# 45, June 6, 2003

ISH Diaper Headquarters
or
the Simpson Household

SSBSC Missionaries Bill and Charlotte Report

"Let it be said once again that River Road Church can definitely crank out the diapers for Interfaith Services of Henrico (ISH). The church family contributed 2,692 diapers and 10 Wal-Mart $10 emergency certificates during its May campaign which will be distributed to needy Henrico County families by ISH through the Henrico County Department of Social Services. The average length of the diapers contributed, when extended, was eighteen inches. If the River Road diapers were extended and lined end-to-end, they would cover a distance of 4,035 feet. How long is 4,035 feet? Well, if you leave the sanctuary of River Road Church and walk up Ridge Road 4,035 feet, you will be able to just about walk into the front door of Tuckahoe Elementary School. Thanks to everyone who made this exhilarating walk possible."

PH Comment: All of us start with diapers and many of us end with diapers, but it does seem rather symbolic that our diaper campaign trail leads us back to elementary school.

Was the Devil Lurking Last Sunday?

Last Sunday morning the wind was blowing with gusto. Just as Brenda and PH were leaving home for the SSBSC, the lights in our house went off and on two times and then went off. Our daughter Elizabeth had gone to church at 9 AM to meet with Reverend Barbara and other children's Sunday School teachers and Reverend Barbara was quoted as saying, "If the lights flicker three times, the power is going off." Reverend Barbara was right. Teacher Bob was able to read his highlighted notes and taught a splendid and illuminating lesson. PH may be in the land of fantasy, but PH got the impression that Teacher Bob covered all of chapter nine. Visionary Dr. Donna explained that the restoration of sight in a man blind from birth would be medically impossible because the man's brain would not be able to interpret what the eyes may see. Apparently the Pharisees agreed with Dr. Donna and could not believe this healing. Thus, they questioned the man twice and even questioned his parents. Either this healing was a true supernatural miracle or a spiritual healing. Take you pick. Then we all arrived in the sanctuary and heard Colorful Carl dazzle us with the ivories. The Youth Choir was outstanding as members of the Chancel Choir were sitting in the audience. Out of the left corner of his eye PH saw Shepsons Sheila and Terry snuggling in their pew with the lights off. When the angelic costumed Chancel Bell Choir assumed formation we were all concerned when Tuckie Paxton fainted. She was helped by all the angels of the Bell Choir, awakened and was able to walk out of the sanctuary. PH later heard the following from Jim Paxton:

"She's doing fine. She has a condition called Cardiac Neuro Syncope. Or as her doctor explained to me 6 yrs ago when he diagnosed it, when her body calls for the heart to beat faster it does the reverse and slows down. She takes Toprol and has it pretty much under control. It is worsened by stale air, being too hot and sudden changes in body position ie.standing up too quickly."

PH Comment: Being in those white snug robes and gloves can be warming. The Bell Choir had just stood up rather quickly and Choir Master Carl can heighten anyone's anxiety. Thus, under these conditions, anyone's heart would be naturally in tackycardia, but Tuckie's heart went into bradycardia. The name of the piece to be ding-donged was "Celebration." To do something while the offering was being collected, Cool Carl suggested a hymn to Calm Chester who announced the number of the hymn, but somehow announced the wrong number. As Lydia Teacher Mary Lib Grizzard later told PH, she turned to the number in the hymnbook, but she heard the piano music of "Faith of Our Fathers," but the words did not match. We got through the hymn and Reverend Doctor "One, Two, and Lastly" Cecil delivered a meaningful sermon from the lesson in portions of John 17. Will we get to John 17 in 2003? Who knows? Not even Teacher Bob knows. Then Reverend Barbara led us in the Lord's Supper and we sang "Blest Be the Tie." PH had a feeling that the Devil was lurking last Sunday, but he/she beat a hasty retreat when the New Covenant and "Blest Be the Tie" resounded throughout the natural light of our sanctuary.

Later in the afternoon the lights came back on and many of us enjoyed Beethoven and Robert Frost on Sunday night.

Social Marathon Is Coming

Mark your calendars for Friday, June 27, for a Donald and Barbara Deer Greeting Party at the Simpson's Household (diapers will be gone) from 8 to 10 PM. On the next day, Saturday, June 28, plan to attend our summer farm social at PH's father's farm in Buckingham County, just across the James River from Scottsville, Virginia. Sign up sheets will be passed on June 15th and 22nd. Directions to the farm will be published in PHA #' 46 and # 47 and will be copied for distribution.

Prayer Rounds

Linda Mears sends a message of thanks:

"Dear Henry, Thank you and the class for your continued prayers for us. I just yesterday had to take Rick back to the ER. He had a focal seizure and his BP was 90/48. He is doing better now and I was able to bring him home. We are so thankful it wasn't another stroke. May God bless you all," Linda

Kathy Wade had a prayer request last week. She wrote::

"Another prayer concern: I have some dear missionary friends with a 4-year-old grandson, Davis William Summers, who had surgery to remove a mass in the right maxillofacial area in January. Biopsies taken at the time of surgery and cultures and tests done following surgery have failed to provide information to make a definite diagnosis. The surgical area has never completely healed and in recent weeks, it was determined that there is another mass. Davis will undergo surgery at a children's hospital in Atlanta, Ga. on Monday morning, June 2. Pray that the surgery will be successful and that the cause for this reoccurring mass can be determined.

Thanks for sharing this,"

KW

On June 3, Kathy forwarded an update on little Davis. The letter is self-explanatory.

"Dear Friends,

Carter and I are so very grateful for your prayers for Davis. Natalie called at 2:45 P.M. to say that they were just leaving the hospital. The surgery went well. The anesthesia also worked well, and the little fellow had a difficult time waking up! He was sedated before going to the operating room, and thus leaving his mommy and daddy was not traumatic. He was calm and very cooperative. The surgeon said following surgery, without today's surgery, the wound would never have healed. She made the incision at the site of the previous one and found lots of infection. There was mass in another lymph node, which was removed. There was a sinus track filled with infection. This, too, was removed and the area debrided. Scar tissue was removed. Tests will be done on samples taken during surgery. The incision was closed, rather than left open with drains, as in the precious surgery. They are to return to the surgeon in ten days. Your prayers have been a comfort and encouragement to Natalie and Robert and also to Carter and me. Each of us are touched by your prayers and words of concern. We know that this entire situation has been under the direct control of God. He is truly our helper and refuge in times of need. Thank you for caring and for praying.

In His love, "

Charlotte

Charlotte J. Davis
Caribbean Basin Regional Office

Missionary Bill reports that Jessica Price-Vaughan is doing better.

"Jessica is doing OK. Her problem has been diagnosed as asthma and she seems to have it under control."

Janet Moyers did well with her surgery. Doug writes:

"Janet came through her surgery well on Friday and got home on Sunday. They were able to save her ovaries, and there was nothing out of the ordinary to report on. I refuse to even ask what they meant by that. In fact, the surgeon only had to make three very small incisions to get the job done. I am avoiding understanding any further detail on this subject as well. Other that being fairly sore, Janet is VERY tired. I am playing carpool driver, Laundromat operator, food reheater (microwaves are a Godsend), and shower supervisor for the next two weeks (in addition to my regular job, whatever that is). You may certainly share this information with the SSBSC (Janet has relaxed the "don't ask - don't tell" rule). We're set on food and help with the kids unless, of course, you and Charlotte would like to take them. We'll need them back once they're married to rich men, Baptist or not, who believe in supporting their in-laws in the style to which such in-laws could easily become accustomed."

In addition to Tuckie Paxton, the Mears Family, young Davis Summers, Jessica Price-Vaughan and Janet Moyers, please keep in your prayers Bernice Jett, Helen Davis, Wayland Andrews, Kim Dodson, Dot and Cecil Sherman, Terry Marsh's parents, Chester's parents, the Manor Bible Study Class, the Church Staff, the Pastor's Search Committee and those only known to you.

Birthdays Abound in Early June

Missionary Bill and Mediator Terry are twenty-nine today. Educators Ed Pruden and Beth Wilson are twenty-nine tomorrow. Beth will soon retire from a long career as an elementary school teacher. It is impossible to even imagine how many lives Beth has touched. Beth must have started teaching at birth. John Price-Vaughan is also a year older (No, No, he is only twenty-one) on Saturday. On Sunday Paula Brown will be twenty-nine and Don Bunn (one of our Don's) will be twenty-nine on next Friday, the 13th. Maybe Dr. Don will start drilling again. Also on next Friday, Anne and Rob James will celebrate forty-four years of marriage. Can any one name the ship on which they met? No, it was not the Andrea Doria.

Educators Honored

Many of the educators in the RRCB Sunday School were treated to a fine dinner at Jimmy's Gallery Café on Wednesday night. Shepsons Bob, Julia, Bill, Charlotte and PH were there. Interim Cecil gave a meaningful message. He explained how often in large churches that small groups are the real caring and ministering groups of the church. The SSBSC has over fifty members and thus we are a small group in a 2200 member church. Yet we really are a group of believers who are priests to each other. Some of us are more vocal than others. Some of us work behind the scenes, often unnoticed. Some of us are learned in a wide variety of areas. But all of us love one another, try to study and follow the teachings of Jesus, and try to do unto the least among us. May God continue to bless the SSBSC and RRCB.

Baptist Readings of Our Times

If you ever have time to read The Spire, the Religious Herald, the Baptist Banner and PHA, you should get a real liberal, moderate, conservative, and radical perception of Baptists.

The lead article in this week's Religious Herald is about the King James Bible. One of the paragraphs in the article reads:

"With its "thees" and "thous," the King James Bible has an immediate, almost impenetrable, air of authority and seriousness. If we could hear God talk, it's almost as if he would surely sound as he does in the King James Bible."

So writes British author Adam Nicolson whose new book is God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible.

If you read the article regarding the division of Baptists in North Carolina in the Baptist Banner, edited by General Pinckney, you will read General Pinckney's editorial comment which is below:

"Editorial Introduction: First, note that the article below is from Associated Baptist Press, the liberal competitor to the SBC Baptist Press. Second, look at the clear differences between the liberal and conservative approaches to cooperation implicit in the article: Throughout the Conservative Resurgence in the SBC, conservative Southern Baptists have maintained that biblical cooperation must stand on mutual acceptance of the Bible as the inerrant, God-breathed Word (Amos 3:3 "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"), that is, doctrine is not only important but primary. On the other hand, just as consistently liberals maintain that doctrine is of secondary importance as long as we cooperate in what we do. Pastor Massey asks, "Is there room for churches that are no longer loyal to the SBC?" Because such churches reject the SBC due to its commitment to the Bible, the answer clearly must be, "Absolutely not!" Let all Southern Baptists pray for our brethren in North Carolina that their November meeting will settle this long-standing question in their state convention. TCP]"

Can anything be more creedal clearer? PH feels that the SBC does not want churches like RRCB, but our money is acceptable.

Now if you closely read the Spire for this week, you will learn that the Discussion Class plans on having a discussion this Sunday on "How Animals Pray." This discussion will be led by Alan Loxterman. If the SSBSC could send one animal messenger to this discussion, PH would nominate Miller and Kitty's Beagle "Joe." Joe is till ailing from an injury from a weapon of mass canine destruction. A little prayer might help Joe and he might get some tips from this discussion. Hopefully Joe would not be influenced by liberal thinking as the King James quotes Jesus as saying in the Sermon on the Mount, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs" and even the Good News Bible states, "Do not give what is holy to the dogs - they will only turn and attack you." (Matthew 7:6) Joe sure could use a prayer or two if he finds himself at a Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia meeting where inerrancy rules.

But if you read PHA, hopefully, you will at least have a smile, a tear, a chuckle or even a serious thought before you finish.

Attached to this PHA is a photo of PH on the roll, trying to get to church on time.

Poor Henry's Archives

May 30, 2003
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