Notes from the Narrow Road: Observations from a pilgrim traveling along The Way

I hope all of you have had a wonderful Christmas. The Jones family has. Michael actually slept late today and then went on 6 hours of sensory overload. He is sleeping now, taking a much needed nap. We had a wonderful lunch, with a lot of the food given to us by church members. We have more sweets than we know what to do with! Kim, Michael and I were blessed to have for lunch not only my parents and brother, but also Vic and Marsha Rhoades, who won't get to see family until next week, and also Charlie Williams, who took a break from fishing to spend Christmas with us. We had a good time together. Kim got another round of test results from her doctor and everything is going very well, and the baby is healthy and strong so far. We are truly blessed. Thank you for all your prayers. Last weekend our Music and Drama Ministries put on "Once Upon a Holy Night," our Christmas program for this year. We had over 1,000 people come and see it over two days. Praise the Lord!...

http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9534631&nav=Bsmj The above is a link to the story page about the RFHS Cheerleaders earning a trip to the Capital One Bowl in Florida. I am so proud of our young women. If you click on the video links you will get to watch the video report that aired on tv. Several of our youth are featured in the clip, but a huge shout-out goes to "Sarahcuda" Smith for not only knowing who was playing in the Capital One Bowl, but for getting props on the air for killing a buffalo. How many of us can say that?

My favorite Christmas trend this year is Santaphobia. Do a search on the Internet for "scared of Santa," which is a new book of pictures of children who were, well...scared of Santa. There is a website with over 200 pictures of various children being terrorized by Santa Claus, all for the enjoyment of their parents who caught the moment on film. You can even upload one of your own pictures for all to enjoy. Here's one of my favorites... Tell me about your santaphobia. I'll understand. Yes, I am a recovered santaphobic. I'll try to get my hands on some pictures of my own frightening encounters with "Father Christmas." But now the big guy doesn't bother me, so there is hope for all the children out there. But my fears kept me from making personal visits to Santa, and I told my parents I would write letters instead. By the way, santaphobia is not an inherited trait, as this year's picture of Michael proves.

This week I am in Arlington, TX to attend a conference on "Culture or CROSS-Culture" and to attend my final orientation meetings before I register for school. The conference is hosted by my school, B. H. Carroll Theological Institute (BHCTI), and we will have our meetings at FBC Arlington. BHCTI is a newer institution you may not have heard much about yet. If you are interested in learning more, I encourage you to check out their website at www.bhcti.org . There were a lot of reasons why I chose to pursue my doctorate at Carroll Institute, foremost among them the leadership of the Holy Spirit. But they are an innovative and non-traditional school which, I believe, is forging new ground in theological education which will allow many ministers and laypeople around the world to have access to quality education and training in ways unavailable to them before. For instance, my PhD program allows me to remain in full-time ministry in Rockport and further my education at the s...

So we finally got to see the new parasite, I mean baby. The doctor said both mother and child are doing well. They drained Kim of most of her bodily fluids to run all kinds of tests, so obviously we will know more when those results come back. We go back for more specialized testing (due to Kim's age) on the first Friday in December, so we will know even more then. For now everything seems to be on target. The sonogram know-it-all computer said the baby was 11 weeks and 2 days old. That is exactly what Kim said it should be. Exactly. When we had our first sonogram for the pregnancy we lost earlier this year, the sonogram showed the child was smaller than it should have been, and that was the first indicator that something was wrong. Not so this time. All is well. The baby had a good, strong heartbeat and we got to see it move around a lot. Michael went with us and put on quite a show at the doctor's office. They even gave him his own sonogram picture that he carried around wi...

In case you haven't heard, the Gospel/Contemporary Christian Singer Ray Boltz is gay. He has been wildly successful in Christian circles since the late 1980s, writing such beloved songs as, "Thank You," "Watch the Lamb," and "I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb." If you did a search for Ray Boltz on your computer you will see that the Christian blogosphere is all atwitter with the news. Apparently Ray has struggled with this all his life. In 2004 he came out to his family and separated from his wife. They formalized their divorce in 2008 and he has chosen to live an openly gay lifestyle. He has now begun preforming in churches that minister to the gay community across North America. He will be performing in one such church in Houston this November. Now, let me give you complete disclosure: I have never liked Ray Boltz's music. I know, I'm sorry. Back "in the day" there weren't many choices so we all listened to and enjoyed Ray...

Many of you already know that Kim is pregnant again. Right now she is at about 10 weeks. We will go to the doctor for the first time on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, so we will know how things are going then. So far so good. Except, of course, for the reality that Kim is pregnant. By that I mean the normal hormonal changes that occur in the first trimester. Kim is having a hard time now, but even with that we think the news is good. When she was pregnant with Michael she experienced wild emotional swings and often had terrible depression, but no morning sickness except for some dizziness. After the first trimester that all went away. When she was pregnant earlier this year with the baby we lost to miscarriage, Kim didn't have any symptoms or side effects. Now she is sick all the time, either tired or on the verge of throwing up, but no mood swings. So we hope that is a good sign that this pregnancy is really taking hold. We wanted to say to all our friends and family, especially...