Emerald Beach Meeting

At the end of July we visited the good folks at the Emerald Beach church of Christ in Panama City Beach, Florida. Jim held a Sunday through Wednesday meeting for them. I believe he did a great job considering how bad he felt. He had to sleep most of the day to be able to preach each night. We took one of our teenagers from church, Meagan Ingram. She was such a tremendous blessing. She helped me with the children and allowed me to not over do it. I am eternally grateful for her. She is an outstanding young Christian and I pray that she will do great things for the church.

School started at the beginning of August. Cameron is in preschool and Julianna is in 3^rd grade. It has been an adjustment seeing them both go to school. Cameron is doing great. Julianna amazes us continually. We are so blessed to have a good school system that praises our children and holds teachers accountable. They encourage prayer and most of them talk about how good God is. I am teaching one class at East Mississippi Community College. My other class did not have enough students. I have had extra time to visit members, cook and work at the church building.

Jim has been feeling poorly for the past few weeks. He seemed to be doing better when the doctors changed his medications but his fatigue has gotten a lot worse. He has days where he only feels like he can do something for an hour. His blood pressure has been increasing, he has become more winded, and he has been feeling like he is going to pass out a lot lately. He continues to preach the best he can. There have been times where he has had to sit down because he doesn’t feel well and other times where the men of the congregation have had to fill in because he couldn’t even get started. He pushes himself too much. I get angry sometimes wishing he could save himself. I know he wakes up each morning saying “What can I do today for the church?” He started Exhort Mail…he can do this comfortably from bed. He makes lots of cds and dvds for others to spread God’s word. He studies diligently to help himself and others to better understand the truths in the Bible. He is a constant encouragement to me.

We have received numerous financial gifts. We can not begin to thank each one of you enough. We are so honored and so humbled that you have decided to help Jim in his time of need. In order to pay cash for a heart transplant we were told that you had to have $775,000. As of today we have close to $50,000. We know that God will make a way. Each one of you that have prayed for us, sent cards, made donations….each one of you are so precious to us. We have had numerous individuals that have given $25 each. It all adds up. We even had a congregation donate $10,000. What can you say to brethren that have helped so much? Words are inadequate. We thank God Almighty for you. Please continue to pray for our entire family. The children are so young and we pray that we can make an eternal impact on them together. Your cards have covered three walls…we will be starting a new wall soon. They cover the bedroom walls like wallpaper. It is our wallpaper of encouragement. You are with us each day. May God help us to serve Him each day as we ought. Jim’s song of encouragement, “Light the Fire!”

I stand to praise You,
But I fall to my knees.
My spirit is hungry,
But my flesh is so weak.

Light the fire (echo)
In my soul,
(in my weary soul)
Fan the flame, (echo)
Make me whole.
(make my spirit whole)
Lord, You know (echo)
Where I've been,
(where I've been)
So light the fire in my heart again.

I feel Your arms around me,
As the power of Your healing begins.
You breathe new life right through me,
Like a mighty rushing wind.

So light the fire in my heart again,
light the fire in my heart again,
light the fire in my heart again.

Matthew 5:14 

Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.