My Own Day Of Salvation

Yesterday, (Sept.1st), was a very important day for me.  It was on September 1, 1993 that I asked God to forgive me of my sins, and He saved my soul.  It's hard to believe it's been 17 years.  It's not always been easy, and sometimes, it was downright hard.  But one thing has never changed, He has never left me, nor forsaken me.  I have not always been that faithful to Him, but He has always been faithful to me.  Whatever He said would happen, did.  He has always kept His promises.  

In those 17 years, He has sent us to 3 different churches.  The first one was Charity Baptist Church (4 years), the second was Smyrna Missionary Baptist Church (12 years and 8 months), and the most recent one, First Baptist Church (4 months). 

I have also lost a few friends because of my conversion, but He has blessed me with MANY more friends than I have lost.  He is so good.

I don't know what He has in store for me in the coming years, if I even have years left, but I know that whatever it may be, it will be exciting. 

Change

I have had several changes in my life lately. Changes in the way I feel, the way I see certain things, the way I think, those sort of changes. One big change was when God led us away from our home church of 12 1/2 years. We were comfortable there. We love the church, and all the people in it. But something started happening about a year ago. I had a vision while sitting in church, listening to a sermon. I was listening to the preaching, when suddenly, I was somewhere else. I could hear what was going on around me, but I was aware of other things going on in front of me. To make a long story short, I felt God was showing me that in a matter of time, I was to go. After that, things started becoming very clear. I still TRIED to ignore the vision. I didn't want to hear the message God had for me.

Later in the year, in November, Carolyn had her surgery, and two weeks later, I had my surgery. I was off work for a week with Carolyn, and then I was off work for six weeks for my surgery. This gave me LOTS of time to sit and think. I wasn't allowed to do much else. In those couple of months, God changed me dramatically. I could see that He was doing things, changing things, in my and Carolyn's lives. I had been the choir director at our church for a few years, and loved doing it. I had also done the nursing home ministry for our church for about ten years, and loved it. I started feeling God leading me to quit the choir director position, and stop two of the nursing homes we were doing. These were big changes for me. Again, I was comfortable doing these things. I felt called by God to do them. But now, He was pulling me back. I was ready, but I didn't want to disappoint our church family. I had to make a choice. Make the church happy, or God. I had to choose God.

By the middle of March, we knew we were going to be leaving our church, but we didn't know where we were going. We felt like Abraham and Sarah. It was scary, but exciting. We didn't know how to tell our church we were leaving. So, as I do about EVERYTHING, I prayed and prayed and prayed. Again, long story short, we decided to just tell them, and go. It didn't go so well. Nobody understood what we were doing. They thought we were making a big mistake, and wanted us to stay. We did too, but we knew we couldn't. Easter Sunday was our last Sunday at our church, and we haven't looked back.

We have been at our new church for about two months, and LOVE it. We are exactly where we are supposed to be. The point of this post, is to show that when God makes a change in your life, you can fight it, or go where He tells you to go. Give in, and let God lead you. He knows far more than we do, where we belong. He knows where He can use you, more than you do. Change is good, when God is doing the changing. How great is our God. Amen.

Sunday, Oh Sunday

Well, we had a great time at church again today. Today was one of the Sundays this month, that the choir sang. We have to be at church at 8:45am to practice. I always enjoy this time with the choir. Our Sunday School class was good again today, also. Our teacher, Ed Bell, has a cool teaching style. He gives you great scriptural background for the text you're reading, but does it in a sometimes humorous way. We are very much enjoying our time there. The worship service was fantastic today, also. The children sang two songs for the church, and then the pastor did baby dedications for three children. It was a great part of the service, as he prayed over these children individually, and asked for God's blessings upon them, and their parents. Then, the choir got up and sang a song called 'Ten Thousand Years'. It was a very exciting song, with all the parts pulling together to make a beautiful noise to the Lord. The pastor delivered a great message on unity amongst Christians. I was really inspired by his message.


In the afternoon, we met up with four of our close friends, DJ / Alisha, and Brady / Mandy. We went to Concannon's Bakery and Deli in Muncie for lunch, at around 1:30pm. We had a FANTASTIC time with all of them. DJ / Alisha moved to South Carolina last year, and were here for a few days to visit family and friends for the holiday. We ended up staying at the restaurant for about 3 hours. I really do miss DJ / Alisha and their family. It was so good to spend time with Brady / Mandy again, also. We haven't done that in a while.






As I am typing this, a MASSIVE thunderstorm has just passed through our area. There's still thunder and lightning going on, but nothing like it was. I thought we were going to lose trees, the wind was that strong. I didn't even know it was supposed to rain, much less storm. It was a crazy end to such a beautiful day. Carolyn had a great birthday. Thank you Lord.

Oh Salvation (a poem)

I had an okay day today. Work was ok, except for the heat and humidity. When I got home, I got cleaned up to go to church, but I still wasn't feeling great. Carolyn has had some kind of sickness for the last two or three days. I'm hoping I'm not catching it. But anyway, when Carolyn got home, she did not feel like doing anything, so we both skipped church tonight. I really like the Wednesday night class, and choir practice, but we just couldn't imagine sitting with a bunch of people, feeling like we did. I hate missing both of those tonight.

There was one good thing that happened today. God was giving me some words yesterday to a poem. I got the rest of them today. It's short, and I call it, Oh Salvation. Here it is:

Oh Salvation, to the masses
Dream of every child of faith
Blind to race, and social classes
Deaf to angry shouts of hate.

Salvation knows no earthly boundaries
Salvation is for one and all
It helps you see, what you're life can be
When your back is pressed, against the wall.

Oh Salvation, gift from above
So simple and so freely given
Salvation is, and always was
For God knows, our desire to sin.

Salvation is our ticket home
Salvation is man's only way
To see God, and His only Son
And to know forever there you'll stay.

Another Great Day

The Lord blessed us with another great Sunday. When we woke up this morning, it sure didn't seem like it was going to be a good day at all. Neither of us slept very well, waking up tired and hurting. We finally got showers and shaving and everything done, and left right on time. I thought we were going to be late for church, but just made it.

Sunday School class was great today. It's only the third Sunday that we have gone to SS Class at our new church. The teacher wasn't there last week for this class, so we decided to try it out again. Am I glad we did. I think we will be going back to this one for good. Again, we met more people that we hadn't met before. Every week God leads us to meet yet another friend to be.

The morning service was great, as usual. They had a celebration for all graduates, High School, and College. The graduates led the praise and worship service. They did a good job. The message today was about Pentecost. Pastor Jerry preached from Acts Chapter 2. I really learned a lot today. I also think Carolyn and I are going to talk to the Music Director about joining the Praise and Worship Team. There are so many new experiences for us at First Baptist. God has blessed us, and continues to bless us, at this church. I can hardly wait for each new service.

In the afternoon, our son Matt called us, and told us his car was overheating, and he was just down the block from us. I told him to come on down and let his car cool down, and we would take a look at it. He and his girlfriend, Ginger, took our car and did their grocery shopping and went home and ate dinner. In the meantime, I took a short nap. It was SO needed. When they came back, we spent about an hour working on his car. I think we took care of everything, because when he left, it wasn't overheating anymore, and his air conditioning was working better. It was good to spend some time with them.

We went to Grand Avenue Baptist Church tonight. They had a great Bluegrass Gospel group called Born Again playing there. We very much enjoyed their playing, singing, and testimonies.

All in all, the Lord gave us a fantastic day. He is far better to us than we deserve.

A Nice Day

Today was a busy day. We got started early this morning because of choir at church. This was our first time singing with the choir at First Baptist Church, and we had to meet for a final practice at 8:45am, right before Sunday School class. After the final practice for today's song, we went to a new class, called Genesis. The regular teacher was gone today, but it was still a good class. We met even more new people. We are meeting more new, and interesting people every time we go. After SS class, we met up front. The choir sang the first song, welcoming in the members to worship. It was a great feeling, standing up there, watching everybody coming in, while singing with the choir. God has surely blessed us by sending us here at this time.

After the morning worship service, they took a picture of the whole congregation, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the church. That was a lot of fun. Carolyn and I got stuck right up front. I would rather have been off to the side, but oh well. After the picture, we had a pitch-in dinner in the Fellowship Center. We got to meet alot of people back there. After the meal, there was a Business Meeting. We sat in on that, to see what all was going on at the church. We talked to the Pastor, Jerry Ingalls, about becoming members, and he said there would be a new members class in the middle of July.

This afternoon, we went to Glen Oaks to have our monthly church service, and found somebody else there instead. They had scheduled another guy to come in and have a singing service. We just turned around and left. I didn't get upset, I figured it was a God thing. Carolyn wasn't feeling well today anyway. She went home and rested a little. She almost passed out when the choir was practicing this morning. She broke out into a sweat, and got dizzy. Very scary. She thinks it might be her new medication.

All in all, it was a good day. God still blesses us, always watches over us, and never leaves us. There's always something new around the corner. What an awesome God He is.

Church Tonight

Well, Carolyn and I went to First Baptist Church tonight for Wednesday night study, and choir practice. We didn't know where to go, or what class to go to, but God led us to the right class. We are learning about the different personalities God gives each of us, and how this will help us in our lives, and our study of God. It was very interesting. We met a nice couple in the class.

After the class, we went to choir practice. We didn't know what to expect, and didn't know who was going to be there. The choir director is the same guy that leads praise and worship on Sunday mornings. There ended up being about 20 people there, and we were separated into parts. Carolyn sang with the altos, and I sang with the tenors. We practiced 3 songs, and had a great time. We met alot of people in the choir, and really felt like we fit in. We are going to sing with them Sunday morning. I hope we don't mess them up too much.

Carolyn and I both know that this is the church we are supposed to be in now. God is doing great things with us already. It just seems so effortless. He puts us with the right people, at the right time. We'll just have to wait on Him, and see where He leads us. Thank You Father.

Church This Morning

We went back to First Baptist Church this morning to give it another try. This time we went for Sunday School too. We really enjoyed the class, and the people in it. They were very nice to us, and welcomed us as if we'd always been there.

The service today was fantastic, also. The sermon today was from Phillipians 1:9-11. The pastor brought out a lot of great points in Paul's letter. Pastor Ingalls gets into the original Greek meanings of key words, and it helps us get over him using the NIV. Carolyn and I both use, and enjoy, the KJV. God knew this when He sent us here though, so we are getting past that. I will never change over to NIV myself. I was raised on the KJV, and that's where I'll stay. Carolyn and I sincerely believe this church is where God wants us right now. Whether we join or not is a subject for another day. Whatever God wants us to do. Period. Tonight, we are going to visit a Nazarene church near our house, since First Baptist doesn't have an evening service.

We have been invited to come to choir practice this Wednesday night at FBC (easier). I think we are going to go to the Wednesday evening service at 6pm., and then go to choir practice at 7:45pm. We are really excited to see where God is going with all of this. It's like a new beginning for us. We still miss Smyrna Baptist Church, and all the people there, but we REALLY have to experience all God has for us, or we'll die spiritually. Life's too short to stay comfortable. Seek the Lord while He may be found.

Thoughts On Church

Carolyn and I are feeling led to go back to First Baptist Church, here in New Castle, next Sunday. We really felt something when we were there last Sunday. We are going to go to Sunday School and see how that goes. We have already been invited to come to choir practice. We're not ready to say that this is 'THE ONE', but it's starting to feel like it is.

We went to a church here in town a couple of months ago that we felt comfortable in. Open Arms Church, on Broad St., is a non-denominational church, with very nice people, and a great Pastor, Paul Davis. The service was very free, and spiritual. We just weren't drawn to it as our 'home church'. I told Carolyn at the time, that I would love to find a church that was a blend of that church, and our church at the time, Smyrna Missionary Baptist Church. I told her that if we could find a church like that, I would be very happy. First Baptist Church is just like that! It's a Baptist church, with contemporary music, and modern facilities. We really felt at home there.

We will definitely continue to pray about this.

Signs of the times

Another earthquake today! I've lost track of how many earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other numerous disasters we've had lately. Jesus said that we would see these sorts of things begin to increase as the day of His return approached. I think it is very exciting, and sad, to see all this happening in our time. Exciting, because those of us that call ourselves Christians will soon get to see Jesus face to face. Sad, because more and more people are dismissing God and His Son Jesus as fiction. It is getting harder to get people to believe that God, and Jesus, are real. Not to mention Heaven and Hell. They'll believe in angels, and demons, just like they believe in aliens or ghosts. For some, it will take waking up in Hell to make true believers out of them. Of course, then it will be too late.

We can't put all the blame on the media, Hollywood, or whoever else we want to blame. Part of the blame goes to the church. We as Christians have blown it when it comes to getting it right. We spend so much time playing church, we forget what it means to BE the church. We're more concerned about our programs, and how many people we can get on the attendance rolls. We need to be concerned about how many people are getting saved and baptized. Forget about what color the carpet should be, or how many movie screens we have in the sanctuary. None of this, in the long run, is going to matter. We have lost our first love, and we need to get it back.

God has led Carolyn and I to visit churches for the time being. I'm beginning to see part of the reason for this new journey. I have begun to see a pattern in our churches today. We have so much technology at our fingertips, the ability to reach so many new people, and we haven't got a clue. We need to be plastering the Gospel message everywhere we can. We need to make sure people can find our churches, and make sure we let them know what time our services are. The information that is on the Internet for our local churches, is spotty at best. Outdated information can be just enough to keep some people from trying to find a good, Bible-believing church. We're losing the lost, because we've gotten lazy. As long as WE know what's going on in our church, I guess that's all that matters.

I know I sound mad, angry, disgusted, whatever. Maybe I am. I'm so sick of just playing church. I would love to see our churches get back to the basics, and concentrate on winning the lost to Jesus, and making disciples of them. There are some, but there needs to be more. It's not God's intention that any should be lost, but that ALL should come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That should be OUR intention as well.

What a day!

What a day this was!!! I'm not just talking about the weather, either. It seems like Satan tries to get me upset before I go to church. I woke up early this morning, and found that our cat, Buddy, had thrown up on the front room carpet. By the time I had that mess cleaned up, I was awake, and really didn't have much time left to sleep anyway. So, I just fixed a pot of coffee and went on. We were going to visit Calvary Missionary Baptist Church for the morning service, and we had read online that the service started at 10:45am. We got there at 10:35am, and the service had already started. It seems they recently changed their service time to 10:30am. Oops! We had a good service anyway.

After having dinner with Carolyn's parents, like we do every week, we went home to rest. Neither of us felt very good, so rest sounded grand. We have decided to visit two different churches every Sunday, unless God leads us to go to both services. We decided to visit the First Assembly of God church on Rd. 3 for the evening service. The online directory, on the Courier-Times website, said they had evening service at 6:3opm. We got there at 6:20pm, and guess what? Nobody was there. We found somebody at the fellowship hall and asked them what was going on, and they told us they only have a youth service on Sunday nights now. As we drove off the lot, we looked at the church sign, and they did have the service time taped over. Wow!

We tried to make the most of it, and headed off to the Spiceland Pike Church of God a few blocks away, since they had a 6:3opm service too, we hoped. When we pulled on the lot, I drove up to the front door to make sure the time was right, and SURPRISE, they were having a Family Night Lunch! Long story longer, we didn't go to church tonight. I am always saying that EVERYTHING happens for a reason, but I can't seem to figure this one out. I felt like a failure to God for not making it to church, but we just had to laugh. If we didn't, we'd cry.

We have had SO many people telling us we are crazy for leaving our church and doing what we're doing. If I were them, I might think the same thing. But I'm hoping those same people will let God do what He is going to do with us, and trust that we just might be doing the RIGHT thing. I know it's natural to be selfish, and want what we want, but sometimes, you have to let go, and let God.

The day has been crazy, but I truly believe God's will is being done, even in the midst of all the craziness. Our God is truly, an AWESOME God!!! May His will always be done in our lives.

Beautiful day

What a beautiful day we had today. Temperatures near 70, light winds, lots of sun. What's not to like? Work was just that, work. After work, Carolyn and I went to the YMCA for a little over an hour, and had a good workout. At my age, if I can still breathe after a workout, it's a good workout. After having shoulder surgery during the winter months, and then hurting my back pushing a neighbor's van out of the snow in February, I am really slow at getting back into shape. I have to talk myself into every visit to the Y.

Unless the Lord changes things, we are planning on going to Calvary Baptist Church this coming Sunday. Since telling everyone about our situation, we have been overwhelmed with offers to attend different churches. We are going to try to make it to some, if not most, of these churches. It all depends on where the Lord leads us. It's His plan, His will, not ours.

Some new things

I am doing some new things on my blog. As I've mentioned before, God is leading me and Carolyn to leave our home church, and visit other churches. As we visit these churches, God is moving me to take note of some of the things in these churches. I have started a page titled "Church Visitation", which can be found to the left of this post. I don't know what God will do with this, but I will let Him take care of that. I have also added a music player at the bottom of the page. I have some Christian music on it, and you can listen to any or all of the songs. I hope these things can be of some help to someone.

Great Sunday

We had a great day today. It was a little cold, but the sun was out all day, and it wasn't as windy as it has been the last few days. We attended Grand Avenue Baptist Church for morning and evening services, (see 'church visitation' page to the left), and had a good time there. The Lord blessed the nursing home service at Glen Oaks also. He gave us Revelation 22 to read from today. What a beautiful chapter of scripture for all who are saved.

Carolyn and I are starting to get really excited about looking around at other churches. I tend to look at each one as our future church home, but Carolyn reminded me of my desire to be able to visit different churches, and fellowship with Christians from all over. Our God is truly an awesome God.

Church News

Its been two weeks since we announced we were leaving Smyrna Missionary Baptist Church. Last week we attended a local Baptist church, which will remain nameless at this time. It was a very friendly church, and we felt welcomed enough, but it just wasn't what we were hoping for. It was too structured for our liking. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it was a bad church, or a bad service. It just wasn't us. We like a little more freedom during the worship service. Freedom to shout, say 'AMEN', etc. I like a more interactive church service, I guess.

We went to Smyrna last night for a Gospel singing. We sang three songs, and then stayed and listened to everybody else sing. It was a good night. There were several good testimonies about what God is doing in the lives of His people. He is such a good, and awesome God.

We are going to visit Grand Avenue Baptist Church today. I will be writing more about that later. I think I am going to make a page specifically about our church visits. More later, Lord willing.