That happens when I'm at Mom & Dad's house! But for the sake of those of you who missed it and haven't already heard about it, I'll try to remember what I can from the last two days of the Assembly.
I did, indeed, live through our early morning Mission Breakfast. (Although I'm still opposed to the hour!) Brother Jerry Anders preached a message and Brother Don Branscum had his ABM program that morning. (I'm having to refer back to the Assembly program to recall as much as I am! Ha!) I really, really like Brother Branscum--I appreciate his spirit, of course, but he's just so enjoyable to listen to. He has such clarity of thought and perception and a clever and pointed way of articulating himself. It makes him very interesting to listen to.
The afternoon session was our VLB service, which was kind of weird to have in the afternoon. In fact, in the building with no windows it was easy to forget it wasn't 9:00 at night--we're just so used to that! Anyway, the number of VLB's marching was way down this year, although I can't recall what the final count was. Nonetheless, we had a good march and a terrific VLB service. Sister Sharon had three young people "racing" up and down the aisles and she talked about this spiritual race that we're in. One of the young people got distracted and needed help from another to keep her eyes on the finish line and remember what she was racing for. Another encountered and injury and required assistance to keep her on track until she recovered. Sister Sharon likened this to becoming distracted with the things of the world and such. The third runner was reaching out and grabbing other people to join in the race. At the end they all ran up onto the stage and under through the finish line to receive their reward. It was all done very well and seemed to be a great blessing to our young people. Of course it's only my personal opinion, but I really think this was the best VLB session I've ever been in at the Assembly. Brother Bobby Sutton preached a good message and there was a wonderful season of prayer at the altar. We were given lots of good things to chew on and everything just felt so sound. I was sooooooooo blessed in the prayer time. The VLB service is usually one of the few times I get during the Assembly to really pray. My kids are with Mom and Aunt Sue and whoever else is too old to march (!), and it frees me to really take time with God without distraction. I love that! I'm so thankful for the chance to poor my heart out to the Lord in the altar. What a blessing!!!
Friday night was the Evangelism and Healing service with Brother Lanny Carter in charge. He's keeping the same Evangelism theme this year: Throw Out the Lifeline. It was a really good service too and I so enjoyed watching those who went through the prayer lines receiving a touch from God. I took the kids and went half way up the side stairs so I could get some good pictures of what was going on below. It is just so neat to see God working and blessing His people!!!
On Saturday morning Brian O'Dell preached a fantastic (and fanatical?! Ha!) message that all should hear. Order the DVD! ;-) He spoke about the Spirit of Truth and how we need to fall on the Rock and be broken, then preached out several different things that need to be "broken" in our lives: pride, worldliness, selfishness, etc. He whipped out an Advice to Members tract and preached out of that for a little while. He spoke of our clothing and addressed our ladies in the Church and the way they dress. He actually asked all of the men in the building who are tired of having to turn their heads away from our Church women because of their immodest attire to stand up and acknowledge as much. It was wonderful to see so many men stand in agreement and I truly hope that it makes each and every woman and girl in the Church re-think what we put on!!! This is a subject that has been so much on my heart lately and I'm so thrilled to know that God is working on others as well. He so desires to have a holy people who will look and speak and act holy, as He is holy!!! Brother Brian stepped on my toes a bit when he kept reading through the tract. I usually think of the Advice to Members and think, "Yeah, I love the Advice--I've got that down." But that's because we usually think of the big "outward" things: the way we dress and the worldly amusements and such. But I must confess I felt the Lord thumping my heart when he read the part that says, "Don't be a critic and look for things to criticize in other people." Ouch! I want to have a heart full of love and goodwill toward other people, always expecting good for them; not pessemistic and critical and always assuming the worst! I pray the Lord will keep this on my heart and truly work some changes in my outlook on life and others through it.
Sister Bishop's WMB program was next, although I can't tell you much about it. I was in the Ladies' Retreat choir (they're not picky, obviously! Ha!) and was seated in the choir loft for most of Sister Bishop's portion of the service. I couldn't hear a thing up there! I'll have to get the DVD. ;-) I know the Lord really blessed while we sang Oh, I Want to See Him and Prayer Bells of Heaven. Sister Janet is an amazing choir director. She has a way of leading you into the depths of what you're singing about and kind of pulling the worship out of you! I really enjoyed it. I was, I must admit, rather distracted through portions of it, though. I was seated dead center in the very top row of the choir. No biggie. Except that I was wearing a hot pink blouse in a sea of women clad in their Missionary white!!! I felt a tad bit conspicuous!!! I was sure to go thank Sister Connie Werkheiser afterwards. She and just a couple others were wearing bright colors as well, so it's not as bad as it would have otherwise been! (I had worn my white for the Parade of Nations on Thursday night and never thought about needing to wear it on Sunday morning!) Anyway...
Sister Bishop had Brother Rob Hawkins preach during the Mission Program and it was soooooo good. Between him and Brian O'Dell there should be plenty of us who have plenty of things to pray about! Ha! He spoke a little bit on the Advice as well, and a bit on divine healing--what I came away with is simply trusting God with every part of your life and letting Him be truly be God. He talked about being willing to up and go wherever God would send you (he has the right to speak plainly to us on such things!) and to do whatever God would have us to do. Such a blessing.
Brother Bock preached our theme message, "Speaking the Truth in Love," in the afternoon and he did a great job!!! I really didn't know what to expect from him, since I don't think I've ever heard the man speak before. I don't mean publicly--I mean at all! Ha! But he preached a really, really good message. He talked about growing up on the farm and how much the pigs loved to eat corn, but only if it was served correctly in the trough. He said that as kids they would sometimes throw the corn at the pigs and the pigs would run and hide and would have nothing to do with the corn, even once it was just laying there on the ground in front of them. The same is true with the gospel. "It's all in the method of delivery," he said. If we present the truth to people without love, they're going to reject it and want nothing to do with it. More good stuff to think on!
Don't ask about the appointments. Once we heard "Alabama: Rob Hawkins," the rest was all a blur! Ha! WOW. Shocker there for everybody, I think. But I have no doubt that God will bless the Hawkins and their labors for Him. I think there were a few changes in the other countries, but not many. The only other chance in the states is that East Texas is now in the MS/LA region instead of Dewayne Smith's AR/MO/OK (and ???) region. I do know that a Brother McMahon (sp?!) will be going to Western Canada. I don't know the man or his family, but I can't tell you how much they've blessed me! It is just such a blessing to see people who are willing to uproot themselves and pay such great sacrifices (leaving behind home and family--especially when there are grandchildren involved--only God knows the sacrifice it truly is!!!) for the sake of working for God wherever He may lead. Wow. May God bless these wonderful people and honor their great sacrifices for Him! I feel certain that they, their family, and the saints in Canada will all be richly blessed because of this.
All in all, it was a fantastic Assembly. I really can't explain it--you'll just have to get the DVD's. ;-) Headquarters should give me some sort of commission on all of these DVD's I'm pluggin'! Ha! Really, I just don't know how to describe it. There was just soooooo much unity and... I don't know--everything just felt so solid and settled and... I can't really put my finger on it! It was just so, so, so good. So sound and sure. What a great Assembly!!! And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the facilities. There is just nooooooooooo comparison--I never, ever want to go back to Chattanooga! Ha! It was soooooooooooo nice and soooooooooooooo clean and sooooooooooooo convenient. It was great to see everybody, too, although it felt like I didn't have a chance to talk to quite as many as usual.
We had a lot of good laughs at the expense of Jimmy Williams (the bad one--Jimmy & Georgia Williams' son) that night, as he was at the house for a few hours. I don't often have the opportunity to be around him outside of a church setting and I was sure to make good on my chance to mock him mercilessly. ~sigh~ What a great night! Ha!
We went to church at Zion Hill on Sunday morning while the guys were at their Presbytery meeting. It was a good service and Paul Horton preached a good message on having fresh oil in our lives. ~sigh~ I'll never be able to remember all of the great things I've heard preached in the past week and be able to pray about them! Of course, James did get our complete set of Assembly DVD's today (have you ordered yours yet?! ;-) Ha!), so I can refresh my memory on most things.
After church we took Aunt Sue and Sara Clifton to the airport in Chattanooga, then went and had a Frisco burger and fries (with extra Frisco sauce to dip them in, of course!) at Steak ~N~ Shake. ~Aaaaaaaaahhhh~ I love that meal!!! Had an orange freeze, to boot. What a great day! :-) Came home and put the kids down for a nap. That night the Adams came over to visit for a little while, which was nice. I don't remember much (we were all sooooo tired!), but I do recall Sam putting on a pretty good show for them--him and all of his guns strapped all over his body. Little goofball. Melissa came over for a few minutes, too, so that was nice. I wish we had more opportunity to be with all of our old friends from "the good old days"! Oh well, I'm thankful for the time we do get.
Monday... hhmmm... That was yesterday, wasn't it? Everything is such a blur?! Mom made brisket for lunch, with corn on the cob that we'd brought from James' aunt up in Pennsylvania, and french fries. Why the fries, you may ask? Because that wonderful Kasey Broyles brought me three bottles of Arctic Circle Fry Sauce!!! Wa-Hoo!!! It was a grand and glorious meal. :-) Thank you, Kasey!!! You're the bestest!!!!!! We made homemade ice cream that night, too.
Today Dad went to HQ and James went putzin' around Cleveland. I don't know where all he went, except that he spent a few hours at Irene Gaddis' house, visiting. Mom and I took the kids to lunch at Jordan's BBQ with sisters Gayle, Jacki, Willystene, and Sandra. It was fun! Then we stopped by HQ to check and see if the camera that was found at the Assembly belonged to Sister Bishop or not. Sure 'nuff. I wonder if she's even missed it yet! Ha! Crazy lady.
Tonight Dad installed a ceiling fan in the den. He took the old one down last night. He had just bought and installed it recently, but it suddenly stopped working--light and the fan. So he returned it and got a new one and we got it put together and installed tonight. Works great! It's nice to actually have some light in there other than the lamps. We are a very well lit family. ;-) We hate sitting around in the dark. There's nothing I hate more than going to a house and sitting in a room full of people with one little lamp on over in the corner! Light! Give me light!!! "Let there be light." God likes it, too. ;-)
The kids have been having a blast here and Grandma & Granddaddy's house, although we're all so worn out from our trip and the Assembly that there's not as much going on as there otherwise would be! They've spent lots of time fishing in the pond, although nobody has had any luck yet. They have managed to throw a frisbee thing and a football into the pond, both of which were finally fished out, the first by their mother, the second by a very determined Joe. (He was so proud of himself!) We've only seen one frog so far. Mom spotted it, so I went out and caught it for the kids to hold. I was scared of letting them catch it themselves--they probably would have squished the little guy! I don't do creepy-crawlies like I used to do, but frogs are actually kind of cute. I think we got some pictures of the kids with him before I mercifully released him from being Sam's pet. (A fate worse than death, I assure you.)
Hhmmm. There's so much more to tell, but it's forever lost. Lost from my memory and unrecorded on my blog. That means lost forever! But I've done what I could and at least jotted down a few things. Okay, so it was a whole lot of things--it's still only the tip of the iceburg as far as what could have been written if only my mind would cooperate. Oh well. We're having a great time and are planning staying another day or two, anyway. We'll probably head home early on Friday morning. We'll see. One of these days (after we get home and get unpacked and get the regional paper done and go to Albuquerque and, and, and...! Aaaaaahhhhh!!!) I'll get all of my pictures downloaded and post some of the highlights. I have 500+ pictures right now (that means I'm only half the photographer Jenna is! Ha!) and I wanted to wait until we got to our home computer to start downloading them. It'll take a while! Okay, I'm outta here! Forgive all of the mistakes, misspelledwords and other typos--there's no way I'm going to mess with proof reading tonight!!! Later, y'all!
~Bec~
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