Time off, work loads, the new church

I will be away from computers for the next ten days so I am not sure if I will have the opportunity to do any blog entries. There will definitely be a lot of things going on which would be worthy of note. I may attempt to write in the evenings to keep all of you posted but I cannot make any promises.


We did not get any gravel delivered yesterday but the company promised to be there early this morning. Grandpa continued working on the fields in order for us to be ready for seed next week. With running water lines, electric lines and traveling to Dallas to pick up an order of fertilizer and lime from Amsoil, there will be limited time to plant – but we are making plans to get it done anyway.

Mama, Victoria and I went to a little church in Nocona last night; Bible Baptist of Nocona. Victoria liked the atmosphere really well. The pastor and his wife are foster parents. They have three adopted and three foster care children. Two of the children in their care are two and under. That was right up Victoria’s alley. She kept the two year old quiet through most of the service which did not last long.

Honestly, it was pretty pitiful. The pastor who has been there for fifteen years had trouble with common Bible words as he preached out of Romans; words like dissimulation, abhor and recompense. He did make a good point on eliminating our enemies by making friends of them through the good works of the Gospel - leading them to salvation. I do not know if Victoria will go back, but at least we went and checked it out. Mama was slightly bothered because the entire time he preached, he did not make eye contact; he looked over the heads of the congregation at the walls around us. It was a little different.

The church is only a few minutes further than going to Bible Baptist in Bowie but the facilities are vastly different. The Nocona church is a very humble, older building. The pastor and his wife and children more than doubled the congregation last night. There were four quite elderly women and a middle aged couple in the pews – not counting us. The pastor’s twelve year old daughter played the piano while he led singing. In Bowie things are much nicer building wise and the shrinking congregation still boasts twenty or so in a mid-week service. They are a rich congregation but poor in spirit; like they are waiting for someone to die so they can get on with their lives. Victoria can sense that when she is there.

The Nocona church is going to a sing on Saturday – the Rochesters will be the main attraction, but we probably will not be able to go. I would encourage Mama and Victoria to go just to get to know some of the people of the congregation, but we will be pretty busy. There is also a Mission Conference going on at a sister church, but that too is difficult because of our workload. They seem interested in the community, doing door knocking and visitation, so we may have to give them a chance.

On the way home Victoria remarked that everyplace we have moved, Mama and I have found a good church to attend – all except here. In that I feel I am making the same mistake my parents made when they moved to Chappell Hill. Now they are living where they have always dreamed of living but have no good place to go to church. That has been a real burden to them in their later years and they have lost some of their children and grandchildren to the world as a result.

That itself is frightening enough to me that I will need to set aside some time soon to fast and pray for direction in the matter so that we do not lose sight of the need for service and growth in the Lord.

P.S. Mama called me when she got to the farm to tell me we have a little filly. She is a palomino with a white star on her forehead. It took some effort to get the mare to let her nurse but Mama got it done. Mare and filly are doing fine.