Bills blog stop: Friendships

Pepe's Great Escape!

Today, while we were foraging for a new food supply for our Love Bird, Pepe, we spied some new environmental enhancements for his cage(er, living habitat). An attachable, edible, beak sharpening branch to enhance his hunting and pecking skills and a beautiful red ring the size of a large swing with a bell hanging from it to accompany his visions of swinging in a tree in the jungle! After fighting the strong currents of traffic on the asphalt river to arrive back at camp, I proceeded to “green up” Pepe’s habitat. Well, as soon as I brought one of these strange new objects in through the door, he was having none of this! With wings of steel, he squeezed through as space so small I couldn’t see it without my glasses and off he went into the wild blue(uh, wondrous air spaces) in our house! Sooo… armed with nothing but a couple of soft towels and a non threatening, wooden back scratcher, we set out on a find and capture expedition that should have aired on “Wild Kingdom”! Through sheer strength and maneuvering on our part, we began to wear down the resolve of our adversary! At one point, I had to hit the switch for the overhead fan with the swift dexterity of a gazelle to extricate the fowl winged beast from his perch without flinging him into the wall! After many attempts to cast our nets(ugh, towels) over our ungrateful friend, I guess he just valued his newly found freedom too much, he finally managed to fly into the side of a cliff(wall) and wedged himself between it and a large bookcase! After great thought about our dilemma, we decided to pull one end away from the wall, then I proceeded into the dark recess with my trusty little belt flash light and towel. Much to my chagrin, the little beggar pushed forward behind the next book case! So with great trepidation, I place the towel next to this opening with one hand, and with the other, proceeded to simulate the tremors of a minor quake to the other case! Low and behold, I saw a small red and green streak flash into the towel and voila, I had him! So I transported him to his home and gently extracted him into his own, familiar environment with the new additions and left him to himself to get used to them. I came back a little later hoping to catch him happily swinging on his new swing only to catch him soundly sleeping away, totally oblivious to his new toys! oh well, so much for the great jungle experience!

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Friendships

Friend Ships - Keeping mercy afloat

Allie Martin - OneNewsNow - 12/29/2008 8:25:00 AM

Spirit of Grace (Friend Ships) A Christian relief ministry has been able to share Christ's love in word and deed around the world this past year.

The Christian-based humanitarian aid group Friend Ships, which was founded in 1983, owns four ships which it uses for various relief supplies in the United States and abroad. According to the group's website, its vessels are the only U.S.-flagged mercy ships.

The ministry has no paid staff, relying on about 60 full-time volunteers to run its headquarters in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Sondra Tipton, president of Friend Ships, says the ministry is able to stretch donor dollars.

"Primarily the goods are all donated, and the ships are donated -- and when we go into a foreign country, they waive all the fees for us," she explains. "We own our own facility here so there's no overhead; so our expenses are very small relative to the value of the goods and services we are able to provide. If someone contributes [to the ministry], it goes a long way."

Friend Ships can use volunteers of all ages, and many young people find the ministry effort opens a door to missions work. Twenty-year-old Hannah Riley volunteered earlier this year through an 11-month program with Friendships. She was able to travel to California and Honduras and Galveston to help victims of Hurricane Ike. The experience, she shares, was life-changing.

"I walk on faith at Friend Ships," says Riley. "Everything I do is basically walking on faith. You don't get paid and so you don't get money. You have to have faith that God will provide different things for you -- your shoes, for instance; clothing; all kinds of different things, which He does [provide] -- it's so amazing."

Friend Ships has several trips planned for 2009, among them a major outreach in Haiti.

My son Matt Craven served a couple years with this ministry and earned his engineer's licsense working in the engine room on one of these ships! I'm sure it was a very rewarding experience that God provided the opportunity for in his life!

Proud papa, Bill(Dad) Bildad ha ha

Posted by Bills blog stop at 5:24 AM