Teepees And Chief Round Rock's* "Stuck" in a Comfort Inn

Well friends I'm in Kentucky this week.

The pics are of a local motel. The sign says "Sleep In A Wigwam" and they choose to house me in a Comfort Inn? Oh well, maybe someday.

My meeting is with the good folks at the Horse Cave church. It's a pretty neat area and a good church. Melanie, the boys and I visited here about 7 or 8 years back with the Farris family and saw Mammoth Cave.

I hope to do some exploring this week - today it's raining, but according to the weather it may be the whole time I'm here. I have a few meetings during the week and plenty to keep me busy. But in a rather unusual setting I do not have cell service here but do have Internet. I'm here to preach and hopefully souls will be saved. Pray that that will be what happens.

*Chief Round Rock explanation: http://dalejenkins.blogspot.com/2007/09/news-from-round-rock-and-other-stuff.html

Your personal tour...

When they finally got to moving ground they really got on it! In the few days they have cut the road and it's neat. They have pretty much completed the retention pond AND are you ready for this??? The pad is done! That means we can put down the foundation (slab, pad) and then put up the building. That's the exciting news. It is looking great out there.


Now for the bad news. We are awaiting approval from the State Fire Marshall on codes. So we could be waiting a while. It could be a week, or a month or two month. The week sounds good and if that might be impossible then we need to pray about it. I mean, hey, if it's easy it would just happen, but sounds like we need some prayer power on this one. God's been good so far on this whole thing. So would you join me in praying that if this if His will it will happen fast instead of slow?


How'd you like a tour? I'll be honored to be your guide as best I can. The comments beside the picture will tell you what (I think) you are seeing.

The paved road is Duplex and the gravel will be the first paved road just after you cross I-65. It's the road I've been calling One Vision Way, of course that's not official or anything, I just think that'd be neat. It will be a two way road with an island in the middle.

Now we've turned onto One Vision Way. You are heading south toward the first building of the Spring Meadows Church of Christ. It will be a functional building but from what I can tell it will be very sharp. We do not intend on building something to be worshipped but a place where we can worship! A place for fellowship and service as well.

Heading on south in the near distance you might be able to make out where the "pad" is being formed.



















See the yellow machine near the center of the picture? Just to the right is the "pad". In fact it is pushing dirt up to build up the where the foundation will be poured. The tractor to it's right in the far distance is spreading what it is pushing up there. I think that little white truck you see is the truck that is supplying water to keep all that's being pushed from just being dirt that blows around. Just behind and to the left of the spreader is the retention pond.












OK this picture is for Braden, Zach, Bo and
others who like the big machines (I'm told at least those three like the dump trucks). See the next picture to see what it is doing.



















This big scoop is taking dirt from a wall on the back side of the development area and putting it in two big dump trucks (one is pictured above). It's a mighty big machine and, frankly, I'd love to play with it :). It is sitting on the Northeast side of where the building will be.


















Now if you look closely through the dust you will see that in the center of the picture is our dump truck. He just came from being filled by the scoop (out of picture to far right) and will dump his load of dirt so the bulldozer can push it as the "pad" is built up and leveled.
















Just a closer look at the scoop!





















Finally three beautiful pictures of the pad in it's completed form. You can see it pretty clearly here. Looking east.


























Hope you enjoyed the tour (and hope I got it all right :)).









We thank God for seeing us this far, all the glory is His.

SMILE FOR THE CAMERA - it's picture time...

We love to sing at Spring Meadows. Imagine our delight when the brothers and sisters from three area congregations in the area accepted our invitation to join us for a Sunday night singing. We were honored by their presence and hope to be able to do it again. It was a wonderful night of unity and, wow, the singing was awesome! What a spirit. Thanks to all who helped make it special. And while pictures will not show the full house well, nor capture the excitement that was in the air, I think you'll enjoy a few pictures.

We plan another blogpost tomorrow with pictures from the property and some exciting news. Want to guess what it is? Post away.

So you like the big toys?

OK...here's some pictures of most of the big machines that were on the Duplex Road property today just for the many of you who I know just love big toys!

Water and Dirt (doesn't that make mud?)

What a place! It's been a great Saturday. This morning we passed out 1008 "designer" waters (bottled waters with the Spring Meadows logo on them) at the Spring Hill Ham Festival. 1008 appreciated positive invitations. Thanks to many who helped to make it possible. We had a lot of good talks and met a lot of friendly people - God only knows the good that may come from these "cups" of cold water given in His name.

Friday and then again Saturday afternoon I took a few pictures of the work on the property. There's a couple of pictures here for those of you who like big tractors and then two additional ones that show the great work that has been accomplished so far. The picture with a part of the road showing is from Duplex Road showing where "our" road (remember: Vision Way) will turn. The retention pond in completed and now they are working on excavation work for the foundation. That's the retention pond in the picture to the right, right here. And the final picture shows the west corner marker looking along what will eventually be the back wall. This work should take about 8-13 good work days. At that point the pad will be placed and then things will really heat up. Please keep this work in your prayers. Pray specifically that 1. This building will lead us to even more receptive souls. 2. That we will continue to get our various "permits" in good time and order and 3. For the positive progress, in His time, on the building.

What they did right...

One of the things that public speaking does is it somewhat forces the speaker to think clearly or at least seriously about things they might not otherwise think about. A few weeks ago it was a high honor to join those who put on the excellent "Polishing the Pulpit" program held this year in Birmingham, Alabama. I was only able to be around for a few hours on the day that I enjoyed speaking a couple of times. One of the sessions I was a part of was a panel of those who have been blessed by Godly parents influence. Among the questions we attempted to answer was: "What did your parents do right?"


Let me give you the six that came to me without hardly thinking:

1. They did the right things right. Mom and dad were not perfect, they were human, but they did the right things right. Right was right and it couldn't be wrong. And we were "expected" to do right!


2. They drilled into us a love and respect for the church Jesus shed His blood for.


3. Mom supported dad's work. I've often said I'm a preacher because of my mom not my dad. While that has various "shades" to it, mom could have destroyed dad's work, instead she always told us, "Your dad is doing the most important work in the world" when he was away.


4. They taught us an unrelenting respect for God's Word. It is God's! It won't leave us along.


5. Dad modeled a tremendous respect for others: regardless of skin color, economic level, educational levels - people deserved respect. It wasn't taught as much as it was modeled. Enemies, those who might attempt us harm...other preachers...


6. They taught us to love the souls of men and women.


I am thankful for my mom (Mamie Inez Frame Jenkins) and my dad (Jerry Austin Jenkins)- but I know your parents did some things right too (I didn't have the only good parents). I'd be interested in seeing your list - I'm sure others would to, so log in a post away!