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Pardon the grammar, but “ain’t GROWTH good?”  Last Sunday between services, a visitor asked me how to find a Sunday School class (we are working on a plan to address that issue) and I told them I would be glad to help them.  They followed me up the stairs to the second floor and that’s when we quickly discovered the traffic jam somewhere around the elevator and the coffee pots.  I am not talking about a few people milling around, trying to get around one another. I’m talking about a full blown gridlock of folks- some trying to get into Sunday School and others trying to get out.  I eventually got our visitor to the right spot and headed back downstairs for “round # 2” of preaching.  However, the image of what I encountered upstairs remained in my mind. What a beautiful sight and what a wonderful problem we are facing at DeSoto Hills.  It’s really not a new problem.  We have been dealing with it since day one.  However, the need for more Sunday School space is at an all time high.  Bro. Grant and the education team have come up with a plan that will help address it for now, but we must continue to be innovative in our approaches.  Thanks to all of you whose support and cooperation allow us to not only think outside the box, but operate there.  In this latest plan, one class is being moved to another hour, while others are being assigned different rooms.  We are also shifting around some things in the main office so a larger class can meet there, as well as opening up my outer office for a small class.  The exciting thing about this plan is that it is going to allow us the space to start a new young married class during first hour, which we desperately need.  We are also working on a designated welcome center at the north end of the grand hall.  We plan to staff it with volunteers who would be available to answer questions and personally guide folks to different parts of the building.  If you would like to be a part of this ministry, please contact the church office (662-890-2452) or fill out the info tab on your bulletin and place it in the offering plate.  Together we will continue to meet the challenges of growth.  It sure beats the alternative.

Spaced out,

In the classic children’s tale “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, the little blonde haired tyke is having some difficulty getting situated in the home of the bears. The size of the chairs, the temperature of the porridge, and the firmness of the beds are all problems that must be overcome.  I suppose that the moral of this story could be “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.  Better yet, “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” as she was an uninvited guess.  But for us today, I want to focus on the reality that many times it is difficult to get things  “JUST RIGHT.”  That seems to be the dilemma as we try to set the building temperature for everyone at DHBC.  I don’t know if it the season or the system, but it seems like it has been a little more difficult to regulate lately.  We are having the system checked out to see if there is a problem and we have raised the thermostats to see if that will help.  However, sometimes getting it cozy in one spot means we are overdoing it in another place.  It is simply the nature of the beast. Part of the challenge in the MPC is the air sock.  It does a great job evenly distributing airflow, but when it comes on, it sounds like a freight train moving through the building.  This is not very conducive to worship, or a message, unless you are preaching on the “second coming”. J   To solve this problem, we must continually pump air through the socks during service times, which is why you sometimes feel a draft.  The bottom line is – we are trying to hit a happy medium, somewhere between shivering and sweating.

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I don’t know of anything I have shared in recent days that has interested folks more than the quote that Kathy and I discovered on a trip with TnT – (Tried and True).  Obviously it impacted many of you as it did us, so I decided to put it in “the nook”.  If I don’t write things down, I tend to forget or end up giving my version, which always loses something in the translation.  Kathy spotted it first and called it to my attention.  It was in one of those gift shops with little appeal for men.  I made one sweep through the place and was ready to move on, but my wife was in no hurry.  She was actually taking the time to look at the stuff.  That is why she saw it and I didn’t.  We both immediately thought of Jami (the dancer in the family) and thought of purchasing it, but the most appealing thing about the plaque was the saying.  So I read it over several times and walked outside to type it into my phone.  I checked it thoroughly and no one’s name was attributed to it, so I guess copyright laws are not an issue on this one.  I shared the saying a couple of Wednesday nights ago during our study of Psalms.  It seemed like a perfect illustration of the psalmist’s heart.  I was blown away by the response as people starting looking for scraps of paper and pens to write the quote down before they forgot it.  I even joked with them that I had been preaching for a good twenty minutes and only at the end when I quoted someone else were they interested in taking notes. J Well in case you missed it, here’s the simple saying that caused so much stir:

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass,
but learning to dance in the rain.

Wish I had thought of that one.  I suppose it strikes a chord with so many of us because we realize how often and at times severe the storms of life can be.  However, because of the grace He promises us, we can learn to dance in the rain even when drenched.

Two stepping ‘til He comes,

Please click the links below to view the monthly Parent Link Newsletter.

August Newsletter

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Over the holidays I returned to “old stomping grounds” in New Albany to visit my friend and optometrist, Dr. Terry Joslin.  Terry and I struck a special chord during my days as pastor of First Baptist.  He is a PK (pastor’s kid) and I consider him one of my “forever friends”.  However, this visit to New Albany wasn’t merely a social call, but rather a professional one.  It was time for an eye exam.  After catching up on the family news (which got him way off schedule for the day), he checked me out and told me what I already knew – my eyesight was getting worse.  That is why I am now wearing a pretty cool looking pair of titanium progressive glasses with transitional lenses all the time.  I have been using reading glasses for years, but I am now putting these on in the morning and leaving them on until bedtime.  Everything is clearer and now I wish I’d done it sooner when Terry had offered.  For some, vanity might be an issue, but not for me.  My greatest concern was not how they would make me look, but rather how they would make me feel.  My eyes are pretty sensitive.  I can put on a new pair of sunglasses and have a headache for weeks every time I wear them.  Kathy bit the bullet last year and it took her about three weeks to get used to her new glasses.  So it was fear, not fashion that caused me to procrastinate.  However, I finally faced my apprehensions because I was tired of not being able to see and constantly reaching for reading glasses that I had scattered all over the place.  That’s how I ended up at Dr. Joslin’s office with his assistant placing new glasses on my head and telling me that I would hate her at first, but once I got used to them, I would love her.   So I braced myself for the inevitable, that by the way, never came.  I can’t explain it and can hardly believe it, but I have not had any problems getting used to these things.   Now I am not saying that if you are willing to face your fears, there won’t be some bumps in the road or headaches along the way.  But I am telling you that facing them can mean the difference between going through life foggy or a little better focused.  Take it from old “four eyes”, seeing better is a good thing.

Older but wiser,
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