"Construction Completed"

It’s been awhile since my last post. Thanks for all the notes wondering where I’ve been. No, I haven’t been ill or down physically. In fact, in that regard I’m doing much better. My PSA count (a couple of weeks ago) was the lowest its been in probably 6 years. PTL! So, let me see if I can give an account just for those who thought I was loafing around eating Moon Pies and drinking D.P. as I listened to Ray Stevens.

When Cynthia and I returned from Oregon (on a Wednesday evening) I had radio to do the next day. On Friday I traveled to Grand Rapids to speak on Saturday (along with David Reid) at the conference there. It was great to be with Bryan Ross and the saints of the newly established Grace Life Church and see how the work has progressed. They have already been able to purchase their own meeting location and anticipate moving into the completely refurbished building in the next few weeks. Exciting! There is plenty of room in the Grand Rapids area for a strong testimony to the rightly divided Word and the message of grace we rejoice in—and Grace Life Church will provide just that!

Then we had a good day at Shorewood. I continued Philippians in the mornings and began a four part study on Bible Numbers in the evening (I’ll start I Thessalonians after that). Cynthia and I spent the week answering the school phone in order to give the Keable’s a needed break. Actually, Ray had a series of doctor’s appoints to get treatment for his long standing back problems. We are hoping against hope they provide some much needed relief for him. I began teaching the book of Ruth on Wednesday.

The next week I caught up in the office, worked on finishing the next Journal, worked on preparations for Shorewood’s Annual Business Meeting, did more radio Thursday and had an Elders meeting, Thursday evening, along with the regular Shorewood studies. I answer as many as 70 emails a day and write numerous letters each week, so this can be added to the mix each week. I also traveled to Detroit on Tuesday to do the TV taping. I was able to once again do five programs this time.

Last Sunday we had our annual church business meet. We have more than one business meeting during a year, of course, but this is the big one at the close of our fiscal year. It is where we set a vision for the year ahead. On Tuesday Cynthia and I were in South Bend, Indiana and Thursday we both flew out of O’Hare--she to Mobile to visit her dad, whose health is failing more and more; me to Charlotte, NC.

Currently I am in Concord, North Carolina, for a conference with Perry Lemons and the saints of Royal Grace Bible Church. Meetings start this evening and although it is currently raining there is already a good crowd reporting for the conference. We had some of the best smoked BBQ you could ever set your affections on for lunch—and for supper yesterday! I’m in “hog heaven.”

This morning a group of us visited the Billy Graham Library. It takes almost three hours to go through the whole presentation and is quite impressive. You begin by entering doors that are located at the foot of a cross that rises to the top of the structure. You conclude the tour by exiting through a walkway shaped like a cross. Not a bad way to begin and end!

One touching thing to see was to grave site of Ruth Graham. I carried away from the visit two memorable quotes—one from her grave and another from the video presentation of a lady’s testimony. The lady, after recounting her own conversion to Christ, commented, “I am so thankful to God that He was willing to take on Himself a body—one just like the one I so long to get out of!” Through her testimony I kept thinking of Rom. 8:3 and II Cor. 8:9. Then there is the quote Ruth Graham herself chose for her grave stone: “Construction Completed. Thanks for your patience.” That made me think of Eph. 2:10 and Phil. 1:6.

Well, that should catch you up some. I’ve got to get dressed now. They are coming for me in a few minutes. I didn’t have time to tell you about loosing my luggage on the trip to Detroit or the broken airplane on the trip to Charlotte or the various other odds and ends of the past few weeks. But then you’ve probably got plenty of such things of your own to laugh (or groan) about!

Maranatha!