Three Recent Speaking Engagements

On Monday December 11 I provided training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for counselors at The Counseling Center in Portsmouth Ohio. On December 12 I spoke for Pat Chambers at a holiday luncheon at St Mary’s Hospital. On December 18 I provide consultation focused on the clinical application of CBT for Kindred Spirits near Lucasville Ohio. I thank God for these opportunities to speak at other places. The people are great and I love it!

Allen Meadows in the Christian Chronicle

The Christian Chronicle featured the story about Allen Meadows and his friends from the 1971 Young Thundering Herd. Bobby Ross Jr. writes … “On a recent Sunday, the Young Thundering Herd came to church. In town to see a premiere of the new Warner Bros. movie We Are Marshall, more than 30 players and coaches from the 1971 Marshall University football team received a heroes’ welcome at the Norway Avenue church in Huntington, W.Va.“Your story is going to be told all over the world, and millions of people will be inspired,” minister Jeff Garrett told the special guests in a sermon titled “The Hall of Faith.”

You can read the rest of the article by clicking on this link – http://www.christianchronicle.org/

We are Marshall – The 1971 Young Thundering Herd Came to Norway Ave Church

Allen and Jeanie Meadows invited the 1971 Young Thundering Herd football players to our church on Sunday (December 10). It was fantastic! At 8:30 Allen led a memorial service in the cemetery across the street from our church building. Several people spoke at the memorial service including Head Coach Jack Lengyel and quarterback Reggie Oliver spoke. At 9:30 we had for coffee and refreshments for the team, church and community. This was followed by a worship assembly. Our assembly was filled with the presence of God in a unique way. The Holy Spirit moved us and Jesus Christ was praised. I preached a sermon from Hebrews 11 called “The Hall of Faith.” You can download the podcast of the service from itunes – just type in “Norway Avenue Church of Christ” and click on the free subscription. The Young Thundering Herd received two standing ovations during our assembly. They signed autographs afterwards. The community came, school administrators from Marshall came, we had to shuttle people from other parking lots (the bank and HIMG because our lot was packed). Newspaper reporters and television reporters were present. It was a great weekend. I thank God and give him praise! I thank Allen and Jeanie for there hard work and making it possible.

1971 Young Thundering Herd at Norway Ave This Sunday

The 1971 Young Thundering Herd football team will be at our church this Sunday. Allen and Jeanie Meadows contacted the players and they responded. They are coming to our church this Sunday – a total of 47 with family members. We’re so excited! We are having a breakfast for so that the community can meet the real stars – the original players who rebuilt the Marshall University Football Program. This is two days before the premier. After the social at 9:30 we are having a worship service and I will be preaching “The Hall of Faith” from Hebrews 11. I pray that everything goes great and that Christ is glorified.

I killed a 4 point buck in WV

I killed a 4 point buck yesterday in Mason County WV. I hunted with Bob Mays Sr. – my brother-in-law’s dad. It reminded me of hunting with my father.

Dad taught me how to hunt when I was a little boy. We spent a lot of time in the woods together. I can remember hunting with him like it was yesterday. One time dad and I went to Mason County and we both killed a deer the same day. We tracked dad’s deer for 3 hours. We loaded our deer in his pickup and drove to Bob’s house. I took a video of Dad – we still have it somewhere. I’m going to look for it so I can watch it again. It was a great hunt and it was on the same farm (Bob’s farm) that I was hunting on yesterday. As I walked the trails I remembered walking with dad. Those are great memories.

Dad was such a good man. He loved mom, Jeanie, Susan and me. He loved Allen, Bob, Kim and all of his grandchildren. He loved us all and we are grateful for him. Dad died November 23, 2000. He’s been in heaven six years (earth time). We will see him again when Jesus takes us to heaven.

Hunting with Bob Sr. makes me think of dad. Bob Sr. is such a good Christian man and I enjoy spending time with him. We are going to hunt on 4-mile in Ohio next Monday.

Headed for Seattle Washington

I’m headed for Seattle Washington to meet with Jim Henderson, author of “aka lost”. I had originally planned to see him at a workshop in Holland MI but the seminar was cancel. Fred Peatros is Jim’s friend. Fred wrote Jim and asked him to meet with me. Thank you Fred!

Speaking at the Pike County Recovery Council

Last Friday I did another training for the counselors at the Pike County Recovery Council. This was my sixth training in Pike County Ohio. I am teaching counselors how to use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to treat addiction, mood disorders and a variety of emotional and behavioral problems in outpatient treatment. The counselors are doing great work, applying the principles of CBT. We are doing a year-long outcome study of treatment effectiveness using three standardized measures. I love working with them.

By the grace of God I now have four years of sobriety.

By the grace of God I now have four years of sobriety. My sobriety date is October 19, 2002. I thank God for saving my life. I am so thankful that Kim stayed with me. She loved me when I was unlovable. She stayed with me and I am so thankful and I love her. We have three wonderful daughters that are happy and healthy. I’m so thankful for them. I love them. I thank God for my mom and Jeanie and Susan and all my family. I so thankful to be serving as a minister at Norway Avenue. The Christians at Norway Avenue are wonderful. I thought I had totally disqualified myself but God’s grace covered me and people forgave me. God has opened many doors for me. If you could have seen me four years ago you wouldn’t believe it. God did a miracle in my life and I give him praise. God saved me. I thank God for AA and my sponsors and all my friends in AA. I am most thankful for my Lord Jesus Christ.

You Can’t Grill It Until You Kill It

I love to hunt. I grew up in the WV hills. When I was a kid I played in the mountains and creeks. Swinging on grape vines, riding down trees, building a cabin, and damming up a stream. Fishing in the summer time, hunting in the fall, me and family we all had a ball, in the country (I may put that to music some day).

I learned to hunt when I was a boy. It’s stayed with me. I love to be in the woods. It was my day off and I stayed in the woods all day. Well, I did come out to eat lunch but I went right back.

I killed a deer today. I killed another deer two days ago (last Saturday). I killed one in September on a land damage permit. God gave me three deer and it’s only the first two weeks of 2006 deer season. I thank God for the thrill of the hunt and the meat. I eat what I kill. Tonight I grilled deer tenderloins and deer hamburger.

I read the two scriptures below with fresh eyes this evening.

Genesis 9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

Acts 11:6 I [Peter] looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts … 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

As Ted Nugent says “You can’t grill it until you kill it.”

Dreams

I dreamed about deer hunting last night. It was so vivid and real. I was hunting that big buck I’ve been hunting for two years. I saw him in my dream last night. I’ve seen him twice while awake (in real life). He is huge, a monster moose of a deer. And now I’m dreaming about that buck. I can’t get out in the woods to hunt him because of my schedule. So I’m dreaming about hunting him. Weird, isn’t it.

In the Bible God spoke to people in dreams. God spoke to Abimelech, Jacob, Joseph, Gideon’s friend, Samuel, Solomon, Daniel, and Joseph in dreams. God can still speak to people in dreams but I don’t believe my dream is a message from God. It’s simply my desire to hunt deer.

I think about it a lot. My feeder and bow are in my garage. Three hundred pounds of corn are in my trunk. I just can’t find the time to get out in the woods. So I think about it while I’m working and even while I’m sleeping.

We dream every night. It’s one of five stages of sleep. We don’t always remember our dreams but we always dream (if we sleep well). I believe dreams are an attempt to resolve some thing i.e., a problem, a thought, a desire, a preoccupation. We think about it even when we are unconscious. That’s probably what happened to me last night. I’m preoccupied with a sport that I can’t enjoy right now. So I just think about it. This cooler weather makes me want to rub my head against a tree or something. I want to hunt and until I actually get out in the woods I’ll dream about it.