Everything went well at the funeral for Mr. Howell. There was a full chapel of family and friends. Rick (Mr. Howell’s oldest grandchild) helped me (the first to steal a daughter from the nest) with the service and Bently (his oldest son) and Carter (a son-in-law) gave eulogies. I used Romans 5:6-8 for the message, noting that Mr. Howell was truly an example of the “good man” of verse 7 but that the passage made clear that even this goodness wasn’t enough to merit eternal life and heaven. It took the work of Jesus Christ at Calvary to make eternal life available to all who trust Him. It is amazing how attentive folks can be at a funeral. People, who will not give you the time of day otherwise, will hang on every word of a funeral message. Now if will only hit home!
With Mr. Howell’s home going we have lost one of our most faithful TV viewers. He had become a regular viewer of Forgotten Truths via DirectTV, even adjusting his schedule so he could see the program. I just got word from Tom with statistics about the past two months on prime time. There have been over three hundred new contacts, with really touching testimonies about how they are being helped into and understanding of the message of grace. I’ll get the details together and post them in a later post.
The conference in Florida is going great without us. Fred Bekemeyer had successful hernia surgery Friday and was also unable to attend. Perhaps we should stay away more often! The meeting is being broadcast via PalTalk, by the way. (Just an aside: I have it on good authority that Fred "postponed" his surgery scheduled for Thursday so he could watch a ball game that evening--good thing his guys won!)
Rick left this morning at 6:00. I took him to the airport and was back to the bay house before sun rise. He arrived home safely. David and his family just left to drive back to Orlando. We again had seafood for lunch (David and my choice). When in Mobile, eat seafood!!
I talked to Debbie this afternoon and they are getting a pounding of snow at home to be followed by really cold weather. She said the drifts were over two feet in her driveway. I am scheduled to get home Monday evening and fly to Detroit Tuesday so I guess I have some shoveling to do! It is shirt-sleeve weather here so I’m enjoying it while I can.
Cynthia and I will fellowship with the saints at Forest Park Bible Church in the morning. I always rejoice to have a bit of time with Brother and Mrs. Lange. They tell me he has plans of retiring into Pastor Emeritus status the first of February. No one deserves it more.
Have a great Sunday! If your are a "stranded grace believer" then tune in to ShorewoodBibleChurch.org and join the services live via the Internet. There is not reason to be "stranded" anymore!
Maranatha!
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2 comments:
I know that it blessed your heart for your son to partner with you to do the funeral. Again, Our condolences to your wife and family.
We were very disappointed last night as World Harvest was having a telethon or something and we missed seeing Forgotten Truths both time! Looking forward to it next week.
Thanks. It was a special treat to have Rick help with his grandfather's memorial. I told him it was getting him ready to do mine one day!
We missed Forgotten Truths too. In fact, a group of the family was set to watch it at the Howell's. Mr. H's influence is still strong, at least for this week!
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