Refrigerator Art

The days of paper and crayons are over.  No more unrecognizable children's crayon squiggles on craft paper put up on the refrigerator door with a cute magnet.  That stuff is old hat for the electronic generation.  Now it's digital photos, doctored with photo editing software and distributed electronically.  For proof see the below photo art work from our youngest grandson, Patrick Sean, titled Me Me 1.  (I expect the "1" means there is more to come, or maybe that Margaret is his #1 Me Me?)

Me Me 1

Thank you Patrick Sean

(Pray for me. I could be sleeping in the shed tonight for posting this.)

Jim's Birthday

Our friend Jim Lipp's birthday was this week, Thursday, July 17th, and we wanted to do something special for him.  Margaret organized a card shower for him.

Margaret was in Elkton that Thursday to run some errands and met Jim at the truck stop for breakfast and gave him his cards. You can see how happy he was.

Jim had never heard of a card shower. Margaret had to explain what it was.  He received 20 cards Thursday plus three more that showed up later.  Jim says, "Thank you!", to all of those who sent him cards.

The rest of his celebration was a home cooked meal at our house yesterday, Saturday.  Margaret had asked Jim what he wanted and he requested kielbasa sausage, real mashed potatoes, and Bush's baked beans. Pictured above on the right is our friend, driver and Volunteer Chaplain Ron Jones, who was also invited.

Jim enjoying his special meal

Ron's dietary restrictions preclude kielbasa and potatoes so Margaret also fixed fish and rice for him.  I'm not a fan of fish so Margaret doesn't get it at home very often. She opted to have fish and rice also.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Book Review: I Want To Believe

I Want to Believe: Finding Your Way In An Age of Many Faiths (Amazon) by Mel Lawrenz (Senior Pastor Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, WI) is a book that got me thinking about my faith from a different perspective.

Chapter 2, Why God Wants Us to Believe, was my favorite part of the book. Instead of focusing on why I should believe in God, Lawrenz instead reviews five reasons why God wants me to believe in Him. That gets to the core of Christianity, a personal relationship with God.  I found it to be a refreshing perspective.

As reflected in part of the title, An Age of Many Faiths, five chapters are devoted to the contrasts between Christianity and some of the other major world faiths, including Atheism.  Lawrenz does a good job here of using real-life examples of the influence various faiths have on their followers. This discussion is useful for Christians who interact with people of other faiths as well as non-Christians who are interested in exploring the differences.

Another highlight of the book for me was Chapter 6, Doubt. I believe we all have doubts about our faith from time to time...sometimes big ones and sometimes small ones.  Lawrenz does a nice job helping us to keep those doubts in proper perspective.

Overall this book was a refreshing read for me.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Zambia, Africa Film

Kevin Hansston recently contacted me and asked for my help in spreading the word about a film made by his church in Zambia.  Purchasing and viewing the film will not only introduce you to life in Zambia but also support God's work there.  From the film's website:

This unique film follows the work of a detective in modern Zambia who is hired to look for the missing body of an executed religious figure named 'Joshua'. We get a glimpse into Zambian life as we follow Tembo through a series of interviews leading to an exciting final meeting calling for Tembo to make a choice about "truth".

You can read a review of the film here.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

What Can $1 Really Do?

Check out this project for Herman.  Margaret and I have joined to help Herman.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Cruise Line Retirement

This is great!  Click to watch a slide presentation.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Black 'n Angus

How to tell when your anchor man is a city boy...

 

(if you don't see a video above)

Thanks to Bill Henderson for sharing this!

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Teen Challenge Banquet 2008

Last night Margaret and I attended the 2008 Teen Challenge of Philadelphia Annual Banquet (view post from last year's banquet).  As before, the event was held in the Hilton ballroom. We went to be with Volunteer Chaplain Alan Graham who volunteers with Teen Challenge in addition to his work on the TFC Elkton chapel.

This year is extra special for Teen Challenge because it marks the 50th Anniversary of the founding of Teen Challenge International by Dave Wilkerson. Last night we had the opportunity to view part of a special anniversary DVD the ministry has produced.

Cover of the evening's program

Chaplain Alan Graham and Margaret

Little Austin sat next to Alan and they had fun together before the program started

Austin and his mom, Tomika, who is on the Teen Challenge of Philadelphia full-time staff

The opening ceremony was a processional of current participants in the Philadelphia program.  The guys had flags and the gals were in front with various percussion instruments...all were singing.

Other than hearing the great testimonies, the highlight of the program for me is listing to the choir, led by Sherry McMillan.  Choir members are all current or past program participants. Sister Sherry has been involved in this ministry for 20 years.  They do a fantastic job!

No one sits when the choir sings!  We were all standing and praising the Lord!!
(view a flickr slide show of all of the pictures)

It is always inspiring to hear the personal testimonies of how God has delivered so many people from addictions.  We serve and AWESOME God!

(A special Thank You to Chaplain Ron Jones who kept the chapel open while we were at the banquet!)

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Making A Difference

This is a very good video about making a difference in other peoples' lives.  Well worth watching!

 

(if you don't see a video above)

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Non-Christians View of Christians

What do non-Christians think about Christians?

 

(if you don't see a video above)

As Christians, we have a lot of work to do in order to focus more on positive
interactions with unbelievers without diluting the message.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Margaret's 60th Birthday (post script)

I forgot a very important part of the celebration at home.  After everyone else had left, Patrick Sean said he had something special for Meme.

Patrick Sean had picked out a special birthday cake for Margaret.

While Sheri was giving Margaret the cake, we all sang Happy Birthday with Patrick Sean playing the song for us.
He had learned the tune for the occasion. That was his special gift to Meme.

New Neighbors

The weather was mild Saturday morning so I opened most of the windows at home to air out our house.  Early in the afternoon, Margaret motioned me to quietly come to the doorway of our spare room.  When there, she pointed to the open window.  In the sand berry bush, just outside the window, was a mother robin sitting on her nest.

I had seen the nest when I opened the window that morning but there was no bird sitting in it then.  The bush is still bare and it didn't occur to me that the nest could be in use.

The flowers in the lower right are part of an arrangement of artificial flowers in a basket inside the window.
We probably wont be able to see the nest once the bush blooms.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Margaret's 60th Birthday

Margaret's birthday is April 14.  Back in February of this year she told me that she had never had a surprise birthday party.  I decided that her 60th birthday would be an ideal time for her first surprise party!

The first challenge was how to organize this without her realizing what was going on.  After all, we not only live together, we also work together.  Normally that's one of the blessings of our being in the same ministry.  It's a major problem though for something like this.  I needed someone who was sneaky and devious to help plan and coordinate this project without Margaret finding out.

My first choice for the job was Sharon Orshaw, our Pastor's wife.  She was not sure if my asking her was a compliment or not.  She did like the idea, though, and agreed to take on the job.  She in turn enlisted two more gals from church to help her — Sharon Daniels and Sharon Cahall.  These three did a great job of organizing all of the details for the surprise party.  We kept in touch with email and IM (instant messaging).  We chose 3:00 PM, Saturday, April 12, in the church fellowship hall, to have the party.

I began inviting folks to attend via a Windows Live Event website (setup so Margaret could not access it) plus a church emailing sent out by our church secretary, Marnie.  Folks without email were invited by phone or in person.  Obviously, we could not put this in the church bulletin!

It worked!  The party was this Saturday and Margaret had no clue what was coming.  I had told her not to make any plans for that afternoon because we were going out for her birthday.  She jumped to the conclusion that we were going out to eat.  After we got into the car, I told her we needed to first stop at the church because the Pastor had something to give us. (Thanks Marnie for coming up with that idea!)

The fellowship hall at the church is downstairs.  I parked in front of the church, so she couldn't see the church parking lot, and went in the front door.  (I found out later that a number of folks had parked elsewhere so she wouldn't see their cars in the lot.) She finally got suspicious when we got to the top of the stairway to the fellowship hall.  She could hear the voices of a lot of folks downstairs.  She looked at me and said, "You didn't?!".

Everyone there shouted "SURPRISE!" when we opened the door to the hall. What followed was one emotional high after another as Margaret recognized unexpected out-of-town friends and family one at a time.  She was so excited and surprised she actually walked right past our daughter and two grandsons the first time without even noticing them.  It was great.  A number of folks remarked that it was the first time they had ever known Margaret to be at a loss for words.

Margaret finally realized daughter Sheri, and grandsons Jonathan and Patrick Sean were here from Virginia

left to right: Chaplain Tom Kramer; Chaplain Don Jaggers; and his wife Carol

 

Charlotte , Margaret, and Kenzel
Pastor Kevin Wall from Chesapeake City, MD, back left, and Sharon Orshaw way back in the kitchen
(that's the ribbon on a balloon in front of Margaret's face)

Lorraine, Thelma, Janice, and Tootsie - ladies from our church

very dear friends, Gordon and Edwina, who came all the way from western PA

Jessica with baby Danny, Pastor Kevin Wall and wife Dawn

front, left to right: Chaplain David Weaver, Linda Kramer, and husband Chaplain Tom Kramer
daughter Sheri is standing behind Margaret
(Chaplain Ron Jones was also there but didn't make it into any of my pictures)

Margaret with the three Sharons, left to right: Sharon Orshaw, Sharon Daniels, and Sharon Cahall
They are showing Margaret the birthday cake made by Sharon Cahall

The Pooh cake.  Half of the cake is lemon, for Margaret, the other half is chocolate, for the rest of us

Pastor Dan Orshaw, and his wife Sharon, and their granddaughter, Emelyn

Margaret posing for pictures with her cake

Of course the kids were first in line for cake and ice cream!

A Pooh piñata filled with candy.
You don't hit this one with a bat to break it open.  Instead you pull the ribbons on the bottom, one at a time.
Only one of the ribbons opens the bottom to let the candy spill out.

Margaret and the kids took turns pulling out a ribbon until the right one was pulled

That's our grandson, Patrick Sean, on the left

The last activity at the church was Margaret opening presents. I think the kids were as excited as she was.
Notice the country girl without shoes — can't take her anywhere!

Some of the folks had time to come to our house and visit after the party.
(including Charlotte, on the left, and Patty, on the right)
Patty worked with Margaret and me years ago in ministry in Virginia.  She now lives in NJ.

Sheri and her two sons spent the night at our house.
We had breakfast together at a local restaurant, the Wagon Wheel, Sunday morning and
then they had to get back to VA for Sheri's father-in-law's birthday party.
(Patrick Sean is hiding)

The last birthday weekend activity was lunch at the TA in Elkton, MD. with Chaplain David Weaver, Chaplain Tom and Linda Kramer, Gordon and Edwina, and driver Greg.  Margaret and I drove to the TA after attending church in Smyrna to meet up with the others.  We had a great time of fellowship there.  No pictures though...I didn't have the camera with me.

You can watch a Flickr slide show of all of the pictures here.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

The Church of Oprah

This is very sad.  Another sign of itching ears.

 

(If you don't see a video above)

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

The Famous (Infamous) James Ossuary

The Bible Places Blog, one of my favorite blogs, has a good post about the James Ossuary, including a short video from the 60 Minutes television program.  The post is a good reminder that we should not place much stock in most of the news coverage of Biblical issues.

The Easter story for "60 Minutes" this year is about the bonebox inscribed with "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." view the entire post...

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Brother Andrew of Zimbabwe

I am a member of AECC and received this message through that ministry's news group. It was originally sent from Zimbabwe to a fellow AECC minister.

To me, this prayer request was also a reminder of just how blessed we are in this country. Let us pause at this time of special Easter finery and delicious family feasts to lift up our brothers and sisters in the Lord who are called to serve in situations we can barely imagine.

There is one thing life has taught me and that is to depend upon the Lord, It is with great joy that I inform you that we have planted yet a new branch church in the City of Gweru just about 75 kilometers from Torwood Redcliff, apperently Gweru is the Capital of the Midlands Province, last Sunday we had 10 adults in attendence and this Sunday we are expecting more praise the Lord.

Life in Zimbabwe is not getting any better like I said we have learned to live like the Apostle Paul lived, with lack, with much, with suffering: we all find God in all situations. Pray for us as a nation as we approach our elections in the next 9 days. that we will not have a situation like the one that was in Kenya.

Man of God I wish to inform you also that you need to pray for order in our nation for one the reintroduction of real money, we don't have money here all we have is a bearer cheque which is valueless, if one changes say US Dollars into our currency the money really becomes valueless, one needs 10 million to buy a loaf of bread, 150 million to buy a bag of maize meal and this is our main meal but we can not afford any more, like in my case as I speak we have no maize meal no sugar no cooking oil not even salt in my house, now its been 3 days like that and we have no clue as to when we have a decent meal.

Man of God I wish to make this clear to you, when ever I get any funds through the AECC, back here I have people that I lead I make all efforts to split it among the people at least for them to get a meal say for just a day, we have no one who is standing with us only you brethren. Above all God is good. With the best regards Andrew & Thabeth Mapimhidze

Humbly in His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Before You Go

This was forwarded to me. I believe you will find it is worth your time.

The elderly parking lot attendant wasn't in a good mood! Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1 a.m., and Bierstock, a Delray Beach, Fl., eye doctor, business consultant, corporate speaker and musician, was bone tired after appearing at an event.

He pulled up in his car, and the parking attendant began to speak. "I took two bullets for this country and look what I'm doing," he said bitterly.

At first, Bierstock didn't know what to say to the World War II veteran. But he rolled down his window and told the man, "Really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you."

Then the old soldier began to cry.

"That really got to me," Bierstock says.

Cut to today.

Bierstock, 58, and John Melnick, 54, of Pompano Beach - a member of Bierstock's band, Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band - have written a song inspired by that old soldier in the airport parking lot. The mournful "Before You Go" does more than salute those who fought in WWII. It encourages people to go out of their way to thank the aging warriors before they die.

"If we had lost that particular war, our whole way of life would have been shot," says Bierstock, who plays harmonica. "The WW II soldiers are now dying at the rate of about 2,000 every day. I thought we needed to thank them."

The song is striking a chord. Within four days of Bierstock placing it on the Web, the song and accompanying photo essay have bounced around nine countries, producing tears and heartfelt thanks from veterans, their sons and daughters and grandchildren. "It made me cry," wrote one veteran's son. Another sent an e-mail saying that only after his father consumed several glasses of wine would he discuss " the unspeakable horrors" he and other soldiers had witnessed in places such as Anzio, Iwo Jima, Bataan and Omaha Beach. "I can never thank them enough," the son wrote. "Thank you for thinking about them."

Bierstock and Melnick thought about shipping it off to a professional singer, maybe a Lee Greenwood type, but because time was running out for so many veterans, they decided it was best to release it quickly, for free, on the Web. They've sent the song to Sen. John McCain and others in Washington . Already they have been invited to perform it in Houston for a Veterans Day tribute - this after just a few days on the Web. They hope every veteran in America gets a chance to hear it.

GOD BLESS EVERY Veteran...and THANK you to those of you veterans who may receive this!

Click to hear the song and see the pictures.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

What Have You Been Doing?

Last month our church had to work though the tragedy of the loss of an infant member of a church family.  As Margaret and I sat at the funeral service, looking at the earthly remains of that tiny, precious infant girl, listening to the grieving mother weep uncontrollably...tears filled our own eyes.  In my mind were the age-old questions: "God, why do we have to suffer such grief?  It's not fair.  Please, return quickly and make things right again!"

Instantly in my spirit God reminded me of two Scriptures.  The first was 2 Peter 3:9:

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (NKJV)

Death was not part of God's original design. He is "not willing that any should perish".

The second Scripture was Matthew 24:14:

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

And with this Scripture I sensed God's gentle question to me, "What have you been doing to hasten my return?"

Have I been doing my very best to spread the gospel?  Have I been witnessing to all whom God has brought into my path for that purpose?  Have I done my part so that "the end will come"?  Is my slackness delaying His return?

I have to confess that I have not been doing my very best.  Lord, I'm sorry.  Holy Spirit, refresh my spiritual boldness (Acts 4:31) as I stir up the gifts you have given me (2 Timothy 1:6-7)

How about you?  Have you been doing your part to hasten His return?  The Pocket Testament League will send you free pocket editions of the Gospel of John that you can give away.  Their website is also loaded with great resources to help you effectively use those booklets to hasten His return.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Friday Musings

I haven't felt much like blogging the past month or so.  Margaret and I were both sick with whatever this sinus/bronchitis stuff is that is making the rounds.  After two trips to the doctor and a second round of antibiotics, I am finally feeling better.  Margaret did not get any prescriptions from the doctor and she got better about a week earlier than I did (and $300 cheaper).  Go figure!  Praise the Lord we are both better now and getting back to normal activities (as normal as we get).

Margaret and I have decided to get more serious about our health.  We are eating healthier - almost no deserts (except chocolate, of course, that is one of the basic food groups).  Since last November I have lost 16 pounds and Margaret has lost 13 pounds.  PTL!  We are also exercising regularly.

Neither one of us get very excited about getting out and walking in bad weather.  We do some walking at the big mall in Dover, DE when we are home.  Since we aren't home that much, mall walking wasn't doing us much good.  I searched the web for a portable exercise machine that we could use both at home and at the chapel and that would be easy to transport back and forth.  Some portable machines are mostly plastic and the reviews of them were not good for folks our size.  The machine also needed to be small because we have a very limited space in the chapel living quarters.  And of course, it had to be economical enough to buy on a missionary's budget.

We settled on an InMotion E1000 from Stamina.  It has a steel frame but is only 24 pounds and very compact.  It now goes back and forth with us between home and the chapel.

Margaret exercising at the chapel.  We use her old walker for stability.
Because the walker folds up and is very light weight it works great for this.

I could barely manage 50 steps on it when we first got it.  We both lost some ground while we were sick.  Now I'm able to do around 300 steps at a time twice a day.  That is a long way from where I need to be but at least I'm headed in the right direction.
Margaret can do about 150 steps per session and a daily total of 500 to 600 steps.

We have also been introduced to the books of Dr. Batmanghelidj.  Marty Miller, an Elkton Volunteer Chaplain, has an amazing personal testimony about how the Lord used the teachings of Dr. "Batman" to bring about an amazing change in his life - from a back injury 10 years ago that was to have resulted in chronic pain and disability to now being a marathon runner.  You have to meet Marty and have him share the details!

Anyway, after talking to Marty and reading a couple of Dr. Batman's books, we are now drinking a lot more water - up to a gallon a day for me.  We have cut out all caffeine drinks and the use of artificial sweetener. It is amazing how much damage can be caused by caffeine in our system.  (Chocolate doesn't have that much caffeine in it, does it?)

The past few weeks have been especially busy for us.  As of last Saturday, we had been in Elkton for ministry 16 of the past 19 days. - the result of a combination of the sudden death of a truck stop employee and volunteer chaplains needing time off.  On the plus side of that we were able to provide much needed pastoral care and ministry to employees and chapel visitors.

A very big praise report: Volunteer Chaplain Allan Graham led two drivers to the Lord in recent weeks.  PTL!

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Merry Christmas!

^Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.  Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”  Luke 2:8-14 (NKJV)

Margaret and I wish you and yours a blessed Christmas!

 

Here is a classic illustration of the reason for the season, Paul Harvey's modern day parable of the incarnation of Christ. (Make sure your sound is on)

 

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins