God's Church @ Southside

This morning as I made my way to the office, I noticed several vehicles in the parking lot as several of our ladies were preparing for our ladies event tonight.  As I walked into the fellowship hall, my heart was flooded with joy I was reunited with several people who are such a blessing to our church and the ministry at Southside.  After being away for the past week, I was so glad to see "my family."  Each of these ladies are part of our family and we are grateful to God for them.  This picture shows the beauty of the outside of our facility, but there is no picture availabe to show the beauty of the sweet spirit that so many of our leaders and people have that make up the Southside family.  Thank you JESUS for allowing me to be a part of your bride - the church of JESUS CHRIST.

Reflections of a Godly Woman's Influence.

Today I had the pleasure of visiting a dear lady in our church that loves JESUS with all of her heart.  She is a widow and is in her 80's.  She has an incredible ministry as she encourages our leaders and her pastor on a regular basis.  She is a rock and one of the matriarch's of our church. 

As I reflect on my visit with her today, God taught me several things:
1.  God always puts people in your life that will  bring hope and blessing to you.
2.  God uses people to bring others to Jesus no matter their age or circumstance.  (This precious lady     always goes with us on door to door visitation before VBS each year.  WOW, what a testimony at her age)
3.   God uses people like her to show those of us that are young how we can live with JOY throughout our lives continually. (She is a model of GRACE and JOY to our church)

As I have reflected on our visit today, I realize that people like her are why I love to serve as a pastor.

Thank you JESUS.

Our Picky Princess

It is so funny to watch Anna Brooke on the beach.  She is so concerned about her feet getting dirty and her toe polish getting messed up that she walks SO SO SO slow on the beach.  Here is fine example of how she has the "picky girl" walk perfected.  While the other 3 kids love the beach and could stay for hours, Anna Brooke prefers the lazy river, pool and hot tub.  After about ten minutes at the beach, one of us usually has to walk her back to the resort for her "cement time."  She prefers cement over sand any day.

The Sunglass Princess

Sarah Belle is so hilarious.  She loves sunglasses and thinks she needs a different pair for every outfits she has.  Here she is in the ocean with her sunglasses on! What a doll.

Our Beach Dudes

Our Luke loves the beach.  He could stay on the beach for hours.  Here is a picture of him this week as he is about to dig in the sand.

Paul loves the water.  He is very brave to be so young.  Here is a picture of him as he enjoys the water along the edge of the ocean.

The Blessing of Encouragement

As most of you know, I have been on vacation this week with my amazing family.  It was such a joy for us to all be together without interruption for a few days.  Well, today we traveled home and arrived about 7 pm tonight.  I unloaded the suburban while Laura vaccummed it out.  After about an hour of getting settled, I decided to make a trip to the office to get a few things done since I have 7 meetings tomorrow beginning early and ending late. 

When I arrived, I began checking messages and working through the piles of stuff that was left for me to do while I was away.  As I was going through things, I was so blessed to receive one of the most special and encouraging notes from one of our quiet and humble senior adults.  As I read the note, I began to cry and was filled with such emotion. 

At that moment, I knew why God kept prompting me to go on in to the office tonight to get a jump start on my busy week.  God wanted me to begin my work week with this amazing blessing of encouragement.  WOW! What an awesome God we serve.

Now, I can not wait to pass on the blessing as I plan to write a note to someone tomorrow hoping to bless them as I was blessed tonight.

Thank you JESUS!

Luke and Anna Brooke

Luke and Anna Brooke are such wonderful pals.  It is so fun to watch them as they enjoy each other so much.  Everywhere we go, people ask us if they are twins.  Although they are not twins, they love to act like they are.  Here is a picture at the pool of them earlier this summer.  What amazing smiles!