Our New Church Pastor

We at Fellowship Baptist Church in Longview, Texas, are blessed with a new pastor.

Galen Herrington and his wife, Angie, and son, Luke, joined us in mid-December, 2009.  Galen was a US Army Chaplain, serving at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, when our church called him to shepherd us.  Galen previously served overseas as a Chaplain in Iraq.

He and his wife have been such a blessing in our church. Galen doesn’t preach to us; he talks to us. His sermons touch our hearts and it is obvious that he is a man after God’s own heart. Everything he does is for the furtherance of the Gospel.

His wife, Angie, has taken over maintenance of our church website and is in the process of updating it at:

http://www.fellowshipbaptistlongview.com/index.html

We hope if you are in the East Texas area, you will visit us at 1818 Springhill Road in Longview, Texas.  Sunday School for all ages is at 9:15 a.m. Sunday morning services follow at 10:30 a.m. Sunday evening services are at 6:00 p.m.   Wednesday evening Prayer Meeting, Youth Group, Mission Friends, Royal Ambassadors, and Girls’ Auxiliary all meet Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.  Additionally, there are various other ministries, including Study Groups throughout the week and a special service for teens and young people every other Saturday night.  Come visit us.

Today is Inauguration Day, 2009

Today is Inauguration Day, 2009, and as I watched the comings, goings, and finally the Oath of Office on television, I was struck by one unarguable fact:

Today’s ceremonies showed, once again, that the United States is among the few countries on Earth which regularly changes its leaders peacefully and as a matter of course, according to its laws.

Whether you voted for the new President or not (and I did not), I hope you will do as I have done: wish him well and pray for Godly leadership for him and for guidance in his tenure in the White House, and most of all, pray for our beloved Nation.

May God bless us all and may God bless our Nation.

Phone call from granddaughter, “Re”

I haven’t been here in quite awhile, not since our kitty, Maggie May, died on December 12, 2008.  That is FAR too long! In 2009, I am going to post more often.

I got a cool telephone call last night, just before midnight.  My oldest granddaughter, Marie “Re” Lianne called me out of the blue!  We talked for about 45 minutes, just catching up on “stuff.” It was great hearing from her. You can check out her Weblog in the Links section on the right.  She’s a freshman at George Mason University and a terrific young woman! I’m very proud of her, as I am all of my grandchildren.

Thanks, Re, for the call. Phone me anytime!

Our Kitty Died Today

Our youngest cat, Maggie May, a six and a half year old solid black longhair, died in our arms today. She had cancer.

We had known for several months that the end was coming. She began losing weight in April and the Vet performed every test known to veternary medicine on her, eliminating all the likely culprits like feline AIDS and feline leukemia. He finally diagnosed her with either stomach or intestinal cancer. He said he could do nothing more than open her up and do an exploratory surgery, but that would only confirm his diagnosis, not cure her and it would be horrendous on her. We chose not to put her through that.

She was with us to the end, but earlier this week it was evident the end was near. My wife, Jannie, and I dug a small grave in our front yard for her. Yesterday, she became incontinent and could no longer stand up on her own. She just lay in Jannie’s arms and looked up at her, staring at her with those big green eyes of hers, telling Jannie it was alright to let her go.

We took her to the Vet and he confirmed that she was unresponsive to stimuli and severely anemic and it was “past her time to go.”  He gave her a sedative and then an euthanasia shot and we held her as she slipped from this life into the arms of our loving Lord.

Do pets go to heaven?  I certainly hope so. We have hopes of holding her and chasing after her once again in heaven one day.

But today we are saddened. We have lost our dear Maggie May, and even though we still have two older cats: LilyPoo and Chloe, we will miss our little Maggie May.

May God bless everyone who has ever lost a pet.

Wounded Warrior Project

From a shipmate:

Wounded Warrior Project

Surface Navy Association

GreaterWashington Chapter

For the past two years, the Greater Washington Chapter of the Surface Navy Association has conducted a campaign to assist our wounded shipmates recovering at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.  We collected more than 800 DVDs for the Sailors and Marines to enjoy during their recuperation.  The following year we collected funds and donated 155 portable DVD players.

This year we want to do something very meaningful for those of our shipmates limited in their ability to get out and around the Washington area during their convalescence.  We have determined that Operation Second Chance provides many valuable services to military men and women, and would greatly benefit from a conversion van equipped to transport wheelchair patients in and around the D.C. area to attend sporting events, concerts, and otherwise get out and about.

This is an expensive proposition, but very important for those men and women who are virtually stuck in the hospital.  We have carefully looked at Operation Second Chance and are very impressed with the organization and the services it provides.

Therefore, SNA GWC is seeking to help OSC raise $30,000 to purchase a conversion van modified by Adaptive Mobility Systems, Inc. (AMS Vans).  If interested in making a donation, please commence your contribution at the SNA website:

https://www.navysna.org/Events/OperationSecondChance.asp

After completing the SNA form, you will be directed to the OSC website fundraising page for donations.  (When prompted “How did your hear about OSC?” click on Surface Navy Association.)  Your donation will be made directly to OSC, but we want to track our progress so we can follow our progress to attaining our $30,000 goal.

Our goal is to help OSC raise the $30,000 by December 15th.  If we exceed the $30,000, the additional funds will be available to OSC for insurance, registration, maintenance and operating costs for the van.

Please share this appeal with others who share our concern for those shipmates who had made a very great sacrifice in service to their nation and security and freedom everywhere.

For information about SNA, visit  www.navysna.org

For information about OSC, visit http://www.operationsecondchance.org/About.htm

‘King of Voiceovers’ Don LaFontaine Dies at 68

Don LaFontaine

LOS ANGELES — AP:  Don LaFontaine, the man who popularized the catch phrase “In a world where…” and lent his voice to thousands of movie trailers, has died. He was 68.

LaFontaine died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from complications in the treatment of an ongoing illness, said Vanessa Gilbert, his agent.

LaFontaine made more than 5,000 trailers in his 33-year career while working for the top studios and television networks.

In a rare on-screen appearance in 2006, he parodied himself on a series of national television commercials for a car insurance company where he played himself telling a customer, “In a world where both of our cars were totally under water…”

In an interview last year, LaFontaine explained the strategy behind the phrase.

“We have to very rapidly establish the world we are transporting them to,” he said of his viewers. “That’s very easily done by saying, `In a world where … violence rules.’ `In a world where … men are slaves and women are the conquerors.’ You very rapidly set the scene.”

LaFontaine insisted he never cared that no one knew his name or his face, though everyone knew his voice.

LaFontaine went on to work in the promo industry in the early 1960s. As an audio engineer, he produced radio spots for movies with producer Floyd Peterson.

When an announcer didn’t show up for a recording session in 1965, LaFontaine voiced his first narration, a promo for the film, “Gunfighters of Casa Grande.” The client, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, liked his performance.

LaFontaine remained active until recently, averaging seven to 10 voiceover sessions a day. He worked from a home studio his wife nicknamed “The Hole,” where his fax machine delivered scripts.

LaFontaine is survived by his wife, the singer and actress Nita Whitaker, and three daughters.

His funeral arrangements were pending.

It Happened On This Date (More or Less)

August 15

1845 – U.S. Naval Academy established at Annapolis, MD on former
site of Fort Severn,

1895 – Commissioning of Texas, the first American steel-hulled
battleship. Texas served off Cuba during the
Spanish-American War and took part in the naval battle of
Santiago. Under the name of San Marcos, she was sunk in
weapon effects tests in Chesapeake Bay in 1911. Her hulk
continued in use as a gunnery target through World War II.

1908 – First Navy post offices established in Navy ships.

1944 – Operation Dragoon, Allied invasion of Southern France.

1953 – First naval officer appointed Chairman, Joints Chiefs of Staff,
Admiral William Radford. He served from 15 August 1953
until 15 August 1957.

1958 – USS Lexington (CVA-16) arrives in vicinity of Taiwan.

It Happened On This Date (More or Less)

August 12

1812 – USS Constitution captures and destroys brig Adeona.

1918 – SECNAV approves acceptance of women as yeoman (F) in
U.S. Navy.

1942 – USS Cleveland (CL-55) demonstrates effectiveness of radio-proximity fuze (VT-fuze) against aircraft by successfullydestroying 3 drones with proximity bursts fired by her five inch guns.

1944 – LT Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., USNR, the older brother of
John F. Kennedy, was killed with his co-pilot in a mid-air
explosion after taking off from England in a PB4Y from
Special Attack Unit One (SAU-1). Following manual takeoff,
they were supposed to parachute out over the English Channel
while the radio-controlled explosive filled drone proceeded to
attack a German V-2 missile-launching site. Possible causes
include faulty wiring or FM signals from a nearby transmitter.

1957 – In first test of Automatic Carrier Landing System, LCDR Don
Walker is landed on USS Antietam.

1958 – USS Nautilus (SSN-571) arrives Portland, England completing
first submerged under ice cruise from Pacific to Atlantic
Oceans.