me if I wanted a laptop computer.  He said that he bought it and never used it.  Well, of course, I wanted a laptop computer.  So we went to his house after the service to pick it up.  He handed me a computer carry bag with the laptop inside and several accessories.  Once I got home, I could not believe my eyes.  I pulled out what appeared to be a brand new and very expensive HP laptop computer. It is almost four years old but I don't think that it had anymore than 10 hours of use.  This computer has more bells and whistles than any laptop that I have ever seen.  It even has a remote control device.  This is the computer of my dreams.  Four years ago he paid $950 at Costco.  I don't know what this would cost today, but it is more than what I would ever spend on a computer.

One other unexpected blessing was that our car got totaled.  We left Dayle's Mercury Sable with Mel and Annie in Grants Pass.  Someone broadsided Mel while going to work,  He was not hurt.  But the car was totaled.  The insurance company paid us a better that fair price for the car.  The amount they gave us was the exact amount of our tax bill this year.  Does God take care of His own or what?

HP Pavillion DV6 Entertainment Computer

My Dayle is feeling much better in the warmer and drier climate.  We went to a rheumatologist last week.  He said that Dayle has Osteoarthritis in her fingers and that there is not much that can be done  for them.  The doctor did confirm that the warmer weather is much better for someone in her situation.  So, we may be spending much more time each year in the warmer climates.  Sorry kids, but I don't think you will see much of us in the winter months.  Washington and Oregon are just too cold for mom these days. Her cute little fingers are sore and swollen and are beginning to become deformed due to the osteoarthritis. The doctor also sent us to a physical therapist who examined Dayle and made several suggestions and is ordering some splints to keep her fingers from deforming any more.

Right Now Dayle is in Sacramento with Stephen, Neeley, and Jack.  Jack is three months old and he loves his grammy very much! Dayle flew to Sacramento on Saturday and will be gone for four weeks.  She will be back in 24 days (but who's counting).

 

 Our future plans are now just short term plans.  We now plan on leaving Lake Havasu in early May and will be spending the Summer at Fir Point Bible Camp.  I have been asked to be the missionary speaker for two of the youth camps.  We are just waiting on the Lord to direct us further.

Please continue to keep my Dayle in prayer for her osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.  Also pray that our tenant will purchase our house in Klamath Falls.  He said that he is interested but will have to wait until he gets some personal matters worked out.  He is a good tenant and it would be a huge disruption to his family right now if we were put the house on the market with a realtor right now.  So, I told him that we will wait. 

Also continue to pray for Bethany Bible Church.  Specifically for people to come who want to serve the Lord and for financial provision.