First Time For Everything

Today, after expenses were covered, we raised over $580.00 for a mission project in the Philippines with a 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament at the Westmoreland Baptist Church gymnasium.

None of us who were involved had ever hosted a 3 on 3 Tourney before - and it probably showed. Even so, it was a blessing to see our first (feeble) efforts come to fruition. Thanks to the cherished sponsors (shown here), and the ten teams participating, and our dedicated volunteers, we will be able to bless Pastor Nico Folio and his little church in Manjuoyd, Negros Oriental with a special, one time gift for their most pressing needs.

This project was a "learn by doing" experience, and we thank everyone involved for their patience and cooperation. It's hard to list all of our volunteers for fear of forgetting someone, but I believe they do need to be mentioned. 

Unfortunately we just discovered that one of our sponsors was accidentally left off the shirt due to the printer's error. Dr. Stephen E. Howerton, General Dentistry is a major sponsor of our Sports Ministry, and is a faithful member of our church. We regret this inadvertent error and extend our apology and thanks to Dr. Howerton.  We will do whatever it takes to make it right.

Darrell Clark served as tournament director - assisting in enlisting sponsors and being a registration contact. Darrell set the tournament brackets and helped referee the games. My son, Benji Adkins (a former middle school and high school basketball coach also served as an official for all but the very first game.  Ryan Smith and Mike Cummings were also helpful as referees.

Youth Pastor, Buck Buchanan, took care of online reservations, picked up 70 shirts from the printer, and helped enlist teams. Buck helped with the clock and scoreboard during much of today's action. His wife, Kellie, and Travis Dunkum  also helped with clock operation and scoreboard. As always, Michael Cline was there to do whatever was needed.

Ralph Scarberry planned our one day concession stand menu, and Misty Anderson, Jamie Smith, Alanna Cline, and Jenny McClave helped keep everyone in snacks and hydration.

Angie Morris assisted with check in of teams, collecting entry fees and making sure every participant received a T- Shirt.  Rusty Dillon had designed our publicity poster, and local morning radio show host Tom Roten, allowed Darrell and I to come on his program publicize the event, and he had sons who played on three of the teams entered.

Vinson Middle School Basketball Coach and former Marshall player, Josh Perkey, brought a team and promised to get heavily involved in assisting us next year.  We also thank Bulldog Graphix for their assistance in what is probably their busiest week of the entire year!  A number of our church folks fielded their own teams and therefore did double duty!

Most of all, I thank the players who took part of their Saturday, and paid participation fees to help us in this mission project. We had teams in three divisions going from Middle Schoolers through adults.  I couldn't be more proud of my church for the support and participation of so many of our members - for the sake of the Gospel and assisting others in a distant land.

So, prayerfully there will be a "Second Annual Hoops for Missions" 3 on 3 tournament next year.  We hope to take what we have learned the hard way, to make it bigger and better in 2019.  We will begin planning much earlier, and try to schedule the tourney on a more optimal date.  So, if the Lord allows, we hope to see many more involved in this worthy project next year.

To our sponsors and volunteers - THANK YOU!  You are a blessing!

Another Bump In The Road

It's the thought in the back of every cancer survivor's mind.

What if it comes back?

None of us who have come through life threatening battles with cancer want to even think about going down that road again, but sometimes it happens.  It appears it has happened to me - again.

As most of my friends know, I was diagnosed in December 2004 with Stage 4, "Incurable but hopefully manageable" Colon Cancer. After having surgery to remove 3 1/2 feet of my intestines, I went on a 6 month course of Chemotherapy to kill the tumors that were throughout my liver. A Radio Frequency Ablation burned out the last three and I had the joy of going into remission.

Five months later a routine followup CT scan revealed the cancer had returned in the liver and it was another 6 months of chemo for me. Since the end of that regimen I have remained in remission for nearly 12 years - having periodic scans along the way to keep an eye out for possible recurrence.

I have enjoyed relative good health until the last 8 months or so, when I experienced a 1-2-3-4 punch beginning just before last Christmas. Acute renal failure landed me in the hospital for treatment of that ailment in late December.  While there, I tested positive for the Flu (even though I had taken my yearly Flu shot).  On the heels of recovery from the Flu, I was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive skin cancer known as Merkle Cell Carcinoma on my forehead.  Surgery at the James Cancer Center at the Ohio State University removed the tumor but tests revealed it had metastasized to one of the lymph nodes in my neck. So - 30 radiation treatments were prescribed, and I finished up on those in July.  In the midst of all of that, I was found to have a partial tear in the retina of my right eye! 

Needless to say, it's been a tough few months.  Nothing terrible, but just bumps in the road that we encounter if we hang around this planet long enough. 

Beginning to bounce back from the complications caused by the radiation treatments, I have been looking forward to ramping up my ministry activities.  Plans were in the works for a short term mission trip back to the Philippines and Linda and I have been looking forward to doing some things on our bucket lists. Then, Tuesday, after some routine tests at the local VA Medical Center showed some possible abnormality in my liver, a new CT scan was ordered.

The results indicated "multiple lesions throughout the liver, with characteristics consistent with metastatic Colon Cancer".

So, to use the technical theological term, "Here we go again!" 

Through the Veterans Choice Program, I am being referred back to the Ashland Bellefonte Cancer Center - the place that brought me through this disease twice before.  I'm sure there will be more tests before any course of treatment will be discussed.  So, we have taken a deep breath, shared the information with my church family, and face the future with total dependence on our Heavenly Father.

I write this today, not seeking attention or to ask for pity. This is one of those things that happens to us in this broken world.  I do ask, however, for your prayers.  I am blessed to have a multitude of Christian friends in the U.S. and Canada, and many more who are spread around the world in Europe, Asia and Africa. These are people who know how to get in touch with God.  We often make intercession for one another, and this is one of those times.

Healing is not what I am seeking, as much as I am asking for the measure of Grace that only God can provide, to get us through these "bumps in the road" of life that we are bound to encounter. I ask you to pray for Linda, also as we walk down this road together again.  Healing is naturally what I desire, but I know that my ultimate healing will take place when I one day enter the presence of the Lord.  I don't know what the immediate future holds for me, but I know the One who holds the future, and I'm sure He is going to use this new adventure for my good and for His Glory.

I'm Out of Blogger Purgatory!

I have been languishing in "Blogger Pergatory for the past 21 months. Today, I got sprung!

Those who know me well know that I am nearly functionally illiterate when it comes to technology and all things cyber.  Something happened in late October 2016 that kept me from signing in to this very blog - the one I had used since 2007.  Being unable to sign in, I tried to change my password. That was my first big mistake. The email address that Blogger had on record had been changed twice, but I had never notified them or changed it on my account.  I didn't know how. So now, with a mish-mush of trying to change passwords, correct email addresses, and verifying cell phone numbers , I somehow created two or three new Google accounts. Things went downhill quickly and I ended up hopelessly  lost.  Eventually, after days of trying to dig myself out - and only getting deeper,  I gave up all hope on trying to get back on this blog site. 

So, I attempted to create a new blogger account - but the various Google accounts I had created, the outdated email addresses, and who knows what else I had done, kept me from starting a new account on this platform.

Failing the ability to get into the familiar blogging vehicle, I thought I would try to start a new blog with another provider. Big mistake, and I will spare you the circus that surrounded those attempts.

Finally, today, in my office, with the tireless effort of my Student Ministry Pastor, Buck Buchanan, I am free!  Buck is a normal whizzbang when it comes to all things involving social media and computers in general.  But this one stretched him to unusual limits of frustration.  It took him a good while to untangle it all today, but untangle it, eventually he did!  I am back on "For What It's Worth" and for that, I am happier than a pig in mud.

Just thinking of all I have missed out on in my little corner of the blogosphere over this nearly two year absence is mind numbing to me!  Two SBC annual meetings, local and national politics, sporting events and related stories, ministry experiences, two Christmas seasons, theological issues, a battle with a rare and aggressive skin cancer and other health issues, and most importantly, all of the bragging opportunities on my five phenomenal grandsons - I have had no outlet!

But I am out of "blogger purgatory" now - and with an oiled up keyboard and an itch to express myself (in more than 140 characters) I'm an excited old Pastor - to say the least.

I'm Baaaacccck and I hope you will follow along.

Just help me pray that I don't accidentally misplace my password, inadvertently create any new Google accounts, or change my email address!