Congratulations, Mr. President-Elect!

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and human beings, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle — I am telling the truth, I am not lying — and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles. Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. (I Timothy 2:1-8 - TNIV)

The Day Has Arrived! (And then some...)

Hey bloggers,

My head and heart are very full on this Election Day...and I plan to be back later with something more to say.
- Jim, the Bishop

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Later that day (currently 19 comments)...

I need to be packing and running some errands (we leave for Korea early in the morning), but I can't stop watching the news and checking the blog, so I'll just go ahead and add some more now...

This was posted from JB a few days ago:

I was nineteen when voting in my first presidential election and have only missed one since. It is really cool that Judah votes this year too. Hope you never miss one for the next hundred plus years pal. I've mentioned this to several people this year and Bishop has written similarly to the thought as well but as a matter of prayer concerning our country, the first answer to a questioning prayer that I was sure of, came to me at nineteen. I was seriously wanting to vote for the right person, the one that God wanted to be our president. The answer that I recieved was that I should just vote for who I thought would be best and pray that I can continue doing that for as long as I live. God obviously answered the prayers of many people who had prayed for centuries when this country was established in such a way that the will of the people can be expressed with the selection of its leaders without coercion or reprisal for their choice. Judah it is my prayer that you and I both will continue to enjoy the favor of God to cast our votes for a very long time. I join all others in prayer for the nation and its leaders in this great time that we live in.

JB

To which I replied:

JB, On Thursday of last week, Jared took the time to come sit with me for several hours while I was in the hospital, even though he was leaving for a European tour that evening. He seemed genuinely worried about me (which is out of character for him), and it served to create a nice little father/son memory...On Tuesday of this week I took my dad to have caract surgery, and spent a good part of the day with him. He wanted to have lunch after the surgery, even though he was bandaged, and had on huge dark glasses, and was still a little groggy from the Valium they gave him. But I could tell that he was/is excited about our Korea trip and wanted to talk about it...and the conversations we had that day served to create another nice little father/son memory...But on Monday of this week, Judah came out to Covington (I went with him to get the oil in his truck changed and to get his tires rotated) but his real purpose in coming out here was for us to vote together. We stood in a very long line and talked about what it means to be an American, and about the future of this country, and what a privelege it is to be able to vote...and the genuine excitement that he showed about the whole process created a memory I'll never forget. I taught him how to swim. I taught him how to drive a car. But seeing him vote for the first time...well, that was very special...

Actually, I taught Jared how to swim, now that I think of it...Judah we took to the YMCA*...Speaking of Jared, I should say that he also voted while he was out here. I didn't even know he could vote in Newton County, but his drivers license has our address, and he called them to make sure that he could do it. My dad went with him (even though mom and dad voted week before last)...And also, Debye drove up to get Sofia and bring her down for the weekend, so that Christina can go vote (the lines in Fayeteville are super long, and she doesn't have anyone to keep the baby)...point being, we all voted (Debye went to do it day before yesterday)...but, again, experiencing Judah's first time was special because it's the first time one of my kids has turned 18 in an election year...

*Debye seems to remember it differently, and tells me that, even though I did take Judah to a swimming class at the Y, he ultimately just taught himself to swim.

Anyway, I'm very proud of the fact that all of my family has voted in this election (including mom and dad and Deb's mom and dad)...that is, everyone except Jonah...he's 15...but he's very interested in, and informed about the process...and he's opinionated about it. I'm just happy that my kids care about it.

God bless America!

Monday, Monday

Rejoice Today!...And Then Some

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Later that day...

Hey bloggers,

As you can see, I have two posts for today. The first one is the John 3:17 pic (currently 16 comments). When you click on it to enlarge it, the images are quite powerful.

The second is the REJOICE! pic (currently 3 comments). I posted it in faith, because I had a feeling about how the service was going to go this morning, and suffice it to say that I wasn't disappointed! Pastor Nancy Courter sent this to me before church this morning...

Hi Bishop,

Here is a picture I took this summer when His Hands went up to Virginia Beach. We were given 3 rooms for 2 nights on the beach while we were there. It goes along with today’s blog.

Pastor Nancy

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Thanks, P. Nancy.


Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

(click to enlarge)