Sunday Stuff

My wife and I went away on vacation last week so I did not attend worship of any kind for the first time in a long time, and it was really worth it and much needed. We have been on the grind at the First Mount Zion Church for the entire 3 years that we have been there and even more so since we began our relocation project 2 years ago this month. We both were completely fried mentally and physically and I am grateful to the Master for allowing us to be able to go an refresh and recharge our batteries to come back ready to work.

I came back this week ready to get back at relocating and rebuilding our church. I continued our "mini-series" on encouragement with an exposition on one of my favorite passages in scripture housed in Psalm 46:1-3 which I labeled the message God Will Help You. This Psalm written by an unknown psalter, is an companion text to 2 Kings 19, which is a Psalm that was written as a celebration because God had assisted the children of God survive and attack and prevail in a battle with the Assyrians under the rule of Sennacherib. This song was sung as they went into the Temple in celebration for God helping them defeat their enemies.

We may not have an enemy named Sennacherib, but our enemy is more powerful and more wicked by the name of Satan, and in our attacks from our enemy, we are unable to defeat them under our own strength or devices because our physical strength is powerless against a spiritual foe. But we have a God that will provide all of the help we need in our battles against Satan.

Happy Birthday Penny!!!

Today we celebrate my wonderful wife Penny's birthday. I am appreciative of the fact that the Lord sent this woman to me. I am very grateful for the fact that she is the First Lady of the First Mount Zion Baptist Church, the mother of two outstanding sons, Tory and Tony, the step-mother of two great sons, Marquis and Devante, she is the Christian Education Director and Deaconness of our church. But most of all, she makes me look good every time she walks out the house, and with many Pastors struggling to find a help-meet to truly be an asset to their lives and to their ministries, I am blessed to have her taking this journey called ministry and life, day by day and step by step along with me.

We just returned from a well-needed vacation in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl and I must say that it was the best vacation that we have ever been on since our honeymoon. We ate at some of the best places, we shopped in the Miami Fashion District, and we enjoyed all of the sights on South Beach in Miami, which was an event all by itself. I can't wait to go on our next vacation together. I truly believe that husbands and wives need to recreate by themselves in order to maintain a healthy marriage. God be praised for keeping us together in marriage and in ministry.