"I love it when a plan comes together!"

The famous words of the Colonel from the A Team. I loved that show when I was growing up. BA, Murdock, Face, and the Colonel. They shot so many rounds a show the army couldn't keep them in ammo, and yet no one ever got killed. The Colonel always had a plan and somehow, some way, it always worked out.

I had a plan and issued a challenge to HGBC at the beginning of 2008. That plan was to read through the bible in one year. I had done it several times before, and had always been blessed by the time with the Lord. I finished today, on schedule, and was blessed as I thought back over this past year at how God has used the time each day in His Word to strengthen, encourage and equip me for His work.

I pray that those of you who accepted the challenge finished what you started. If you did I know you where greatly blessed by the Lord. If you have never read through the bible or never done it in a year, I encourage you to do it in 2009.

I also challenge those who accepted the challenge for 2008 to accept a new challenge for 2009. The challenge is this: read a chapter a day in Proverbs for the year. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs. Read them in conjunction with the day of the month: chapter 1 on the first, etc... If there are not 31 days in the month, read chapters 30 and 31 on the 30th of the month. You get the idea. Let me know if you accept the challenge and let's hold each other accountable throughout 2009.

Happy New Year,
Pastor Mike

Christmas 08

We had a great Christmas; it was definitely a "Merry Christmas." Melissa's family has been here, and we have had a great time together. (My Mom and Dad were here last weekend, and we had a great time with them.) The guys got permission to play golf today, so we did. The ladies stayed behind and Cindy and Michelle helped Melissa get a lot of things ready for the arrival of "little" Madaris. Thank you so much.

As we close out this year, 2008, remember that every day is Christmas for the Christian because, every day, we have Jesus living within us. We are, our bodies are, His temple.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Pastor Mike

Christmas: ready or not

The laundry is done, the house is clean, and food is on the stove. Family and friends are on their way. We will laugh, eat, exchange gifts, and celebrate the birth of Savior, Jesus Christ, God the Son.

May you have a very Merry Christmas. Be safe and keep Christ first in your CHRISTmas. We love you.

Mike, Melissa, Morgan and baby Madaris

Tell Me the Story of Jesus

Fanny Crosby wrote that song many years ago. She died in 1915. She was born blind, but man could she see, she crystal clear spiritual vision. As I was trying to work through what God wanted me to preach this morning, being that it is the Sunday before Christmas; He reminded me of that song.

I called my secretary Denise, and asked her to make a copy of the words and put them on my desk (I've had to be out of the office most of the last two weeks making hospital visits). When I got back to the church I began to read through, very carefully, the words to "Tell Me the Story of Jesus.

God began to lay out in my mind a special message for HGBC. I have been sick since Tuesday, but I was anxious for this morning to get here so I could preach. God was faithful, giving me the strength I needed to do what He called me to do. I wish I could redo it for you now, but I can't. We did record it so you can get a copy if you want one, just call the church office. God bless you and have a Merry Christmas.

Serving Him,
Pastor Mike

A Tragedy

Please be praying for a friend of mine, Bart Barber. He and his family were involved in a tragic accident in Texas this past week, where a young man, Nicholas Scroggs, ran in front of his car and was killed. Nicholas was only 14 years old. The funeral services are tomorrow. Please pray for the Barber and Scroggs families. Thank you.

The Nativity Story

You have got to watch this movie before Christmas. I think it will give you a fresh view for this time of year. I showed it to my church last night, and when the movie was over they all began clapping their hands. The moment was awesome and so is the movie.

Time Flies

It's hard to believe that its been almost two weeks since my last post. I don't know where the time has gone. We are gearing up for Christmas, and Morgan is so excited.

It's snowing in places that it normally doesn't snow, and it's snowing alot in a place I love going: SnowShoe Ski Resort. They have already had over 85" of snow this year; they didn't have much more than that all last year. But I doubt I will get to go skiing this year, what? I haven't told you...Melissa is pregnant. Mya/Meagan (we can't make up our minds) will be here sometime around the end of January. I can't wait. I love being Daddy.

I've had a very busy week: there are 6 members of the church in the hospital right now, well at least 5, 1 was suppose to come home Tuesday. I drove alot of miles this week. Morgan got to go on her first visitation with Daddy yesterday. I took her to see some people who are sick, they loved it and so did she. I'll have to do that more often with her, it was nice having her with me like that.

I know that they would appreciate the prayers and I would ask you to pray for Dean Webb. He is my friend Jason Webb's dad. He has been battling leukemia for a while now, but it has gotten extremely worse. He and Mrs. Webb are in Houston for 6 months for special treatment. Pray for them.

God is good! God is faithful.

Sunday

This past Sunday was a great day. We had the privilege of participating in both ordinances of the church: baptism and communion.

We partake of the Lord's Supper on every fifth Sunday, so four times a year we specifically focus on nothing but the cross of Christ and the sacrifice he made as our substitute. I usually take one aspect of the table or one part of the history and teach/preach for a few minutes, them we spend some time examining ourselves (I Cor. 11), and them we take the bread and juice. But I was captivated this past week with the words of Christ: "remember Me." Think about that for a moment, Jesus wants us to do this, and in so doing, remember Him. He wants us to live our lives "remembering Him" in everything we do.

We also got to start our service by baptizing two young people who had recently accepted Christ as their personal Savior. I love starting a service with a baptismal service. One of the two was a young man who was saved as a result of our youth ministry. The other was a young lady who works at Hickory Grove Early Learning Center. One of our church members works there and began a relationship with her, and as a result of that relationship, she began coming to church. She came up to me a few weeks after and told me she wanted to talk with me about accepting Christ. We talked that morning and then that evening in my office (Melissa was with us) she prayed to receive Christ. What a glorious time! I can't wait to see these two begin to grow and serve.

Quick Update

Thanksgiving has come and gone...is that quick enough? Probably not, but it is true. I can't believe that it is December 1, 2008. It can't be, can it? Wasn't it just January a month ago? Seems like it anyway.

It's been an exciting, action packed couple of weeks for us at the Madaris house. The Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving I went hunting in Georgia with Ben Crowdis. Thanks Ben for the trip, and thanks to your parents for putting up with me. I was able to take a doe on Monday morning. I hadn't been in the stand 20 minutes when 5 deer came out: 4 slick-heads and a spike. I watched them for about 25 minutes, and shot the doe at 7:25. Dropped her in her tracks. We hunted that evening and Tuesday morning and didn't see anything else.

Ben and I got home about 3:30 Tuesday afternoon. I got ready and headed to the church to get ready for Thanksgiving service. Let me just say, "It was awesome!" We sang some songs and shared many testimonies of God's faithfulness. My favorite part was several people sharing Scripture passages that had been especially meaningful to them during this year. I also really enjoyed the testimony of Steve Ard. Thanks Steve for being ready and flexible.

Melissa, Morgan and I took my grandparents out to eat Wednesday night for Granny's 91st birthday and for Christmas. We won't be able to travel home for Christmas because Melissa will be to far along in her pregnancy by them. We really enjoyed that as well. I love spending time with Granny and Granddaddy.

Thursday was a rather busy day as you can well imagine. We ate lunch with Brenda Harvey's family again this year, and it was awesome. Good food, good fellowship, what more can you ask for. Morgan was the entertainment for the day, and she performed most excellently. We left there and went to hang out with my family for a few hours. Then we went to Donnie and Karen's for an hour or so. Then back to Aunt Patsy's til about 11pm.

Friday Morgan and I hung out so Melissa could "shop til she dropped," and she almost did. Saturday was awesome as I watched my Florida GATORS lay the smack down on the FSU Creminoles (oops I mean Seminoles). Did my final sermon prep and got ready to preach.

Great memories.