Guilty of Being Innocent

A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.

He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, 'I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him.' I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk; naturally...I assumed you had stolen the car.'

Eclipsed?

Eclipsed? Not really, but our 25th anniversary (May 7th), Mother's Day (May 11) and Tina's Birthday (May 31) are taking a back seat to the double graduations and weddings of our daughters Bethany and Rachel that are scheduled to occur during the same time period.

I had always imagined taking Tina someplace special for this anniversary, but I guess I am. What a blessing to see our daughters graduate from four years of college and then see them marry to two great Christian guys from a good family. All our focus will be on these big events, and I suppose that is good enough for anybody.

Tina says the trip to see our girls next month is all the present she needs. I believe her, but...does anybody know of something fun to do in Florida that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? I would like to do SOMETHING for Tina that month. We have a great marriage and it deserves to be celebrated! Either way, with your prayers and God's blessings, May-June 2008 seem to months that hold great blessings in store for us!

Beware the Wheelbarrow!

We are gearing up for the big events in Florida: two graduations and two weddings. We hope to treat our children right! Our daughters are great and we are proud of them. Read the story below and you can see how important it can be to be nice to your parents!

An old Chinaman was eating too much rice, especially since he was too frail to work. Because the grandfather had become a burden, the father of the home, his son, determined to get rid of him. He put him in a wheelbarrow, then started up the mountain. The little nine-year-old grandson went along. He was full of questions. His father explained that the grandfather was old and useless and the only thing they could do was to take him up the mountain and leave him to die. Then the grandson had a bright idea. He said, " I'm glad you brought me along, Father, because when you're old, I'll know where to take you!"

A Fun Baptism Service

I felt a lot of joy Sunday when I saw Mr. Soto enter the church with his towel. I thought, "It finally happened! After over three years of patient teaching, I am really going to baptize Mr Felipe Soto!"

After the preaching, we went to house with a swimming pool and baptised him there. I was afraid he would get ill in the cold water, so I tried to hurry it along, but he wouldn't let me. I climbed out of the pool and turned to offer him my hand to help him out and he wasn't there! Everyone was laughing and pointing. Mr. Soto was so joyful he decided to swim a "Victory Lap" in the swimming pool!

Well, I guess there is a first time for everything! I don't think we will make this a regular feature of our future baptismal services, but it sure made for an enjoyable service last Sunday!

Belated Baptism

An older man in our church, Filipe Soto said to me last Sunday, "Pastor, I think I may die soon, so I want to be baptised."

Mr. Soto has been coming to our church for about three years now, and we are happy to have him. He asks intelligent questions during our Adult Sunday School time and studies a subject thoroughly before making any decisions. We had him scheduled for baptism about two years ago, but he had some doubts and we cancelled it until he was at peace with his decision. We hope this time he will go all the way!

In the photo above, he is the man just behind my wife Tina, who is sitting in the front pew.