Blog | Cornerstone Church in Lodi

Blessings----burdens

Posted: January 16th 2012

Yes they always seem to go together in some strange way.

It happened not long ago! I was opening the church mail addressed to me. WOW! What a great surprize. There it was staring me in the face. Two very large checks from two anonymous and hugely generous donors.

I could hardly believe my eyes. Especially since Cornerstone was down to its very last 247.00 dollars in the general fund. Now I'm holding a check for 5000.00 dollars for our empty checkbook. This was a huge blessing at just the …

Head On---brain Off

Posted: December 28th 2011

Apparently I had turned my "BRAIN OFF" last week when Pam and I went to Stockton.

I was busy talking and looking off into the field when I drifted off into the double yellow line. Suddenly I found myself heading over the line into on coming traffic, lots of it!!!

I awoke from my A.D.D. just in time to swerve back into my own proper lane to avoid a "HEAD ON" collison.

HEAD ON---BRAIN OFF

I always thought I was a good driver but now I'm not so sure. It is easy to drift, lapse off, da…

Christmas Stress Test

Posted: December 15th 2011

You can pass the stress test from all the hype,anxiety and non-sense of the holiday rush.

Everyone can get all pushed out of shape by the sales and lists and parties at home and the office. So be proactive and get your focus right before you get sucked into the stress of the season.

Here are a few suggestions to win the battle over stress.

First: Choose to "do all to the glory of God". Whatever is on your list do it for HIM!

Second: Plan your giving without any regard to receiving i…

Christmas Is Coming

Posted: November 26th 2011

I know we see the signs everywhere. Especially after Black Friday!

So did you survive the rush? the traffic? pushing through the sales? the exhaustion of early shopping?

Well as you know some people did not fare so well! We all read that in one well known store people got maced for crowding a certain lady who was really upset. So that is one way to repel the crowd.

I wonder if Jesus carried a can of mace when the crowd got rough? Do you suppose He was up early at the" Palestinian Holy …

Caramelized Walnuts

Posted: November 7th 2011

Take a generous supply of walnuts, cover them with 1/2 pound of butter (don't say anything), with lots of brown sugar and bake them in the oven.

Heaven on earth!! Watch out!! I could eat the entire batch without even stopping to drink my extra large glass of milk.

Now that is a snack to fill my stomach after I have watched a few teaching episodes of my favorite communicator, Andy Stanley.

However these tasty little morsels don't just suddenly appear on the table for anyone to enjoy. …

Thank You For Praying For Baja!

Posted: October 12th 2011

God answered prayer for our Baja Mission Trip recently. We had 20 team members. Here is a short list of what was accomplished.

Effective evangelism at each one of our three outreaches.
Distribution of hundreds of pounds of clothing, 100 plus bags of rice and beans, plus toys for kids, 100 backpacks for school children and they were filled with school supplies, flashlights galore, plus more and more stuff!
Safety crossing of border, safety in 1600 miles of travel, good health…

It Is Fun

Posted: September 23rd 2011

Missionary life is a really great extra special blessing!

I'm not saying that it is easy........OH NO------- But in the many difficulties the "FUN" is seeing God at work.

Soon our missionary team will depart for Baja on Oct. 1st. From our many previous trips we have discovered the results you get when you do the right thing.

YOU ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU FOCUS ON!

For missionaries there is really no option because the struggles and challenges make it o…

Recent Surgery

Posted: August 27th 2011

Yes it happened to me. For five years I took meds to stave off the effects of prostate enlargement. Finally I needed to take action and my doctor did a great job of TURP. That stands for Transurethal Resection of the Prostate. After less than a week now I am healing up really fine and should be back in the office shortly. To give you a little play on words I will say that I have been wonderfully "relieved".

This was my first real surgery and I am so pleased with the results. A two hour …

Our Family Almost Had A Terrible Tragedy

Posted: August 16th 2011

It is so hard to even say the words "near death experience". I cringe even thinking about what the results could have been. It still seems so impossible. Things like that could never happen to our special Payne family. I don't even want to enumerate the painful consequences of loss, heartache, grief, anger, disbelief, and despair we would have faced if things were different.

Our youngest son, Brantley, called it "What Kind of Idiot Dies in Paradise?" That was the name of his recent blog …

Jury Duty

Posted: August 3rd 2011

It is the privlege I love to hate. First of all I never get selected. Pastors are routinely rejected. They are the "persona nongrata" in the jury box. I guess they are too rigid in beliefs, too black and white in morals, or too different from the norm to be wanted by either side of the attorneys.

I received the typical summons and date with instructions to call after 5 p.m. the night before I was to appear.

This kind of appointment is always hard because the next day is such a wipe-out. …