OLD fashioned preacher

Duh.........yelp! There still be a few of us folk 'round these parts what gots more than a 850 word vocabulary!!

NO NO NO -- when things need to be done, the energy is to be MUSTARD that no KETCHUP be required..

My wife, upon hearing all this, said, "Hast thou considered that thou mayest just be a picky old man?"

Mustard? YES - yellow, not brown. Mayo? NO. Ketchup? DOUBLE NO!! And whose depraved mind decided to put whipped cream on top of a milkshake???? Scapping it off still leaves a contaminated shake. I also despise letting my ice cream get soft.

One of my brothers used to make a sandwich with pickle, peanut butter, banana and ketchup. Our dog even turned his nose up at those sandwiches.

The current pastor has been here 15 yrs, he was on another res for 23 yrs prior. About 30 yrs ago he spent 1 yr as the res museum's alligator wrestler. The current main alligator wrestler has attended the church a few times. This Sunday morning he and the Seminole Princess and Jr. Princess are supposed to be in the service when I preach. Please pray, I'm sure they've heard the gospel from Bro. Payne, but Billy (the gator wrestler) is still trying to hold Seminole spirit traditions and play around the edge of Biblical Christianity.

¡Que interesante! (How interesting!). I assume that the majority of folks here have already learned that the Lord directs and coordinates things without consulting us and sometimes without showing us where it "makes sense". Our job is not to be able to explain or understand "why", but rather to determine that it is indeed Him and be obedient (and without griping, murmuring, disputing - ie. be content and trust Him. Therein lies our greatest failure.) Anyway, I had the "Holiday Season" approaching, one son and his family were in the lower 48 having a youngun' and we saw them in the Chattanooga, TN area. We were leaving the motorhome in W. Memphis, AR for a month and driving the van to Dodge City, KS to spend a month with 2 of the boys and their families at Thanksgiving while another grandchild was born. My plan was to try for meetings in MS, AL, NW FL, Central FL, S FL as I sought to get to the Miami area where I knew I a definite meeting in Jan. Alas, one meeting in Tallahassee in Jan (500 miles from Miami) and 3 brethren want me in the churches in TN in Feb (875 miles from Miami). I picked up ONE other Miami area meeting but the pastor was going on vacation and wanted me to fill in the Wed before the meeting (Sun AM). It's an hour and a half from Miami. I developed vehicle problems with the motorhome and couldn't try to book any definite dates due to not knowing when I can be where. I couldn't get peace about cancelling any of the meetings. Not the way I want to spend money (at 5 miles per gallon fuel consumption). Fast forward: I'm in the middle of the largest Seminole reservation in Florida (Big Cypress) an hour from anything. The Hispanic church we had a meeting at gave us a huge love offering - it covered the expenses of traveling here and up to TN!! The pastor of the church here on the Res is the one I'm filling in for. We found out that this was not "merely" a vacation, 3 months ago they unexpectedly lost their 38 year old son and haven't had any chance to get away, slow down, or grieve. I'm SOOOO glad I didn't cancel for my inconvenience or personal concerns! The Seminole Indians only became a recognized tribe in the 1957, they were a loose band of Indians from several tribes (mostly Creek) who were hiding from US soldiers and living in the swamps and their descendants. This reservation is in the Everglades. They have a Chairman who may or may not choose to use the term "Chief" - some have , some have not. Their first chairman was a saved man who was also an Independent Baptist preacher! He started this church (Big Cypress New Testament Baptist Church). The large Bible on the communion table was presented to him in 1973 and cost $39.95

Meal after service each Sun morning - quite normal for Hispanic churches even in the States. Our home church lacks a pianist (some learning but a long way from ready). We have recorded piano hymns on computer - maybe a larger church has a pianist who can do that. Most hymnals have the songs written about a step to a step and a half (also called either a tone or a tone and a semi-tone) too high for most people's comfort (as a high tenor - male alto I'm fine with them). If you find a capable and willing pianist just ask them to transpose down 1 to 1 1/2 steps. I also wouldn't have a female song leader but if you have a lady with a prominent and distinctive voice singing load enough for people to natural attune to during the singing, it will accomplish the same thing without having her chose or "direct" the singing (I don't know if that made sense).

I may have posted this in the past - but due to the number of people willing to consider socialism: How taxes work - 10 Men Go To Dinner. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner and the bill for all comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this: 10 MEN GO TO DINNER. The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing like they do now with the present income tax structure. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59 of the bill. So that is what the ten men decide to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you all are such good customers I am going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20". Dinner for the 10 men now costs just $80... The group still wanted to pay the bill the same way that they paid their taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six men -- the Paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everybody would get his "Fair Share"? They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth and sixth man would each end up being paid to eat their meal... So, the restaurant owner suggested it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill roughly the same amount; and proceeded to work out the amounts each man would pay. The fifth, like the first four now paid nothing (100% savings). The sixth man now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings) The seventh man now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings) The eight man now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings) The ninth man now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings) The tenth man now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings) Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings... "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man "but he got $10"... "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than me!?" "That's true", shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!" The nine men surrounded the tenth man and beat him up... The next night the Tenth man did not show up for dinner, so the Nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half the bill! And that Boys & Girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just might not show up anymore. In fact, they might start eating overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier? With the above scenario, determined to still go out it would have to be adjusted similar to this: Determined not to do without their freebies and causing the other 5 to feel guilty for entertaining the idea that life is not free the 4 still pay $0 for a $10 meal. #5 pays $2.44 instead of $1 $6 pays $7.31 instead of $3 #7 pays $17.07 instead of $7 #8 pays $29.27 instead of $12 $9 pays $43.91 instead of $18 Total $100 just as before -- but wait! #10 left, he didn't consume a $10 meal, we have extra money -- should we divide it amongst those who paid extra for their meal? No, that is just greed on the part of the 5, give each of the 4 who got free meals $2.50 each and don't make them buss tables and earn it -- now THAT'S fair!

It can be attractive without being seductive, immodest, revealing, or alluring. Most today, however, are not.

Will pray

I don't know what his current work schedule is but, due to the nature of his job, he often works(ed) 12 hrs a day / 7 days a week for up to a month and a half or 2 months at a time with a week or two home between jobs.

Remember my location: "Under a Rock but Crawl Out Occasionally", or in other words: I've always been too busy with the ministry the Lord had me in to get out much. So, I had heard somewhere about an Eric Capaci and got the impression he was somewhat known with Independent Baptists????? Anyway, I was calling for meetings in Arkansas and left a message on his voice mail at Gospel Light Baptist Church in Hot Springs. I read something this week saying that he was dabbling around SBC ministries and events. FWIW, if anyone is wondering if there's any truth to that - I just got off the phone with him (I must give him credit for returning my call, over 3/4 of pastors DO NOT!!!!!!! I know several missionaries who can concur to that. As a pastor I made it a point of being courteous enough to return those calls because it's the right thing to do!) Back on track - he told me "we are Southern Baptist and though we do support some missionaries who are not SBC most of our missions work is through the Convention." So, there's no question, he is upfront about their current status as an SBC church and College.

Yep: 2Ki 2:11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. The chariot and horses separated Elijah from Elisha, the whirlwind carried up Elijah.

Actually, he's not stating that a certain # of times in reading will mysteriously .... The emphasis here is to inundate yourself with enough Scripture to know the context and flow of the given book instead of just a verse or two which may or may not be lifted partially or totally out of context. I was once told in 1981 by an old Bible College professor (Rufus Bryant - he was saved around 1915 or so) "If you are studying a book of the Bible, read it through at least 15 times before picking up your pencil to write any notes." The idea here is to get to know the passage well before seeking to comment, teach, or analyze said passage. You can't get enough of God's Word. As Lester Roloff once said concerning hiding God's Word in our hearts, "it's time we QUIT having our children memorize verses, they need to be memorizing CHAPTERS". He believed that about the adults, too. People who have seen their sincere beliefs were Biblically wrong generally see it from Bible, not commentary.