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I hope that this day finds you giving thanks, as you do every day of the year, to the Father of lights (Js 1.17) who always gives good gifts. Isn't it wonderful that every day, for the child of God, is Thanksgiving... or at least should be. As we spend time with our loved ones today we will be reflecting on God's blessings during this difficult year. That sounds funny... blessings during a difficult year. But, it has been a difficult year and there have been innumerable blessings. One of our neatest blessings is that we will be together as a family for the first time since our family has grown to include two sons-in-law and three grandchildren. Fun stuff! And a real blessing with our international family. I pray that as you reflect on God's blessings that you too will be able to rejoice with us in what God is doing in your lives. -- Mike

National Assistance, this seems to be the catch phrase of the year. Every news cast talks about "bailouts". Leaving us wondering about where all of the money will come from. We have been hearing the "Trillion" word a lot lately. So much so that we barely blink anymore. But how much is a trillion dollars? I found this information by doing a Google search and clicked on the first entry on the list: "What's a trillion dollars? A trillion dollars = $1,000,000,000,000.That's 12 zeroes to the left of the decimal point. A trillion is a million million dollars. The U.S. government spends more than the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Australia, China and Spain combined. If you laid one dollar bills end to end, you could make a chain that stretches from earth to the moon and back again 200 times before you ran out of dollar bills! One trillion dollars would stretch nearly from the earth to the sun. It would take a military jet flying at the speed of so...

We don't get as many updates from missionaries in the States. Why? Do they share the Gospel while they are on "Home Assignment?" Good questions and for me the answer is yes. However, the updates might not seem as plentiful as when I am on the field. Why? The answer to this question might seem a bit trite but it is reality. When I'm in Brazil I write my updates without a care in the world. By that I mean that I write rarely thinking about whether or not I am going to put a persons name in the update. I know that there will be few that you will be able to pronounce and the ones that you can pronounce you'll probably never see this side of glory! Now comes the dilemma, while in the States I feel that I need to protect peoples names. To me it seems a bit impersonal but definitely necessary. With this thought in mind I'd like to relate an incident that happened just last week. During an eye exam the optometrist, in casual conversation, asked me if in our line of w...

Do the letters SNR mean anything to you? They didn't to me until Saturday night! We were on our way to visit the good folks at Ambassador Baptist Church in Royal Oak, Michigan. It is one of our supporting churches. Dawn and I had arrived a bit early and so had decided to stop and get a coffee at a nearby McDonald's. We were in Royal Oak for Ambassador's mission conference so we were dressed up in our Sunday duds. In fact I had commented as I left the car, "Ma and Pa Kettle go out for a date!" We entered the restaurant and I asked for a small coffee. Dawn did the same and the young lady at the counter rang up our orders and we sat down to enjoy the few minutes before the evening service. It was then that I noticed our receipt. There were two listings which read: 1SNR coffee.......$.60 Stunned I ask Dawn if she knew what SNR meant? She didn't. I said, "I think that it means 'Senior'". I then asked her how much a "normal" small coffee ...

Do you think that we in the States are putting too much emphasis on Halloween? I couldn't believe this year. Everywhere we went we were being stared at by skulls, ghosts, witches, mummies, and demonic looking creatures of every sort. It was ridiculous and enough to make a child have nightmares for months. Did the scariness of the times warranted such an emphasis? I don't think so. In Brazil there is no Halloween because they still practice the Day of the Dead on November 1 (thus October 31 is all hallow eve). That sad practice has blinded generations to the true fear that they should have towards a Christless eternity. With the godly moorings of our country fading further and further from our perspective we can be assured that the coming Halloweens will be even more strange However, a lot of seemingly scary stuff has happened recently. With the crash of the stock market, the floundering auto industry, and the political climate, it is enough to make the bravest soul tremble. Th...