OUR CHURCH FAMILY

January 27,2008-Sunday

I have been meaning to tell you all about our wonderful church. Is is called CHRISTIAN LIFE CENTER and it takes us less than five minutes to get there from our front door. I was asking my son-in-law James on the phone one day before we moved down here, if he knew of any Calvary Chapels down here. He said, Oh, you want a "born again" church. You need CHRISTIAN LIFE CENTER! James and Jules are not believers, so this sort of surprised me. I looked it up on the internet because it sort of sounded like a "fly by night" gathering of people in a store front...(which is how many Calvary Chapels started...)I turns out that there are hundreds of them all over the country!

Anyway, I contacted the church by e-mail and was pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call from Pastor Ben Slye. He was very friendly, and kind, and has a personality that is "Bigger than life!!" He welcomed us to the church the first day we arrived in Riverdale. He was in the gym,working out.

I noticed that there were alot of steps going into the church. When I asked him how I could get Terry into the church without a ramp, he assured me that he would take care of it, within two days, which would be our first service visit.

Two days later we arrived at the church, expecting to see a quickly thrown together ramp, and there was none. As I was getting Terry out of the van, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted five large men, coming down the steps towards us, and they all came over and hugged us and said they were going to get him into the church. I guess we were expecting them to hold onto Terry and help him walk up the stairs, but instead they all held onto Ter, (in the wheelchair..) and lifted him up the steps, chair and all!

Then they brought him all the way to the front of the church, and I followed. When we got to the front, the pastor picked me up (good thing I have lost weight..) and hugged me, and escorted me over to the side where Ter was. The next week they removed 2 pews for us, and now we sit up there every week. All of the men are there for us every week to help us in and out at the end of service.Praise God for such loving and kind people! Everyone there knows every one else, and they all pray for each other every day! In this church there are no favorites. It is one big family. You can see a bank president standing next to a homeless person and they are smiling and praising the Lord together.


I wanted to tell you all about two things that have profoundly touched us. (Not time now, but there are many many things to share about these wonderful people...)
A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Ben asked a certain lady to come forward. Her husband was critically ill, and they had no health insurance. They were having a hard time managing their bills with just her working. We will never forget what the pastor said
to her and to us. He prayed over her for her husband, and then he turned to the congregation and asked that anyone who could, to please come forward and give her money. Now this is not a "rich" church at all, but when I turned around I was astounded to see that every pew was empty, and all the people in the church were coming forward. Even the little children came forward with their pennies and nickels and dimes. He asked that everyone who contribute would hand it personally to her, and give her hugs. This took about 25-30 minutes. I have never seen anything like it, and it was beautiful. (of course, as you know I NEVER cry!! ha ha...) NOT!!!

Today in church there was a healing service. Many people had ailments, and lots of them said they were healed. Terry has been prayed over many times at these services both here and in New York. BUT TODAY SOMETHING NEW HAPPENED!Ter said that his legs felt funny, and he got up out of his wheelchair and started to walk by pushing the wheelchair! He walked all the way down the main aisle of the church, and if I had not stopped him, he would have attempted to go down the steps of the church alone! The whole church was so excited because they have been praying for him for a long time.The farthest he has ever walked in the past 4 years is about 6-8 feet with his walker. He said he felt great, and the men came and scooped him up and put him in the van.
We thank the Lord every day for all He has done for us! We know that he does not do anything by accident.

Ter has a new oncologist who is very young and very sharp. He had ordered a cat scan the last time we were there, and it showed that the tumors have grown some. He will be going back into chemotherapy starting this Tuesday (the 29th). Please keep him in prayer that day and for 3 days altogether as he will be wearing the chemo pump home for two days.

We are going to be moving into our new apartment on Friday, the 1st of Feb. It is only for 6 months. Our addition onto Jules and James' house will be starting soon! We finally got the permit approved, which was like pulling teeth, but at last we can start to see the end of the tunnel! The temporary apartment is beautiful, and located in a very nice residential area, and it is right next door to most of our doctors! The apartment is only 12 minutes from where we are now on Somerset, so it will be convenient for everything. Our favorite diner is located near our new apartment, and several of our favorite stores, like Target and a big grocery store chain called GIANT.There is even a movie theater too. Also we are right near a plaza that has lots of little stores, and a Safeway grocery store. The apartment complex has a gym on premises and a huge pool, so we will be taking advantage of them for free.

Well, time for beddy bye now, so plase think of us once in awhile and any prayers are greatly appreciated. Lots more about the church soon (including lady pastors!)Later Gators.
toots & ter

Christmas

Today was a fruitless day. I do not like days like this. We spent hours and hours driving back and forth to the MVA (Motor Vehicle Association), trying or the 4th time to get my Maryland driver's license! It is like pulling teeth! They are so restrictive. You need to have so much proof of residency. I don't have any charge cards, so that was a problem. I will have to try again another day.

Seamus has had several bouts with vomiting. Please keep him in prayer. He is so sweet, and thoughtful. We are truly blessed to have such great kids and grandkids.

Our church family is wonderful also. tomorrow I will tell you what took place in church this week. It is unbelieable, but true.

God Bless, and have a giid night.
toots