January 15, 2017. Madison, GA. Preach The Word

Source of Light provides Bible Correspondence Courses in multiple languages to missionaries in nearly 40 counties, provides literature to students wishing to receive college credit toward a Bible College degree and works with many jail and prison inmates wanting to come to know and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Our people counsel, disciple, plant churches and support the efforts of those preaching The Word of God to the world. The effort began in the early 1950's with an outreach in Jamaica.
The Great Passion Play is a ministry devoted to telling the story of the last week of Jesus' earthly ministry through a live drama performed over 80 times each year from May thru October. TGPP also tells the Bible story in a Holy Land Tour of venues such as Jacob's well, Moses leading of the Hebrews out of Egypt and a full-sized Tabernacle in the Wilderness, Bethlehem, Sea of Galilee, Upper Room, Empty Tomb and some other Biblical sites. There is also the Christ of the Ozarks Statue, a Bible Museum and a Sacred Arts Gallery and Creation Museum. Nearly 8 million people have visited TGPP since 1966.
It takes a lot of people with various talents to keep these two ministries functioning. It takes all kinds of people with a heart for God and a desire to tell Jesus' story and it is not always easy to do the tasks required day after day. Some people are on the front lines in areas with physical and spiritual perils, and others are supporting their efforts through financial, material and prayer support. No task is too menial or too insignificant when we work as a team to Preach The Word.
Karen and I have devoted our "retirement" to being part of these two ministries since early 2014, and it has meant that we have changed our life style from one of a brick and mortar home to a home on wheels. We have all the conveniences we need, are comfortable and enjoy the wide variety of people we work with, minister to, and encounter in Georgia and Arkansas and places in between. We still get to talk with and encourage Veterans and make sure they know the benefits the VA affords them as vets.
In everything, we seek to Preach Jesus Christ by our words and actions, encourage others to be obedient to the call God places on their life and look forward to the promises of God and the hope we have in life eternal. Run the race.......keep the faith......finish strong.

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January 12, 2017. Madison, GA. Change of Season

Karen and I have always lived in places where there were definite seasons of the year. We had variations in temperature, precipitation, clothing for warmth or to keep cool, shovels and lawn mowers as appropriate. There were occasional glitches, but mostly summer was summer, winter was winter, and so on and so forth........
Two days ago it was 19 degrees when we got up, and today it was in the 50's. Daytime temperatures were in the low 40's and today and for the next week it will be in the high 60's and low 70's. Spring-ter. has sprung. The grass is starting to green up and one of our people was actually on a mower, mowing, and I was finishing up the leaf gathering duties while wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt. The trees which are to shed their leaves, have done so. I've started growing my beard for the Passion Play and my hair will soon be trimmed, not cut. Anticipating a new season.
There will be no sure things as far as the weather is concerned. We can't change it, we can't order what we want, we can only watch the forecasts, dress appropriately and move from heat, to air conditioning, or a circulating fan, as needed. If we don't like it, I guess we could always move to San Diego with an average low of 57 and an average high of 69. There go the change of seasons and the variations which make life a challenge.



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January 9, 2017. Madison, GA. Staying Warm

The past few days have been very cold, by Georgia standards, and at night it has dropped into the high-teens. In three winters here in Georgia, this has been the coldest weather we have had to endure in the motor home. Our first week on the road in December, 2013 saw us stranded by an ice storm in Goodlett, Texas for five days, and then enduring some pretty cold weather all the way to Lufkin, Texas before we got far enough south and east to find warmer climes.
Over the past three years, we have learned a lot, found the way to efficiently use propane, the shore power hookup, the diesel generator, space heaters and the sun's positioning to keep us warm and keep our water (and us) from freezing up. Insulation in the right places in our storage bins and even a light bulb near our water pump have kept us in the coach even when it is bitter outside. We are so blessed to have such comfortable and enjoyable accommodations. Never did we imagine living this style of life on a full-time basis. We thank God every day for allowing us to serve Him as we do, and to stay warm in our Ark.
While Karen has been fighting bronchitis and upper respiratory problems for the past month and needed to revisit the Doctor again today, she is determined to overcome what has been a Mission-wide epidemic. Hopefully, a return to warmer weather over the next week will allow her, and everyone else, to get back to good health. Working in close quarters seems to keep the colds, coughs and other "mungish" crud coming back and causing havoc with our work force. We pray constantly for good health and for healing for many of our people who are facing other medical issues, some of them quite serious. This is a very dedicated group of people mostly in their 70's and 80's who still want to serve The Lord and stay warm in their faith. It is such an encouragement to be with such willing, faithful and dedicated servants.
We pray for all of you who are enduring far worse weather than we are, and pray you are being strong, courageous and staying warm physically and spiritually. To God be the Glory.

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Madison Blizzard of 1/7/17

   In 1864 General Sherman marched through Madison on his way to Savannah.  He spared most of the town except for some of the industrial facilites which supported the Confederate war effort.  The 1/7 Blizzard spared us, as well.  Note the lack of any snow on the ground and needless to say, the windshield did not require much effort to eliminate the accumulation on it.  My understanding is that Atlanta did not "burn to the ground" from this weather attack.

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January 6, 2017. Madison , GA. Snow?

Although we are 60 miles east of Atlanta, we get our weather forecasts from the Atlanta television stations. The past few days the forecasts have indicated fronts approaching from multiple directions, temperatures have been dropping, there have been tornadoes in the Atlanta area earlier in the week, and the rain which is now falling and the temperature at 38 and falling is a pretty good indicator that the forecasts are right and within a few hours we will see some snow.
Atlanta has been putting a brine solution, sand and salt on the roads to prevent a reoccurrence of the 2.5 inch snow of January, 2014 which paralyzed the city and caused a lot of embarrassment for the GDOT officials. Everyone is on high alert for the rest of today, overnight and into tomorrow to get the upper hand on the snow, freezing temperatures, black ice and freezing bridges and overpasses and keep everyone safe and moving around without too much inconvenience.
While Karen and I grew up in pretty severe winter conditions and have lived most of our lives in areas where 2 to 3 feet of snow, sub-zero temperatures, frozen roads, blizzards and white-outs are common, we are by no means fans of such conditions, but are ready for whatever comes our way in the next few days. We do have to be conscious of low temperatures which have the potential to cause our water to freeze up in the motor home, so we take precautions beyond what we had to do in our house in Colorado. Karen's sister sent us a picture of the walkway to our Fort Collins house and we feel for your aching muscles from the snow which had to be shoveled earlier this week, but we are glad we are here and not there. By mid-week, here, we should be basking in the 70's again.
But for now, we will hunker down, watch the weather forecasts and stay close to home for the next few days. We may wake to snow on the ground tomorrow, but I don't think it will even have to be messed with before it goes away. Happy winter in Georgia everyone.

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Wogging with the Cows

January 3, 2017. Madison, GA. Wogging with the Cows

My newest friends are a herd of cows about a mile-and-a-half south on Mission Road from our motor home. They're a curious bunch, since I'm sure they don't see many walkers, runners or woggers while they are grazing in their field. The other day they all trotted over to the fence as I walked south past them. A few minutes later as I jogged past them on my return trip north on Mission Road, they decided to join me on the jog and kept me company for a short stretch. It was fun to have other than barking dogs take an interest in my presence on their road.
I know there are a lot of "fanatics" who travel long distances to Pamplona, Spain every July to Run with the Bulls, but I haven't heard of anyone "wogging with the cows" in Morgan County, Georgia. Maybe we can start a tradition.

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