Brenden Foster Dying Wish Update

Click Photo to Watch Video
Click Photo to Watch Video

11 year old Brenden Foster is no longer with us on this earth, but his legacy will live on. He lost his battle with cancer since I posted the first story about him HERE. As you can see in this new CNN Report, Brenden inspired several groups, including some schools to get involved in helping the homeless who are less fortunate than any of us who have the capabilities of viewing this blog right now.

I wonder how many of us would lie in a hospital bed with only a few days left on this Earth and instead of thinking about the sad state we were in, would spend our time thinking of others and how we could help them? I can’t help but to be inspired by Brenden. I can’t help but to ask myself, “What’s my excuse for sitting still?” I can’t help but to ask, “What’s your excuse for sitting still?Shane preached this morning about “The Kingdom” and his main point was, The Gospel is lived out with your hands and feet, not your body in a seat.

If you live in the CSRA, especially if you attend The Church @ Greenbrier, you can join us at The Augusta Rescue Mission, this Thursday (yes that is Thanksgiving) to serve the poor and homeless a Thanksgiving meal. It starts at 9 a.m. and most people are working until 2 p.m., but you are free to leave earlier if you need to. Join the Conversation, What can you do to make Brenden’s dying wish come true?

Video URL: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/11/22/jaffe.wa.boy.dying.wish.obit.komo

Master Pontiac, Buick, GMC and Archie Hixon

I don’t know about you, but I hate going to car dealerships! I used to sell cars for a short stint of my life while I was in-between jobs. I’ve been in the meetings where the salespeople are trained how to be dishonest and how to lie to gain a sale, so when it comes time to buy a vehicle, I hate it and get serious headaches as well, I get in a bad mood.

On top of having to go purchase a vehicle, this is a horrible time to have an SUV that you are trying to trade-in. It is a great time to be in the market for a SUV. My family and I were in both predicaments. We had a 2005 Nissan X-Terra that we needed to trade-in as our family just grew to the place where we could no longer legally and safely fit in it, but we needed a larger SUV or van to solve our problem. We were siding with the SUV…just because we are not the van kind of people.

Saturday morning we went to our normal breakfast place (Sunrise Grill) before we went to Master Pontiac, Buick, GMC of Augusta. I said a little prayer to myself that God would give us a salesman that would do us right and not play games with us. We pulled into the lot and there he was, the salesman that was going to be our headache for the next several hours or the man that God was going to answer my prayers with. Fortunately, Archie Hixon, was the answer to my earlier prayer. He was a great salesman and a very great guy overall. My wife and I left the lot feeling like we knew a great deal about his family. It turned out that Archie goes to a local church and is very involved in their small groups. When he found out I used to be a full time youth pastor and was praying about God opening a door for me to get back full time, he urged me to check into the opening at his church as their youth pastor just left to start a church. As serious as Archie was, I knew this guy was not about to pull a fast one on us, when he was wanting to see us every weekend.

My wife and I were very pleased with the deal they gave us on our trade and the price that we got our new/used Chevrolet Trailblazer for. We asked for them to lower the price on the Trailblazer but they said it had already been discounted and they were firm on their price, but they easily gave us a new set of tires without any hassle. We were never put under pressure to add anything, Archie wanted to make sure we were offered the extended warranties and the other extras, but once we declined we faced no rebuttals. The bottom line is, we left the dealership $2,000 under what we were expecting to pay, we feel the price for the vehicle we purchased was fair and right, and Archie was a great salesperson. We did not purchase from him because he was a Christian, but a good salesman (trust me I have not bought from people because they were horrible salespeople), however I am glad I found out we were helping provide for a fellow believer with our purchase, as I know the car market is a tough business period, but especially with a tough economy.

If you are in the CSRA or the Augusta area and you are looking for a vehicle, go talk with Archie Hixon at Master Pontiac, Buick, GMC in Augusta on Washington Rd. You’ll be glad you did!

Join the Conversation: Have you had a great experience or a poor experience with a recent purchase? Tell me about it!