Stories to Tell... We are in Sri Lanka with a team the Lord put together of incredibly talented believers. Mike McCain is here with us doing his drama called "Michael an Eyewitness" and I am telling you the people here have been so moved not to mention just falling in love with sweet little "POP". Mike just hugs on everybody and has been such a blessing to all of us. Kera McMiller and her dad Ron from Houston, TX finally made it to Sri after 4 days of flight delays and cancellations. We are so happy they have come as when Kera dances the glory of the Lord starts to come down. She has created all her dances and has a bright future ahead of her. This was her "senior trip" to go minister in the nations... Superb. Her dad Ron fell right in with his gifting and has organized the sound for all the 12 performances we have done in Sri Lanka. Yes sir 12 performances in 7 different cities! Then David & Missy Leto are dear friends from Cornerstone Church in Amite, LA arrived with Sandy to complete our league of performing artists... oh yea this was a smooth approach.
One pastor here said of 25 plus years of ministry he has seen a lot but this has moved him to a new and fresh revelation of the age ole story of Christ Jesus death, burial and resurrection. I was blown away...
Now let me tell you about a great duo team from Louisiana, Johnny Purpera & Terry Landry has come to Sri again to minister this is 3rd time to Sri. I challenged them quite abit as they were sent to Sri Lankan prsions to minister & out station local churches to preach. They had to take their shoes off and wade a creek to get to one church. the challenge was me not informing them of where they were going and to whom they were to minister. They just obeyed the command to GO... These guys saw over 100 come to Christ in a prison meeting that they were told to not try and convert the prisoners. The prisoners wanted to stay and hear the story... Jesus does the rest. We are to just GO and tell the story.
My sister Tish is here again and just was over joyed with the visit to Home of Hope in Kandy She has such a heart for kids that just blows me away. She twisted her knee and had some dental work done and oral surgery here. I sent her alone to get this done but I knew where she was and who she was with... I had to put this in cause my parents read this blog and will blame me... we are training them to GO! The 1st step is to get over the fear, hello!

So I will tell a few stories of some of our adventures... like we got charged by some elephants and Mary got attacked by a snake and Terry was @ a church that had a "Blue Cross"... he works @ BC in the US. Johnny Purpera @ 71 years old on the mission field doing it up for Jesus.
Then Mike McCain off the chain with his love for Jesus spilling over to the people in Sri Lanka.
Then the team gettting excited over being checked @ security stops... David Leto talking about a bomb in his wife's purse in the airport in London and not getting arrested... Crazy! My heart is strong to take all this excitement. Pray for us we still got several days left...

Snares & Traps...

Here is a story I had in my draft file... thought you might like to get some real deal stuff from my life.

I was listening to some folks talking about there high adventures @ a local redneck breakfast joint recently... I just sat and listened to them laugh at the "fun" and hung my head in shame just so they would not see my countenance. As I rode home I got to thinking about snares and traps of this old world and how the devil makes fun so enticing.


Years ago I loved trapping wild critters like coons, foxes and bobcats. Oh I cleverly would set the trap... so I understand how we are drawn into this dilema. I especialy loved catching foxes. now they were slick little willies but I got pretty adept at out foxing the fox. You see it was all based around pride and self. There was one fox that was constantly stealing the bait and tripping the old steel clamp type trap. So I got a bucket of dirt and ran the trap thru the mound I built and set it on top... in the wide open. The bait was laid @ the base of the mound but the placement of the dirt was on top of a hill overlooking the field below. The fox took the bait of pride and jumped on top of the hill to look out not even bothering with the bait...


Uncle Son was lieing in bed and called my dad to come see him. He had been sick in bed for quite some time and daddy asked me to go with him to pray for his old uncle. What I saw was shocking as this old man lay in a bed of despair from years of drinking rot gut whisley. the stench of vomit and death filled the old room with bare wooden walls. All the money for a decent home had gone into a bottle and the fruit was a life shattered with heart ache. I got angry @ the devil for his deception to my old uncle and pulled up a chair to his bed side to hear his story.


I asked him why Uncle Son, why did you let it get to this stage? Why could not you stop the daily torment of a taste of liquor? I thought his answer would be something like, " I just loved the taste or the delirious high" but it was not anything like I expected he would say... here is is story.


Uncle Son was a WWII veteran and he began to tell me his story of the day of the Normandy invasion or what we call D-Day. This day in history He made it off the PT boat and splashed onto the beach... he said I never dug a hole so fast in my life that day in the sand with the bullets whizzing past me. I crawled int he hole and began to shoot at the Germans as they started to pour down on us. I would shoot and shoot and shoot bodies falling everywhere, limbs flying through the air, etc... the lull would come and the shooting would begin again. Never knew all the hunting I did in as a kid growing up in Amite County would help keep me alive these days on this beach. For 19 days we went through this same routine... the shooting, the dieing, the cries of men hurting and in pain. 19 days I was n that foxhole, 19 days that changed my life forever. I cralwed out of that foxhole into a whiskey bottle after those 19 days and have never been able to put those days behind me.


My dad and I cried as he took a swig of whiskey and grimmaced a smile then leaned over and pucked it up into a 5 gallon bucket. The hurt and pain on the inside had never had a chance to heal. Vices and sin in people's lives are often the result of a deep wound and hurt the enemy has scarred their life with... Uncle Son was in desperate to forgive need of a savior and to forgive himself of those 19 days in Normandy.

We prayed with him and it was sad to see this man wilting away... Lord teach us to watch the snares and traps of this life.

My Precious... The Mack Attack?

No I am not talking about McDonald's! I am talking our youngest daughter Mary. When she was born she had this cute black hair all over her body. She has been the sweetest kid and yes I am biased but if you get the privaledge of hanging out with this kid you will be in for a treat.

The "Mack" nickname came from the old nursery rhyme. Mary Mack all dressed in black with silver buttons all down her back... I really don't know what this means but it brings a cute expression and personality that Mary has in her life. she sent this 1st picture to me when I was in Vietnam just her way of saying Hi Dad I love and miss you. She got this cute hair cut and I thought it was to prepare for the heat of summer and the heat in Sri Lanka. Little did I know she had grown her hair to help raise money and for her hair to be used for wigs to bless cancer patients that loose their hair to chemotherapy. Take a look a the 12 inches of mop she cut off her head. Well done dear child...

Mary "Mack" just finished her junior year of high school and has a full summer of ministry trips ahead of her. We leave for Sri Lanka in a few days and will celebrate her 16th birthday in Paris on her return home. She has taken French the past two years and we are going to let her guide us through Paris... Oh I sense an adventure of sorts. When she returns she has trips to south Florida and to a youth conference in Birmingham before she returns to start her junior year.

Wow in 2 less than 2 years Sandy and I will have all our kids out of high school! YEA... FREEDOM is soon to be upon us. Thanks Mack for being such a blessing to us and all who know you. Dad

Living in the FOG...
This picture of me in Vietnam is kind of protrays what jet lag is like hello! Everything is speeding by you and you are like in slow motion. We were just walking the streets of Ho Chi Minh City enjoying the sites, smells and sounds of another culture of people that Jesus died and rose again for. HCMC was interesting and I look forward to returning to Nam in the very near future.


Now FOG living is a crazy life. When I worked shift work @ ExxonMobil Corporation; swapping back and forth from night shift to day shift, my life was in a perpetual state of change. Shifting back and forth will not allow you to get into routine because just when you get your body clock adjusted, wham your back to another cycle. Traveling around the world is just like this... jet lag. I kind of chuckle thinking about how I detested the shift work but all along God was training and preparing me and my family for this ministry. I complained so much about shift work living even though I grew up in a home with this same life style. I spoke out of my mouth for years that I lived in a FOG... little did I know when I accepted Jesus the FOG came upon me.


Then the Lord spoke to my heart one day in Sri Lanka after much travel and feeling funky and whiny about the FOG. He said the FOG was an acronym... I pondered this until it dawned on me like the dawn of a new day with the sun rising in it's glory and splendor.
Living in the FOG is simply living in the Favor Of God! Oh come on this a good rev for me again now. No matter how you feel or what you have done when we live under the sacrifice of Christ bloodshed and the power of his resurrection we have direct current to the FOG. Sweet FOG... undeserved FOG... Blessed life of living in the FOG.
So if you have been feeling mully grubbed and maybe have made some mistakes and blown it a few times this week or today, lift up your hands and by faith embrace the FOG. Don't trust your emotions, the bad report or even what your eyes see. The FOG is upon you... to bless you and keep you.

Next week again we head to Sri Lanka with the FOG. Let the FOG lead you in your life... I promise you can trust the FOG! Proverbs 3:3-5

Snap Beans and Cornbread...

The back door eased open as daddy and mama came in from their ride to Louisiana in his new pickup truck. Daddy had called earlier in the day and I told him I was cooking fresh snap beans... did not take long for him to organize mama for a ride to my house for supper. It sure was good to see my parents still healthy (with normal aches and pains for their age) and happy. Daddy called and tipped me off that they were coming so I slapped a big pan of cornbread (yes I used Jiffy) into the oven in anticipation of them coming for supper. I smiled as I saw them go back for 2nds for the Mississippi staple... fresh snap beans and cornbread. Cornbread to us pure blood red necks is like ice cream so you make extra for a late night snack with some sweet milk but I do know some who like the ole butter milk... yuk! I had my son Luke go out and pick another small bucket of snap beans for them to take home to Mississippi.

I was suffering from severe jet lag but their presence seemed to wash all the symptoms away letting me know everything is going to be alright. Grey heads and smiles let me know that we can weather the storms of life by allowing the Lord to lead us through... daddy and mama as with all parents has had their share of battles but I have seen the Lord sustain them through it all. I smiled as the Lord kept speaking to me as they sat and worked on the sweetness of those snap beans... It was worth the effort to plow, plant and harvest to watch my family enjoy.

My parents are getting older and crave my time and I long to spend more time with them now. Funny how things come full circle. You can not wait to leave them seem to never get the time to get back. I was so happy they came for supper and for the Lord providing from the seed we planted 6 weeks ago. You never can tell what kind of blessing your seed will bring you when you plant it... don't hesitate get the seed into the ground and allow God to bless you and your family.