Beginning of the "Ber" Months

September is the beginning of the "Ber" months, at least in the Northern part of the country. We lived many years where brrr was a part of our vocabulary. Even here in South Texas when the temperatures drop to 50 degrees or less we often hear "brrr". When our girls were in school  and rode the school bus, I can recall the first day of school as they waited in the house, bundled up against the cold, ready to run out when they swathe bus turn the corner headed for them. The water was frozen in the pot holes in the driveway as the scampered for the warmth of the school bus. Here in South Texas, the kids all wear uniforms, no jackets, and bask in the sun's rays. To me, it is not "Ber" but fall colors in the stores, the smell of pumpkin and apple pie, candy corn, peanut butter kisses, and the taste of winter squash. The most warming sight of all this autumn week  is the return of prayer in the school - where all of the kids have the right to pray or not to pray, according to the values of which our great country was based.

 is there anything more relaxing or beautiful than this

this is what American needs - to turn back to God before it is too late

never to young to pray even here in South Texas

It has been a laid back last of the summer kind of week. We have been trying to finish up all sorts of unfinished projects - things that have been sitting around just waiting for the right moment to complete. Things like sewing, crocheting ( I have and afghan for one of our daughters that has been 5 years in the making - time to get that one done). Fred is working on the "honey dew" list not only at home, but also for others.

 

We have been working with the food ministry - this week was very low on produce although we did receive a lot of tortillas. The food pantry donation had a big miscommunication and we did not receive a lot of canned goods - thank God there was quite a bit in reserve. At least there was a huge supply of bakery and bread items - things that keep a body warm. I am always awed over the fact that no matter how much or little there is, it always seems to be enough. Loaves and fishes??? 

 

Brother Juan Cordero, an elder at Great Oaks Community Church, gave the message this morning and will continue to do so every last Sunday of the month. It was already planned and decided upon prior to this and certainly fortunate because Pastor Israel has a bad case of vertigo and could not even get out of bed this morning. Juan's

message of Growing in Faith, based on Genesis 35:9-15 outlined how Jacob's faith grew as his name was changed to Israel because he struggled with God and humans and overcame the world. Life before faith in God is often filled with turmoil as we ourselves often struggle with God. Each obstacle we face makes our faith stronger as God grows our faith through trials and blessings. Our faith is a work in progress and we often put conditions on that faith - God, IF you only you let my loved one live, I will go to church every week, God, IF only you save my marriage, I will be a better person, God, IF you let me win the lottery I will show You how humble I can be. How many times have you tries to bargain with God? It is one thing to profess faith, but another to possess it. Everything in our life is according to God's will - we end our journey right where God wants us to.

 

As we enter yet another week, remember that prayer is the #1 weapon against adversity. Last week I asked for prayer as we were being attacked ( verbally, not physically) because of  our dedication to following God's plan in our lives. Prayer does work!!!! This trial made our faith stronger and allowed us to meet yet another onslaught with the assurance that God is with us, not against us. We continue to follow His path and not the path that others think we should.

 

 

Outreach Ministry

This is for the residents of Alamo Rec Veh Park - I am only posting it here so that it may reach those people.  We are going to have a new outreach mission at the Church @ Alamo Rec Veh this year.  I am always looking for a new way to reach others in need – usually at no monetary cost to our residents. This one will cost you – 75 cents. Yep, only 75 cents will provide a year’s dosage of Vitamin A for children in need to help preventable blindness. This ministry is made available through Christian Blind Mission International.  I will launch this project when the season begins, but I need your help now. Please save your prescription bottles (just the colored ones) as I am going to put labels on them for residents to collect their small change in until they get 75 cents for a Vitamin A shot. Start saving  the bottles now and bring them along with you so I can have a supply ready. And don’t forget to save your pocket change. PS – I also need the RX bottles for a project for our ladies retreat, so keep saving. Don’t forget to also save you printer ink cartridges to help defray printing costs for the church. The beverage cap promotion ends at the end of August. Usually the people who sponsor these promotions have a time limit - sorry for the short notice, but I just found out. So tell anyone who may be saving them to just dispose of them.

Our very old (10 years) TV finally gave out on us this week, so we proceeded to purchase a new one - no easy task in this modern electronic world. We also had the problem of finding the right one to fit into the space where the old one was. Luckily, we had a very helpful sales assistant who steered us in the right direction. As I asked if it was difficult to set up (as we have no grandchildren or son-in-law close by) he said to just plug it in. Yeah right. Well, after about only 1-1/2 hours we had it working - well - sort of. Still have a few kinks to work out, but at least we can watch what we want to, turn it off and on, change channels, and adjust the volume (what more do we want). I remember our first TV - black and white - given to us in payment for Fred helping plow some fields. Plug it in, hook a wire hanger to the TV, and hook the hanger to the curtain rod.  Waa la - a TV that had about 4 channels and went off the air at midnight. We thought we were in heaven!

I love the beauty of nature "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament hows His handiwork."  Psalm 19:1 This past week we had a severe storm all through the night and into the next day. Rain gages showed over 7" of accumulated rain - yes 7"!!! Pastor Israel's son, who is a youth minister at a nearby church, took a time lapse photo at 3AM - the height of the storm. It was amazing - the power of God.

Calvary Baptist Church, McAllen, Texas at the height of the storm.


A lot of the following pictures, I had stolen from facebook - a person cannot look at them and say that there is no God - His creation is breathtaking. Sorry if I got a bit carried away.

Near the Red Mill in Waupaca, WI - my home town

years ago my youngest daughter saw some rays like this after church and told me that it was God taking His people to heaven

the Northwoods of Wisconsin

this was posted on facebook this week -

can anyone except God create this

he looks as cold as I feel when I see this

 more beauty than the mind can concieve

 Northwoods home of friends

 the colors I miss most

Old Main, Fayetteville, Arkansas in the fall

 

the early morning after the rain last week here in Alamo


Today was a special service at church, blessing and praying for the teachers and students starting a new year. Let us pray that the students do not fall into a lot of peer pressure, that they strive to do the best that they can, and remember that God is always their friend. Pray for the teachers to not loose their determination and motivation as they challenge themselves as well as their students to reach for the sky!

 school supply donations for those in need

 praying for the teachers - 1st, 6th, and high school

 Becky singing God's praises along with the praise team

the students - all excited because their special treat after church was a trip to Peter Piper Pizza!!

 

The sermon this morning was geared towards earthy children and the thought that we need to raise mighty children. Child rearing begins with God and hopefully continues all through their lives. We all make errors - do  wish we had done things differently in raising our 4 girls?? Of course I do - we made a lot of mistakes but just plowed along with only what we knew. Sometimes as young parents we were so tired and frustrated that we forgot to rely on our Father. Although I am sure we all said at one time "Lord, help me"!!!! Moses was asked to lead God's people (his children) and Moses knew God would help him even though, as we often did, that we were not up to the task. So continue to show your children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren the road to God's love through your words and actions. They are the hope for the future if we are to bring America back to God.

 

 

Please pray for us as this has been a rough week.  We have been attacked and had to defend ourselves against those who do not seem to understand our ministry work and how God has laid it on our heart to help those in need. We will continue to do so because "We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander or praise us. We are honest, but they call us imposters". 2 Corinthians 6:8

Back to School

It is hard to believe that the kids here in South Texas are getting ready to return to school next week. As a kid growing up, we were let loose the end of May and did not return until after Labor Day - a long, hazy, lazy summer. As a teen I did work 3 jobs sometimes and still was able to spend time at the local beach - taking life saving instructions and just enjoying the summer freedom. Later on, as a parent, I began to wonder why the kids got so much time off in the summer!!!! It was a day of celebration in our young neighborhood when the kids returned to school - long coffee hours, window shopping (we were too poor to spend money on ourselves) with friends, a day of quiet at the library, or just having a spare hour to read! The end of the first day of school was filled with chattering and excitement, as the girls gossiped about their teachers, who was in their class and who wore what. Those days seem so far away, and yet it seems like only yesterday. It reminds me of II Peter 3:8 "But do not forget this one thing dear friends, With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day". Just think about today - yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not here yet.

Things at the park are beginning to be spruced up a bit - the sign in front has been painted as well as all of the other signs. It makes the street signs much easier to see and read. It is difficult to believe that folks will start returning the middle of next month already. I have been trying to get the Christian reading section of the library in order. Many of the double volumes we have are being donated to another park which is starting their own Christian reading section. We have been told that the library is going to be moved, so I hope I can participate in the move - after makig sure that all the books are in alphabetical order, I sure don't want to do it over again.

our bright new sign at the entrance to the park

It is still very dry with not much rain in sight. There are showers predicted for the next few days, but all we have so far are the streaks of lightening and the sound of thunder. Were any of you able to see the meteor showers last week? I thought of it, but always forgot before going to bed. Many years ago, while living in Wisconsin, we went to a neighbors for a birthday party of friends, had a campfire, brought our blankets and pillows, and laid on the ground in the coolness of an August evening. The sight was absolutely indescribable as we all could not believe the beauty and grandeur of it all.

 

 

We brought a huge load of clothing to Great Oaks this morning for the clothing ministry. So glad that there were people there to help us unload them all. With the end of summer and winter in the future, heavier clothing, socks, and warm coats are very much in need, There were also many children's items available for the kids who are returning to school. On the same note, The Grand Army Home for Veterans in King, Wisconsin is accepting men's clothing for the veterans living there. They also have another section (very well cared for and kept up) for the homeless vets - a group of people often forgotten. Fred's brother Charles  recently passed away and his widow donated all of his clothing to the home. As Charles was a disabled vet, he would have been so proud to see his clothing go to these veterans who have served our country so valiantly. Perhaps you should check in your area to see if this service is available.

 

Pastor Israel continued his sermon series this morning by encouraging us to put on the helmet of salvation. Have you noticed that every time you read a portion of Scripture that you have read before, God sheds a new light on it and open your eyes to see something that you  never saw before?  Society without God is our enemy, capable of all evil with Satan as our adversary (actually the word Satan means adversary). So we must be prepared to fight and uphold our salvation - granted to us by grace and not by any of our own deeds. Salvation began in the Old Testament. God delivered His people from the Egyptians which began a cycle of the Israelites pulling away from Him, being oppressed by enemies, and then their return to God.  Salvation today is the New Testament. It points to the saving work of Christ and the church as a body. Jesus came to serve , not to be served.  In the Old Testament, High Priests were responsible for salvation through sacrifices which occurred only once a year. Because they were human, they died and had to be replaced. Jesus is the High Priest today who lives forever and saves completely. He does this because He is always there to intercede for us - to be our advocate before God.

This coming week, thank Jesus for the great sacrifice He made so that we can spend eternity with Him.

Down Time - Sort Of!

As we enjoy the warm days here in the RGV, we also relax in a bit of down time. We are not nearly as busy as we will be later on when everyone is here in the park, but we continue to keep up with the food and clothing ministry in Mission. We arrived early at Border Missions on Friday (we were the first ones there - hooray) in order to pick up the wonderful produce that is available. I believe that most of this comes in from Mexico, as the producers in the Valley are recovering from the huge amount of rain we had earlier in the year. God always seems to provide enough for all of our needs, no matter if it seems that there is not enough. It is so very gratifying
 to see people filling their bags with fresh vegetable for the week.  "Your people are settled in, and from your bounty, O God, You provided for the poor." Psalm 68:10.

friend Faye helps load our portion of produce at Border Missions warehouse

if you look carefully at the cars in this photo, they are parked in front of a tiny church that is always packed - we pass it always on the way to deliver produce

lovely cucumbers

tortillas

fresh broccoli

tomatoes and peppers - those peppers are very expensive in the store

Rick and Fred unpacking produce - Rick is a very willing helper who meets us at the church on Friday to unpack and sort produce

onions anyone

Saturday, we and other chaplain couple and headed to South Padre Island for a bit of relaxation and fellowship. As we approached the causeway before driving to the island we were astonished at the huge amount of traffic. We had not thought about it being one of the last week-ends before school starts here in South Texas, as well as it being a tax free shopping weekend. We have never seen so many people as many times as we have visited the island. Families were everywhere, cars parked right next to It was so crowded that we could not find a place to park on the beach nor feed the sassy sea gulls.

 some of the hotels seen from the causeway

 the small hotel on the left was the first one on the island

 beautiful day - not too hot, sunny and breezy with the coolness of the water

 this was the scene for miles (and miles and miles)

some even came to fish

families bonding on a lazy summer day

No trip to the island is complete without a stop at Dirty Al's to eat. We think the original Dirty Al's on the island is closed - it was a typical fish market/restaurant. The atmosphere was no much to brag about but the food sure was. We opted to drive back to the mainland and eat at Pelican Station - another one of the Dirty Al's' restaurants but with a great ambiance including a view of the water.  I chose shrimp and scallops, while the rest had just shrimp or shrimp and fish. No French Fires but the delicious coleslaw that is served there. We did not get home until about 8:30 - a close to a memorable day. 

 the causeway to South Padre Island

some of the hotels on the island from the view at Pelican Station

 sweet sea gulls searching for food

 just waiting for someone to take this boat out to the Gulf of Mexico  

Pastor Israel continued his sermons on the fact that we need to put on the armor of God to fight the war with our spiritual enemies. We need to take up the shield of faith. This week we listened to how faith helps us to wage the continuous war with our sinful nature. If we don't have faith we lose the battle. The Roman soldiers had shields that were made of wood and measured 2 feet by 4 feet to stop all the arrows of the enemy. These shields actually fit together to form a solid wall - an almost impenetrable fortress. This is a picture of the church today, as we as Christians meet the threats of this world - standing together as one. "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him".  Hebrews 11:6

 

 

I read the Duck Commander Devotional every day. It is filled with great Scripture as well as prayer and everyday experiences from the whole Robertson clan. Today's prayer really fits in with the lesson from Pastor Israel:

"Lord, I ask for a strong faith and the courage to leave my own comfort to answer whatever call You give me or my family. Father, we accept Your missions by faith in Your promises to bless and protect. In Jesus, we pray in faith. Amen." Al Robertson.

 

Seek God this week and ask Him to allow you to continue in faith regardless of the chaos around us all.

 

 

 

 

 

God is Good

We arrived home late Friday evening after a long two days of travel . God is so good that He granted us travel mercies and we traveled to and from Wisconsin, gave us strength as we celebrated the life of Fred's brother with a very moving military honor ceremony, confident in the knowledge that we will see Charles again in heaven. It was an extremely emotional and physical trying time, as we helped our sister-in-law Susan through the process of decisions and paperwork. It was such a blessing to see so many relatives, friends, and neighbors come to pay their last respects and support Susan, her son Jeffrey, and daughter Jaclyn as well as the rest of the family. We spent many miles on the road which gave us time to remember Charles and feel joyful that he came to know the Lord in the last few years.

We have finally caught up on our sleep and feel rested and prepared to plan for another wonderful year here at ARV. God has lead CRM to place a new chaplain in our park - we are anxious to talk to him and his wife and are looking forward to actually meeting them later on in the fall. We thank the Lord  for His provision and feel thankful that we place our trust in him to answer our prayers according to His own timing.

Yesterday was a lazy day but today is back on schedule as we attended great Oaks Community Church and listened as Pastor Israel continued his sermon series about putting on the armor of God. We need to be prepared to fight the battle - not a worldly battle but a battle between good and evil - God and Satan. Our feet are prepared by being fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. It is interesting to note that in Biblical times, warriors were fitted with sandals that provided support as well as protection by the use of nails on the soles of the sandals. This provided traction so there was no slipping at all. "The law of God is in his heart: his feet do not slip". Psalm 37:31. Therefore, we must keep God always in our hearts -  our life will be clean - free from sin and we will be ready for the Master to use us according to His will.

As our lives begin to return to normal, please continue to keep Susan in your prayers, as well as her children,  grandchildren, and soon to be great grand daughter due in November. They all need our prayers for strength and courage as they face a new and different life without Charles. Also pray for all of those who have lost loved ones.