In doing so, I got the privilege to meet countless numbers of great people, many of which I became friends with, and others, at least acquainted with. I run into a number of those friends and acquaintances on a regular basis and most all of them are kind enough to inquire as to how I’m doing and how things are going.

I’d like to honestly answer a few of those questions, if I may. I’m sitting here in the middle of the night writing when I should be sleeping, but sleep has become a bittersweet friend. There are times during the days when I can’t seem to hold my eyes open and others at night when they won’t seem to stay closed.

If you ask how I’m doing and I say “I’ve had better days,” don’t think I’m complaining or being pessimistic because I’m really not. I’m just being honest. I “retired” from the Review because my health got me to the point where I felt I could no longer do the job justice and that wasn’t fair to the employer who had been more than fair to me for so many years. The pain has gotten to be chronic and some days appears to absorb my every thought, if not fully, at least in the back of mind.

People ask me if I regret having the back surgeries I’ve had and honestly, no I don’t. They did the job they were supposed to do and for the first time in my life I have a relatively straight spine and I can put on a shirt without having to be conscious of a hump on my back being so noticeable because it’s gone. I don’t know if the current problems are a spin-off of those surgeries or a new condition all together, but it is what it is. It’s now in the lower back, hip and legs rather than in the upper back.

I’ve been asked if I feel God has let me down and I can honestly say, “I really don’t.” If anyone’s got a complaint, I’m sure He’s got more than me for the many times I’ve let Him down over the years, but in spite of all that, He has been faithful for me. He never promised that life would be smooth or without pain and there’s not a person alive who hasn’t experienced it, one way or another. Feeling the pain on a day-to-day basis makes me sensitive to the pain of others. I can understand their hurt and sympathize, as well as empathize with them.

I am blessed because our church is growing, and I really think that it’s because we don’t make a lot of false promises on behalf of God. I don’t tell anyone to come to my church and God will take away all of your problems. But I can tell you that they will find a group of caring individuals who will walk through as many of those problems as possible without being judged or looked down on. I’ve had people tell me that my physical condition is because of sin and I say, “you’re right.” Everything was fine and dandy until Adam and Eve brought sin into the world, now we all have to pay the price.

So how am I doing on a day-to-day basis? I’m in good shape for the shape I’m in. Doctors tell me that if I could lose 80 pounds I’d feel much better so I guess I have no right to blame God then, do I?  I’m sure I’ll get many responses on “How to lose weight without even trying” and I think I’ve tried them all. And were it not for some of the medications having an adverse effect by making me feel like I want to eat, I’m sure that some of those ways would be a little easier.

But I know that even those people who offer advice just want to help and I do appreciate that, as well. If I could change it all, would I? Of course, and I’d also drive a Mercedes but that’s not likely. I have prayed hard and long over the years for God to take away the pain and the fact that I still have it tells me He has a bigger, better plan – a picture I have not yet seen.  I will walk this path until He shows me another one, even if some days it all seems uphill. But my current situation has given me more time to spend in the Word, studying for messages and getting to know God on a more intimate basis.

I have found that I have far more friends than I ever imagined and am being given far more opportunities to do things for others that time would not allow when I was working full time for the Review. So all is good, not because of my physical situation, but in spite of it. God has shown Himself faithful and gives grace where grace is needed.  And on days when it seems hard to find the grace to get through, He always provides a friend, or two, or three to encourage me and remind me that I still have a purpose and God still has a plan.

Knowing that, and with all of the great folks around the county who have shown great concern, how could I not feel blessed?

I get all of my gadgets and I lay them out around me in order to have them all handy just in case. I take my cellphone out of my pocket and lay it closeby, but also have to get the cordless house phone as well, just in case someone should decide to call me at home rather than send me a text on my cell. So, with my two phones close by for convenience sake, I get the television remote in order to turn on the TV and to mute it during the commercials, then I have to have the satellite remote with which I change all the channels and check the channel guides. I don’t have a Kendel (Sp?) or an Ipad. I don’t have a smart phone because I am personally intimidated by a gadget that is quicker and smarter than myself. I don’t know how to download music onto my phone and I have opted not to have the Internet on my cell because I don’t want to have to be answering e-mails and facebook posts on my cell while I’m trying to drive or function.

Some things are embarrasing enough, like getting a call on my cell from a friend the other day.I’m sure the echo in the room had to be a pretty good hint that I wasn’t in the most convenient location to be having a phone conversation.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“I’m in Southern Virginia,” I said …. “in a restroom” …. “a public restroom, where other people are coming and going and thinking there’s a strange guy in one of the stalls talking to himself, so can I please call you back at a more convenient time?”

I mean, come on folks. With all of the gadgets available, there really is no privacy anymore – anywhere. And I can’t multi-task like young people can these days. I can’t watch television, text on my cell, talk on the landline while I’m wearing headphones listening to music on my Ipad, and reading a book on the Kendel I don’t have.

I personally think we have gone gadget crazy, so much so, that I’m almost afraid to ride down the road because the guy coming at me at 65 mph is most likely listening to his Bose Stereo system while he’s paying attention to his GPS, talking on one phone, texting with another and coming his hair and shaving with is electric shaver that cuts three times closer than the one he bought just two days ago.

I have a brilliant idea. How about we put down the gadgets, meet someone over coffee at a place we know so we don’t have to use the OnStar, and have a face-to-face conversation with someone. What a novel idea. Wonder why no one has thought of that before?

Probably because our Smartphone never suggested it.

Attending S.S. and church on Sunday is not an option at our home. We have decided that, “as for me and my house, we WILL serve the Lord. It amazes me how, for so many people, church is an optional choice. If there is something better going on, they choose not to attend Sunday school and church. If there is someplace better to be, they opt to go there instead of going to church. If the weather is nice, they decide there are other things they could be doing now that the weather is nice, and, if it’s bad, they decide quickly that the weather is too bad to go.

Question! How can people say that God is the most person in their life and yet decide so easily and quicly to just stay home on Sunday morning? Sports is more important than church. Other activites are more important than God. We now have a generation of people who have made God optional rather than make Him first choice.

When it comes to serving God, church should not be an option. We need to consider what kind of a message we are sending to our children to show them by example that God is optional in our life, that we don’t have to have him in first place and that other things are more important than church. Unfortunately, they will soon become teenagers and will make their own decision about serving God, putting him first place in their lives and about whether or not to go to church or Sunday school.

And, based on what they have been taught by their parents, the decision won’t be a big deal – God will be an option rather than a requirement. How sad it will be when parents turn to us and say, “Thanks mom and dad, for showing me that I don’t have to feel guilty if I don’t put God first place in my life, or that I don’t have to feel guilty for not going to church. After all, Serving God is an option, not a necessity – that is, until we find ourselves in a situation someday where we really need Him. How sad it would be to find that we are only an OPTION to Him.

I often find myself getting up after everyone else is in bed asleep, and, after I’ve tossed and turned for an hour or two, and decide to go to the computer, read a few blogs, check my e-mails and FB accounts and see if I’ve missed anything earth shattering and, 99.9 percent of the time, I have not. And so I go to my blog page, check the latest total of hits (which incidently is up over 16,400 hits) and then decide to write. The question is always – write about what?

Blog ideas don’t just fall out of the sky for the most part. I do enjoy blogging, however, because it gives me a platform for when I get something in my crawl or I get my dander up over something. Otherwise, I just write because for me, writing is an outlet. It gives me a chance to put some of my thoughts down in black and white and lets me get a few things off my chest.

Like church, for instance. I worry a lot about our church. Not because there are problems, or problem people, but because there just seems to be so many people who are hurting and in need. We want desperately to begin a ministry for the deaf and hard of hearing. God has provided us with an interpreter and we are working on getting the ministry started right after the first of the year. But, I also know that this interpreter whom God has provided us with, can’t be there every Sunday so we need a good back-up interpreter. I don’t want to have to send the deaf and hard of hearing individuals messages on Sunday morning saying they may as well stay home because we don’t have an interpreter for the day. And so I pray about it, ask God to lead someone to step up to the plate and allow us to begin this very necessary ministry.

I worry about our youth. I pray all the time for God to send someone around who will have a burden for youth of our area, and who will have the calling and the skills to help reach them with the Gospel of Christ. And so God begins answering prayer, and we now have a young couple who I have been meeting with who has recently been attending our church. Along with youth, this young couple has a vision for a strong young adult ministry as well. And in today’s society, “Young adults” include more than 20 year olds. In my opinion, a young adult ministry can go up to the 40s or wherever. People are much more young today than when I was growing up because even though they are tagging on some years, they are still young in mind and in heart. And so we keep praying for God, in the meantime, to define the Young adult ministry and I think input from those who would wish to reply would be a great way to know what others think.

My wish list for the church (ministry-wise) is to reach out whereever there is a need, and there are plenty of needs. I pray that God gives us wisdom to reach out where the need is, that we become rescuers and not enablers, that we help and not hinder and that we show others our heart in such a way that they will know our intentions are honorable and our motives are pure.

Well, I said writing is an outlet. I didn’t say it was a problem-solver. Oh well, one thing it does is defeat its own purpose sometimes. Because instead of helping me to solve my “thinking problem”, it sure seems, by the time I am done, to give me lots to think about. And so, it’s off to bed to give thought to these things until I finally fall asleep. It’s a good opportunity and time to pray while I’m waiting to fall asleep. Good night and God bless.

We couldn’t have asked for a more cooperative, energetic and excited group of people to travel and work with and we appreciate every one of them. From Josie, a recently new convert to Christ, to those who have been in Christianity for quite some time. But God was in the trip all the way.

From the travel to and from Charlotte, to providing some great suites at the Marriott about three minutes away from the distribution center. The hotel overbooked and ended up giving up suites with seating areas, kitchenettes with stove, fridge, and all the works for only $44 per night. God is good – All the time. Thank you Marriott, we would recommend your facilities and your service anytime.

The first evening, our team was scheduled, after driving for 7 hours, to work from 3 to 10 p.m. By around 5 p.m. or so, the announcement had come across that the distribution center had already done over 50,000 boxes so far for the day. Tuesday, by the end of the day (another 3-10 shift) and the total was over 120,000 for the day. Tell me God isn’t great – He definitely is.

Working with OCC was wonderful, but just the idea of our church being able to be involved in another outreach ministry was wonderful. God definitely called Christ Community Church (CCC) to become a world outreach center, I believe that. He is continuing to expand our ministry outreach avenues.

This is not meant by any means to be boastful for God gets all the credit. He provides the great people to work with and who work greatly together, and he provides the finances for us to go and he gives us great visionaries and a church leadership board who sees the need for reaching out to touch as many lives as possible with the Gospel and the love of Christ.

Then again, isn’t this what it’s all about? Of course it is. It isn’t about growing a church for the sheer reason of numbers. It’s about every number being a soul and every soul being a soul-winner and winning someone else. God has called us. I have questioned God, that with my physical limitations, when I can pull back a little. His answer is clear: When Jesus comes, when we win every soul there is to win and met every need there is to meet, or until he calls me home personally. Until then, roll up your sleeves, get ready to get your hands dirty, for we have work to do.

After all, that’s what it’s all about.

I can’t seem to argue with that, for I have wondered myself where the spirit of revival is that we used to know. As a kid, I can remember going to a week-long revival service that turned into five and six weeks and people were seldom seen missing even one night. The evangelist would step to the platform, open his Bible and before you knew it, all Heaven broke loose.

Now, even if a pastor wants to schedule a revival, he certainly can’t take a chance on asking people to attend special services for a whole week. And so we must decide whether to run a revival service Sunday through Wednesday, or Wednesday through Sunday. But definitely not an entire week. That is asking entirely too much.

I guess the discussions on the blogs that bothered me the most was when they began talking about the ‘modern music’ that they say doesn’t lift up God and the fact that there are now drums in the churches, as if bringing a set of drums into the church is a Spirit-killer. “It’s the devil’s beat,” said one of the pastors, “and it doesn’t belong in the church.”

Suddenly I’m thinking “I thought we were over all of this bickering back and forth over hymns verses choruses issues.”  Apparently we aren’t. But I have always admired these men as men of God. They were the Joshuas and the Elijahs of our modern day. And I found myself questioning how I could be so far off base with our contemporary choruses, mixed between a hymn or two.

And then came the blow that nearly knocked me off my feet, or should I say, the blow that nearly made me resign my calling. Their opinion is, anyone who has ever experienced a divorce, for any reason, is no longer qualified to preach, worse yet, unacceptable as a pastor.

In fact, a divorced person is lucky to get to heaven, but he or she should never take up the armor of ministry, particularly when it comes to pastoring a church. I have to be honest enough to tell you I felt hurt. It was like a knife in my chest hearing these men of God saying that I had no right to be behind a pulpit and absolutely no right to carry a title of pastor.

I’ve made my mistakes. I’ve taken the hits and fought back, only to be told again that a person who is divorced, and especially a person who has been divorced and remarried, can never be an example of the character of God.

It’s one of the first times in a while I actually had to fight back tears because it hurt that bad. Can I not be an example of the Grace of God? Did He not say that “the calling of God is without repentance?”  Doesn’t the Bible say emphatically that, “if any one be in Christ, he or she is a new creation, old things are passed away, behold ALL things are become new?”

Divorce! Drums! I’ve heard all this for so long, over and over as if they were beating a dead horse. So why do I find myself questioning my calling? Why do I worry about what these men say? And, what it they are right?

I lean solely on the Word of God for my answers. Scriptures I have already quoted, plus others, such as “Paul, an Apostle, called not by man, but by God.”

I think we all want to be people-pleasers. We all want to respect those men of God who have walked before us and laid the foundation upon which we can walk. I could be so far off base, but hey, I thought it, so here goes … could it be possible that men such as these great men of God can run their course, and that their ministry is not for every period of time or for every occassion. Maybe that’s one reason God lets all of us do our job, fulfill our purpose, then call us home to our reward so someone else can carry on. Just thinking out loud.

I hate divorce. No one wins in divorce. Too many people get hurt and are affected. In spite of my situation, I have learned much through my years that I wish I would have learned without the heartaches I went through. I must say I have much more compassion today than I ever did before. I am less judgemental, more understanding and more passionate about winning souls than I’ve ever been. And God has given me one of the greatest congregations anyone could ever hope for. It includes people who are hurting, who are trying to find their way, who have been through marriage breakups and the loss of jobs. Everyday, ordinary, normal people who are throwing themselves on the mercy of God and depending heavily on his awesome grace. “Where sin abounds, Grace does much more abound.”

Others can have their opinion, but for now, I am a privileged man who has come in contact with the Grace of the living God. And as far as I’m concerned, I’ll proclaim that message, and help others proclaim it also, until Jesus decides I’ve fulfilled my purpose and it’s time to go home.

Also in the headllines of our local newspaper in a town of approximately 2,000 and a county of approximatley 21,000 – local 49-year-old woman arrested by FBI in alleged murder-for-hire plot; local man arrested for arson, plus a list of other not-s0-uplifting stories. Do I blame the paoer for highlighting the bad? Not at all. It is what it is and it seems to keep getting worse. I can remember bringing my daughter from Youngstown, Ohio to Romney because I wanted to get her away from such craziness. Now, it’s here. It’s been here and it’s not going to get any better.

So what’s the scoop? Why is it getting worse? From a Biblical standpoint, scripture is being fulfilled. Who would have believed that we would have dealt with an earthquake, right here in small town USA? The Bible talks about such things, including “earthquakes in diverse places,” and family turning against family, wars and rumors of wars, calling evil good and good evil and so on and so on. I’m not convinced that there is any place that is safe any more. Just because a person lives in a small, quaint little town doesn’t mean that he or she is exempt from the craziness that’s going on in our world.

It seems like more and more, murders, rapes, burglaries and such take place and when neighbors are interviewed, their comments are often the same thing, “I can’t believe things like this are happening right here in our neighborhood. We moved here because we wanted a safe place to live where these kinds of things don’t go on.”

Get used to it folks. As one man told me as recent as yesterday, “I don’t have to make up  things to scare you, the truth is scary enough.” And so it is. The local drug market is at an all-time  high with drug runs coming into our county from various areas like Baltimore, Md. and even Florida where drug clinics appear to be nothing more than legalized drug pushers and providers.

It’s no wonder that the Bible talks about “men’s hearts failing them for fear.” It’s no wonder many local residents go to bed at night with a loaded weapon within reach. Am I pushing for such a thing, or condoning such a thing? I don’t have to. It’s happening  because many residents no longer feel safe.

So much for small town USA. I personally think that life in the USA is a far cry from how we used to know it. The sad part is that our kids will grow up thinking this is normal. The even sadder part is, unfortunately, they will be right.

For some, it may be a marriage that is about ready to collapse, or a devastating diagnosis, the loss of a job or a sick child or spouse that they are concerned about. “We’ll never know about these needs unless we somehow make ourselves available to people,” he said.

Thus began the planning stages of our very first “Pray-N-Go” where a large tent was set up along U.S. route 50 and signs were placed along the road in both directions offering prayer for anyone who had a need. No condemnation, no judgemental attitude, just a real concern for individuals who were struggling, sick or going through tough times. We manned the tent for a 24-hour period, round the clock and throughout the night.

The first night was cold and rainy and yet, prayer warriors stayed round the clock. Some came for an hour or so, others stayed the entire time. We had numerous people stop for prayer, had prayer requests called in during the time and we listed every name and need on our dry-erase board, and every hour, on the hour, no matter what was happening, we all stopped, joined hands and hearts together and prayed for every need specifically. We spent the night playing guitar, singing chorus and praising the Lord. Ministered to all who stopped by for prayer and stood along the road even in the rain with signs saying “Stop for Prayer” or “Turn back for prayer” or “Why not try prayer?”

Our church has picked up a number of families and individuals because of the Pray-N-Go, but even better yet, our people developed a real comaraderie together and many learned for the first time how to pray for others who are hurting.

This Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. (Nov. 10 -through noon Nov. 11) we will be holding another Pray-N-Go. We will be making ourselves available to minister to the hurting. This is not exclusive to Christ Community Church (CCC). Feel free to come and join us as we cross denominational boundary lines to work for the Kingdom of God. When all is said and done, “God gets the Glory for all that is accomplished.”

We will have phone lines available (304) 496-8566 and (304) 822-0442 for anyone who wants to call in prayer requests. Every need is taken seriously and every need is prayed for specifically. If you have a need, call even ahead of time and we’ll put your prayer request on our board for prayer.

But, consider coming out to join us for an hour or all night…Oh yes, we also drink coffee and eat and much throughout the entire time…You don’t know what you’re missing. Come and experience a Pray-N-Go with CCC this Thursday and Friday. You’ll be glad you did.

I really don’t know that I’ve ever struggled so much just trying to follow a daily routine. Even on a good day, the pain is less than tolerable and on a bad day I just go home and go to bed for a while. I wonder sometime what God has in mind. I want so badly to be able to fulfill my duties as a pastor and as a Christian. The pain has already cost me my job asa a reporter at the Hampshire Review. Not because of their decision. I had always told them I would work as long as I felt I could, but that in all fairness to all concerned, whenever I got to the point where I felt I couldn’t do the newpaper justice, I would step down and let someone else do the job.

I thank God for a great group of church people who continue to give me a chance to try to keep up. I love the time I spend in my office, studying for Sunday sermons and giving time for prayer. I enjoy meeting with members of my congregation, visiting hospitals and those who are sick. This is where my heart is. It just seems that my body fights against my heart and my spirit. It actually feels at times like it is becoming my own worst enemy.

I’m really not trying to complain. I know that God knows what He is doing even when we don’t seem to understand. I keep reminding myself that there are people who are far worse off than I am and that seems to help at times. I have no doubt that everyone of us has something that works against us like Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.”  My consolation – one of these days I get to lay this old body down and go home. It’s nothing but a shell that holds my spirit and soul, and the Bible says, “To be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord.” That, my friend, is an eternal hope.

My goal is not to be a complainer, but to be thankful for all I have and all God has done for me. I guess today I just needed to vent, which still somehow seems as if I’ve just complained under a different title. But I find consolation in the fact that, if God were done with me, He would call me home. Since I’m still here, I guess he still has a purpose for me, and I will seek to do His will without complaining or murmuring. His Word assures me that,  “To those who are weak, He increases strength.” The good part, is that we all realize we need to be praying for one another. I think it’s a good time to make that a vital part of our daily lives.