Messages from Monte

I've been very quiet of late on my blog. There has been much going on, but not much in the way of shareable information or headline grabbing material. I've been working on lessons for the young men's classes and also for my young man's class (Nate has had one session so far and it will be integrated into his weekly curriculum). When I was back home in the States, I was a Bible reader. That has seriously increased with my time here. I brought a stack of books with me, mostly on leadership and being a godly man. I have read parts of most of them, but I keep going back to the Bible most of all. Now more than ever it offers me peace, comfort, challenge, and assurance. It is a constant in a sea of variables - or a mountain of variables as the case may be here. So, I almost had a heart attack Saturday. Do I have your attention now? I've mentioned in other posts that I have had some marked physical changes in my appearance and health since we've arrived here. Sat...

Lyrics. Music. Songs. Melodies. Harmonies. Since I was a little boy I have loved to sing. I remember sitting on Dad's lap during worship services as a really little boy and learning to sing bass (even if I was a few octaves higher). I vividly remember Dick Cochran leading Victory In Jesus , and singing out to my lungs capacity. There are secular songs I remember from childhood ( Rhinestone Cowboy comes to mind quickly), but none of them have the impact of some of the lost hymns. On Tuesday nights my family and Teresa have "English service". I started this after realizing that all of our worship now is in a language I barely understand. At first we shared laptops and used PowerPoint to have the words and music for songs and Scripture readings. Then I began work on a song book for us to use - it is still not complete. In the mean time, Marlon brought a stack of song books from storage somewhere. These old blue books with songs glued into the covers and songs with the ...

Last night was wonderful. Hermano Jorge Rodriguez, preacher for the Church of Christ in Ocotepeque, Honduras, came to pick us up in his van to take us to attend worship with the family in Ocotepeque. He picked up the Lalli family and Teresa. We went to his house first, to pick up his family, then we all went to the new building to finish getting ready for the first service in the nearly completed building. We arrived there at 5 something while services start at 7:00. We made final preparations while listening to the Spanish equivalent to the vocal group Acapella - as did the neighborhood. Nathan had an "interesting" (translated: near death) experience, that nearly gave his mother a heart attack. He and I were admiring the newly welded bars in one of the windows. I reached out to see if they had anchored it yet, as last we were here they had not. It still was not. Realize, I am a "big 'ol boy" and have further developed muscularly since I have spent time...

I was planning to use the following devotional thought for my next blog post. I will go ahead and use it, though now it holds two meanings. My dad used it as his bulletin article this week. I was touched because of the man who told this story. He was a retired music teacher and rancher of many years. He and his wife were instrumental in my great love for music and especially singing. He was an amazing man who was still running his own cattle into his eighties - albeit on a four-wheeler instead of a horse. Dick was 95 years old. In Loving Memory Of Richard (Dick) T. Steele September 11, 1915 - October 2, 2010 "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."    Following the Goat Thoughts by Dick Steele When I was 8 years old I lived in Coffeyville, KS. My grandfather lived in Collinsville, OK and was in the cattle business. There were no local markets for selling livestock in those days. This was before there were trucks to haul livestock....