Christmas Eve 2010

Family Ornament 2010~Crafted by Catelyn

Christmas Emma
Miss 'G'
Sleep in heavenly peace...

Twas the night before Christmas

& all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even...Emma

Samuel...

or Ben

The Calm before the Storm

Momma Clause put out the gifts...love that woman!

Ben is still clutching his candle - he couldn't wait to light it but fell fast asleep right before we did it...maybe next year little buddy

Stellar Picture by Elizabeth - We make beautiful babies

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My wife had a great post on Christmas Eve.

This year was a bit of a rush job for me as I ended up having to work some major hours at the funeral home. That has been a fascinating experience & I'll have to post on that soon. Suffice it to say, the Snows staff are consummate professionals who really know how to help a family navigate the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

I got home at 5:30 Christmas Eve - just an hour & a half before the service. I had the whole thing planned & the Advent poem written. What I hadn't been able to do was to practice a couple of key songs. Zack has really improved in his piano skills in just a few months under his tutor - Roxie Adrian. He was able to get all the songs together & just nail them. He really put feeling into his playing.

I read pertinent scripture then read a section of poem that I wrote from those texts.

Zack, Dave, Andy, & Dad did all the prep work in the sanctuary as well as Joseph & James Creath & Paul Jr. They evicted the bats (we think, hope, & pray!) My Mom did a bang up job decorating the beautiful rustic sanctuary.

God just showed up & showed out. We had many new faces from the community there. What a blessing.

The children's bell choir did great on Silent night. All in all it was wonderful.

Some old friends were there as well as some new ones. It really is a new day for our Church & I am looking forward to what God is going to do for His glory through our Church. We had a time of precious candle lit silence with the instruction to listen to what God would say to you personally. I actually did 'hear from God' in that time. As I looked around that sanctuary it was as if God said, "These are your people - love them, lead them, for my name's sake". That thought really didn't come from me as I was thinking about the logistics for the closing song. God just kind of broke through my frantic thinking & 'spoke' to me. I felt a love for that congregation just flow over me. Oh that God would help me nurture that command & to lovingly lead my little flock to love Jesus more & live out the gospel every day.

Happenings Part 1

Grahm & Dad - Q?"How has Christ Changed You" A: "My Conscience is much Bigger"
Kristen & Grandpa

Cindy Stands for Christ...all the way from Trinidad

Carol - Rejected her works for the finished work of Christ

No place I'd rather be - "We will not Orphan one of these New Believers"

Book End Brothers

Zack's last playing for CWW for a while...sniff, sniff

God's Men Blessing My Boy-The last time we did this was at his barmitzpha

We've been living at the speed of Life as of late. So much has been going on that it has my head spinning!

Zack recently moved to KC Kansas to live with his grandparents & study the piano under Roxanne Adrian. It is temporary but tell that to my heart. I had a tough time letting my boy go. I still get choked up when I think about Zack not being here. I really miss him. Beth reminded me that we'll get to do this 6 more times. Our house is strangely quiet with our Zack.

The Baptisms were a huge blessing! I love seeing new life in the body of Christ. Praises to God from whom our rescue flows from the finished work of Christ on the Cross! We Believe!

Fishing on the Farm

3 Nice Bass
Goat Galore!

Horse & Hay Barn

I've always loved to look at those big round hay bales

Sam's Big Brim

My Bigger Bass

3 Men in a Field

Burgers on the hoof - Doc was picking out a steer

We had Dr. James Raiford in for our Autumn Bible Conference this year. He is a most skilled bible expositor. Everyone enjoyed the time we had listening to him teach through the book of 1 Peter.
We enjoyed fellowship with several church members & with Mr. Ken - our friend from Camp Eunice. We went to his farm to fish for brim. The fishing was slow so I migrated over to the other pond that is known for it's bass. Doc came over & crawled under the fence to fish with me. We each caught our big bass at the same time! We enjoyed a great lunch of venison & beef burgers. Ken then treated us to homemade banana goat milk ice cream!

That was a great day all the way around.

Dziadul Happenings...

Love this dress from Aunt Rebecca

The second family ready for church

Ben & Emma time

Cousins Emma & Emily

Prayer of dedication with Grandpa Adrian

Little Boy feet - no tellin' where they've been!

Funny face!

Emma meets Miss Mary

Young Preacher Boys

James Creath & Zack Dziadul joined me in delivering the Sermon today. Our young people handled nearly the entire service today. Zack lead the worship along with his sister & our regular worship team all of whom are under 18.
They did a great job in selecting the songs & leading the congregation in worship.
The sermon was on the 5th commandment. I asked Zack & James if they'd like to take the sermon time. As they began to study the text they came up with the following outline:

The Children’s Role
Honor DEFINED [The What]
Honor DIRECTED [The Who]
Honor DEMANDED [The Why]

The Parent’s Role
DISCIPLINE
Pr 13:24
DELIGHT
3 John 1:4
DEMONSTRATION
Gal. 6:7

God’s Role
The FIRST Inhabitants
Exodus 23:20-33
The FUTURE Inhabitants
Ezekiel 22:7 & 15
The ENRICHMENT of Life
Eph. 6:3
The EXTENSION of Life

These young men didn't feel comfortable speaking on the middle point & that fell to me. I gave the introduction, Zack spoke on the Children's role, I took the Parent's role, & James took God's role.

They did an excellent job!!! I counted at least 6 people that came just to hear the young preacher boys. I posted it on our community yahoo group & folks came. They were really impressed with their handling of God's Word.

Please go to WWW.CWWMacon.com & go under the sermons. Look for "Honor Your Parents" & then listen to this sermon. Way to go men!

2nd Ammendment training

During our Spring Co-op at CWW, we had an elective class in the afternoon for the young men. Whilst the ladies made cookies & crafts, we men learned all about fire arms & safety. It all culminated with a trip to camp for an afternoon of shooting & demonstration. The guys loved it!The Arsenal

Most of the firearms belonged to my buddy Ken Goings.

He is an avid hunter, Vietnam vet, & Grandpa to Drew.

No one knows firearms like Ken.Drew moves up to the big boy firearms!Sam being Sam

Andrew "Crack Shot" McCorroll

This 8 year old 'man' was nailing the quarter sized spinner target at 30 yards!

My 30 yard shot with a 45 caliber black powder rifle. That 250 grain bullet was travelling so fast that the cup never moved!

Garrett shoots the 44/40

Me & the collector's gun

Jr. & the brass beast

Zack nailed the water bottle in one shot. I couldn't hit it with 5 shots

The First Commantment Quandry

I preached a sermon entitled "No Other Gods: 21st Century Idolatry" out of Exodus 20:3 this pas Sunday. You can check it out for yourself at the above link. It was a straight forward exposition of the grammar of the verse & the history of the time. Two words were interesting to me in the grammar: 'have' - means to own or be in possession of. And the word 'before' - literally means 'in my face' or presence. As I explained in the teaching: "This is not about PRIORITY but PRESENCE" It's NOT OK to have gods as long as they are less loved & served than GOD. There was also an interesting polemic on the plurality of gods. I let you check that out for yourself.
As is our custom at CWW, we engage in a Q&A after we eat lunch together every week. This week's Q&A was probably the best we've ever had. It went well over an hour & nearly everyone had something to say. One young man in our fellowship, Art, asked the best question of the day. "How do you know when something has become an idol?" That question gave birth to 45 minutes of dialogue. I don't really know how many people read this blog but I'd be interested in your answer to Art's excellent question.
I find we tend to list things in a priority list but remember that this is not what God was commanding in the 1st commandment. It is about presence not priority. No other gods in my face! That is his clear command.
I believe the starting point to answer this question is understanding God's Lordship, His ownership of our lives - "Lock, Stock, & Barrel" as they used to say. If we can embrace a biblical paradigm of God's ownership of all that we ARE & HAVE...then from that starting point, it becomes a matter of management of blessings that are not mine but His.
I'm studying it further for myself this week. I believe we'll have a part 2 on Idolatry in the 21st century this next week. Then on the following Sunday, my brother Jim will address the congregation regarding 'carving on God'.
By the way...I love our Church! We have some of the saltiest believers that I've ever met.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Grace & Peace...

Singing God's Word

This year I challenged our Church to memorize Psalm 119. It just so happens to be the longest chapter in all of God's Word - 176 verses. To help us 'hide God's Word in our hearts' I determined to put it to music so we could 'sing' the Psalm together. We've got the first two 8 verse sections done & you can listen to them here.

Please post your discoveries & insights into Psalm 119 in the comment section of this post.