church

A New Year A New Direction

by michaeltefft

I never make New Year resolutions because as the poet Robert Burns said:

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men  Gang aft agley


I do however often use the New Year as the anchor point for starting off in a new direction in life. This new year marks one of those new directions. As the philosopher Yogi Berra said:


When you come to a fork in the road, take it.


2015 was a tumultuous year for me. I expect for most people life if tumultuous also. There has been the loss due to death of two friends, as well as the loss two days before Christmas of my beloved Golden Retriever Max. Both of my friends succumbed to cancer as well as my companion Max. Since I retired in 2009, Max had been my constant friend and companion. It was heartbreaking for me to watch him not only lose his battle with cancer but to go almost completely blind in the last months. So while the New Year will have its share of mourning, I also have much to be thankful for.


If you have read any of my previous post you might have noticed that I am a Christian. I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior some ten years ago. I have slowly (too slowly) grown in faith in those ten years. I have seen God move mightily in those ten years, especially in the last two years. If you want to hear of some personal testimony let me know as I would love to share my testimony with you.


Our church, Park View Christian Church (DOC) has struggled in the ten years since I became a member. There was a period of over a year when we had no permanent Pastor and our membership dwindled. We struggled as a church to define our mission and our relationship with the community. But God chose to bless Park View in the last year through many ways. We were blessed to have a new Pastor, Tim Campbell, as our permanent Pastor. He answered the call of God to serve our church and community. He did this despite knowing the circumstances that were facing Park View. We could not offer him much in the way of monetary compensation and from his research about our church had learned that most local ministers had written off Park View as a church that was certain to fail.


But Pastor Tim answered Gods call nonetheless as he knew that God had great plans for our church and our community. And in one year Gods plans have been made manifest in many ways. Our membership has increased by fourteen new members. Before Pastor Tim answered Gods call Park View only had forty plus members on the roll and average Sunday attendance was only twenty to thirty.


Our community outreach has grown tremendously. We have embarked on several new outreaches, including Paint Your Heart Out, Stop Hunger Now, pizza and movie night, a diaper drive, donations for an orphanage in India, mission work in Cambodia, Wednesday evening Bible Study, and more. Our stewardship drive this year showed a 29% increase from last year. Great things are happening at Park View for the Glory of God.


All of this has affected me personally in many ways. I have devoted far more time to reading Scripture, devotional and meditation time, more prayer time, and serving my community in more ways. I have agreed to help the Sanctuary of Hope and Bishop Frank Allen with their mission and outreach programs. I have attended Wednesday Bible study and teach a Bible study class Sunday mornings.


In short, the new path my life will be taking this year will be a spiritual one. Many of the old things I used to devote my time to have been put away. This doesn’t mean that I will become a Monk cloistered in a monastery. But it does mean that more of what I will be blogging about in the blog will be of a spiritual nature. I hope you will be OK with that.


Have a Blessed New Year!

Advent

by michaeltefft

It has been a busy December for me. So busy that I have been remiss in posting anything. Time to make up for that. As a Christian, Advent is a special time for me. It is a time of preparation for Christmas. Christians prepare for celebrating the birth of Jesus by remembering the longing of the Jews for a Messiah. In Advent, we’re reminded of how much we ourselves also need a Savior, and we look forward to our Savior’s second coming even as we prepare to celebrate his first coming at Christmas.

Our church prepares for Christmas by decorating the Narthex and Sanctuary, as well as the entire church. We put up two Christmas trees, one traditionally decorated, the other decorated with Chrismons. Every Sunday of Advent a candle is lit in the Advent Wreath, with the central, white candle being lit on Christmas Eve.

Advent is also a time for community outreach. Our church participates in Operation Christmas Shoe Box and Operation Santa Claus. Operation Santa Claus provides gifts for children in foster homes while Operation Christmas Shoe Box provides a shoe box of gifts for needy children worldwide. We also participated in a program that packaged 40,000 meals for distribution all over the country.

As for myself, I have been busy doing the other things that fill my day. Reading, photography, church work (I am the treasurer among other hats I wear), traveling around, and shooting. Yes I cling to my guns and Bible. Just kidding.

The only down note is my beloved Golden Retriever Max has been sick. He turned 12 years old in November and has been diagnosed with liver cancer. He has been on chemotherapy and Prednisone for some time now and although he seems to be holding up remarkably well, his eyesight is failing. It is probably a combination of the drugs and the cancer but the vets aren’t sure. It is agonizing to watch your pet slowly go blind and not be able to do all the things we used to enjoy doing together. He is being treated for the blindness but the prognosis is unknown.

I will leave you with some photos to document recent events in my life. But before I go I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holiday, or whatever you celebrate during this time of the year.

God Bless you Richly

 

 

Fall is here and so is a Hurricane

by michaeltefft

Fall has arrived and with it it is bringing a lot of rain and maybe a visit from Hurricane Joaquin. For the last week we have had endless rain and the ground is now saturated. If Hurricane Joaquin passes nearby, we are assured of 10+ more inches of rain and tropical force winds. Heavily saturated ground with high winds equals trees and power lines down. Not anticipating a fun weekend. Being that I have been through many hurricanes in my life this is nothing new and we are as prepared as we can be. At least I hope to get some interesting photos and videos of the storm which I will post as soon as I can.

As for the other aspects of Fall, the weather is cooling, the leaves are changing colors and falling, and there have been lots of festivals. I am looking forward to all things pumpkin, along with lots of hot cocoa. Our church is having its Fall Bazaar this Sunday and as a part of that we cook and prepare over 400 quarts of Brunswick stew for sale. It is a LOT of work but we always manage to pull it off and everyone enjoys the fellowship. While I can’t give you the exact recipe for the stew (Top Secret), I can give you a list of the ingredients, except for the spices used. (Top Secret).

  • Chicken
  • White Potatoes
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Onions
  • Celery
  • Corn
  • Lima Beans
  • Tomato Sauce
  • Chicken Stock
  • Bullion cubes
  • Worcester Sauce
  • Water
  • Fatback
  • Butter
  • Top Secret spices

We cook it outside in large pots with wooden paddles over propane burners. It takes 6-7 hours to cook enough batches to fill all the orders. That does not count the pre-cooking of the chicken, peeling and chopping of vegetable, etc. At $7.00 a quart it is a great deal. Wish you could stop by and try some. Now if only Hurricane Joaquin will go away…

Vacation Bible School

by michaeltefft

Our church is holding Vacation Bible School this week. Today is the last day and so far it has been a great success. We have  had well over 20 children every night and they have had a great time while learning about God. The volunteers who put together VBS did a fantastic job this year, as they do every year. I have never seen a happier group of children. The theme for this years VBS was ‘G-Force- Gods love in Action’.

vbs-theme

 

 

 

 

 

We had lots of music, outdoor activities, group crafts and storytelling. And lets not forget the great themed snacks the children enjoyed. The best way I can describe how great VBS is is with pictures. So I will finish with a few pictures I took with my new camera and lens. God is Great!

 

 

Summer is fading

by michaeltefft

Three more weeks until Labor Day. I hope to make the best of them. The weather has been nice, with the temperatures in the 80’s and the humidity down. I have spent a lot of time in the pool or on the back deck enjoying the day. Life has been good. Our church had three baptisms and five new members. Another church used our bapistry to baptize four people. God is great! Our Vacation Bible School starts Monday and we are hoping for 30 children or more. Our new Pastor will be holding an adult Bible school. Our new Pastor has been great since he answered the call. His sermons are great and if you want to hear them go to our website at Park View Christian Church (DOC).

I took a short trip to Suffolk to visit the Cedar Hill Cemetery.  This 32 acre expanse of hilly terrain and ancient cedar trees has many stories to reveal. Also home to one of Suffolk’s official Virginia Civil War Trail sites, The Confederate Monument. There are an amazing number of unique headstones and grave markers. A lot of the graves date back centuries. It is the most beautiful cemetery I have ever visited. My reason for visiting the cemetery was to view and photograph some of the more famous grave sites. The cemetery is so big I will have to go back another day to see it all.

I am still exploring the capabilities of my new Sony a6000 camera. I bought a book covering all the capabilities of this amazing camera, and it is quite a long book. It is amazing how much capability they can put into such a small camera. I am thinking of getting another lens for it, but am not sure whether to buy a fast 50mm lens or a telephoto lens. Currently I am leaning towards the telephoto. I will be taking a photography class this month or next taught by a professional photographer friend of mine. It will cover sunrise, sunset photography. She is an amazing photographer and I expect I will learn quite a bit from her.

That is about it for now. Have a blessed day and enjoy the summer, or what’s left of it.

Summertime and the livings easy (sometimes)

by michaeltefft

Yes, it is almost officially Summer, although as far as the weather is concerned it is already here. First a quick update on my dog Max. He has started his chemotherapy and is doing very well. No side effects from the chemo and after blood work and a physical yesterday the vet says his liver is normal sized now and his albumen levels are going back to normal. Max himself seems just like his old self, active, and eating and drinking well. God is truly amazing!

I have been having severe back spasms for a week now, some of the worst I have ever had. But thankfully it seems to be calming down some now. I hate it when I don’t feel my normal self. Our new Pastor is doing a great job and we have had several new families become members. It is great to be able to minister to new people and help and watch as they grow in faith.  As I have been going to the gym pretty regularly, my energy level is up and I am sleeping much better. I hope to be much more active this summer. I hope to take a few short trips and get to the beach, etc.

My new Meizu MX4 phone is a joy, especially when it come to taking photos. I also received my Zidoo X9 Android TV box and am likewise enjoying it. One nice feature it has is an HDMI input so that I can connect by Blu Ray player to it. Been reading several books as that is one of my main forms of entertainment in the summer. I have also realized that the library has a great collection of Blu Ray and DVD movies to rent. That is really cutting down on the movies I am renting from Amazon.

I have engaged a Realtor and have been looking at several house to buy. I have found two that I love although one is out in the middle of nowhere and too far from church. I am not ready to move yet but it is nice to know what you can get for what you can afford.

That’s it for now. Everyone enjoy your summer. God Bless you and keep you./

Zidoo X9
Zidoo X9

May Day

by michaeltefft

It is a rainy May Day here in Chesapeake. Don’t know what I will do with the day yet other than go to the gym. I have a couple of good books to read, one being Holy Fire by R.T. Kendall. I have been pretty busy at Church. Yesterday I went out with our Board Chairperson and her husband to buy a new TV for the Sunday School/Nursery. We ended up with a 42″ Sharp LED model. It was on sale for $399 which was a good deal. We also bought a new blu-ray DVD player to go with it. The equipment we currently have is very old and outdated. Hopefully the kids will enjoy it. The DVD player even allows streaming media so that is a bonus.

Our planned family picnic was cancelled due to lack of interest. Everyone seemed to have something else to do. I was very disappointed. I was really looking forward to seeing my son. We had planned on going to a Norfolk Tides ballgame but the weather put a stop to that. He has told me he will find something soon for us to do together.

The rioting in Baltimore has been very disturbing. Baltimore is not all that far from where we live. There has even been concern of possible protests/rioting in Portsmouth, a stones throw from us, over the recent killings of two black men by the Portsmouth police. Hopefully it will all be resolved peacefully.

I am writing this post on my new laptop, which is turning out to be a nice machine. I am also using it at Church for our PowerPoint presentations as well as my Bible Study class. Now back to my devotions and trying to figure out what to do with the rest of this rainy but beautiful day. I hope everyone has a nice, peaceful, May Day.

God Bless


Garden

 

Spring Things

by michaeltefft

Spring is here. No more snow, the flowers are blooming, the bees and butterfly’s are flying, the pollen is in the air, and the days are warmer. Winter wasn’t all that bad, except for some really cold weather and some snow storms. Now that I am able to get out of the house more often I have been busier than during the winter. I have been going to the gym more often, and taking more walks with Max.

Easter season has been busy with an egg hunt for the kids, our 65 annual Maundy Thursday service, Pizza/Movie night, and Easter Sunday Service. I have also become addicted to college basketball. A friend of mine who is an ODU season ticket holder took me to two ODU Monarch basketball games at the Ted Constance Convocation Center and now I am hooked on college ball. I watched almost every game during March Madness using either the ESPN app or the NCAA March Madness app. I was hoping for Wisconsin to take it all but at least they beat Kentucky.

Baseball season is almost upon us and I hope to take in at least a few Norfolk Tides games. We are having our annual family picnic at Woodstock Park in Virginia Beach April 26th. I am looking forward to seeing all my family members. The family has been constantly growing and we have become quite a clan.

On the tech. front, I bought a new HP Stream 13 laptop from Best Buy. It has a 13 inch touch screen, 2 GB of RAM, a 32 GB SSD, card reader, USB ports, and HDMI out port. It is running Windows 8.1. So far so good. I also bought a Netgear Range Extender to extend the range of coverage for our WiFi. It works amazingly well. Did I mention I bought a Raspberry Pi Model B to play around with? I also have a new wrist watch from Fossil. I love it.

Well, enough for now. I think it is going to be a great Spring. I’m getting refunds on my State and Federal taxes, my Social Security is coming in now, and I am on Medicare and a new medical plan with Aetna Blue Cross Blue Shield. All is well.

God is good all the time and all the time God is good.

P50207-203034 P50207-201518

 

Cooking Brunswick Stew

by michaeltefft

Twice a year our church prepares and cooks Brunswick stew. The proceeds from the sale of the stew go to the Christian Women’s Fellowship where it is then spent on various church activities and community services. The preparation and cooking of the stew is an all-hands, labor intensive effort while at the same time providing fellowship and community outreach. Our Brunswick stew is a best seller and we always sell out. On average we make about 300 quarts for sale in the Spring and even more for the Fall Bazaar and lunch.

The actual preparation, cooking, canning, and sale of the stew is a two day effort. That does not count the time spent shopping for the needed ingredients, advertising, and planning. On the first day the chicken is cooked and then the meat is shredded from the chicken. At the same time, the onions, celery, and potatoes are prepared and diced. The other ingredients have already been purchased and readied.

The list of ingredients is as follows:

  • Cooked, shredded chicken
  • Cooked, diced potatoes
  • Onions
  • Celery
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Crushed Tomatoes
  • Corn
  • Lima Beans
  • Butter
  • Worcester sauce
  • Bullion cubes
  • Assorted spices (secret)
  • Chicken stock
  • Bacon, bacon grease
  • Water

Following a very specific order the various ingredients are added to two very large aluminum pots where the stew is cooked over propane burners, being stirred by a team of stirrers using large wooden stirring paddles. This is the most laborious part of the operation. The exact proportion of each ingredient is added in order and cooked to the head cooks specifications. It generally take 10 complete pots to make enough stew to fill the 300 quarts.

The finished stew is them measured into quart mason jars by another team. Sales and pickup of pre-orders takes place as soon as the first batch is complete. This usually takes from 6 am to Noon to complete, not counting final cleanup.

All in all it is a lot of work but well worth it. Everyone has a good time doing it and the proceeds all go to good causes. So tomorrow morning I will be at church at 6 am doing my part. I already helped with the chopping of the celery and potatoes earlier today. We are hoping for good weather for the outdoor cooking.

So if you ever want some really good, homemade Brunswick Stew, give us a call. All the stew for the Spring sale is sold but we will be taking order in the Fall. Our Church is

Park View Christian Church (DOC).

Everyone have a Blessed Day.

 

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

by michaeltefft

NativityChristmas if my favorite holiday and Advent is my favorite time of the year. As a child it was all about Santa, the Christmas tree, decorations, cookies, and the anticipation of Christmas Day and presents. It really was hard to sleep Christmas Eve as the excitement and anticipation was more than a child could handle.

Over the years Christmas has become less about presents, Santa is gone, and my son is all grown up. Now Christmas is more about family and the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I still enjoy decorating the tree, the food, and I wouldn’t mind getting a present or two. My family has grown in some ways and shrunk in others. My Grandparents, Mother, Father, and most of my Aunts and Uncles are gone. But my brothers, my son, and my Church family have made Christmas as joyous as it was when I was a small child. But the biggest joy of the Advent Season and Christmas is God and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As a child, Jesus was not on my mind during Christmas. There was only Santa, presents, and my family. But today, I have so much more to be grateful for. Looking back over the many Christmases of my life, I can truly say that I have been blessed each time with so much love and happiness. I pray that you and your family will experience the same joy and happiness that I feel every Christmas. Just as long as you remember the real reason for the season, all your Christmases will be joyful, no matter your circumstances.

Merry Christmas and A Blessed New Year to all…

Now if only it would snow.