I was up at 5 am on Friday. I had my quiet time, fixed a light breakfast for myself, prepared breakfast for Mrs. Gray, and then 4 miles on the treadmill! I worked on some new chapters and placed my luggage in the car for an 11 hour trip to Murfreesboro, Tn., to visit my mom and to preach for my good friend Pastor Dusty Ray. I left the house at 8:15. I was told by my nutritionist to drink 32 oz of water before noon and the finish another 32 by night fall. You got to be kidding me? I stopped every 30 minutes! I tell you this had better work and there had better be some results when I climb on those scales next Thursday? It’s hard enough growing older without this added pain!
I arrived about 9 pm on Friday night and went straight to my motel and crashed. I called my sister-in-law Ronnie and told her I would be there some time in the morning to visit with mama and to be sure and tell her. Mama can’t hear very well but she can still speak well! Ha!
I was up at 5:30 am, had my quiet time, walked 4 miles on the treadmill, and ate a light breakfast. I then went to meet with Dr. Shelton Smith, Editor of THE SWORD OF THE LORD, at 8 am and he wanted to go eat breakfast. You would be so proud of me I only had a small cup of coffee. Dr. Smith is allergic to eggs and so he ordered an Egg McMuffin without the egg. Yes for real! He took me to a very fancy restaurant with an arch out front! Ha! He is really a tight wad you know! Ha! We then went back to his conference room and we talked about my books.
I then went to see mama. She is living with my younger brother Jerry and his dear wife Ronnie. What a wonderful thing to know that your mother is well taken care of by family! She was the greatest mother in world!
Tomorrow I will be preaching at the Heartland Baptist Church of Murfreesboro, Tn. Pastor Ray is doing a good job and I am looking forward to being with him. I will be preaching both morning and evening.
This past week has been a great week of soul winning. I have been able to lead 7 to the Lord and 3 have promised to come to church tomorrow. In 2009 the Lord allowed me to lead 506 precious souls to Christ with 153 of those following the Lord in baptism. Since 1980 ending with December 31 of 2009, God has graciously allowed me to lead 14,957 souls to Christ with 4,399 of those following the Lord in baptism. I have been able to preach 25,585 sermons in every state of the union, except North Dakota, and 17 foreign countries. Will somebody in North Dakota please schedule me? Ha! Just make it in the summer time ok! Gotta love soul winning!