A Christmas Tree Farm

Today we went to the Christmas Tree farm to pick out our tree, and it is so pretty. This time though I brought along my Dewalt SawZall, and boy did it do the job. When we first came to Louisiana we went there and I used there hand saw to cut a tree down and it about killed me, but not this year. That SawZall worked awesome. Not only mine but Todd and his Grandmas tree was cut along with Bro. Eric's Tree as well. But wait that's not it. 2 complete strangers asked me if they could borrow my saw, off course I loaned them the saw and they were grateful for that. 6 trees came down today with the help of my saw. It was totally awesome, I felt like a hero today. I did manage to cut my finger though, and it hurts. I will try to post a pic of the tree once we decorate it in a couple of days. It is still wet due to the rain today. That's why it would have been tough to cut with a regular saw also. I guess that's why those people asked for the use of my saw also. Next year I am going to rent it out. (j.k.)

The First Black Friday I Miss

I had to work this Friday and I missed on seeing all the excitement and people fighting over good deals. Diana had a comforter ripped from her hands, I wish I would have seen the look on her face. John was bullied by some Lady's trying to get what he was told to hold on for. Some men were threatening to beat up anybody that would get in front of him to get a Xbox. He literally was laying on the pallet of games. Some other lady told Ms Cindy (Todd's mom) That she couldn't get any towels she was holding for and like the typical Cajun reach over her and said,"Oh Yeah, watch me." she took it and left. She is a nut. She scared Melinda because she was running red lights to get to the next store. It was crazy. I wish I would have been there.

The Lord Gave Me Liberty Tonight

Had a opportunity to preach tonight and God filled Me With His Power. Brother Howard dropped it on me Sunday night if I would preach and of course I said yes because it has been burning in me for a while. So I was honored to be called. He said to bring a Thanksgiving message, so I prayed and God had me to preach out of Psalm 100. That whole chapter is a Thanksgiving chapter. So it was fit for the occasion.
Now that church is over me and Todd and his dad are going to shoot some rabbits tonight. It is a delicacy down here to eat rabbit for Thanksgiving. These Cajuns are weird.

Those were the good years......

No not really, because though today is my first born sons 13th birthday he told me today that he does not feel like a teenager, In fact he said,"I feel the same." That in a nut shell is my son. Today he officially became a teenager. Wow 13 years old. I still remember him as a 1 year old playing on the deck of our mobile home in Harlingen. As a kid he was a good child, slept all night and ate all his favorite foods. He used to eat onions raw up until I saw him take a bite out of one like a apple and asked him,"What are you doing?" Well that scared him off of onions, so with that my wife would say."Thank you John Edward."
Happy birthday son, I love you so much, you are a good boy. I am also proud of you so much.
So with that I will sing a little song.
You say its your birthday, Taadaadaadaa, Its my birthday to,Taadaadaaadaaa. Happy, happy birthday baby, I know I'm acting kind of crazy...
Happy Birthday John Jr.

The Upward Pull

A little boy sat on a rock by the side of the road, holding a spool of cord, whistling to his hearts content. A passerby noticing the happy lad , stopped and asked, "What are you doing?" The lad replied, "I am flying my kite; its way up there in the sky!" The man strained his eyes, but saw nothing, and so remarked, "I don't see any any kite up there." To this the lad answered, "Neither do I, but I know its up there, for I feel the tugging on the string." By holding on to the cord the lad knew his kite was still flying.

In closing to this short message, I want to remind you to keep hold of God. You may never see Him with your eyes but by faith you will feel his tugs on your heart.

Lester Roloff once sang about, How there is something mighty sweet about the Lord, It really doesn't matter what the world has to say, there is something mighty sweet about the Lord.

God has been so good to me lately and I love to proclaim it, for He is worthy to be praised. He has blessed my family, home and church. It definitely has been worth traveling all these miles, There are times of hardship but yet God has been ever close by our side.

Its Caldo Time

Well today we had our first taste of the winter that is to come, so we figured why not start out right and make Melinda's famous Caldo, we even made home made corn tortillas and it was so good, the family is still eating while I am posting this message. Todd tried it for the first time and he has had 3 bowls so far, That boy can eat. It is good to have a taste of the valley every now and then. We had a tradition in the valley with the Deleon's, up until we moved here. My wife is the only one that makes it the way I like it, allot of meat and cabbage, and all that other good stuff.
The Cajuns have there Gumbo for the colds and we have our Caldo. I will take a Caldo every time, especially my wife's. YUMMY!!!!!

Thank You Veterans

Thank you for doing what it takes to defend this country, It is said that a citizen will never know the real meaning of freedom until he fights for it, and to our soldiers THANK YOU.

YOU SAY ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD,, WHERE EVER YOU ARE,

The Concealed Weapon in Your Mouth

Inside of your mouth lies one of the most dangerous weapons ever used by mankind. It has destroyed friends, families, churches and peoples. It is such a little member, but it packs a wicked punch. That member is your tongue. It ought to be used to praise the Lord and spread His word, but is most often used to devour others and spread gossip. This member of yours is so dangerous that the Bible likens it to a sharp sword or razor (Psalm 52:2; Psalm 57:4; Psalm 59:7; Psalm 64:3), to a serpent (Psalm 140:3), and to a fire (James 3:5-6). Perhaps we ought to pray like David when he said, "Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." (Psalm 141:3).

Sombody Go get the Lord....

Almost seems what our churches are lacking today is the Lord leading the services, While there is still hope in our nation and our churches and our families and our children, it is worth going after the Lord in all these situation, We are leaving God Out of our lives today, Some of you who used to stand for all that is Holy have done left the Lord. You have let the pleasure of this world comfort you and keep you busy.. There is still hope You are so concerned about what other people aren't doing but wont look at your own life, if your heart was right you would have the attitude of, If you could do better please help me.... But no you will carry it through till you drive it straight to the ground.....You cant do it with out the Lord....Somebody Go Get The LORD!!!!!
I may not make sense to you now, but there was a time when you would of shouted amen!!!

LET ME SAY THIS, SALVATION IN THE SCRIPTURE IS DESCRIBED LIKE THIS:
""SO GREAT SALVATION""
It was so great for me 10 years ago.
So great but yet I failed him,,, I am sorry God......
It is worth taking a stand.....

The Trip was Great

This is a pic of the church parsonage we stayed at this weekend. What I like about the parsonage is that it is about 1 mile from the church in a beautiful neighberhood with huge houses, Gramercy is a very small town,with about 2,500 people. combine with the other communities surrounding there is over 30,000 people. Batoun Rouge is only 38 miles away and New Orleans is about 47 miles away, We did go to New Orleans, well at least the outskirts of the city. And that in itself is huge. We did go to LakeSide Mall which was big, It took me 30 minutes to find a parking lot, Diana wanted to go to the 4 story parking building and remake the scene were Jerry Seinfield and Elaine, George and Kramer couldnt find there car, Diana was Saying, Jerrrrryyyy, Jerrryyy, it was funy you had to be there.
I thought Nicole took pics of the church but she didnt so I am sorry not to have a pic, You can see it on GoogleMap and put in First Baptist Church Of Gramercy LA, the church is on Airline rd, The church Building is huge and the souronding buildings also. The people are great and I fell in love with there sweet spirit. I knew ahead of time they were Southern Baptist but I felt lead to still come and the pulpit commitee wanted me to come also, they have expressed that they dont want to really break away from the convention but that you can never tell really. The services was great and the people were receptive. One family settlted some things and One joined the church, after wards one lady asked me, "You are not a S.B.C. preacher are you." I told her no, and she said oh because we have never heard preaching like that before, One lady said,"If this is Hells Fire and Brimstone Preaching, I like It." Almost everybody told me how they enjoyed the message and the service and how they never had it like this before. That one family still needs alot of prayer, Bro. Dennis told me later that during the preaching he knew God sent me here because His son needed to here this message, they hadnt been coming and they were told they had to be here. After church Bro. Dennis Hugged me and thanked me because they had been praying that the family go to the alter and get right for along time but they wouldnt, I remember during the service How Bro. Dennis and his wife were rejoicing but I wasnt sure why until after the service. I thank God that he could still use me and come to this church, I pray they do right and find a preacher in the convention who will steer them right, What was so good about this S.B.C. is that they belive the King James Bible is the word of God. And that is Huge for a church in this organization