Great Convention!

We had such a great convention. Thank God!! He is so good to us. The preaching and singing were so anointed, and such an encouraging spirit was there. Our new church in Somerset (just organized in December) was there in force!! All but one member, I think, was present and they fell right in like they'd been right there with us all along! Their musicians played, their singers sang, and their pastor preached a great message on the church! Just great...
Brother Hargraves and Brother Flora also preached great messages, as did Brother Jernigan.
We had a testimony time, and there were several testimonies given of recent healings of Cancer!!! God still does it!! That should be no surprise, but I'm always tickled at how surprised we all act. He has not changed or lost power. Praise God!
During our special time of prayer for the sick, the Holy Ghost really moved and the people shouted and praised God. I truly believe that God did things for people during that prayer sesion that we will only realize later.
Great convention...thank God!

District Convention

District Convention for Eastern KY is tomorrow. I'm very excited about it. This will be the third convention since I became D/O. I always enjoy it. This time of year is a good time for people to get together and shake the winter blahs. We always seem to have a good convention. I believe this year will be as well. I felt led to ask the new ministers in the district to preach. Brother Hargraves is new to our district, but has been in the ministry for years. He recently, in the last couple of years came back to the Lord, and back in the church. He is a fine man. He and his new wife, the former Sister Barbara Smith, are working in our district currently at a mission in Corbin, KY. They are great people, and have a good ministry. I've heard the brother preach a few times and God has really used him each time. Old time church of God preaching, to be sure. Brother Herman Hamilton is the pastor at the newest church in our district, Somerset, KY. He first came into the church in 1948, and has been around KY, and the Cincinatti area in the ministry. He and his wife, and ten members came in and were organized on December 14th. He's a great fellwo, and I'm looking forward to hearing him preach.
I gotta close up for now, and get some preparations made for tomorrow. Pray for us...

What a week

Man has the last week been hectic. Downright rough, really. Of course, the ice storm hit last Tuesday, followed by snow and more ice. More than 500, 000 people in Kentucky were without power for most of a week. I haven't heard the latest figure, but I know there are still thousands who have no electricity. Some have no water. I also know other states were hit hard. I don't pretend to believe that we were the only ones. My prayers have been and are for everyone affected by this storm.
Before I go any further, let me say this. (getting up on my soap-box). I have heard, seen, and read of people in other parts of the country who have scoffed at the notion that this storm was something to fear. We've been made light of in the mid-west and other places who have "real" winters. It has been stated that we are whining over this little storm...honestly. I have lived in Idaho, and Wisconsin. Both places can have pretty harsh winters. I saw several 20 plus inch snows in Wisconsin. Endured some harsh cold in both places. I would gladly take a 20 inch snow and let them have the 3-4 inches of ice that fell here. The destructive power is not the same. Snow is bad enough, but ice is by far the most destructive. Our road crews here have done a fantastic job here lately. But there is no real way to remedy the ice that falls on tree limbs, and power lines.
Anyways, none of the friends who read this blog have made those statements anyway, so I'm just venting, I suppose. anyhoooo...
In spite of all that, God has been good to us. We stayed warm enough, and had plenty to eat. By the end of the week my father-in-law was able to buy a generator, and we ran some lights and tv, and a space heater for the last couple of nights. It was so nice. My wife, and girls and I were able to spend a week camping out in the living room together, cuddling for warmth. We worked together and it made the thing so much more bearable. In fact we had some fun. A lot of laughs and sweet moments. The girls entertained each other without the aid of wii, or the tv. (Up to the point the generator arrived, at least). My wife's family live all around us on the farm here, and we all pitched in and looked after each other.My family also kept track of each other and looked after each other, even though we don't live as close by. It just feels good to be loved by your family. When they call or offer any kind of help...it just feels nice. I had some contact with some brothers and sisters around our region who were also enduring the same things as us. It made us not feel alone. Even my co-workers and I were calling and keeping check on one another. Folks you'd see out atthe station getting kerosene or other supplies were so friendly....There were definitely some blessings which came out of it all.
We're cleaning up now. I will try and post some pics soon. Our property is tore up! Trees and limbs and debris everywhere. I spent most of Sunday with the other guys on the farm here with chainsaws cutting up the limbs for Sister Wilcox to burn in her wood stove. We have a few piles of branches to burn in the gravel lot. Sometime during the course of things I managed to knock the running board off my truck. Oh, well.
Now things are getting back to normal. I even think we'll go ahead and try to have District Convention this weekend. We could all use a blessing.