Reckon its time for the unwinding…
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Wow, what a weekend! Wonderful beyond words. And Betty and I are both tired plum to the bone, but a good tired nonetheless. Think next time we’ll run our guests off no later than 10 p.m. each evening. :)
Our 32nd Homecoming Jubilee really was a day wonderful. The worship was so uplifting. Pastor Joel Dyke from Life Church in West Monroe brought a 
heart-stirring message.
Of course he was divinely inspired to tell a few mission stories about he and Nathan’s ventures in Mexico. Don’t think anyone will forget the Alchaselzer story. There was more than enough laughter to go around. :)
Seems our Homecoming Jubilee did well in capturing the memories of lots of folk. It was great to see so many of 
our friends from years gone by.
And talk about a songstress. We had a lovely young lady who can sing and play the guitar with such grace that it will bring tears to your eyes. Yep, we heard a different rendition of Amazing Grace, by our dear friend from Florida, Jenni Baier. Here she is on the left. Now if I can jest get her to turn on a bit of her blue grass gospel picking and grinning. 
Of course I did my bit. Nathan and Shana helped me with one of my songs, ‘The Holy City.’ (Also known as ‘By Faith Abraham.’) But to add some culture to the mix, I led the congregation in our Hallelujah Cajun Chorus. Now that song is a bit tricky —It only has one word. You repeat hallelujah to the tune of Jambalaya. So sad that I had to chide the congregation to offer a few Cajun yells. 
And when it came time for the eatings, it was ’Kattie bar the door.’ Our good friend City Marshall Larry Jeane, provided the meat.
Had plenty of help in the kitchen. Wow, there are no words to describe such a table as was spread at Christian Challenge.
Oh yes, there was something even extra special for the weekend. We had several of our out-of-state friends from a forum that I host, able to be with us. We had Jenni from Michigan, Jenni from Florida, John and Jamie from Arkansas, and Lois from Texas. Here’s a picture that includes our long-distance friends. 
— Further down I’ll tell you who is who —
In fact we are so proud of this out-of-state group coming to visit us that we decided to give them conditional membership to the Cajun Suck-a-Tosh Indian Tribe, of which I am one of the chiefs. Lane Fletcher is the other chief. His mom, Bernett Fletcher is chief of chiefs. (To whom we always humbly bow and pay our respects.)
Now there are two things to keep in mind about the Suck-a-Tosh Indians. For one thing don’t get us confused with the Suck-a-Squash Indian tribe. The obvious difference is that members of the Suck-a-Squash Indian tribe are noted for always sucking on a squash. We don’t do that. Seems to me that they look too much like a possum smacking on a sweet tater.
Anyway, the second thing is that we try to do is interpret conditional members’ name into our Suck-a-Tosh local dialect. Its a bit tricky but here is the best as I an interpret them.
Jenni Baier’s name means ‘She who deeply loves cajun blue grass music but can’t talk about it cause it brings tears to her eyes, but breaks into big grin when you ask her to play some.’
Jenni Yeater’s name means, ‘She who torments men by throwing things at them and when bored, swiftly burns down barns.’
John Smith’s name means, ‘He who is very much quiet til time to testify, then words flow from lips like mighty river.’
Jamie Brunk’s name means, ‘Beautiful lady who lights up room with a single smile, and captures the heart of man named John.’
Lois Gibson’s name means, ‘Mighty awesome lady who can leap big buildings with a single bound, and who loves to stay at Martin house till wee hours in morning.’
Now for who is who. In the above group picture look closely. Working from the left in the back row are, Lois Gibson, Nathan Martin, Lane Fletcher, John Smith, Joel Dyke, Angel Dyke, and Jenni Baier. In the front from the left are Lori Martin, Buddy Martin, Jenni Yeater, Jamie Brunk, and Betty Martin.
And of course we cannot leave out the hero of the party, General Claudius Josephus. (CJ 
for short.) Here he is on our front porch and laying down. 
All I can say about CJ, is that if you ever pet him, you’ve made a friend for life. He will do his best to crawl up in your lap. His way of kissing is simply to shake a little slobber around.
Well, that about wraps it up for now. That is, unless you would like to see a picture of the Founding Pastor and his wife, and the Senior Pastor and his wife. You would. O boy.
OK, here goes:
Founding Pastor, Buddy Martin and Betty — 
Senior Pastor, Nathan Martin and Lori… 
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Thats it folks. It all began for Christian Challenge, on March 9, 1976. Thirty-two years later and still going.
May the Lord give us much increase in souls for the kingdom in the days that are ahead.
More than enough love coming your way.
Buddy
