I received a text this morning and before looking at it I said to Katie, "It's not good news. When I get a text on Sunday morning it is always bad....someone can't come, is sick, etc." Then I looked at the text and it was from a child who attends our church and it said, "Love you." :) I guess I need to be a bit more positive. 

It was an encouraging morning despite the weather. (We have high winds and rain today.) I preached this morning on "Where We Meet with Thee" from Exodus 25:1-2. We took the OT picture of the Holy of Holies and considered the Holiest of All in Heaven where we meet with God in prayer. The study was a blessing to me and I hope an encouragement to our church. I walked back home in the wind and rain to get my recorder which I forgot this morning. So, I hope the audio is a blessing to somebody! :) (By the way, praise the Lord that we live very close to where we meet for church.)

Katie and I appreciate your prayers for our preaching and teaching ministry. We need God's help. Thank you for upholding our ministry in prayer.

As you may know, or car went to the mechanic last Wednesday. For those who know cars, our catalytic converters have died. There are 4 of them and at least 2 of them are caput. The problem is that our car is a 2002 import. It is a good vehicle for us and does not have many miles on it. (It sounds old but looks and acts young.) Because of it being an import, our mechanic has not yet been able to sort a part. Please join us in praying for God's provision in a way that would make our mechanic understand that God has answered prayer. I've told him we are praying and am confident that God is going to meet our need somehow. We appreciate your prayers for His provision.

Yesterday, Don Dillman and I were able to get out doing flyers. It was a lovely day and I enjoyed the fellowship time as we put out flyers. Please pray for a Muslim man that we spoke to for half an hour. Z____________ was a good listener and it was an informative time for both of us. Please pray specifically for the Spirit of God to awaken him to the truth that we shared. We looked at Isaiah 9:6 (son is born....the mighty God) , Psalm 22 (crucifixion) and Exodus 20 (taking God's name in vain....ie. God and Jesus.)

Thank you for being a vital part of our ministry. We appreciate your prayers.

Thank you for praying for my preparation of our new flyer. I was able to get that done today and off to print. I ordered 10,000. Now, they just need to be put out. :) Please pray for God's blessing on this flyer. I've done flyers with many different focuses. This is a simple Gospel message that I hope will touch the hearts of those who read it. I appreciate your prayers for the literature I prepare. I'll put some copies below. The actual flyer will be crystal clear where these may appear fuzzy.

We have had one storm after another lately. The storm that hit the Eastern USA hit us the beginning of last week. Storm Gertrude was the next storm which impacted us on Friday. We had recorded wind speeds of 90 mph at the Forth Road Bridge about 10 miles from us. Another storm is coming tomorrow with gusts over 45 mph's. We are very thankful that today is a relatively good day.

The Lord blessed our service this morning with better attendance and a good spirit in SS and AM. I preached this morning on Romans 10:1-11, "Religious But Lost." Tonight we are continuing our study of John and are looking at the end of John 7.

Thank you for your prayers for our ministry today.

The youth activity at the Weaver's home in Livingston went really well. Alec was able to drive us over there. There was not as large as group as normally. But, there was a really sweet spirit in those who came. Thank you for praying for the activity and the preaching time. All went very well.

Well, the car needs parts that so far they haven't been able to source. It is an import and parts are difficult to come by at times. Our catalytic converters (there are 4) are shot. :) The mechanic thinks he can salvage two of them. I'm not worried and look forward to seeing how the Lord provides. It's His car.

Alec is going to be driving us to the activity and back. So, praise the Lord for His provision there. 

We'll let you know how the Lord provides for the repair. Thanks for praying.

About half a year ago we started a monthly prayer time for minister's in our area. God has blessed these prayer times. We had prayer this morning with 3 other ministers plus 3 other men in attendance. The Lord gave us a refreshing time with Him.

I wasn't able to get out with Don Dillman yesterday to do evangelism. My vehicle needed to go see a mechanic instead. The weather was very poor anyway and would have prevented our work. Lord willing, we can get out together next week.

Lord willing we have a youth activity that we are attending tomorrow evening at a missionary friend's ministry in Livingston. We'd appreciate your prayers for that ministry tomorrow night as I am supposed to give the challenge to the young people. Hopefully our vehicle will be sorted by then. 

Although we haven't done normal evangelism this week, we have had a couple unusual opportunities. I was able to write an evangelistic article for our county newspaper for a new column (Views from the Pews) that they are starting. We also enjoyed a two hour home Bible study with someone who is very interested in learning about God. 

Thank you for your prayers for these and other evangelistic opportunities.

Thank you for praying about our attendance yesterday morning. We had better attendance Sunday night. One returning visitor was present as well as an attendee whom we hadn't seen for about 6 weeks. That was encouraging. I also had a good visit this morning with someone who will be back with us this coming Sunday. 

This week will be interesting weather as we get the same storm that hit the Eastern US. Ours will be a rain not snow event with gales. It is already quite windy today. Lord willing, Missionary Don Dillman and I will be doing some flyers in his area on Wednesday morning. 

Please pray for me as I hope to write a new flyer in the next few weeks. I would also appreciate your prayers for a joint youth activity this Friday with another missionary friend. The Weavers have opened their home to our teenagers on a monthly basis and these activities have already been a big blessing.

We didn't break any attendance records today. But, the Lord gave us a good Sunday. Our church purchased children's books for taking notes this year. The kids were very excited to receive them. There is a point system in the books and the kids were all tallying up their points after the morning message. So, that was a blessing to see.

I preached this morning on, "Be Strong and Do It" from David's challenge to Solomon about building the temple in I Chronicles 28:8-10. It was a blessing to me to study it and I trust a blessing to our church this morning as it was preached.

Please pray for those who were absent. Lord willing, the will be back with us soon. Thank you for your prayers.

Missionary Don Dillman accompanied Benson and I yesterday as we took the Webbs part way down to their next meeting in England. It was a beautiful drive through the Scottish borders. It is pretty mountainous (very big hills) and they had a lot of snow on them. 

Lord willing, we will get back to a more normal schedule next week. 

I have a new opportunity for ministry and I'd appreciate your prayers. I've been invited to participate in a column for our local paper called, "Views from the Pews." I'm not sure when my first article will be due, but I'd appreciate your prayers for wisdom as to what to write.