GRATITUDE

I am ever grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing in Anniston, Alabama. Although I miss my beloved Yup'ik brethren daily, I recognize God's sovereign grace and hand of providence upon every one of us; and Lisa and I know, without a doubt, that Sovereign Grace Baptist Church is where He called us to be for this season of our lives. Time certainly flies and it hardly feels like four months as already passed since coming to Anniston. We are so grateful to the Lord for your love, prayers, and encouragement. Thank you.

MISSIONARIES

We are tremendously blessed to have Brother John Hunter, and wife Kathy, back with us after 15 months in Guyana. All the work that God has done through them in such a short time is truly amazing. I encourage you to check out our website, http://sgbcanniston.wordpress.com/, for links to John and Kathy's blog, as well as the websites and web logs of other missionaries we support.

ALS

Everything is in God's sovereign control. That's the wonderful comfort of walking in His marvelous grace. Since being in Alabama, I have been seen very quickly by the Neurology Department at the Birmingham VA Hospital. There has been a repeat of all the tests I had taken in the past: MRI, NCV, EMG, extensive blood tests, and standard neurological examinations. We'll just have to wait and see what happens next.

Although my symptoms have increased, it has progressed very slowly; and that may be the reason why an official diagnosis has not yet come. In fact, someone emailed me with the comment that I sound very strong when preaching the Word. As you all know, from seeing me in the pulpit and as I get around, although I may be weak in body at times, by God's grace, He has allowed me to be strong of voice, and steadfast in His Word.

For encouragement through suffering and affliction, check out my weblog, Our Light Affliction.

DRIVING TO ANNISTON

My flight out of Atlanta on May 26th was wonderful. I flew First Class for the first time in my life through the gift of a dear, dear friend. I arrived in Ontario, California at 2:10 pm and was picked up by the same dear friend that got me my ticket.

Arriving at the house in Moreno Valley, where my family had been living for nearly a year, was a pretty neat thing because the grandbabies were there. Little Melissa had her 2nd birthday in late March while I was in Alabama. She only said a few words when I left California in late January, but she was talking a mile a minute now. She remembered me and couldn't stop talking to me.

The plan is to have our belongings picked up on May 27th, clear and clean the house on May 28th, turn over the keys of the house on May 29th, and be on the road that day.

We will travel using the northern route on Interstate 70 rather than the very, very, very hot southern route on Interstate 20 (the route I took when driving to Anniston in January). I have been invited to preach at Elm Avenue Baptist Church in Grand Junction, Colorado on May 31st. We may also have the opportunity to stop in to see Brother Lawrence Justice in Kansas, and possibly Brothers Holmes Moore and Tom Henry in St. Louis. We hope to be in Anniston by Friday, June 5th or Saturday, June 6th at the very latest.

Lisa and Rachel are excited to see all of you and can't wait to get to their new home.

CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOR

As many of you, if not all, are already using the booklets containing C. H. Spurgeon's A Puritan Catechism and R. M. McCheyne's Daily Bread, the Lord has laid upon my heart to provide another resource for our growth in grace: John Bunyan's CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOR. I'm making booklets available for the congregation, but it is also freely available on the Internet as an e-Book in pdf format (using Adobe reader). We have also made it available through I-Proclaim.com as a 66-page printed paperback.

ESSENTIAL SPURGEON

Although it has been available as a free e-Book on SermonAudio.com for several months, my book, Essential Spurgeon for Today's Reformed Pastor, has been made available through I-Proclaim.com as a 304-page printed paperback. Many people like to read from the printed page in a book rather than strain their eyes reading from a computer screen.

WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

Someone asked me once, "If you could only have your Bible and ten other books in your library, which ones would you choose?" Well, for me, the top 5 was easy. Here they are in no particular order of importance:

1. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
2. Christian Behaviour by John Bunyan
3. All of Grace by Charles Spurgeon
4. A Puritan Catechism compiled by Charles Spurgeon
5. Daily Bread by Robert Murray M'Cheyne

And if I could only have 3 of those above, for my family's sake, as well as the congregation's, I'd have to say, (1) Christian Behavior; (2) A Puritan Catechism; and (3) Daily Bread. In order to round out the 10, I had to think upon it for a moment, but my secondary 5 would be:

6. Old Testament Scriptures in Hebrew (& Chaldean)
7. New Testament Scriptures in Greek
8. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
9. Hebrew Lexicon
10. Greek Lexicon