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| So I missed the entire month of March. So much has been going on and I really don't have anything to say for it. We finally sold the house in Ennis. PRAISE GOD!!! Thought that would never happen. It felt really good to do that and get our tax refund all in the same month. We were able to pay off everything we owed on except the truck. Another huge PRAISE GOD!!!
This month has kind of flown by as well. I am taking one class this semester at the SWBTS extension campus in Houston. The class, An Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics. It has been a difficult class to say the least. We had our only test 2 weeks ago and when I finished I would have sworn I bombed it. Again God has been gracious. When I got my test back on Monday of this week the grade was 84. I had dreamed like the day after I took it that I made an 85, but I'll take the 84 without complaint. Now I am finishing up a 8-12 page exegetical paper. Exegetical is pronounced X-uh-geet-ical. When I first heard someone say exegesis, I thought they were saying extra Jesus. Silly me! Anyway the paper is in the final stages, proofing and corrections and stuff like that. As it stands now, including the bibliography I am at 14 pages. Never thought that would be possible.
Family Update
Brooklyn-- She is starting to crawl around and get into everything. She smiles and spits up a lot. Very sweet spirit.
Kenna-- She is going through the terrible 2's. She found out real quick where the line was the other night. She is a night owl and doesn't require a lot of sleep so she kept getting out of bed. That didn't last too long. She is a mess. All personality and attitude.
Abby-- She is growing up so fast. Extremely smart. She has been on the all A honor roll all year. Abby is involved in AWANA at our church and has memorized several Scriptures. As a matter of fact as I was writing this she came and shared 3 more Scriptures she has memorized. How awesome is that?!
Shannon-- She is teaching 8th grade Language Arts at a school about 30 minutes away and is desperatly wanting to move closer to where we live.
I guess that is about all for now.
Have a great life.
Alan | | |
| So its February. I guess this is the love month. I am preaching on Sex this month. Kind of the whole February/Love/Sex/Cupid thing going on there. Last week I preached on Pop Culture, Sex, God and Me. I think it went pretty good. Everyone seemed interested. Tonight, however, was a different story. I was talking about Homosexuality. Such a difficult topic to open in the Southern Baptist Church. You just never know how much to disclose. Its not like I was going to spend a great deal of time on what goes on in a homosexual relationship. As if I would even know. My angle was more of what God says about it. In Leviticus he tells us that he DETESTS it. It is like throwing up in your mouth and then swallowing it. YUCK!!! I think I spent more time trying to be careful about how I said what I was trying to say instead of just saying it. I guess my main point tonight was if we are going to imitate God in the person of Christ, then we need to quit telling all the gay jokes, calling people in homosexual relationships derogative names, and begin treating people with the compassion of Christ. I don't think Jesus would turn his back on a homosexual like so many of us do.
Well it is late and I am starting to make sense so I guess I'll go to bed.
Peace Out <>< | | |
| Happy New Year to all of you. This is my first entry of '06. Today Shannon and I spent the majority of the day at Texas Children's Hospital in downtown Houston. Abby our 6 year old had an MRI done on her brain and spinal cord. Now that all of you are thinking, "What's wrong with Abby or what has happened?" I will say that she is okay, great in fact! A couple of years back we noticed that when Abby swims she wouldn't use her left foot. So we started asking her to do things with her left foot and found that she couldn't do some pretty simple tasks. Such as curl or wiggle her toes, point her toes, and bend her ankle up and down as far as her right foot. We saw a Dr. who refered us to a specialist who sent us for the MRI. Shannon and I were doing fine today until...They put my daughter to sleep. It was quite traumatic and I don't know if I can explain what we felt. I guess helpless and broken are a couple of the words that come to my mind. As Abby's eyes rolled back into her head and her body went limp I found myself thinking, "my Abby may have just heard my say I love you for the last time." I know this is a little dramatic for me, I usually don't feel or act this way but you put your six year old on the table, regardless of the reason and see if you don't have some of the same feelings as you see this life-filled body become lifeless. Anyway Shannon and I left the room where Abby was and as soon as we got into the hall this flood of emotions came over us and both of us began to weep. About 2 hours later a nurse came to the waiting area and said Abby was in the recovery room. When we went in she was waking up and I guess about 45 minutes later we were on our way home. We took her to Build-A-Bear at the Woodlands mall and she built a monkey named Joey Shoop Eddins. Don't ask me where or why she came up with that. Haven't got a clue.
So that is how things have started for us in 2006. Will it be better than 2005? Only God knows.
Other than that interesting journey things have been going great.
I am enjoying my work at the church. We are starting a couple of new things tomorrow. We will have the first Discover Spring Creek lunch tomorrow after the morning service. This is a new members and guests lunch. Just a way for people to who have recently joined or who are considering joining to get a better idea of what Spring Creek is about and how they can be involved. Then tomorrow night we will have the first training meeting for the Ministry Teams of Spring Creek. This is a concept where the members of the church are given the freedom and responsibilities to do the ministry of the Church. Basically an Ephesians 4:11-12 way of doing ministry. It is really pretty cool stuff.
God is Awesome!!!
Well I guess I'd better go. I still have a couple of DVR'd episodes of 24 to catch up on.
Peace and Grace to you all,
Alan | | |
| I guess it is time for my monthly entry. I actually thought when I signed up to participate in Xanga I would make it a point to enter more often. Who was I trying to fool!
This year has just flown by! So much has happened and God has been so faithful. I have three daughters now. Wow! What an adjustment that has been. Shannon and I are trying to tag team it as much as possible. It hasn't been easy but it has been an interesting lesson. The other day I took Brooklyn to the Dr. for her 2 month check up and shots. I got a pretty clear perspective of what God went through when Jesus was being nailed to the Cross. I recommend that when you guys become parents or if you already are and haven't had this experience you need to go through it. It is an eye opener. (I'm am not advocating that you go out and start having babies) There is an order set up for that. Anyway...Brooklyn did fine (so did Jesus) and we are trying to get ready for the Christmas holidays.
It has been difficult this year to get in the mood of Christmas. There haven't been any friends coming by and just hanging out to watch movies and usually Shannon and I have the house all decorated by the day after Thanksgiving. I think we finished yesterday. Which was our 11th anniversary. That's right boys and girls 11 years. Take note only 39 more and were in Gold!
I want to wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May God bless you all.
We will be in Ennis from Christmas Day through New Years Day. We will be staying most of that time at Shannon's parents. Call us or come see us.
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| November is upon us and it seems like just yesterday that I sat here and put something on the site. I am probably as busy as I have ever been and I really don't like it. I am finding that usually when I get this way something in life usually gets shortchanged. That something is most often God.
Tommorw night I am beginning a new series of messages for my youth called 24. Basically it is a day with God. How do we spend our time? How do we utilize every hour of our day most effectivly for the one who created us? I am sure I not too different than most people. And I don't mind being honest and tell you that more often than not God gets the short end of the stick. Maybe one day when all the planets line up and the kids have grown up and gone off to college and work isn't too demanding and the list goes on, maybe then I'll slow down enough to do it right. Until then I'll keep trying, failing and trying again.
Hope all is well with all of you. To those I haven't seen in a while I really miss you and to those who I've seen recently I hope to see you again soon.
Grace and Peace to you all,
Alan | | |
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