The Shepherd is the personal blog of Rev. Bert Owen, Director of Shepherd's Rest Ministry. This Ministry is a ministry of support and encouragement for the clergy of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The ministry operates a "retreat house" available to Cumberland Presbyterian ministers. Shepherd's Rest Ministry web-site is listed below.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
A Trying Day With A Nice Close
I have become a part of those I spent many years ministering to. Today was another one involving a trip to Paducah for a couple of Dr. appointments. Having spent most of my 72 years disgustingly healthy, I still haven't gotten used to having a whole list of Doctors that I see so often, we have become good friends. Well ------ , I am not complaing, they seem to keep me going and I am thankful. It is trying though. Then, we got home about five o'clock and had two calls from my grandson, James, on my answering machine. James, 25, is a part time student at Bethel College in McKenzie, TN and works in Paris. His voice was full of excitement. The owner of his company had asked hin to drive a new pick-up truck, loaded with fishing and golfing equiptment, to a site in Northern Arkansas where he would fly in and pick up the truck and James would fly back to Paris on the company plane. On Sunday he will fly back to Arkansas, pick up the truck and drive back to Paris. His excitement and my thoughts of youthful adventure and opportunity brought my "trying" day to a close with a nice feeling of contentment and satisfaction. God is good. Life goes on. I will continue to seek out the "good things" involved with growing older and enjoying the good things of youth through those who are coming after me.
I BELIEVE that stewardship and Missions is at the heart of a Christian life and of the Church. I suppose that's why a few months ago I made a public commitment to be a channel through which God could raise $ 100,000.00 for a special missions project in Cali, Colombia South America. I have been blessed with the "Gift of Giving", but I have never been, what one would call, a "fund raiser". I Never liked to do it or felt comfortable doing it throughout my some 50 years of pastoral ministry. Then, why did I make such an ambitious commitment, especially when my health conditions have severely limited my activities? The answer is fairly simple. First, I want to continue to be productive and glorify God as I come to the end of my journey on Earth. Secondly, I felt called by God to do it. And, thirdly, I have always believed God would enable us to do anything He calls us to do. The Project is, "Hogar Samaria" (Samaria Home), a multi-use senior citizens retirement / nursing home. It is a project of Cauca Valley Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Three mission work groups from the states, led by John Lovelace and Sam Suddarth, have traveled to Cali to provide a lot of encouragement and help on this project. Local construction is currently going on but, lack of funds make it slow going. My call is to give to it, and promote awareness of this work, encouraging others to help me in raising the $ 100,000.00. Boyce and Beth Wallace, Cumberland Presbyterian missionaries in Colombia for 42 years are giving leadership to this work through their Presbytery. My involvement in this project first came through their sharing the need with a group of their friends in April of 2005. I am seeking inquires from individuals who may be led to give to this project and, invitations to churches or church organizations to share the story and an appeal for donations. Tax exempt donations may be made through Shepherd's Rest Ministry, 605 Lake Scene Dr. Eddyville, KY 42038. I may be contacted at that address. E-mail inquiries may be made concerning this project to mailto:shepherdsrest@earthlink.net The web-site for this ministry may be reached at http://shepherdsrestministry.org All donations to this project go 100% to the work with no administrative expenses being deducted. As donations accumulate, they will be periodically sent to the Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Missions in Memphis, along with a full report of sources, to be forwarded to Cauca Valley Presbytery. Feel led to help? I welcome you, and/ or your church to share in this miracle.
Well, I seem to be making some progress setting up my blog. Since I know nothing about Html language I kept making mistakes when copying the URL for my profile picture but finally got that uploaded and edited in. This morning I finally managed to successfully install the web-site link to "Shepherd's Rest Ministry, Inc. When I get a little more time to work on it I want to install a few more links.
I had an e-mail from a missionary friend a couple of nights ago, Glen Watts, in Japan. He runs a very interesting "blog" on his web-site www.tokyobrother.com for those interested in missionary outreach through the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
This is my first effort to write a blog. In fact it has not been very long since I had no idea what a blog was. (Now I are doing one) I am not sure anyone will ever read it but it is an opportunity for me to express some thoughts every once in a while and I will have fun looking back over them from time to time to see what I was thinking. It will probably take a while to get it set up and going but I did finally get a picture uploaded and inserted in my profile. It only took me about 101 attempts.
I am an ordained Minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. I retired from the active, full-time pastorate in May, 1999. My continueing ministry is as Director of Shepherd's Rest Ministry, Inc. A non-profit, tax exempt ministry of support and encouragement for Cumberland Presbyterian ministers. My wife, Pat, and I celebrated our 52nd anniversary in January 2006. I grew up in Paducah, KY and graduated from Augusta Tilghman High School in 1952. I attended Bethel College in McKenzie, TN from which I graduated in 1956 with a BA Degree. I earned my M Div. Degree from Memphis Theological Seminary, graduating in 1980. Denominationally, I have served on the Children's Home Board for 9 years, The Board of the Cumberland Presbyterian for 7 years, The Executive Director of the Decade of the Eighties Committee for 3 years and as Director of the Church Growth and Evangelism Division of the Board of Missions for 3 years. I was honored to serve as the Moderator of the 172nd General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 2002-03
