Christmas Cards

When doing your Christmas cards this year, take one card (or more!) and
send it to this address.

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington , D.C. 20307-5001

If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards
these wonderful special people who have sacrificed so much would get.

Spread the word!

Thanks, Jeanette, for this info.

Ken Hale Request for Weldon's Parents

3 emails are attached here describing the need and more info. If you'd like to help, note the church address in Email 2. I met Weldon when I was on the FBC Plano mission trip to New Hampshire in July. Our whole team attended Trinity Baptist Church and did repair work there. We met Weldon at the Sunday morning worship service, and Tom Manning and I took him back to campus in the rain. He gave me his Kenyan church address and I mailed some Bibles there.

Also, there is a new post about Weldon's family on this blog. Check the label "Weldon" to find all posts about him.

Paul
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Email 1
>Date: 01 Nov 2008 12:41:43 -0400
>From: Sandra R. Hale
>Subject: Hi from Ken Hale
>To: Paul W Gray
>
>Dear Paul,
>
>I hope you are doing well and that you are having some
>decent fall weather out your way. All is well here and we >remain grateful for all you did on our behalf this past >summer at Trinity Baptist Church >
>I wanted to give you an update on Weldon, the student from >Kenya, to whose home church you sent some Bibles. Weldon >has undertaken to find a permanent place for his family >(there are 5 remaining at home) to live in Kenya. They >are currently in a tiny house that belongs to one of >Weldon's friends and they can remain there until December >23rd. Weldon, earlier this week, negotiated a price of >$4,200 to purchase this house and the land on which it >sits. Actually the purchase price was $5,500 but he has >already satisfied $1,300 of this with a personal loan he >took out. We are attempting to help him raise the balance >needed and thus we are casting a wide net to see if there >are those among our contacts who would like to participate >at any level of contribution. Apparently Weldon's family >lost a previous house due to some tribal strife in his >home region of Trans-Mara. >We are proposing that anyone who would like to contribute >send funds to Trinty Baptist Church designated for the >Kenya Project. >I know that you would have questions about this project.>I have had questions as well and Weldon has been very >forthcoming in addressing concerns and sharing details. I >am communicating with a woman in British Columbia who >knows Weldon and who visited Weldon's village last year. >She is in a good position to corroborate his family's >need. >If you or any of your contacts would like to participate >at any level of contribution and have any questions, >please communicate with me or even directly with Weldon.>We cannot help all the homeless of the world, but here is >an affordable opportunity to help one family if we can >involve wide participation.
>Thank you for your consideration of this request.
>Blessings,
>Ken
>
>Ken Hale, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church of Hanover >Sandy Hale, Baptist Campus Minister, Dartmouth College
>...snip
>www.trinitybaptisthanover.org

Email 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 05 Nov 2008 21:36:23 -0500
From: Sandra R. Hale
Subject: Re: Hi from Ken Hale
To: Paul W Gray

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your response and your interest in helping
Weldon's family. The church address is Trinity Baptist
Church, PO Box 5079, Hanover, NH 03755. Any contributions should be made out to Trinity Baptist Church and designated for the "Kenya Project". Sorry about the bad "Contact" on our website.

I am definitely interested in your posting the information on your blog. However, let me ask you to hold up a bit while I collect some additional information.

Blessings,

Ken

---Paul W Gray <> wrote ---
Ken, I will pass this on to my friends, and, with your permission, post it on my "Gray Matters" blog . I would like to have your church mailing address (for contributions) to add; the "Contact" link on your website is bad, so I can't get it there.

...snip

I hope you and your family are well. I enjoyed meeting you and working with you too!

God bless, Paul

PS Fall weather has been great here!

Email 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 14 Nov 2008 11:53:49 -0500
From: Sandra R. Hale
Subject: Re: Hi from Ken Hale
To: Paul W Gray

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your message.

I have been waiting to get further helpful information from Violaine
Mitchell in British Columbia who knows Weldon from his 2 year time of
study in Victoria, BC. Violaine, an Anglo, was raised in Kenya, and
has been to Weldon's village and has met his family and has first hand awareness of their dire need. I have asked her to compose a few paragraphs which describe the need and situation there. She apparently is a busy person with her job and thus has not yet gotten that information to me. So I would suggest going ahead and receiving any contributions from your FBC people on the basis of the initial information I sent. Ideally, we would like to receive contributions by the middle of December as Weldon's family can stay in the landlord's (the man who has agreed to sell the property for $4200) house until December 23rd. Weldon assures me that if we have raised a reasonable portion of the $4200 by December 23rd, the landlord will let his family continue to remain in the house until the balance has been raised.

Violaine has a friend in Kenya who she is asking to attend the eventual transfer of property ceremony (which involves tribal elders, and surveyor and others) to corroborate that everything proceeded correctly and legally. He will additionally take pictures of the event.

To date, we have raised $600. Violaine is trying to raise a portion
of the $4200 in Canada. Also Weldon is in contact with his former
pastor in Canada to see what he might be able to do to help. Additionally there might be some help from some folks at FBC Temple, Texas.

As soon as I do have further information from Violaine, I will forward that to you.

Blessings,

Ken

A Prairie Home Companion - Nov 8, 2008

There's some great humor and music here, especially in the election skits in Segment 1.


http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2008/11/08/

Returns on Investment

Are you keeping an anxious eye on the stock market? Downturns in the Dow have Americans looking for ways to pinch pennies and make investments go farther. For those nearest retirement the stress is compounding faster than interest rates on an overdue credit card. Want to invest with a guaranteed rate of return?

There is one commodity over which we have complete investment control. That's time. We all get the same 86,400 seconds each and every day, and what we choose to do with them is - arguably - up to us. Measuring that, and keeping true to our investment "aims" is a challenge, admittedly. The Psalmist said, "Teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart." In other words, God, help us to invest our time so that we get a good return on our investment.

I know that you have multiple priorities competing for your time daily, but I encourage you to stop and evaluate where you are spending those precious seconds and put your first priorities first. If you have a child there are typically 18 trips around the sun with him or her in your home. If you live to be an average age, you have roughly 70 or 80 such trips of your own. That's really not a lot of time in those terms. What I can guarantee you is that your investment of time in the people who are your "blue chip" stocks will have an unimaginably high rate of return.

Twenty trips around the sun ago, some Filipino Christians in Houston got together and formed a church, now known as First Philippine Baptist Church. People poured love, time, energy, money, labor, prayer, and faithfulness into the church, and now nearly 200 people in Houston call this church "home." That's a strong rate of return on investment! This Sunday that church will worship with our church and thank God for 20 years of ministry excellence. For one generation, God has been the dwelling place of these faithful people, and "from everlasting to everlasting" God has been faithful to them.

Join us on Sunday if you're in Houston. You'll hear a sermon about how we can redeem our investment of time in such a way that our labors yield and eternal results, and celebrate the First Philippine Baptist Church's first 20 years.

Putting Time in a Bottle,
Pastor Gary

Not a Sermon - Just a Thought is a weekly email by me, Gary Long. I'm the pastor of Willow Meadows Baptist Church and I post other writing on my blog entitled To the Lees.

Daily Devotional by Max Lucado, Nov 14th

Daily Devotional by Max Lucado

�the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks�

 

November 14

Don�t Be Troubled

 

The person who trusts the LORD will be blessed.

Jeremiah 17:7 (NCV)

 

Just prior to his crucifixion, [Jesus] told his disciples that he would be leaving them. "Where I am going you cannot follow now, but you will follow later" (John 13:36).

Such a statement was bound to stir some questions. Peter spoke for the others and asked, "Lord, why can't I follow you now?" (v. 37).

See if Jesus' reply doesn't reflect the tenderness of a parent to a child: "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father's house; I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you....I will come back and take you to be with me so that you may be where I am going" (John 14:1-3).

Reduce the paragraph to a sentence and it might read: "You do the trusting and I'll do the taking."

 

 

From: When Christ Comes

Copyright (Word Publishing, 1999)
Max Lucado

FBC Plano Christmas Concert Plans

At 11:43 AM 11/12/2008, you wrote:

 
Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra Members,
 
Thank you for a wonderful Saturday of recording.  As soon as the CDs are available, we will let you know.
 
The following message is sent on Bro. Doug's behalf with a message to give people who ask questions about the "Living Christmas Tree".
 
Please tell everyone (including Church members):
 
We are not presenting the Living Christmas Tree this year.  We would like to invite you to our Sanctuary Choir & Orchestra Christmas Concert featuring
guest soloist, Scot Cameron, Tenor.  The concert will be on Sunday, December 14 at 6:30 pm in our Worship Center.  There is no charge for this concert and tickets will be available the last of November.
 
The future of the Living Christmas Tree is uncertain at this time but the Music Ministry will continue to offer two major concerts a year for our community – the
Christmas Concert and a spring concert.
 
Thanks for your help,
 
Bro. Doug
 
 
 
Joyce Roberts
Music Ministry Assistant
First Baptist Church
1300 E. 15th Street
Plano, Texas 75074
Phone: 972-422-2572
joycer@fbcplano.org

Budweiser commercial re: 9-11, aired only ONCE!

They only aired it once so as not to benefit financially from it - they just wanted to acknowledge the tragic event.

This is so consistent with a company who always does things with a ton of class!!

Can you imagine what the cost was considering production, air time, etc.?
-----------------------------------------
Thanks, Mark.

Daily Devotional by Max Lucado, Nov 12th

Daily Devotional by Max Lucado

�the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks�

 

November 12

Getting Our Attention

 

Come back to the LORD your God, because he is kind and shows mercy. He doesn't become angry quickly, and he has great love.

Joel 2:13 (NCV)

 

How far do you want God to go in getting your attention? If God has to choose between your eternal safety and your earthly comfort, which do you hope he chooses?

What if he moved you to another land? (As he did Abraham.) What if he called you out of retirement? (Remember Moses?) How about the voice of an angel or the bowel of a fish? (A la Gideon and Jonah.) How about a promotion like Daniel's or a demotion like Samson's?

 

God does what it takes to get our attention. Isn't that the message of the Bible? The relentless pursuit of God. God on the hunt. God in the search. Peeking under the bed for hiding kids, stirring the bushes for lost sheep.

 

From: A Gentle Thunder

Copyright (Word Publishing, 1995)
Max Lucado

Thanksgiving Jokes

http://www.theholidayspot.com/thanksgiving/jokes.htm

Christmas Music

If you'd like to listen to Christmas music, I posted some last year.

Go to the "Label" section on the right-hand side of the blog and click on "Holiday music."

The selections are by my church choir at First Baptist Church of Plano. I will post more in the next month since we just recorded a Christmas CD.