Family and Friends supporting a Great Cause

Here are 2 photos taken at last month's Care Net banquet. Since our firm paid for a table, my daughter Ruth and I got to meet former Governor Mike Huckabee, and get our picture made with him.

Dr. and Mrs. Gary Williams also sat with us, and while I was tracking them down in the Ferrell Center (where the Baylor basketball teams play--Sic 'em Bears!), a Waco Tribune photographer snapped a photo of the 3 of us.

Gary has Today's Family Dental, and I can highly recommend him and his staff. They have been great for our family, handling our children's dental needs with "kid gloves." Gary's wife Sandra helps out at the office, and she also has a scrapbooking business. For those of you who are like I was with a mental image of a dusty scrapbook with pictures and clippings falling out, you need to see the cool digital stuff that Sandra does! It's also nice to have a dentist who prays for you!!

I loved how Care Net director Deborah McGregor inspired us to embrace her vision that within the next few years, abortions will not be needed in our area. Please pray with me that this will be accomplished soon.

Anyway, Gov. Huckabee did a great job. Even though I may not agree with all his positions, he is head and shoulders above almost all other candidates, in terms of his civility, not to mention the fact that he is very articulate. I respect him for those two reasons and many more. I hope I get to play some music with him sometime. For those of you who may not know, he has a weekly TV show on Fox TV, Saturdays at 7 p.m. Central. Again, I respect him because he's not afraid to have guests with differing opinions from his, and he expresses his opinions with civility.

workshop yesterday

Archie Hughes hosted our workshop yesterday. Once again we had great food prepared by Sergio Garcia of El Siete Mares. Rick Caywood also spoke to us about his ministry. I encourage you to partner with his ministry. Sign up for his emails at http://www.rcmcc.org/.



We plan to do a workshop for widows, widowers and those who've been through traumatic divorces on October 1st. Once again Sergio will provide the food, and it will be held at the Waco Chamber of Commerce, 101 South 3rd Street in Waco. Website is http://www.wacochamber.com/. If you haven't seen their new building, you should go take a tour. It's a great facility.



Our workshop in October will be just to minister, not to discuss any specific financial products or services. God repeatedly admonishes us to care for widows and orphans, so this is one way I wanted to serve.



Also at the workshop, everybody got to see a demonstration of Facebook and Twitter. I also showed my book website, http://www.todayswordonmoney.com/, which now contains a link to the radio interview I did about my book with Tim Wildmon at American Family Radio, http://www.afr.net/: http://www.afr.net/index.php?option=com_sermonspeaker&task=singlesermon&id=12333&Itemid=0

Birthdays!

Well my daughter Ruth turns 16 tomorrow. Wow, it seems like just a couple of years ago that I was knocking on doors and building my Edward Jones practice while Anna was enduring the hot summer of 1993 as a pregant lady!

Ruth has been such a blessing, and she seems to have even more of a gift for salesmanship than her dad. She loves the Lord and is seeking His will for her career path. What a blessing each one of our children is. I love trying to observe and discern their gifts and their processes of maturing, so that (I hope) I can give them good advice and share wisdom about how to become Godly adults.

I welcome readers' comments on what works (or doesn't work) when advising children about the "grown-up" world.

Twitter, another Blog, and a new Website

Hi Everyone,

As you can tell by how long it's been since I last posted something, we've been busy! Since last commenting on Facebook, I've also begun to use Twitter. You can follow me at www.twitter.com/TodaysWordMoney. I will probably be adding 2 more Twitter addresses in the near future. My goal for the Twitter accounts is to share the spiritual component of financial problems and solutions.

I'm also in the beginning stages of marketing my new book, Today’s WORD on Money™. The new website for the book is www.todayswordonmoney.com. Also, once you log on to this website, you can go to our new blog, where you can see some excerpts from the book. Or you can visit http://todayswordonmoney.blogspot.com/.

I hope the above information will bless you and your friends and loved ones. (And I hope you all buy the book!)

Best short Christian apologetics piece I have read

I have 2 items to talk about today. #1 is Facebook. I had heard about it for some time, but I had never participated until January. I have re-connected with hundreds of high school, college and workplace friends. I think Boomers are really enjoying Facebook because of these connections, and because their children and grandchildren are using this social networking format. So give it a try and send me a "friend request."

#2: while on Facebook, I became friends with Mark Kelly, who graduated from OBU 4 years after I did. Like me, Mark is a writer. He has written a number of great articles and books. On today's blog entry, I want to focus on his article entitled "Proof Beyond Reasonable Doubt."

Here are the links: http://pbrd.wordpress.com/ or www.pbrd.wordpress.com.

You can read this all in one setting, or take a couple of weeks and read 1 lesson per day, less than 5 minutes each day. You will be blessed, and it will definitely help you as you witness to others!

When words aren't enough

I'm going to paraphrase my understanding of the story behind these 2 pictures, so please accept my apologies if I've missed any important details.

Our pastor told the following story of a church in the UK which is reaching out to the "goth" subculture. When 2 of these young people were asked what Jesus meant to them, they said nothing. One reason they were without words was probably because, up to that point in their lives, they had not experienced much of God's goodness.

They were then asked to paint what they felt about God, and they created these 2 marvelous paintings, which they were then able to describe. The painter of the painting on the left said that Jesus represented peace and calm in the midst of life's turbulence and chaos. The painter of the painting on the right said that the white hands superimposed over the other hands represented how God covers and protects us. Now both of these young people are allowing Jesus to transform them and give them new life. Isn't it amazing how God can use so many different ways to minister to us, based upon our own special gifts, needs, backgrounds and interests?

May we all be open to ministering in ways that may have been previously overlooked, so that all may hear God's Good News.

Hey Everyone. Friday January 23rd, we had a "Lunch and Learn" meeting at Hamilton House, 1521 Austin Ave. It was well attended, and both the food and the information were great!

Han Ashley oversees the preparation of the food. I highly recommend it. It tastes so good that it's hard to believe that it's also so good for you! To get on her mailing list (she serves there every Friday for lunch), email her at TheEpicurean@mac.com. Be sure and tell her I sent you.

Next at our workshop, Homer Owen shared how important it is for our health to drink enough water. Homer has lost 60 pounds since late last summer. His website is www.jacobsspring.com.

Danny Passmore gave us safety tips on how to protect ourselves when we're going to and from our vehicles. See his website for more details: http://www.passmoreselfdefense.com/index_files/Page2053.htm.

We also had some good information on real estate from Steve Wedler. If you'd like to be notified whenever we have another "Lunch and Learn" workshop, email us at info@twmgroupllc.com.

Remember this in 2009 and beyond---

What is GIIC AHM BIAH?

It's an acronym that provides us with an easy way to remember this:

God
Is
In
Control

And
Has
My

Best
Interests
At
Heart

Although many so-called experts would sometimes try to overwhelm us with bad news, let us not forget that God is in control.