Yea

   A journey that began back in July has finally ended, or at least began a new chapter.  As many of you know, we found out that Shelley was pregnant on Tuesday July 15th. We Lost Katie on our way to vacation the next Sunday. We experienced a great joy at the beginning of the week and a sadness that I cant begin to explain  five days later. That goes to show us that we are on God's time and he is not necessarily on ours. 

   I wept when she finally arrived because all of our family really needed something to be happy about. While this does nothing to lesson the pain of losing my Buggs, it re-enforces the fact that I must go on. I have to continue being a Godly Dad, husband, son, friend etc. Katie would not only want that, she would expect it.

   So, without further ado, here is the introduction of Eden Jamison Burkett. She was born Thursday night at 8:24 p.m. She weighed 9lbs and 6ozs.  She has a head full of black curly hair that we fully expect to change, I would like to thank all of you that called, came by and prayed for us. Please continue to do so because Lord only knows, We are going to need it.

Mike "Buckett"Burkett

Gods Purpose for us

On occasion I am blessed to receive something from a friend that really hits home. This is one of those times. I received this Sunday afternoon after the snow had left and wanted to share it with you guys.

This is a great interview with Rick Warren. He wrote the Purpose Driven Life.You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales of the 'Purpose Driven Life'. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California.

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: "People ask me, What is the purpose of life? I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. No matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems: If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease..so I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. Here are the initiatives God led me to do:

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases.

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.

That's why we're called human beings, not human doings. Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.Painful moments, TRUST GOD.Every moment, THANK GOD.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I will have a Guest blogger in the next couple of days. Some of you may have heard of him, Pastor Steve Gaines Bellevue Baptist Church.

Surprise Gifts

I came home from a family birthday thing today and got an incredible gift. While I was gone, Leslie Dodson had driven by and left me a CD of the cheerleaders 2008 camp.This CD contained many minutes of Katie at cheercamp last summer. Can you imagine the feeling I had when I put the disk in and actually got to see and hear my baby talking, smiling, cheering etc. There were times that I just tried to reach out and touch the screen. I just wanted one more hug, kiss, just to feel her next to me, one more time. Some of you that read this blog know what I am talking about from experience, and some, can only imagine what that might seem like. My prayer for the ones that have to imagine is thats as close as you ever get to dealing with losing a child.

I am sure that there are many men out there that know what I mean when I say that I never knew what love was until Katie was born. She had a real weird color and an elongated head from being in the birth canal too long. I was a first time dad, so I turned to the Doctor and said," will she stay like that." As you can imagine, I have caught alot of grief over that question from KK and her Mom throughout the years. I also remember the first fever she had that got over 102, That scared me to death. While we are mentioning the health issues, I must mention the Broken Arm, Broken Leg, Stitches in her head, all by the age of 6.

Tynette and I divorced when she was 6 and had it not been for Katie, I would have gone crazy. During the height of the tension she calmly told me that I would always have her. You can't imagine the joy a man has when he feels unconditional love for the first time. I know that my parents love me as well but, that is kind of expected. She stayed with me a majority of the time and some of my fondest memories with her are of us reading books and watching Bert and Ernie.

Later came softball and other sports when she was a pre-teen. She was so excited when she made all-stars as a 10 year old. The next year she played for Darryl Sutton and made it again. Thats when it kicked in to her that hard work pays off. Darryl would carry Katie and Kendall to the park on Saturdays and Sundays and with his help, KK got alot better. Shortly after that she got her first bra and went crazy. She decided she liked Boys and wanted to be a cheerleader. That was a sad day in the life of her Dad. We spent many nights the next few years worrying about cheerleading and Rockette tryouts. It was a real blessing being able to see her work so hard to make it and then see the look of accomplishment on her face when she actually found out that she made the squad.

She started dating at 15. Driving at 16. Going to all the Alabama home games with me the fall she turned 16. She loved Alabama and would get so upset when we lost. She knew in her heart that once we hired Coach Saban that she was going to be in for an incredible four years. She felt like he would turn the program into a dynasty again. She was about to begin her college career and couldn't wait to be in T-Town. She always wanted to go to the Sugar Bowl because she knew the history of Alabama and the Sugar Bowl.

I appreciate the time you guys have given to go down memory lane with me. Right now that is what I have. The memories and the knowledge that we will one day be together again. You can't possibly imagine how important that last part is. The knowledge that Katie and I have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and because of that acceptance even physical death will not keep us apart. I would like to encourage every parent that reads this to do a couple of things. First, ask yourself what would happen to you if you died tonight. If you do not know the answer please read 1 John Chapter 3. Second, know how your children stand spiritually and guide them accordingly. Third, appreciate every game, dance, vacation, dinner, etc. that you have with those you love. If you do these things, it will make it easier to wake up each morning if, heaven forbid, your ever in our families shoes.

Mike"Buckett" Burkett

Satans Lie

Many times in my blogs I have spoken about God knowing a parent's pain when losing a child because he has been in those very shoes. I would think God's pain was even worse because Jesus was sent to die for each one of us. Our sin was so bad that Jesus had to be perfect to be able to pay the debt of that sin. He was born of a virgin and led a sinless life. He resisted temptation many times. To top it all off, he allowed the very people he came to save to torture and torment him for many hours when, at any time, he could have summoned an army of Angels to come in and rescue him. Who did he do this for? You , me, all of us that would ask him into our lives as our Lord and Saviour.

Satan has many lies to keep us from accepting Jesus. Theres plenty of time. You are not worthy. There's no such thing as heaven. And that's just a few. We, as individuals, must see through whatever lie Satan is attacking us with. You see, he does not want you to receive Jesus and salvation. He wants you for his very own and he doesn’t want you as a born again Christian out there working against him. Satan knows his ultimate destiny, and he is going to do all he can to take as many as possible with him.

I want to take a moment and discuss one of the things that I struggled with mightily when it came to doing God’s work. Due to the fact that I live a less than perfect life, I never considered myself to having the credentials that it took to spread God’s Word. I thought no one would listen and I would be called a hypocrite and many other things. I began to spend a lot of time in prayer and God, as he always does, offered many answers. I want to share these with you.

The new testament has two different places where Jesus stepped up and literally saved someone that we would deem unworthy. In St Luke Chapter 23 Jesus was sent before Pilate and Herod to receive sentence. Neither would condemn him to death but the crowd wanted Blood. Pilate finally let the crowd choose between Jesus and Barabas. Barabus was a thief, rapist, and murderer. He was considered by many to be the worst criminal around. The crowd chose Barabus to be released. Jesus, who had never sinned, stood up and took the death sentence for Barabus. Guys, that wasn’t a coincidence.

The second time that Jesus saved someone is one of the most incredible moments in history to me. Again it comes from St Luke Chapter 23. Jesus was nailed to the cross, hanging there with two criminals. One criminal was mocking Jesus and got rebuked by the other. The second thief said to the first, “ Can you not see that this is the Son Of God”. He then turned to my Lord and ask him to remember him in heaven. Jesus turned to the convicted criminal and said, "today, you will be with me in paradise”. You see, on that Cross, a guy that had been a lifelong criminal received salvation. He simply acknowledged that Jesus was the son of God and then accepted him when he called him Lord.

The point that I am trying to make here is very simple. Satan wants you to think that you are not worthy. He wants you to think that because you are divorced, an alcoholic, had an abortion, etc. that you are not worthy of Salvation. That is not true. Once you receive Jesus as your Lord, your past transgressions are gone. The crimson stain left by whatever sin you have will be washed white as snow. If this is the lie that Satan has attacked you with, please trust me in this. Bow down on your knees and ask for forgiveness, accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and receive the salvation that the thief on the cross received. There is no time like the present, and as discussed many times before on this blog, we do not know when our July 20th willl come.

My Help Cometh From The Lord

I recently received a prayer request from Missy Skinner. Many of you will know Missy and her Husband Jeff. Our families have been friends for many years. We basically grew up at the ballpark together. They have been going thru some really hard times, so if you would, read their story and lets lift these guys up in prayer.

It seems like every time you turn the television on or open the newspaper, you see one tragedy after another. I would like to share that among all the bad there is still some good out there. There are good people out there. My family has been blessed by family, friends, the community, business associates, our Army family, and many people I do not even know.

It all started on October 26, 2008, I took my husband, Jeff, to the Emergency Room. He was suffering from a serve headache. His serve headache turned out to be another brain tumor. On October 27, 2008, Jeff had his second brain surgery at Trinity Hospital. The surgeon removed the tumor. After the surgery, the doctor came out and told me that my husband has a Stage 4 Cancerous tumor. He was given a 48 week life expectancy. I stood still trying to comprehend what had just been told to me. At the same time, I am trying to figure out how I am going to tell our only child her father has cancer. Our only child is only 16 years old. I am 39 and Jeff is 38, how could this be?

On Tuesday, October 28, 2008, Jeff took a turn for the worse. Jeff was experiencing swelling on the brain. During this time Jeff also had his first stroke. His short-term memory was affected. He had many other physical challenges to overcome. His balance was off, etc. God has been very good and merciful through all of this. The faith of my family has grown stronger. We know and understand that He is the Great Physician. Finally, on November 8, 2008, Jeff was released from the hospital. Praise the Lord!

Everything was going really well. Jeff was getting stronger each day. His memory was improving. His other physical problems were getting better. Jeff was not feeling well on Sunday, December 7, 2008 so I took him to the Emergency Room. They changed his medication and he seemed to be fine. Jeff was finally able to begin his Radiation and Chemo treatment on Monday, December 8, 2008. Everything went well during his first treatment. I took him in for his second treatment on Tuesday, December 9, 2008, and the entire world changed. During this treatment Jeff was rushed to the Emergency Room at Trinity Hospital. He was experiencing brain swelling again. During this time Jeff, also suffered another stroke. Jeff had to undergo another brain surgery. After his surgery, the doctor came out and told me that they removed the bone flap that was put in after his first surgery, some dead brain cells, and new cancerous cells. The doctors exact words were, “We’ve done all we can do, He is in the Lord’s hands”. The next morning, the doctor told me that he didn’t expect to see me because he felt that Jeff would not make it through the night. He told me, “Mrs. Skinner, he is a miracle”. I know Jeff is a miracle…my miracle. Well as of today, I still believe that the God I know and serve will heal my husband, the father of my child.

The strokes have affected Jeff’s vision. He is still suffering from other physical problems from the cancer and his third brain surgery. He is unable to take care of himself let alone stay by himself. I am reminded of our wedding vows…”For better or worse, in sickness and in health”. This is a good lesson for those going through this with us to learn what unconditional love is.
Jeff was finally released from the Hospital on Tuesday, December 16, 2008. Our story gets more interesting here. On Saturday, December 20, 2008, Jeff’s sisters picked my daughter Megan and me up to go and finish our Christmas shopping. No matter what was going on in our personal life…Christmas was rapidly approaching. Their husbands were going to be Jeff’s caretakers that day. They came over and stayed with him for a little while and then took him to Krispy Kreme for some donuts.

I had barely gotten inside the mall and started to shop when my cell phone began to ring. My next door neighbor called and told me that our house was on fire! I remember thinking this can’t be happening! I had been doing all morning. Apparently there was a short in the dryer and this is the cause of the fire. (No I did not leave the dryer running when I left.)
God is good and He does take care of His children. The Christmas gifts I had already purchased and wrapped were rescued. My scrapbooks of our lives were saved. A few other sentimental items were also saved. Other than that we lost everything else.

Now, this is the good I want to tell you about. God is good all the time, all the time God is good! To get through life, you might as well look for humor. The day of the fire, as the day was ending, we were joking around about sending our story in to Extreme Home Makeover. Well, who needs Extreme Home Makeover when you have family, friends, and a community that have all pitched in to help rebuild our home! God puts people in your path in His timing. We have been overwhelmed from the kindness and generosity of others. God’s love is truly shining through others as they are blessing us. I can’t express our thanks enough. There are good people in this world!

I thank you for taking the time to read, Our Story. Your consideration in airing our story on your show would be more than appreciated. There are so many people to thank, I’m not sure of any other way to thank them all.

If you would like to verify Our Story, it was shared on Magic 96 by a personal friend of mine during their Christmas Elves. However, this was shared before the house fire. When someone hears about the fire on top of stage 4 brain cancer, their mouth drops open and they say, you’re kidding me…this can’t be true.
Missy Skinner

Please welcome guest blogger David Jett!!!!



David, now pastor of Crossgate Baptist Church in Brandon, Mississippi, is a long-time friend of mine who baptised my wife and kids, married my wife and I, and has been a prayer partner of mine for many years. Please enjoy his post...



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Mike Burkett (aka Buckett) has been one of my close friends for many years. We have laughed together, hunted together, and cried together. He can tell stories on me but knows better, because I can tell better ones on him! As a pastor, I don’t have the opportunity to be just David around many people. With Buckett I am just David.

When he asked me to write something for his blog I felt at first a little intimidated. As I have read his blogs I hear his heart crying out telling the story of life as a daddy who has experienced the great sadness in the death of his baby. What can I add? Not much, but as he shares in his blogs, I also hear the heart cry of a believer in Jesus who knows more now than ever the realities of eternity.

What I have written is the cry of both our hearts to you, one of his readers. Our burden is for you to know with certainty that heaven is your destination. So please read the following and allow the Lord Jesus to speak to your heart. Don’t allow the arguments in your mind to keep Him from speaking to your heart. Enjoy the journey!

Are You Holding Real Gold or Fool’s Gold?

The California gold rush of 1849 forever changed the American landscape. Thousands of get-rich-quick idealists traveled cross country hoping to find their fortune. A few struck it rich, but many fortune seekers ended up empty handed.

Though many never found gold, they were not the most to be pitied. Some of the saddest stories are of those poor souls who thought they struck it rich, only to be later called a fool. Several discovered gold – or so they thought. They ran to tell all their family and friends only to discover the bitter reality. Rather than discover gold, they had unearthed pyrite. Pyrite is an iron sulfide that gives off a yellow metallic luster much like gold. To the casual observer pyrite can be mistaken as gold. Because of this, pyrite earned the nickname, fool’s gold. In an instant, men went from wealth to worthless, famous to foolish. Many became so overcome by their “foolish” mistake they deserted their family and reclused to hiding the rest of their life.

Many in our churches today are falling for a new “pyrite”. This new “fool’s gold” looks like the real gold to a casual observer, but upon closer inspection it proves to be worthless. Jesus warned of this fool’s gold. He said that many would come to Him convinced they had discovered the real gold only to find out they had fallen victim to “fool’s gold.” Jesus said that on judgment day those poor fools are going to hear the seven most frightening words they will ever hear. He will say to them, “Depart from me, I never knew you” (see Matthew 7:22-23).


So how do we discover the real gold of biblical salvation and not fall victim to the fool’s gold of cheap imitations? First we must dig in the right places. Many people dig for the real gold of biblical salvation in the mountains of religion. What they discover are many nuggets of religious rules and rituals. In haste they think they have found what they are looking for only to discover religion to be fool’s gold. Religion is man’s attempt to work his way up to God. Jesus called these people whitewashed tombs. They looked pretty on the outside, but on the inside were full of dead men’s bones (see Matthew 23:27).

Another place people dig for the real gold is in the mountain of facts about Jesus. These people discover the facts about Jesus and then believe those facts, thinking themselves to have the real gold. This “fool’s gold” is tricky because it looks so right on the surface. A person hears the information about Jesus (i.e. His virgin birth, sinless life, death on the cross, and resurrection), agrees with the information and considers that enough. These poor souls have fallen victim to the “fool’s gold” of information with no transformation. Jesus has become for them a great historical figure who really lived, died, and rose again. As the Son of God, He is the only way to heaven, but He has brought no transforming reality to their everyday life.

So where do we find the real gold? Where is the right place to dig for the treasure we are longing to find? The real gold is found in the mountain of TRUST. Jesus one day took a religious leader named Nicodemus to this mountain. Nicodemus knew there was something different about Jesus. But Jesus confused him when He told him that he “…must be born again” (John 3:3). Jesus then proceeded to explain Himself by telling him that, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus showed Nicodemus the key to finding the real gold. He told him that he must “believe in” Jesus to be saved.

I know that some of you have just become confused, but let me explain. The word used for “in” in the Bible when referring to the believing that is the real gold is the word, “into”. The difference may seem small, but the distance is eternal. To believe INTO something means to trust your life to that something. For example, I may believe a plane will fly, but until I get inside the plane and trust my life to my belief I have not believed INTO. It is this believing INTO Jesus that brings the real gold of genuine salvation. Jesus concluded His teaching to Nicodemus by saying, “Whoever believes in [INTO] him [JESUS] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe [INTO JESUS] stands condemned already because he has not believed in [INTO] the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18). And this real gold is tested through the fiery trials of life.

The Bible tells us that the real gold of biblical salvation is proved genuine through fire. Listen to what Jesus said about people who believe IN, but not INTO Jesus. “Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away” (Luke 8:13). C. S. Lewis said, “You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.”

I will never forget the phone call I received on Sunday, July 20, from Mike. Like many of you, the shock of Katie’s death cut deep in my soul. We were on our way back from our oldest son’s wedding in South Carolina. When we heard the news Kathy and I began weeping as we were driving through Atlanta on our way back home. Our youngest son, Caleb, was in the back seat and I suddenly had the urge to stop the car, get out and hug him for a while. As the hours, days, and weeks following Katie’s death have crept forward we have all watched Buckett’s faith prove genuine. He has the real gold! Do you?

A Little Help From The Monkey Gallery

Gardendale had Senior night last night at the Basketball game. I stood up and watched all of the senior Cheerleaders go out and receive their flowers with their parents. I hate that Katie was not there to receive that one last accolade from high school. At the same time though, I couldnt help but understand how much each one of those five Senior Cheerleaders have been through this year. These young ladies had to take every step of every day and every practice and every game knowing that they had a fallen friend. I am sure that Katie never left their minds and hearts during all of this. As they came out on that floor, all five looked at me and smiled or winked or mouthed something. Each one of the parents did the same.

The title of this page is "A Little Help From The Monkey Gallery." What I mean by that is so many of you have helped my family with your Love, prayers and support, that if you would , please remember these five gals next time you say a prayer. They have spent so much time being a comfort to me that I have neglected to understand their pain. I promise I will not do that anymore.

Molly, Carli, Danielle, Katie Mac and Blakely, Thank you for all you guys have done. Each time I see one of you, I see a little of Buggs. You guys were a great friend to her and to all the Burketts and I for one am so proud of you. I look forward to watching you guys take the next step and you know if you ever need anything please just ask.

Mike "Buckett" Burkett