Well, we made it to Orange Beach finally this evening. I was just trying to take a little vacation and take the kids to the beach while I was between jobs. Our trip today, which should have taken about 8 hours took closer to 11 hours. As it worked out our truck broke down on us outside of Tupelo, MS. Thank God for the timing and the place. It worked out such that we were close to a decent sized city where a wrecker could pick us up rather quickly. Fortunately there was a car rental agency that was open till noon and HAPPENED to have a vehicle large enough to carry our gang of 6 and most of the luggage and food items we were bringing to the beach (trust me, we had to SQUEZE it all in). Unfortunately in all of this there were no mechanics working in the Tupelo area on a Saturday, so we had the wrecker take me to the rental car place and then to drop our vehicle at the dealership. One thing I haven’t mentioned so far was the the wrecker, the one who came to pick up our vehicle, well, he didn’t have enough room for the six of us to fit into his truck, he only had room for two. So now what do we do. We are stuck on the side of the highway without enough room for everyone and under time pressure to get to the rental place to get the only vehicle that would fit us all. I had no choice. I had to go secure the rental and direct the wrecker on what to do with our car, so, yes, that’s right, I left my family on the side of the highway. Am I proud of it? Absolutely not, but this was the situation we faced today. The only comforts I had were my faith and my boys (Hunter, 14, and Fisher, 13). I figured they could put up a good fight to protect my girls if faced with the challenge. So, the wrecker and I trucked it as quick as we could to the rental place and secured the rental vehicle. Honestly, I was going to pick up a 15 passenger van because I really didn’t think that a Tahoe would fit the six of us and all of our stuff. As God had it planned for us, they couldn’t find the keys to the 15 passenger van, so the Tahoe was the ONLY choice we had. Afterwards I met the wrecker at the dealership, got the truck dropped off there and then I rushed to pick up my family. As I took off from the dealership I realized that I didn’t know how to get back to the highway. After fretting about it a few minutes I remembered my iPhone and the GPS-like feature it had. I whipped that dude out and got to looking at where I was and how to get to the highway we were on. It took me less than a minute to find the UNMARKED left turn I needed to take to get back to the highway. I was really counting my blessings at this point because things seemed to be moving along much better than I could have ever orchestrated. It was just a few more minutes before I reached my family, who were still sitting there on the side of the road. They were OK. Fortunately we broke down at a place on the highway where there was an overpass. This allowed them to hang out in the shade and far off the highway on a concrete surface. If this had happened just another couple miles down the road we would have been in the sticks (that is a southern term that means the backwoods country)!! My family was doing fine and ready to be picked up!! They were excited to see the Tahoe and NOT the 15 passenger van too. Well, the wrecker told me that I might want to check the fuel filter and see if that might be our problem. We drove back to our vehicle and then to the auto parts store and bought a new fuel filter and a wrench to change it out. After a little handy work I was able to get the new filter installed, but unfortunately the truck was still dead. The dealership was very helpful and let us use their battery booster to continue to try and crank the truck, but to no avail. So at this point we proceeded to unpack the truck and pack the Tahoe. My wife and kids got pretty creative and consolidated some things and sacrificed a few things and we were able to get it in the Tahoe. We arrived in Orange Beach around 8:00. My Mom and Dad were already here and checked in so they met us at the gate and helped us get up to the room. We have already ventured out to the beach and caught a few sand crabs in the dark. So, we made it, and we are all safe, and we are looking forward to having a few days of fun.

  I amlooking for opportunities for me and my family to minister to others. Below are a couple of good options. Do you know of others?

• Life Choices
• Tennessee Baptist Children's Home
  • West TN Wishlist
  • Bartlett Campus Volunteer Opportunities
  • Boys Ranch VolunteerOpportunities
• Volunteer Mid-South - interesting site that seems to be a portal for volunteer opportunitiesin the Memphis area
  
• 
  
• Looking for more...

My Pastor recently blogged about starting family worhsip. I thought is was great. You see the original post here.

From us! May the Lord bless you and keep you this new year.

I must admit, this is a pretty cool story. My daughter Hannah used some of her Christmas money to purchase a Build-A-Bear Workshop stuffed animal, a husky dog. If you have kids and don't know about BABW - you gotta check it out. The experience we had at the store was pretty cool. My daughter picked out her unstuffed, unnamed dog and a little stuffed heart. She then brought these lifeless items to the sweet lady that was running the stuffing machine. The lady had my daughter run through a whole routine to properly warm and start the heart beating before stuffing into the dog and bringing it to life. It was sweet. My daughter then went through the procress of naming the dog to produce an official birth certificate. She named her new adopted pet - "Shasta". And everybody lived happily every after... until...

Well, those of you who know us, know that we have two new dachshund puppies: Lucy and Lilly. We love them dearly, however, being the puppies that they are, they love to chew on things. Unfortunately we left the puppies alone in the house while we all went outside. One of the puppies thought it might be fun to play with Shasta while we were out. When we came back in we found Shasta missing part of his bottom jaw, his tongue and part of his nose. As you can imagine, this created a great deal of sadness. We quickly assessed Shasta's wounds and determined that they were beyond our ability to properly care for. Mommy immediately went to work looking for a doctor. On the BABW website they say that you can bring your animals in to any store for repair. We took our sad daughter and her injured pet to the shop where we bought him. They were so good. They told her that Shasta needed to go the Build-A-Bear Hospital to see Dr. Robin. They also showed her a one-eyed bear that was brought in earlier that day that would be keeping Shasta company on the trip to the hospital. They said that as soon as he was better they would ship him directly to our house with a full doctor's report on how he did. They are going to do all of that at no charge. Now I won't lie to you, Hannah shed many a crocodile tear having to part with her new pet, but I think she will be OK once she sees her pet all healed up and back in her arms. Way to go Build-A-Bear!

Original Post by Jon Bloom at Desiring God is here:

That Jesus will call them and no one will hinder them from coming.

Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away. (Matthew 19:13-15)

That they will respond in faith to Jesus’ faithful, persistent call.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

That they will experience sanctification through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit and will increasingly desire to fulfill the greatest commandments.

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39)

That they will not be unequally yoked in intimate relationships, especially marriage.

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

That their thoughts will be pure.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8)

That their hearts will be stirred to give generously to the Lord's work.

All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord. (Exodus 35:29)

That when the time is right, they will GO!

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)