A TWISTFUL DAY

Today has been a day filled with twists and turns. I had the opportunity to officiate the wedding celebration of Paul and Jamie this afternoon. What a beautiful wedding it was.  Most importantly, they are an amazing couple and I am so proud of them. They both waited for years to discover who God had for them and what a blessing it has been to see them grow and come to this point in their journey.  I was blessed to see such joy today as everyone joined together in such a sweet and special celebration.

Then tonight, as I arrived home from the wedding, I received a call that our longest tenured member had passed away a few moments earlier.  I immediately went to his daughters home where he was being cared for during these last days of life. As I drove to the home, my heart twisted and turned from the celebration of the wedding earlier today to complete sadness.  Jim was such a delightful man and such a blessing to our Southside family.  After being with his family for a couple of hours I began my journey home and God gave me another twist as I was filled with gratitide for Jim that now he is in the presence of his JESUS! Wow, what a blessing for him to be in the presence of God.

At Southside, we are indebted to this man who became a member of our church when Southside was still a mission in the 40's and meeting in a tent.  He has seen our church in every stage and he was such a humble servant of Christ.  As I worship tomorrow, I will be thinking about how blessed I am to worship, along with all of you, as we (stand on his shoulders) for the foundation he gave for each of us.

As I sat in my recliner late tonight to finish my sunday school lesson, I felt that I needed to write about today.  The truth is, every day will have twists and turns (joys and sadness, victory and grief, and blessing and mourning) but God is always with us.

I am thankful that His presence was felt at the wedding today in such a remarkable way and that his presence was equally felt tonight in a powerful way as the family of one of our patriarch's went home to be with his Lord.

Thank you JESUS for your presence in our lives.

Fullertown's 1st Snow of 2012

For the past several weeks, the little Fuller's have been hoping for snow.  Since the temperatures have been so warm, I told them not to be disappointed if we did not have any snow this year. Then, today while we were at church, the temperature really dropped and by 2:00 this afternoon, snow started falling at Fullertown. The little Fuller's went WILD. It has continued to fall all evening and this is what our front lawn looks like.  Now I am about to enjoy one of our favorite family recipes, Fullertown Snow Cream!

NC Baptist Men Mission Rally

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I want to tell all of you how proud I am of you as Southside Baptist Church for the way you lovingly labored for our Lord last night as we hosted the NC Baptist Men Mission Rally.  Our Fellowship Ministry Team did a fabulous job preparing such a wonderful meal for so many people.  Our College/Career Bible Study Groups did a great job helping the Fellowship team serve the meal.  Our ushers and greeters did a fabulous job showing the love of Jesus to our guests. Our Media Ministry team did a great job with the videos and all that the leaders needed them to do.  Our Minister of Music, Brian Souther and the Praise Team did an awesome job leading the worship.  I have received comment after comment about how our church family was such a testimony to the many who came last night for the rally.  As your pastor, I am grateful and proud of the way so many of you gave of yourself on a Monday evening after a full day of work. Your dedication and labor did not go unnoticed. I have prayed that God would bless ALL of you as you blessed NC Baptists last night.  I love you.

UPWARD Basketball

Here is Paul at his UPWARD game.  He is the youngest one on his team and is doing a great job.

Here is Luke at his UPWARD game today. He did great and as you can see, he loves to get that ball down the court.  Way to go, Luke.

Here are 2 exhausted boys after a full day of UPWARD basketball!

The Fullertown Ski Trip

The little Fuller's are ready to ski. Here they are at the top of the mountain getting ready for their first round of 2012.

Since this is Sarah Belle's first time, I am teaching her how to ski.  By the way, she did great and within 15 minutes, she was skiing alone without dad's help.

Luke is a great ski dude.  He loves it and had a blast.

Here are the girls going down the mountain.  WOW!

Paul is not old enough yet, but had a blast playing in the snow while watching his siblings.

What a great way to spend an evening 2 hours away from home while the kids were out of school.

What a memory Fullertown made!

Anna Brooke's January Competition

Anna Brooke loves her cheerleading competitions this time of year.  Here she is as she is getting ready to compete at the "Spirit of Hope" competition in Charlotte.

Here she is with her team as they compete.

Anna Brooke is excited to have her metal. 

We are so proud of her for her hardwork and accomplishments.

Way to go, Anna Brooke!

UPWARD SPORTS

As many of you know, our Paul has sat on the sideline since his birth watching his brother play UPWARD football and basketball. Now that he is 4 years old, he qualifies to get off of the sideline and play ball. His first game was this past week and he did great. He had a blast dribbling the ball and trying to make a basket.  We are thrilled for him as he begins the discovery process of what it means to be a part of a team. It is also neat to watch his big brother teach him and coach him each night upstairs in the bonus room as Luke helps Paul practice.  What touched my heart most this week was the fact that Paul was so excited to learn his memory verse for UPWARD.

Thanks to all of you who give of your time and effort to lead this effort in our community. We are blessed by the work of God that is going forth from you. My prayer is that many children will be drawn to JESUS and that their parents will also be drawn to our Lord. It is amazing how God can use sports to bring the Gospel into our hearts.

Our prayer is that God will use our kids along with all of the others who are from Christian homes that are involved in UPWARD to be a witness to the multitudes that come who are lost. 

Let's keep reaching Greensboro with UPWARD sports.