2008 Year in Review

We are so very grateful for the opportunities God has given us to serve Him. We spent a year working as a CARES team for Apartment Life Ministries in Northwest Phoenix. Our responsibility was to provide community and resident services at Renaissance Apartments. That consisted of welcome visits, teen activities, cookouts, pool parties, visiting the sick and even a Super Bowl party all in the name of building community. Personally we had the opportunity to build numerous relationships, have hundreds of spiritual conversations with residents and experience one single mother commit her life to Jesus Christ. The spiritual adventure of being a CARES Team helped Jay develop a servant's heart. A'Lisa is already gifted in that area.

This year brought with it Jay's desire to return to Christian radio. After a nationwide search, God opened the door for him at Great Plains Christian Radio in Meade, Kansas. They actually have two radio stations, He's on KJIL from noon to 3pm (Contemporary Christian) and KHYM from 3 - 7pm (Inspirational format). The stations cover SW Kansas and portions of Texas, Colorado and Oklahoma. Working at the radio station enabled Jay to preach all over SW Kansas, whenever churches needed pulpit supply. So many times the Lord has confirmed that this is where He wants us to be, through His provision and the many ministry opportunities.

A'Lisa dreamed of opening a local coffee house that would become a social haven. The Lord allowed her to meet another local woman who owned a historic hotel (The Palace) and she had everything needed to open a coffee house. Thus the Palace coffee house was born. In addition to providing coffee and other homemade goodies to the community A'Lisa has used the Palace for fun events like jewelry classes, Bunco game nights, live music, ice cream eating contests, trunk or treat and now it's decorated for the annual Christmas tour. This became more than a job for A'Lisa, as she uses the opportunity to minister to just about everyone who darkens the doors. She has had many spiritual conversations, provided a listening ear, prayed for people, invited them to church, shared her faith in Christ, laughed and cried with them or just gave them a hug when necessary.

We miss being able to visit Jessy and Andy. Living in Phoenix we were just 30 minutes away from each other and could get together easily. Our daughter Jessica from Chattanooga spent a week with us back in March. We made all the Arizona tourist stops like the Grand Canyon and Sedona. She really enjoyed her visit. James and Jeshua are doing well. God provided the money for A'Lisa to spend a week with Alex recently. It was good for her to see Alex and be assured that he's taking care of himself.

We attend Plains Christian Church, a non-denominational ministry which is about 15 miles West of Meade. A'Lisa helps teach the children's Sunday School class and Jay helps our Pastor teach the adults. Recently Jay was installed as the Associate Pastor (part time), since our Pastor really needs additional staff. Soon we will move to the parsonage in Plains and begin this new chapter of our lives. We are so excited about working together with Pastor Rich and his wife to reach out to the surrounding community.

Remember our Lord Jesus' command, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

May you and your family have a wonderfully blessed Christ centered Christmas!

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Christmas Enchantment

Yesterday I left work at 11:00 picked up A’Lisa and we headed to Plains to work on the house. Our pastor came by about Noon and we had already started painting. With his help we were able to knockout a couple of rooms. We really appreciate his help. “Many hands make light work.” We cleaned up the mess, drove back to Meade, ate burgers and salad for dinner and settled down to rest.

I asked A'Lisa to call the Enns family who let me use their car last week while she was in Boise and please express our thanks. Well she did just that and before she hung up, Mrs. Enns said, “You’re coming to the Christmas program tonight aren’t you?” To which A'Lisa replied “Sure! What time is it?”… “7:30…OK…we’ll be there!”

At that point she reminded me of our commitment. Mrs. Enns daughter Eva is A'Lisa's best friend and she asked us to attend her daughter’s Christmas program. She is a single mom and we love to help her and her girls in any way we can. So we honored our promise, bundled up in the 10 degree cold and drove to the school. So many people were there we had to park quite a distance away and that little walk was brutal in the below freezing temperatures!

Eva had saved me a seat on the front row so that I could video her girls. I sat next to her nieces and encouraged them before they sang. I must admit, I would rather have been at home lounging in my recliner but the Christmas program was absolutely wonderful. Our children are all grown and it’s probably been 15 years since I attended anything like that. I couldn’t help but smile as the kindergarten through sixth grade presented their music, songs and the play for us. They were so cute and charming! Some of them dressed in their Sunday best. Others were dressed in costume for the play. I noticed that some of the kids knew every word and motion, while others just lip-synced and tried their best to keep up. There were those who looked nervous and others looked so confident they could be rock stars. I enjoyed myself immensely at this enchanting performance and was glad to honor our commitment to Eva and the girls!

White Christmas

Having spent the last 2 years in Arizona and before that living in Florida, it's been quite some time since I have experienced cold weather. Since moving to Kansas, I've seen my share of cold and wind and it's not even officially winter yet! They've been forecasting snow for the last couple of weeks and we've had only a flurry or two. The prognosticators called for snow last night and when I awoke at 4:00 this morning and looked outside I saw nothing, but we have wind gusts up to 45 mph.

Two hours later I went to the back door to put the dog (Bagel) outside and we were both shocked to see an inch or two of snow. Now Bagel hates rain, she doesn't even like to get wet and she didn't know what to think about this stuff. I had to drag her outside and after five minutes she was ready to come back in. You know, she might get her paws wet!

Anyway, A'Lisa made it to Boise to be with our son Alex. When she returns home she may be surprised to see everything covered in white. I wasn't dreaming of a white Christmas but it looks like we're going to have one!

An Attitude of Gratitude

I want to continue my thread of thankfulness...today being thankful to God. We have a 20 year old son who lives in Boise, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 9 years old. Not maintaining strict control of his blood sugar landed him in CCU at the hospital for 3 days last week. They finally got his blood glucose levels under control and sent him home Friday. I wanted to send my wife to visit him but our finances are tight.

Last night at the Christmas party our manager handed out bonus checks. This was totally unexpected. My bonus was the equivalent of two weeks pay! He told me in private that since I've only been here 7 months that normally I would only receive half that amount. But since he and the board appreciated the fine work that I do, they decided to give me the whole amount! God is good! Now A'Lisa can spend the week with Alex in Boise. What a tremendous blessing!

Concerning the party, I was tempted by the cheesecake (my favorite dessert) but did not indulge. I just enjoyed the prime rib, salmon piccata, vegetables and salad. One local pastor's wife has been asking about the low carb lifestyle, so I sent her some low carb links on Friday. I noticed that even she avoided the sweets last night. I love the "paying it forward" concept!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!

Back to the Routine

Well, I had a busy weekend. We spent Thanksgiving with some good friends. Friday morning I came to the radio station to record my shows, in the afternoon spent about 3 hours practicing for the Down Home Christmas Concert and then performed Friday night. Saturday we slept in, did some shopping in the afternoon, and had a quiet evening at home. Sunday I preached at two local churches, then we were invited out to lunch and spent the remainder of the day decorating our home for Christmas and playing games.

What I noticed this weekend is that being out of my routine, I tended to eat more than usual, however I still ate low carb. Now it's Monday and I know from experience that it's much easier to follow my routine when I'm working. Today I'll get back to tracking all my food on fitday and make sure I'm getting balanced meals.

This month I'll be joining the staff at my church as Associate Pastor. I'll still be working at the radio station and work at the church part time. We'll be moving to Plains, which is about 15 miles away, into a house provided by the church. The house will be part of my monthly remuneration. Suffice it to say, I will get plenty of exercise working on the new house. We want to paint and remodel before moving in. We'll actually move some time in January. That's what's happening in my world, should be an interesting month!