Pastor and Sis. Benson's 40th Pastoral Anniversary

After the wedding Friday night and visiting with Jonathan, Brenda, Savanna and Scarlet, Gene and Karla on Saturday at lunch we travelled to Euless for the Sunday Celebration for the Benson's. On Friday night, Bro. Russo preached their 40th Pastoral Anniversary, and Sunday was a continuation of this great celebration.

When we arrived we set up our "home" then went to eat with the McLaughlin's, Benson's, and others who were there to celebrate this milestone. We had a great dinner with everyone and found more "family links" to friends we had known since the 70's. :) I will not go into it all because details can get rather extensive and you might or might not know the people of whom I speak, so I'll just leave it at that. I WILL say, we had a wonderful time "talking" about those we've loved through the years.

Sunday rolled around and I have to say that the services were "heavenly"! God directed my husband to preach two incredible messages and there was a lot accomplished in the Holy Ghost in these "special services".

At the end of the Sunday morning message I went to the keyboard. I asked Jeanine Blake to help me with the "altar service singing", then asked Bro. Kevin Blake (her husband and P.I.M. Representative for UPCI) to sing the third part. We made a good trio! LOL! I laughed afterwards and said, "It's pretty good when you don't even know each other and you can put a trio together at the end of a service...at the altar call!" LOL! We were then asked by Pastor Carl McLaughlin to do "praise and worship" in the evening service singing the "old songs of the past". We had a good time! I found out real fast how "out of shape" my voice is for that kind of singing! It was nice getting to know the Blakes. They are some of our "career missionaries" and I'm sure would bless your church if asked to come and do a P.I.M. Service. He was the MC for Sunday morning service. They use to be at the Benson's as Youth leaders, so they came to celebrate with them. Here they are singing the "glory down"!Bro. and Sis. Benson are some of the finest people I know. I have admired them for many, many years! They started the church in Euless 40 years ago, and have done a marvelous work for the Lord. Their son-in-law and daughter, Carl and Veda McLaughlin are now the Pastor and are working hand in hand with the Benson's. These four make up an awesome team for the church in Euless and you can feel the love and appreciation the saints have for their leaders. Let me say, "If I was needing someone to be my Pastor I could ask either one of these men and their wives and I could trust them with my life!" That's how I deeply I feel about them. We are very comfortable with either one of them being a mentor in the lives of our sons. If one of our sons needed to talk to someone in confidence I would relax knowing they were in "safe hands". "Saints of Euless, you have anointed men of God, and ladies of God in your midst. I know you know it, but let me say from an "outsider looking in"......you are blessed! If you will follow them you will make it through the gates of splendor and will be able to say, "Thank you for leading me to His Throne! I am saved because of YOU!"

Here are a few random pictures from the weekend:

It was cute Sunday when Sis. Benson got embarrassed from all the "attention". Her face actually turned red! The sweet lady sitting next to her is Sis. Mooney. She recently lost her husband and it has been hard on her, so it was good to see her having a moment of joy in the middle of her grief. For those of you who know Bro. Chad Mooney...this is his "sweet grandmother".

The Benson's, being presented with a gift from the church. They are having more "fun" with Sis. Benson! LOL! "Her" gift - A Memory Book "His" gift - a large check...Will he share with his bride? Of course, we all know he will and she might even let him look at "her" book!We were happy to have our friends, Bro. and Sis. V. Arlen Guidroz in service Sunday night. Sis. Guidroz and Sis. Benson having a time of "fellowship".

My husband and Bro. Guidroz had just finished having a good laugh. They may have been laughing at me. Who knows? I don't know, but it was good seeing them "relax".Also, our friends Bro. and Sis. Larry Gandy came. Bro. and Sis. Ford were also part of the celebration. Bro. Ford was the MC for Sunday night service. There were other ministers and wives that could be there on Sunday night and we were so happy that you came. I do not know them all real well, but it was wonderful having you all there! Thank you for coming and enjoying the evening with all of us!

In the office after service I had to have just one more picture.

The men: Bro's. Blake, Elms, Benson, McLaughlin, and Gandy. The "young men": Jonmichael and Blake. There is no way to post every picture I took. But, I am really disappointed that I didn't get ONE PICTURE of Sis. McLaughlin!! She must have been hiding when I had my camera out! :) (not really) I don't know what happened! I just might go steal one of her from her own blog!....what do you think...I think I will...here she is... What a great weekend full of "making memories". I'm thankful we know these wonderful people. Our lives have been enriched by knowing them!

Euless Weekend

We have had a wonderful time here in Euless this weekend. The services have been touched by the presence of God, and there was unity in worship and praise! God is doing great things here and we were happy to be just a tiny part of it this weekend. The praise singing is led by "Jason's Julie", and she is anointed as she plays and sings. It was so good to see them. Jason is one of "our" young men from home and is doing wonderful in the church here! He and Julie got married after several years of him pursuing her, and he finally "caught" her. :) Brandon was here today, also and it was good seeing him.

You will not find any better people than Bro. and Sis. McLaughlin, and Bro. and Sis. Benson (Sis. McLaughlin's parents) Bro. Benson started the church 39 years ago and when he retired, Bro. McLaughlin took the pastorate! What a great team they have made through the years.

One of the beautiful things I saw tonight in church were the McLaughlin's sons, Jonmichael (11 yrs. old?) and Blake (9 yrs. old?) worshipping the Lord. From the very beginning of service they had their hands raised and were in the spirit of worship. It was awesome to watch as they gave praise and glory to God! I love to see our preacher's kids involved in the church. Then there's Jenna...(5 yrs old). She is so cute! Jenna and Alayna are friends, so we had something in common. She HAD to ride with us tonight to the restaurant. I was happy to have her with us. Of course, it made me miss my granddaughters something terrible!

I didn't get a lot of pictures today, but I still wanted to share the few I got.

After a time of prayer before service tonight, I went into the sanctuary to wait for the service to begin. As I was sitting there I watched as people came out of the prayer room. There was an elderly gentleman that walked by, a couple ladies, then my attention was captured by the next two people. It was a mother and young daughter holding hands as they left the prayer room. I thought, "That's one of the things I love about going to church!" Seeing parents teaching their children to love God is so beautiful. Here are a few of my thoughts tonight.

The things "I LOVE about going to church", or I could say...things "I LOVE about being a part of a church" came to mind.

1. God comes and meets with us.

2. I have friends and family there.

3. I have a Pastor who preaches the Word of God, so I can be saved.

4. People really do CARE!

5. There is unconditional love from those around me.

6. We are FAMILY!

7. I feel at "home", when I'm with those who believe Truth!

8. I love good, Apostolic music!

9. I love good, Apostolic, anointed singing!

10. I love the freedom I have to worship and praise the Lord.

I've known these things all of my life, but tonight I was overwhelmed with the awesomeness of being part of "THE CHURCH"! It's just FUN living for God!!! I have always LOVED church, and I'm not about to stop now!

Of course, I didn't even begin to tell all the reasons I LOVE church. That's just a "tidbit" of my heart.

Today

You know...it's nice to be able to live "just one day at a time". There is no way to go back to the "past", and you sure can't go into the "future", so why not just "live today". I have always been the type of person to live in the NOW. Maybe that's why I can't remember what happened "yesterday". :) That's just the way I like it, unless I need to remember something important, then, I have to really "put my mind to it" and figure out...."what was that I needed to remember"?

Today has been a much better day than the last few. Since my "graceful falling" in my motorhome...(how can anyone fall in a motorhome? :)...I am doing FINE. My husband is doing much better with his "poison ivy" attack. As soon as we realized what he had we called the doctor to get a prescription to get this "terrible stuff" under control. If we do not catch it soon enough it will definitely "feel at home" and take over his entire body! How dare it feel so comfortable and invade unmercifully?

Being happy and living life with a positive attitude is not easy for some folks. They always see the "big, bad, ugly", and negative side of situations. Then, there are the folks who just LOVE LIFE no matter what's happening. We have all been around both of these kind of people. How do people go through life always LOOKING for the bad? How does anyone live with them? How can you stay around someone who is always grumbling and complaining? No, I don't have anyone in mind. I'm just thinking and typing. I hope all who read this do not have this problem, but I'm sure there's got to be just one or two in all the "MILLIONS" of people who read my blog that do! :) Did I really just say that? LOL!

The year I turned thirty-four I was talking to my brother on the phone, and with a little "unhappy" sound in my voice I said, "I can't believe I am 34 YEARS OLD today!!!" On the other end of the line I heard Keith say, "Well, that's better than the alternative!" In a way I wanted to jump through the phone and "hit him", of course in a playful way. He always had a way of putting things that made it look like fun. Even if I WAS getting OLD! I love being around people who see the "bright side of life".

My brother-in-law, David, is probably one of the most positive people I have ever been around! I remember a time when he was going through a very trying time, but to talk to him you would have never known it! Thank you David for showing us the "bright side of life".

I don't really know why I'm writing this tonight. I sometimes go off in a direction that I wasn't planning on going. It feels good, so I think I'll keep going.

When we were evangelizing MANY years ago, we were in our motorhome travelling through the Salt Canyon in Arizona. It was HOTTER THAN BLUE BLAZES, as my mother would say, and our motorhome started cutting out. We turned off ALL air conditioners, took the cover off of the engine (inside the motorhome)so my husband could hold the carburetor open, pour gas in it, just to give it enough power to make it to the other side of the canyon! It got up to 120 degrees in the motorhome, and we were doing our best to keep a good attitude. But, when you're an evangelist, and you don't know where you're going to get the money to FIX whatever is wrong, you get a little scared. What if we had to put out THOUSANDS of dollars to keep going? By the time we got to Tommy and Judy Hudson's house we were "fit to be tied"!! When we started telling Bro. Hudson what was going on and all of our "fears", he started LAUGHING about it. We looked at him as if he had lost his mind, and I think it made him laugh harder. After a little while of laughter from him, WE started LAUGHING!!! It might have been a little "hysterical laughter", but I can say it was probably the best thing that could have happened to us. We found out later there was just a tiny pin-hole in the gas line causing air to be where fuel SHOULD have been! We found out real fast that motorhomes do not run on air!!! It was just a "tiny, little, something" that was taking our joy away. We learned a valuable lesson that day from Tommy Hudson. "DON'T TAKE LIFE SO SERIOUSLY!" Thank you, Bro. Hudson!

Oh, I guess I could go on and on about things that happen and people who have helped me see the "brighter side" of life, but I will stop there.

We are in Euless tonight. We arrived here not long ago, and we walked into a beautiful Evangelist Quarters!! We are thankful to the McLaughlin's for a wonderful place to relax. We are looking forward to the weekend services. I know the presence of God will be here to do great things for those in attendance!

My heart is overflowing with the "goodness of our God"! He's a GREAT, BIG, WONDERFUL GOD!