Some Things I'm Thankful For

• The bank finally accepted our offer to buy the house we had been wanting. We didn't have to go way up on our offer, we just had to jump through all of their hoops.

• We have a worship pastor candidate coming in view of a call on April 15!

• I beat Pastor Wally in golf this week.

• My wife has agreed to have a yard sale this weekend, and she is in the 'let's get rid of everything we don't need' mood. Finally.

• The Global Focus Missions conference is almost here!

• Easter is almost here!

Noel

Comic

Wildlife Supper

Our men did a very good job on tonight's Wildlife Supper. Good food. Good crowd. Good program.

Buddy Davis from Answers In Genesis shared about his recent trip to Alaska in search of unfossilized dinosaur bones. It was very interesting and informative.

I'm looking forward to worship tomorrow. I'll be beginning a new morning worship series. For the next three weeks, we will take a look at Easter through the eyes of Peter. Peter had three key encounters with Jesus during the time leading up to the crucifixion and immediately following the resurrection. We will look at one of these each week. Tomorrow we will be in John 13. We are going to look at the time when Jesus washed the disciples' feet, but we're not going to look at it in the way you would expect. I hope we will learn something new tomorrow that will have an impact on people's lives.

Pastor Noel

Still Learning

My quiet time Scripture reading this morning was 2 Corinthians 10-13. In the first ten verses of 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about how he learned the lesson of the suffiency of grace. Paul learned that all he really needed in life was the grace of God.

That made me think of a couple verses I will be preaching on this coming Sunday evening:

Philippians 4:6-7 NKJ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Then I thought of my blog laments about how frustrating this house process has become and how anxious I am to have some resolution. (It's pretty embarrassing when we sin so publically.)

I confessed. I followed the instructions in Philippians 4:6. God fulfilled his promise given in Philippians 4:7. I'm through with my anxious complaining. There will be no 'House Saga IV' blog post.

Lesson learned... for now.

Pastor Noel

The House Saga III

Well?

Nope. Not a word from the seller...

Noel

The House Saga II

Well?

Nope. Not a word from the seller...

Noel

The House Saga

So we made an offer on the house with a pre-approval letter as per the bank's instructions. The bank (a bank owns the house) turned it down because the pre-approval letter was not from their own bank. Then we went through the process again and submitted an offer with their letter. They turned it down. Then we submitted a higher offer. They turned it down. Then we submitted a new higher offer. They turned it down and commented... "We haven't really had an issue with the money you have been offering, we just can't consider your offers in the form they are presented."

Yea. Thanks for the heads up on that.

So I guess we are back to square one.

We presented a new offer, with the correct pre-approval letter, in the correct form. What will go wrong tomorrow?

The saga continues.

Actually we aren't that frustrated. I have a peace about the whole thing. If this isn't the house for us, then we'll just look for another. We probably won't submit another offer after this one unless it is just to come up a little and see if the bank will come down to our number.

We couldn't move until after our Global Focus conference is over anyway. If we bought the house now I would have to make payments on two places for a month. So there is no real hurry.

If you think about it, pray for us.

Noel

March Madness

March Madness has begun. No not the NCAA Basketball Tourney... I'm talking about 'Dancing with the Stars.'

This is the girls' favorite show so we all watch it as a family, or I should say, the three of them watch it and I work on the computer. (Thank God for laptops!)

Today was a pretty good day. Troy came by the church today to tell me about another teen who made a profession of faith last night after church. I won't steal her thunder by telling you who it is now, but I think she will make it public this Sunday. A few weeks ago, we spent a Sunday morning going over the theology of baptism. Since then, many peole have been taking a close look at whether their baptism was 'in order.' Pastor Wally shared with me today that he had someone else speak with him about wanting to be baptized last night. It has been an encouraging day.

During the last commercial break in 'Dancing with the used-to-be Stars,' they said that Coke has changed its formula for religious reasons. I'm not sure what they've done or why, but I think there is a sermon in that.

I may have some very good news to share with the church Sunday...

By the way, no word on the house. We thought we would hear today if they accepted our offer but we didn't. Maybe tomorrow.

Later...

Pastor Noel

Time to Blog

I took a prospect family out to dinner tonight and even they poked fun at me for having a blog I never update... So I'll try to do better :)

Pastor Wally preached for me tonight. He preached the best message I've heard him preach. It was timely and convicting!

Tomorrow we find out if the second offer we've made on a house we want to buy will be accepted. I fear it will not. We are praying that everything will fall into place if this is God's plan.

This week is Global Focus week around the office. I hope to get all of the Global Focus stuff settled and decided. I could really use some prayers as we try to wrap up these preparations.

I went over to listen to the youth praise band do a song tonight. They did a very good job. I've asked Troy to preach one Sunday night in the next few weeks. When he does, we'll have the youth praise band play. Everyone will be pleasantly surprised.

This morning in worship service I interviewed one of the young men in the church (Jason Roundtree). Jason did a great job and had a big impact in several people's lives. If I wouldn't have called him by his wife's name (Jami) at the beginning of the interview, it would have been perfect :)

I've had way too many nights away from home. Tomorrow night, NOTHING IS GOING ON! I'm very excited. If the weather is good, I may grill some steaks. Y'all come!

This morning one of the projectors kept blinking once a second while we showed a DVD background to a praise and worship song. I had it working early this morning. This is the second or third time this has happened. There is a $50 reward for anyone who can fix it.

Enough randomness for one blog entry...

Pastor Noel