Captain Jack

Sounds like a strange title doesn't it? There is a gentleman in our park who turned 93 today with a birthday party celebration  for all. The most amazing part is the fact that he recently wrote and published a book - last year!!! Who says you are never too old to follow your dreams? Jack is an amazing Christian man, who loves and is loved by everyone. His book tells the story of his life as a  pilot in WWII and recalls every detail with precision. We purchased his book last spring when it was released and of course, had him sign it for us. Today along with all the festivities, he held a book signing as well. Some of the gals in our Friday quilting group made a lap quilt for him - the fabric being airplanes and included a note on the back thanking him for his service. Another gentleman, BobHurd, turned 85 today, so we included him in the celebration also.

birthday invite featuring Jack's recently published book - a very young 20 year old Jack Van Norman

some of us were told to wear red, white, and blue to honor Jack

even Bob had a special cake - he is the head of the pool league

presenting Jack with the lap quilt made especially for him

wishing Bob, in the middle, a happy birthday also

Our CRMI IT man, Paul, is filming a video for the website featuring Caring Hearts Ministry. Paul started early in the morning as Fred and helper Doug pulled out of the driveway and headed to Hildago to pick up produce. He continued filming in the afternoon when Fred and Dean delivered the produce in the colonias. Thanks to his amazing abilities you will be able to view the wonderful ministry in a few weeks by going to crmintl.org and clicking on Caring Hearts Ministry (I'll let you know when it is ready). God has so blessed the ministry from its very humble beginnings a few years ago when Fred felt it laid on his heart, along with Ida, to deliver a few bags of fresh produce to a colonia. The folks that day were amazed that it was not going to cost them anything, and that they would be receiving this gift every week. From a few bags from the truck of our car in 1 colonia, we now serve 7 colonias - 100+ families every week, with at least 4  special distributions throughout the year. Hopefully, we will be able to distribute tomorrow to make up for the cancellation last Monday - another bigger distribution is next Saturday, a very busy day. As that is the regularly scheduled Chaplain meeting where I really need to be in attendance to distribute the bulletins for our ladies retreat. Fred will go to the colonias as I fulfill the chaplain's obligations. So many things this time of year.

This morning's sermon in church was a very different structure, at least on we are certainly not used to. Pastor Robert is going to talk about others who were involved in the Christmas story. First we watched a short video in which  Pastor Robert explained that this morning's sermon was going to be about Herod, the king who when learning about the birth of the Messiah from the magi, was determined to find Him. Pastor robert then came out, portraying Harod. What was great news for the world (the Messiah has been born) was certainly not good news for Herod - this baby was a threat to his authority. He had heard about the Messiah all his life , but now was afraid that this Messiah had come to conquer the world - where would that leave Herod??? He was enraged as he was afraid that his position was being taken away. He, Herod, was the most powerful of all - so he ordered all the boy children, ages 2 and under, be killed in order to insure that the Messiah would not live. You know how the story goes - an angel told Joseph to flee the country in order to save Jesus. Joseph, being the righteous and obedient man he was, took Mary and Jesus and fled. We await the good news of Jesus return - we stand to loose so much of our earthly life, but we have so much more to gain!