I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN

Psalm 62:5-8 says Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people;pour out your hearts to him,for God is our refuge.



My soul finds rest in You
My fortress and my rock
My hope for life my hiding place
My refuge and my God

In You I've found my home
My shelter from the storm
And I'll pour out my heart to You
And lean upon Your throne

I will put my trust in You
I will put my hope there, too
I will stand upon Your word
And I will not be shaken

I will let my praises show
Holding on to what I know
Because I know You're always there
And I will not be shaken
I will not be shaken
(Repeat)

I will not be moved
I'm leaning on the throne
Because You died for me
And called me to Your own
And even when the strongest winds begin to blow

I will stand my ground
I will not be moved
I will not be shaken

My soul finds rest in You
My fortress and my rock
My hope for life my hiding place
My refuge and my God

I will put my trust in You
I will put my hope there, too
I will stand upon Your word
And I will not be shaken

I will let my praises show
Holding on to what I know
Because I know You're always there
And I will not be shaken

I will put my trust in You
I will put my hope there, too
I will stand upon Your word
And I will not be shaken

I will let my praises show
Holding on to what I know
Because I know You're always there
And I will not be shaken
I will not be shaken

A little humor about criticism....

Prayer for the Church

Our merciful Father, may Thy church be stripped of all that weakens and be clothed with all that strengthens. Cleanse us from a worldly mind-a mind that reaches eagerly for the things that perish and discerns but dimly, the values that are deathless- and purge from our souls the pettiness that quarrels over trifles, the pride that makes an idol out of titles and offices, the narrowness that has no understanding eye for churches and nations and races other than our own. Drive from our hearts the complacency, the prayerlessness, the heedlessness that form always so deadly a drag on our discipleship and witness.

We ask, amid the difficulties and vexations of these times, for a holy and heartening remembrance of the pioneers who have blazed the long trails by which the gospel has been carried to strange lands and distant peoples. May the mantle of their dauntless courage and their passionate love for the souls of men fall upon us.

Revive Thy church everywhere. Give us reality to our worship. Grant soundness to our teaching. Kindle brotherly love into a glowing ardor. Turn our formal attachments into fiery committments. Push back our horizons and bestow upon us the truly seeing eye. May we be baptized by Thy Holy Spirit into feeling a oneness with all sorts and conditions of people. And thus may we enter into partnership with Thee in making known to all people in all places the message and power of Thy saving mercy. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

-From Paul Reese: Portrait of a Preacher

Olivia's hospital visit

It's been a while since my last post. It seems life has been pretty crazy. Olivia was in the hospital for a few days with a kidney infection. Brian was out of town and some friends of ours were out of town and we were watching their 3 girls. I wasn't sure how I was going to take her in to the hospital at 9pm and manage to get kids off to school and such in the morning. I am so blessed to have good neighbors. Andrew was ok to spend the night here and "hold the fort down" and my neighbor took the girls and my brother was able to take the big kids to the highschool. A big hearty THANK YOU to all who helped make things easier. I couldn't have done it without you. Olivia has been on antibiotics since the visit and is doing well. It took us a week to get back in the groove of things, but praise God she is back on her feet!

How quickly we can take our physical health for granted. I have a friend who has to go to the hospital all the time for her three children. She is a single Mom. I can't imagine all the time and money in trips to the children's hospital in Grand Rapids. She is a strong woman! I don't know how she does it, except in the strength of the Lord. I often forget to see how I can help her. I often forget how stressful that must be for her. I often forget how her heart must hurt for her children.

Have you forgotten? Have you taken your health for granted? I want to continually spend time in prayer...thanking God for our health and praying for those who need health. Who needs your prayers or encouragement today?

Slivers part 2

Last night I finally took that sliver out of my foot. Because it was so small, I had to dig a bit to get it out and now today, my foot really hurts. It hurts worse than when I had the sliver in there. Every step I feel the cut.

I thought about that for a bit, as it pertains to my post from yesterday. When we confess our sin and finally get it out of our lives, the pain of the consequences of our sin linger. Sometimes the consequences of our sin are worse than the pain of having the sin in our life.

The good news is...that pain may feel worse at first, but it goes away and you become stronger and wiser for having gone through that process.

Key for today: Cut out the slivers in your life and rejoice in God's grace and healing power in your life.

Slivers

Somehow when I was in the basement yesterday, I got a sliver from the floor in my foot. I didn't notice it much, but every once in a while I got a little poke in the bottom of my foot that kinda bothered me. It wasn't that big of a deal, so I left it. I figured it would work its way out since it was such a small sliver. It wasn't worth all the digging and cutting.

Last night every time I took a step it really kinda bothered me, but today, it's almost as if I've gotten used to the occassional little pick I get. It's not like I am running a marathon that I need to keep my feet in good condition. So...the sliver is still there.

In Hebrews 12:1 it says "Therefore, since we surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." The phrase that stands out to me is "sin that so easily entangles". Why and how does sin easily entangle us? It's like that little sliver. We convince ourselves that it's really not a big deal. It's just a little thing and isn't really bothersome, so we leave it. I'm talking about those things we might categorize as "little sins" (which, be reminded that sin is sin...it's not big or little, it's sin). Things such as: bad thoughts; gossip; not sharing our time, talent or money with God; watching a t.v. program that we know we really shouldn't; a little "white lie"; prayerlessness; overeating....You get the idea!

We tell ourselves that our particular sin is just a little thing, maybe hardly even a sin, and we let it go. We let it continue to be a part of our lives. But what happens when you don't remove those "slivers"? They tend to fester, get bigger and infection starts to set in. Now the sin is easily entangling us.

We are in a race. Little slivers will become bothersome and cause us to lose the race marked out for us, because our focus is off Jesus and on those things that have entangled us. Verse 2 of Hebrews 12 says that we need to "Fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith." What does it mean to lose the race? We face the Lord's discipline, we may cause other's to sin with us, we end up deeper and deeper in sin, we may even get to the point where we just give up and walk away from the race. How incredibly sad, because it began so small and could have been easily removed.

So I am off to remove my sliver...both the real sliver in my foot and a sliver I've been justifying for a while. How about you? Got any slivers?

ABC's of a Great Marriage

My friend, Mark Wilson and his wife put this list together. With Valentine's Day approaching, it's a great time to spend some extra time on our marriages. Great list, Mark! You can visit more of Mark's thoughts HERE.


A - Accept your partner as he/she is - no strings attached.
B - Be attentive, thoughtful and considerate.
C - Commit yourself and your marriage to God.
D - Date each other regularly and often.
E - Endure the difficult times with a good spirit.
F - Forgive any grievances you may have against each other.
G - Give affection generously.
H - Have fun together. Make wonderful memories!
I - Involve your partner totally in your life. Don't shut him/her out.
J - Journey through life together, looking forward to what's around the bend.
K - Keep the lines of communication open. Always be honest.
L - Listen, really listen to your partner.
M - Make love often.
N - Never gripe about your mate to others.
O - Openly praise your mate.
P - Pray together. The couple that prays together, stays together.
Q - Quit doing stupid things that annoy your partner.
R - Remember to put the lid on the toothpaste tube.
S - Start something new. Don't let your love grow stale.
T - Take time to tune in to each other.
U - Understand that there is ebb and flow in every relationship.
V - V.I.P.! Treat your partner like the most important person in the world.
W - Write love notes.
X - 'Xpress affection and tenderness every day.
Y - Your spouse is God's gift to you. Be thankful!
Z - Zoom! Your marriage will zoom into high gear when you give it your best.

God's Positive Answers to Life

You say: "It's impossible"
God says: All things are possible (Luke 18:27)

You say: "I'm too tired"
God says: I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28-30)

You say: "Nobody really loves me"
God says: I love you (John 3:1 6 & John3:34 )

You say: "I can't go on"
God says: My grace is sufficient (II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)

You say: "I can't figure things out"
God says: I will direct your steps (Proverbs 3:5- 6)

You say: "I can't do it"
God says: You can do all things (Philippians 4:13)

You say: "I'm not able"
God says: I am able (II Corinthians 9:8)

You say: "It's not worth it"
God says: It will be worth it (Roman 8:28 )

You say: "I can't forgive myself"
God says: I Forgive you (I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)

You say: "I can't manage"
God says: I will supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19)

You say: "I'm afraid"
God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear (II Timothy 1:7)

You say: "I'm always worried and frustrated"
God says: Cast all your cares on ME (I Peter 5:7)

You say: "I'm not smart enough"
God says: I give you wisdom (I Corinthians 1:30)

You say: "I feel all alone"
God says: I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)

Worship and Prayer

Prayer can no more be divorced from worship than life can be divorced from breathing. If we follow his impulse, the Holy Spirit will always lead us to pray. When we allow Him to work freely, he will always bring the Church to extensive praying. Conversely, when the Spirit is absent, we will find excuses not to pray. We may say, "God understands. He knows I love him. But I’m tired…I’m so busy…It’s just not convenient now." When the Spirit is absent, our excuses always seem right, but in the presence of the Spirit our excuses fade away.

R.T. Kendall

The IRS

Isn't it interesting:
If you put the words "The" and "IRS" together you get...THEIRS

and....

If Fex Ex and UPS were to merge, they would be "FED UP" and then we could FED UP our payments to the IRS.

While I'm Waiting

There are so many areas of my life that I have been bringing before the Lord. I am staying focused and worshipping and serving Him while I wait. Listen to the words of this song....While I'm Waiting
John Waller
The Blessing

I’m waiting.
I’m waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I’m waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

While I’m waiting
I will serve You
While I’m waiting
I will worship
While I’m waiting
I will not faint
I’ll be running the race
Even while I wait

I’m waiting
I’m waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I’m waiting on You, Lord
Though it’s not easy, no
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait

And I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

While I’m waiting
I will serve You
While I’m waiting
I will worship
While I’m waiting
I will not faint
I’ll be running the race
Even while I wait


I will move ahead, bold and confident
I'll be taking every step in obedience, yea

While I’m waiting
I will serve You
While I’m waiting
I will worship
While I’m waiting
I will not faint

I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting on You, Lord

Are you distracted too?

This video is done by one of the Free Methodist Bishops. He has a good point to his message. Listen carefully...

The Sin of PRAYERLESSNESS

I have been reading a book called The Prayer Life by Andrew Murray. This book was written after a ministerial conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa in 1912. The ministers at the conference realized that one of the deepest roots of evil is the sin of prayerlessness. Andrew Murray writes about what they talked about to be victorious in this area.

It was interesting to me that the reasons they struggled with not praying back in the late 1800's and early 1900's are the same reasons we give today: distractions, busyness, sin, ect.... It is not that we don't have time to pray, as we make time for friends to come over when they call. It's a matter of choice.

Just as a doctor takes our pulse, our level of prayer is the pulse of our spiritual life. Prayer is a weapon that can destroy in a fight. We can conquer EVERYTHING by prayer. "Is it any wonder taht Satan does his utmost to snatch that weapon fromn the Christian or to hinder him from the use of it." Satan hinderances: giving us the temptation to postpone or curtail it, bringing wandering thoughts and all sorts of distractions, feelings of unbelief and hopelessness.

"The greatest stumbling block in the way of victory over prayerlessness is the secret feeling that we shall never obtain the blessing of being delivered from it." I know that at the funeral of dear Jessie Farlow, I committed to "picking up the mantle of prayer that she held in her life." I have struggled to do that on and off in my life. I pick it up and put it back down at times. I want to be a prayer warrior, but I have been looking at this all wrong.

Lack of prayer...a sin? But, if we look at it this way, we see that Jesus says "Just as I will cleans you from all other sins, so also will I deliver from the sin of prayerlessness - only do not seek the victory in your own strength."

Andrew Murray continues to say, "What a folly to think that all other blessings must come from Him, but that prayer, whereon everything else depends, must be obtained by personal effort! Thank God I begin to comprehend - the Lord Jesus is Himself in the Inner Chamber watching over me, and holding Himself responsible to teach me how to approach the Father. This only He demands - that I with child-like confidence, wait upon Him and glorify Him."

"Our whole relationship to the Lord Jesus must be a new thing. I must believe in His infinite love, which really longs to have communion with me every moment, and to keep me in the enjoyment of His fellowship. I must believe in His Divine power, which has conquered sin, and will truly keep me from it. I must believe in Him who, as the great Intercessor, through the Spirit, will inspire each member of his body with joy and power for communion with God in prayer. My prayer-life must be brought entirely under the control of Christ and His love. Then, for the first time, will prayer become what it really is, the natural and joyous breathing of the spiritual life, by which the heavenly atmosphere is inhaled and then exhaled in prayer."

This type of relationship, in love with my Savior, is what compells me to prayer. 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This includes the sin of prayerlessness. This is how we can "pray without ceasing".

You can read this book online HERE.

25 Random Things About Me

Some friends have done this, and I have really enjoyed hearing their 25 things, so I thought I would share my 25 things with you here:

1. I grew up as the oldest of 3, a younger brother and sister. When I was pregnant with Andrew, I found out that I had 2 older half brothers from my Dad's first marriage that I knew nothing of. When I was pregnant with Olivia, my Mom got a call asking for my Dad from a young man. Upon conversation, I found out that I also have another half brother that is younger than me but older than the brother I grew up with. So, essentially, I have one sister and four brothers. And...I am DONE having kids! lol

2. I have two beautiful children, Andrew (15 years old) and Olivia (almost 9)!

3. I met Brian at McDonalds on May 25, 1990 and saw him every day after I met him until I went on a missions trip to Mexico in July of 1990.

4. I have lived in Michigan all my life, except for about 10 months when I was one years old, when we lived in Wisconsin.

5. I am an ordained minister in the Wesleyan church and currently serving as the Assistant Pastor at Woodside Wesleyan.

6. I love the beach and summertime weather.....and I live in Northern Michigan where it's polar opposite of that!

7. I love to wakeboard...even if I'm not that great at it.

8. When I was growing up, I always wanted to be a missionary to Brazil.

9. I love worship music.

10. Someday I would like to plant a church.

11. I love to socialize.

12. Starbucks! Cinnamon Dolche Latte. Need I say more?

13. I like knowing the big picture of things. I like a plan.

14. I HATE to be late for anything.

15. Good Chinese food really hits the spot.

16. I love seeing people come to Christ and be victorious in their walk with Christ.

17. I used to make my sister and brother and all my stuffed animals and dolls be my "students" as I played teacher as a kid.

18. Even though most people would probably think of me as a rule breaker, I actually like people to play by the rules. I don't like to see injustice, disrespect, or dishonor.

19. I attended Calvary Baptist Academy/Church almost all my life. When I was a Senior in high school we moved over to Midland Free Methodist Church and my first week there I signed up for the missions trip to Mexico for that summer. It felt like home immediately.

20. I have received much grace through my mistakes in life and hope I can extend just as much love and grace as I have been given.

21. Once I set my mind to something, I have a hard time changing gears or letting go.

22. I process things by talking them out. (sometimes a good thing, sometimes not)

23. I have lived in Traverse City since January of 2003.

24. My favorite color is periwinkle. (for those of you asking what that is....it's light blue and light purple and mixed together)

25. I love flowers, but seldom have them in my home, cuz I hate that they die......that's why I garden in the summertime.

23 MINUTES IN HELL

I just finished this book by Bill Wiese. Bill is a realtor that experienced 23 minutes in hell one night. He and his wife Annette share their story.

Whether you believe he actually went to hell or not, I pray that it will open your eyes to Scripture. May we each avoid hell and be inspired to share the gospel with others so that they, too will avoid hell.

Bill shares his story in the video here.

Kung Fu Panda

We watched Kung Fu Panda last night. I really liked this quote from the movie:

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery, but TODAY is a GIFT. That's why they call it the present."

What are you doing with the gift of today that you have been given?

Finding Peace at Christmas

If you have ever seen a beauty pageant? What is the one thing that they frequently say that they are working for or wish for? World Peace! Everyone longs for peace.

Have any of you been shopping this past week? If you were, did you walk out of the store saying “Wow, this season is full of peace on earth and goodwill to men!” Ha ha….probably not! Some of you may be thinking “Peace at Christmas? Is that possible?”

This week I watched a t.v. program that had a woman on who HATES…and I mean…HATES Christmas. She hates how mean people get to get a good deal at the stores, she hates how rude people are to the store clerks. She hates all the obligation to get together with family and worse yet….feeling obligated to buy gifts. Now, I do agree with her that people can act exactly opposite of what they should be for the season and I do agree that people should make a point to get together other times of the year as well, but….HATEING Christmas? What she is ultimately saying is “There is no peace on earth at Christmas.”

How important is peace to you? If you could purchase it at a store like you do your groceries, what would you pay for peace? Would you regularly buy a dose? I went online to check out “how to find peace”. It was amazing what came up. Here’s what one article told me to do to find peace:

1. Find a quiet, shady space. it can be anywhere (including outside) and get yourself comfortable. 2. Sit in a relaxed position.
3. Put your hands on your lap, or any comfortable position.
4. Close your eyes.
5. Focus carefully on your breathing.
6. Think about a long winding river and try to achieve stillness.
7. Notice how much easier it is to concentrate when you are done and how you feel much, much happier.
8. Practice this more; you will get better.

Disclaimer at the bottom of the page:

· To get ongoing access to the peace within, you will need to find a way to access the experience directly -- to live peacefully.

· The peace is lost due to our own disturbability of mind, which is due to subclinical neuroendocrine and autonomic imbalance and lack of focus and conviction. This can be rectified by namasmaran and pranayam which compliment every other measure to attain peace.

· The experience of peace cannot be created by mental exercises or physical exertions. Sometimes they allow you to get a glimpse of the peace within.

I had to laugh….here’s how to find peace…but you may only get a glimpse of it. It doesn’t last. Who wants that? It’s like going to thanksgiving and being told you can look at all the food and maybe have one small taste, but you can’t sit down for the dinner.

So, can you find peace that lasts? And if you can, where do you find it? Because I think we all want a piece of peace. “Isaiah 9:6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Jesus is our Prince of Peace. The word “prince” has four meaning in the Old Testament. Leader, official representative, governor and royal King. The word peace in Isaiah 9:6 is referring to rest, safety, security and freedom. It’s the word Shalom. So, what this verse is saying is that Jesus is the ruler, leader, governor and official representative of the rest, safety, freedom and security that only He can give a person in life.

True peace is a gift from God that he longs for you to open this Christmas. I believe that God has three gifts of peace for you this Christmas and my prayer is that you not only look at these gifts, but you open them and enjoy them. I pray that you don’t just set His peace for you on a shelf to collect dust in your memory banks, but that you know what it means to walk in peace in every day.

The first gift God has for you this Christmas is THE GIFT OF PEACE WITH GOD.
He who IS peace and enjoyed the peace of heaven where there are no wars, fighting or strife, became a man in the form of a baby that first Christmas night for the sole purpose of reconciling humankind to Himself so that you and I could personally know the peace of God.
Think about what life would be like if you never had a disagreement or fight. If you never had war. If you never had the stress of hard relationships. Jesus had that in heaven. It was perfect there. Let the kid in you come out and ponder the mystery of why Jesus would leave all that and come to earth for you? As I sat thinking this week, I came up with a few reasons: His great love for me. To be an example of how to live without sin in this life. To have a relationship with us and not just be the big man upstairs. To live here 33 years doing ministry and then give his life as a sacrifice for our sins so that we could enjoy the peace of heaven with him. WOW!
God sure loves us a lot. But to have peace with God, we must have a relationship with God. I believe there is a direct correlation in the Bible between peace and holiness. The Bible says there is no peace for the wicked (Isaiah 48:22, Is. 57:21), but the Lord promises peace to his people (Is. 32:17, Colossians 1:20). If you don’t have a personal relationship with God, you will seek and seek but come up short every time. Isaiah 57:2 says that those who have Christ will find peace even in death. It’s true. They know where they are going and look forward to meeting their Savior face to face. It removes all fear.

Have you unwrapped this gift of peace? Do you have sin festering in your life that needs to go? Have you ever committed your life to God? Unwrap the gift of peace with God this Christmas.

The next gift God has for you this Christmas is THE GIFT OF PEACE WITH YOURSELF
Doesn’t life get stressful trying to make everyone else happy. Are there times when you just feel like you don’t measure up? You don’t like the way you look or you are holding on to the past and the things you’ve done wrong. You may have a relationship with God, but you don’t much like yourself sometimes. Maybe you think you’re too fat or too big of a nose or you can’t sing or …yada yada yada. We can be pretty hard on ourselves sometimes.

Do you know that the Prince of Peace can actually help you like yourself? He created you in HIS image. You were formed like a pottery forms a piece of clay and makes it into a masterpiece. You weren’t an accident. And when we tell God that we don’t like how we look or what gifts or talents we DON’T have, we are telling God that he messed up and we don’t like the way he created us.

Imagine a potter molding a piece of clay. He works for hours molding and molding until it’s just right. Then he fires it and paints it up beautifully. He is a professional and his work of art is worth thousands of dollars and his art is coveted by all. Would you ever think of going up to that artist and saying…”I really don’t like this. I think it is a piece of junk! If you would have just made it with a smaller handle and with prettier colors…….” NO! You would never do that! But why do we tell God constantly that his work stinks?

When we have that relationship with God, we can open the gift of peace with God, but also peace with ourselves, because we can realize that God fashioned us. And we know that this world is not our home…heaven is and HIS opinion of us is the only one that counts. What goes on inside here (pointing to chest) is what matters. It’s the only thing that will last. When we die we don’t take our bodies with us. It’s our soul and that relationship with God that goes to be with the Lord. So why do we obsess so much over our appearance and talents?

Who does God say you are? Here are just a few truths that we can hold on to. Each one is taken right from scripture. If you want the references, ask me after church and I will give them to you. If you are in Christ, this is what God says your identity is: I am accepted and acceptable. I have been bought with a price. I am God’s temple. I am chosen. I am loved with an everlasting love. I am forgiven. I am complete in Christ. I am God’s child. I am holy. I am a saint. I am God’s workmanship. I am God’s precious jewel. I am created in God’s image. I am God’s friend. Neil Anderson says “The more you re-affirm who you are in Christ, the more your behavior will begin to reflect your true identity.” We really can be at peace with ourselves and who we are when we realize who we really are! God has given each one of you special gifts and talents that are yours alone. God doesn’t make junk and God made you, fashioned you, in HIS image. We are made to look like Him! That’s precious and amazing!

Are you willing to un-wrap that gift this year? I challenge you to take some time this week to re-affirm who you are in Christ and who He has made you to be. Maybe you remember this old song….I’ve changed it just a bit…. Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world…red and yellow black and white, old and young he made just right. Jesus loves the little children of the world!

The last gift Jesus has for you this year is THE GIFT OF PEACE WITH OTHERS.
Romans 12:18 says “As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” I have heard of countless stories of family members who no longer speak to one another because of some rift that happened 20 years ago. At Christmas, wouldn’t it be nice if everyone could come together in peace? Who is that one person in your life that comes to mind when I talk about being at peace with others that you just wish you could be at peace with? It IS possible!

Proverbs 16:7 tells us that if we have peace with God, we can even live at peace with our enemies. How is that possible? I have seen that very thing this week. They aren’t enemies, but the press is sure giving both sides heat. Who am I talking about? President-Elect Barack Obama and Pastor Rick Warren. Rick Warren was asked to give the invocation at the presidential inauguration and everyone is up in arms about it because they hold such different views on things. So how can Barack Obama and Rick Warren live in peace with one another when they disagree about so many hard issues? It’s because they can agree to disagree but they find common ground and stay there. They can respect one another and live in peace even if they don’t always agree.

John tells us that if we say we love God and don’t love each other, we are liars. Wow. That’s pretty strong. Jesus said that we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength and love our neighbor as ourselves. It all goes back to that initial relationship with God. It holds the keys to having peace in all areas of our lives.

What will it take for you to be reconciled with the ones you are in conflict with? God has offered us forgiveness far beyond what we deserve. Is it time for you to offer forgiveness to someone that may not, in your eyes, deserve it? When we are at peace with God in our hearts and when we are at peace with ourselves, God enables us to live at peace with one another. Are you willing to extend peace? I guarantee if you do, you will receive back more than you gave.

We live in a culture that seems to have lost all peace. Our rest, security, stability and safety seem to be disintegrating before our eyes. How can we have peace when our finances are upside down? How can we have peace when everything is going haywire? We go back to the first point. When you have made peace with God, you will have that quiet trust in Him, trusting that He knows tomorrow. Trusting that He can see what is best. Trusting that what looks impossible to us is easy for the Lord to take care of. Trusting Him in faith which results in peace. Un-wrap the precious gift of peace from Jesus today. Don’t leave this gift sitting under the tree un-opened.

God’s peace never lessens. The Prince of Peace has come to rule in peace over our lives. Remember, HE is the only gift that won’t break, wear out, or go out of style. Isaiah 54:10 says that Jesus offered us peace as a covenant that will not be broken. Receive His gift of peace to you this Christmas.

You’ve heard of re-gifting? It’s where you take a gift that someone has given to you and you wrap it up and give it to someone else. This is one of those gifts that you can re-gift. Give it away to others. You’ll be glad you did! Don’t leave today without this gift of peace.

Do you have peace with God?
Do you have peace with yourself?
Do you have peace with others?

Let this Christmas be different than any one you have ever experienced. “Let the peace of the Messiah rule in your hearts to which you are called in one body and be thankful.”

In the news

Olivia is in the elementary choir at school and yesterday they went to the Pavillions, a nursing home. She was in the news last night and since I can't get the video to post here, you can watch it HERE.

Olivia loves to sing and she blesses us with her gift. Thanks for sharing your gift with these people Olivia. You did a fantastic job and brought smiles to many faces! I love you, girly!

Staying postive...Because life goes on!

Wow...those are precious words from a sweet, 75 year old woman who was beaten and bound for 26 hours. The whole story is here http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28250704/This is an amazing woman. The teens involved in this were less than remorseful and yet this precious woman says "There aren't many people out there like that"

We can learn a lot from this dear One. She made a CHOICE to be positive. She made a CHOICE to get back up again. She made a CHOICE to go forward. You see, it's a choice that we have each and every day as well. We can choose to look at the negative...cuz it's there. We can choose to be a victim and let it ruin us for the rest of our lives. We can choose to live our lives in fear, OR we can choose to trust in Christ and look for the positive in situations.

What situation in your life has you down? What is it that persistently frustrates you? Take a few minutes to give that thing to the Lord and pray over it and then purposely think of three positives in your life. No matter how bad your situation, there is a positive there if you look for it. Find it now!

If you find yourself struggling to find it, write to me and I'd love to talk with you about it! write to: joy-ziegler@hotmail.com

Uncle Brad

On November 26, 2008, my Aunt found my Uncle "sleeping" on the couch....eternally. At this point, we still don't know his cause of death, but I have been processing over the last few weeks. We went down state early before Thanksgiving to be with my Mom and spent extended time there. He didn't want any type of service or fanfare, so the family didn't even get together.....besides, they are living in Florida for the winter.

I have been mulling over a few things in my mind. Here are some random thoughts I'm having....

- I don't like the idea of people milling around my body when I'm gone, but I think it's a healthy thing to do, as it helps people to get together, talk, process and grieve together.

- Life here on earth is short. We never know how long we have, so we need to be ready.

- Comfort and peace are difficult when the person is "not ready".

- Is my urgency to share the gospel when a crisis comes the same as when there isn't a crisis?

- Does love for Christ pour out of me through action?

- I have some good memories.

- This is what it means to be held....by Jesus, my only Comfort and Peace.

I RUN TO YOU

I run to You.

When the waves around me are crashing from the storm....

When I'm in the stillness of the redwood forest and not a sound is heard...

When I am in a crowd of people and feel all alone....

When I sit on the edge wondering where you are....

When I am filled with excitement that I cannot contain.....

When I don't feel I can go on....

I run to You. Your love reaches. Your love touches.

I run to You. Where it's always safe and I am held.

I run to You. The One who never changes.

I run to You. I run only to You.

Jesus.

God vs. Science

A science professor begins his school year with a lecture to the students, "Let me explain the problem science has with religion." The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.

"You're a Christian, aren't you, son?"

"Yes sir," the student says.

"So you believe in God?"

"Absolutely."

"Is God good?"

"Sure! God's good."

"Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?"

"Yes."

"Are you good or evil?"

"The Bible says I'm evil."

The professor grins knowingly. "Aha! The Bible!" He considers for a moment. "Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?"

"Yes sir, I would."

"So you're good...!"

"I wouldn't say that."

"But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't."

The student does not answer, so the professor continues. "He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?"

The student remains silent.

"No, you can't, can you?" the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.

"Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?"

"Er...yes," the student says.

"Is Satan good?"

The student doesn't hesitate on this one. "No."

"Then where does Satan come from?"
The student falters. "From God"
"That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?"

"Yes, sir."

"Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?"

"Yes."

"So who created evil?" The professor continued, "If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil."

Again, the student has no answer. "Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?"

The student squirms on his feet. "Yes."

"So who created them?"

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. "Who created them?" There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. "Tell me," he continues onto another student. "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"

The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor, I do."

The old man stops pacing. "Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?"

"No sir. I've never seen Him."

"Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?"
"No, sir, I have not."

"Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?"

"No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."

"Yet you still believe in him?"

"Yes."

"According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?"

"Nothing," the student replies. "I only have my faith."
"Yes, faith," the professor repeats. "And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith."

The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. "Professor, is there such thing as heat?"

"Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat."

"And is there such a thing as cold?"

"Yes, son, there's cold too."
"No sir, there isn't."

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. "You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees."

"Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it."

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.

"What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?"

"Yes," the professor replies without hesitation. "What is night if it isn't darkness?"

"You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word."

"In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?"

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. "So what point are you making, young man?"

"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed."

The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. "Flawed? Can you explain how?"

"You are working on the premise of duality," the student explains. "You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought."

"It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it."

"Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?"

"If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do."

"Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?"

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.

"Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?"

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided.

"To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean."

The student looks around the room. "Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?" The class breaks out into laughter.

"Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir."

"So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?"

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable.

Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. "I guess you'll have to take them on faith."

"Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life," the student continues. "Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?"

Now uncertain, the professor responds, "Of course, there is. We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

Keep on Trusting!

The following article is from http://www.crosswalk.com/spirituallife/11595374/ (Answers with Bayless Conley) It really hit home in many ways for me. It is a great follow-up to yesterday's post about waiting.

If you’re like me, there's been a time in your life when trusting God has been tough. Perhaps that time is right now! Maybe your marriage isn't where you would like it to be. Perhaps it's far from ideal… even very far from being happy… and you've been praying and trusting God to turn things around. Maybe you're trusting God for the healing of a physical affliction in your body. Maybe there's a difficult financial situation in which you're trusting God for favor. Maybe it has to do with your kids or some other situation in the home. Maybe it has to do with something that's going on at work and you're trusting God for something to change. Whatever it is, I want to encourage you with a word from the Lord today. I want to share with you one reason to hold fast. A reason to keep believing. A reason to hold on to the promise that God has put in your heart and to keep trusting Him.

That reason is this: If God ever helped you in the past, He can help you in the now.

I read a true story recently about a guy who was totally distraught over some bills which had come due. And in the midst of his panic he remembered an experience he had as a World War II soldier fighting in the South Pacific. He had become separated from his comrades, and some enemy soldiers had spotted him. In his attempt not to be caught, he scrambled through the jungle on the island he was on and managed to wedge himself inside a tiny little cave. And being a Christian, he prayed, "God, please protect me." In that moment, he noticed that a little spider had started to spin a web at the mouth of the cave, and for the next 30 minutes he watched that spider spin a web as his enemy searched the caves around him. Pretty soon, the enemy soldiers appeared at the mouth of the cave—and in an instant, they were gone. The soldier realized the enemy assumed nobody would have gone into that cave if there was a spider web in front of it!

He had let the distress about his bills overwhelm him… before finally remembering that God had saved him with a spider web! God had been faithful in a situation that had been much worse! This human tendency to forget God's faithfulness… our failure to trust Him… is the same thing we find in Mark chapter 8, right after Jesus miraculously fed over 4,000 people with a few fish and seven loaves of bread. Right after that miracle, the disciples had jumped into a boat with Jesus and crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. And they immediately forgot the miracle they had just watched Him perform.

Let's pick up the story in Mark 8:14…

Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread.” But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?” They said to Him, “Twelve.” “Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?” And they said, “Seven.” So He said to them, “How is it you do not understand?” (v. 14-21)

Jesus is telling His disciples that they don't get it! He has just performed two amazing miracles feeding thousands with a few fish and a couple of loaves of bread. Yet they are panicking because they realize that they only have one loaf of bread now for themselves. Somehow they have forgotten God's provision… His faithfulness. They are panicking in this situation because it has not dawned on them that what He did before he can do again.

But God does do repeat performances! He is faithful! What He has done in your life He can do again. And that's a good reason to hold fast… to keep believing… and to hold on today to the promise that God has put in your heart

Waiting.

It is so hard to wait. We can get impatient. We can get down right mad at having to wait. We have gotten so used to instant gratification that I think we have lost the art of waiting. The "art of waiting"? What does that mean?

There was a time when people prayed until they saw God moved. There was a time when people pleaded with God and stayed all day, all night, whatever it took to see God move. There was a time when people fasted and gave up everything just to wait on God. There was a time.....when was the last time for you? Has there been a time? I am convicted in my own spirit by this.

So, what will I do about it? I find there are some things I have been praying about and I am waiting. Trying to be patient. Trying to be faithful. Trying to keep my face on the ground and not give up. Trying. Trying. Trying.....and yet....what are we supposed to do "in the waiting"? Here are some things God spoke to my heart about this morning:

- Fast and keep a spirit of continual prayer on my lips.
- Hold on to the truth that I know. Claim it. Live it.
- Stay close to the Savior. (worship music, prayer, Bible reading, memorize and meditate on God's Word)
- Keep joy in my heart, because my God is living and active.

So, I wait.....

It's all about love....

"If we dont radiate the light of Christ around us, the sense of the darkness that prevails in the world will increase."

-Mother Teresa

Praying for our President

It is now time we set aside our feelings about the election and act. We can spend a lot of time speculating, fighting, talking about the election, but what if we were to spend that same amount of time in prayer for our president? I believe that God can change even the hardest of hearts. I believe that God can move mountains....truly. I believe that God is ABLE to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or imagine! Do YOU? PRAY.......

The following was sent to me by a dear saint:

The 10 Ways to Pray for Barack Obama

Whether you are happy about this week’s election results or not, all Christians must unite in prayer for our new president. Please don’t forsake this responsibility.

It’s over. We’ve reached the end of the longest, angriest and most nerve-wracking presidential campaign in American history. Finally the “I approved this message” ads have ceased. The endless robot phone calls have stopped ringing. The debates, and the annoying post-debate comments from “experts,” are history—until the next election cycle.

More than half the nation is celebrating today while others are mourning. We are a divided nation, split into unhappy fragments by abortion, gay marriage, global warming, a failed economy and an unpopular war. Those who voted for Barack Obama have claimed a historic victory; some on McCain’s side are already looking for scapegoats. Politics is politics.

But when I got up this morning, I turned all my attention to the fact that Jesus Christ is still on the throne. His government is what is most important. Regardless of who sits in the Oval Office, the Bible says “the nations are like a drop from a bucket” to God (Is. 40:15, NASB). That includes the United States . We may boast about being “the greatest nation on earth,” but He who sits in heaven has a different perspective. Let’s take a big sigh of relief now and remember that God is sovereign.

I’ll admit this election did not turn out as I had hoped. I supported McCain primarily because I am pro-life and I prefer his small-government mindset. But now that the election is over, I’m not going to harbor bitterness toward Obama supporters or go into attack mode. Obama has been elected president of this country, and that means I have a biblical responsibility to support him in prayer—even if I challenge his policies.

Whether you voted for Obama or not, you need to pray for him. Here are 10 ways I plan to intercede for him regularly:

1. Pray for Obama’s protection. We already know that some weird, neo-Nazi fanatics in Tennessee plotted to kill Sen. Obama during his campaign. Let’s pray that racist hatred is not allowed to spread. Let’s cancel every assassin’s bullet in the name of Jesus. May civility triumph over bigotry.

2. Cover his wife and daughters in prayer. It is not easy to live under constant media scrutiny. Pray for Obama’s wife, Michelle, and their two daughters, Malia and Natasha, as they face invasive cameras, nosy reporters, maniacal fans and dangerous enemies. Obama is not only a politician but also a husband and a father.

3. Pray that Obama will govern with God’s wisdom. God rewarded Solomon because he asked for wisdom instead of wealth, long life or vengeance on his enemies (see 1 Kings 3:11-12). Pray that Obama will order his priorities like that. Despite Solomon’s tragic character flaws, his legacy was wisdom. We can ask God to give our president the same grace.

4. Ask God to keep our president humble. Many great American leaders became corrupt after they moved to Washington . The fatal attraction of fame, wealth and power proved irresistible. The only thing that will guard a man or woman from this pitfall is humility. May God deliver President Obama from the curse of pride.

5. Pray for wise and righteous advisers to surround him. Godly leaders cannot do their job alone. Even the best leaders have failed because they trusted the wrong people. Pray that Obama will not select his counselors based on party, race, pedigree or political cronyism but on godly character and proven wisdom. Pray also that he will not allow secret traitors into his inner circle.

6. Ask for the spirit of reconciliation. Some segments of our deeply divided society want nothing to do with Obama now that he has won the presidency. Even some Christians will be tempted to harbor resentment and nurse political grudges throughout his term in office. Pray that God will grant forgiveness and healing so that leaders on all political levels can have constructive dialogue.

7. Pray that Obama will adopt pro-life convictions. Many politicians have changed their views on key issues while in office. In the 1800s some leaders who favored slavery later denounced it. In the 1950s some who opposed racial integration later became champions of it. Even though Obama won approval from many voters because he sanctions abortion, God could soften and change his heart.

8. Bind all evil forces assigned to manipulate our president. The specter of Islamic terrorism looms over the United States , and dark forces are ready to infiltrate. Our only hope lies in prayer to the God who is able to expose and outwit the schemes of the wicked. This is truly a time for spiritual warfare, and intercessors must not come off the wall in this hour! Pray that no foreign government, terrorist organization or demonic principality will use Obama as a tool. We must stand strong against the spirit of antichrist that promotes dictatorship, persecution of Christians and hostility toward Israel .

9. Pray that Obama’s door will remain open to the church. The loudest voices of secular culture—from Bill Maher in Hollywood to atheists in academia—would be happy if religion were removed from public life. Pray that Obama, who claims to have a personal faith in Jesus Christ, will unapologetically welcome Christian leaders into his company and seek their counsel. And pray that false religious leaders (who claim to know Christ but deny His power) will not have his ear.

10. Pray that our nation will enjoy God’s peace and blessing during the Obama administration. The apostle Paul instructed early believers to pray for all in authority “so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (1 Tim. 2:2, NASB). God’s will is for America to experience peace and prosperity so that we can continue to export the gospel to the nations. This must happen whether a Democrat or a Republican is in the White House. As we cry out for God’s mercy on our wayward nation, pray that He will allow us to be a light to the world as we finance global missions, feed and heal the world’s poor and share Christ’s love at home and abroad.

Tough Love vs. Spanking

This letter came across my email today and I found it quite funny, so I thought I would share it with you.....

TOUGH LOVE VS. SPANKING.............

Most people think it improper to spank children, so I have tried other methods to control kids when they have one of 'those moments.'

One that I found effective is for me to just take the child for a car ride and talk.

Some say it's the vibration from the car, others say it's the time away from any distractions such as TV, Video Games, Computer, IPod, etc.

Either way, kids usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our car ride together. Eye to eye contact helps a lot too.

I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique.

Sincerely,

Your Friend

Love and Respect

Last weekend Brian and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. It has been a difficult year in some ways for our marriage, so we thought it would be good to really focus on our marriage during our anniversary and how we can grow even more. Can you believe it? There was a Love and Respect Conference near Chicago on the exact weekend of our anniversary. So, last weekend, we went. Amazing!

Love and Respect is based on Ephesians 5:33 that says "However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." How have we missed this verse in scripture. How many of us have heard the first part about husbands loving their wives, but the second part has been lost. It's not about the husband lording over the wife, but a mutual love and respect. Women long to be loved and men long to be respected....and go figure...that's how GOD created it to be.

Most would say that we should love unconditionally. I probably wouldn't get too much discussion over that, but what about respecting unconditionally? OUCH! We would most likely say that people only get respect when they deserve it, but that is not what scripture says. It says and "the wife must respect..." Without giving the whole 2 day conference, it is hard to explain, but I will be using this material for my marriage counseling. It has transformed Brian and I and it just makes sense....and it's scriptural.

I bought the videos so we can go through it again...maybe in a small group setting, or hold a video conference of our own. Marriage is hard work. The key is...to keep working on it. Brian and I have committed our lives to each other for eternity. We long to be the best of friends and lovers and continue to work hard at it. This last year, we let other things get in the way and our marriage paid for it. So, in 2008 we have worked harder than we ever have and keep pressing on. Satan loves to get an edge in, and the minute we quit making our families priority is his opportunity to slide in. I declare war! Not in my marriage! Not in my family!

Lord, I come to You, let my heart be changed, renewed...flowing from the grace that I've found in You. Lord, I've come to know the weaknesses I see in me, will be stripped away by the power of your love.

Hold me close. Let Your love surround me. Bring me near. Draw me to Your side. And as I wait, I’ll rise up like the eagle. And I will soar with You. Your Spirit leads me on in the power of Your love.

Lord, unveil my eyes, let me see You face to face, the knowledge of Your love as You live in me. Lord renew my mind, as Your will unfolds in my life, in living every day by the power of Your love.

Hold me close. Let Your love surround me. Bring me near. Draw me to Your side. And as I wait, I’ll rise up like the eagle. And I will soar with You. Your Spirit leads me on in the power of Your love.

Reverse Altar Calls

I took a Missions Trip to Mexico back in 1990 and David Roller was the missionary there. Since then, he has changed positions a few times and is now one of the Bishops of the Free Methodist Church. He has posted an interesting concept he came up with on his blog and I wanted to share it with you....

I had a cool idea recently while studying Acts 15. As a part of their ruling on the Gentile Christians, the Council of Jerusalem said, "we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God." And I thought, "what a great principle!"

I know that it's a time-honored tradition to make it difficult for people to decide to follow Jesus (and He sometimes did too, like the rich young ruler). But Jesus usually made it easy, made it attractive to follow Him (free fish, free healings, free kingdom of God).

I thought about our traditional altar calls ("every head bowed, every eye closed...") and how they made it hard to come to Jesus. Then it came to me, my brilliant idea: Make it hard to go to hell and easy to go to heaven.
So here's how the altar call should go,

Preacher: Okay I want everybody looking around at each other, don't anybody close your eyes. Now, if you're wanting to go to hell, just slip your hand up. If you're wanting to spend eternity in a state of constant suffering, raise your hand. Or if you want to live a life of destruction and selfish ambition, raise your hand.

(Wait a minute then say:) Okay now, those of you with your hands up, I'm going to ask you to do one more thing; I want you to stand up and come down front so we can all see who the weak ones are who don't want to love God. We're not trying to embarrass you, we just want you to understand the seriousness of your decision to reject God.

After they come forward then the preacher can pray for all those still seated, because they have all decide to accept Jesus!!

Why not do it this way? Why make it hard to come to Jesus? In fact, couldn't we apply that Acts 15 principle to other parts of our ministries? Where do we make it difficult for our neighbors to turn to God?

If their "stumbling block" (to use Paul's terms) is the cross of Christ, that's okay, but if their stumbling block is just something in our church culture, we need to remove it.

Make it easy.

Just Let Me Say

This is the song of my heart today.

Evaluation and Motivation

Life has been very hectic with the start of school this year. Andrew is in high school and just finished his driver's education. A lot of changes for us. I am finally finished with classes and tomorrow is my ordination ceremony down in Fremont, MI. It feels good to have reached that goal.

I started this week with Pastor's Prayer and Fast Retreat down at camp. It was a good time to meet with other Pastors and get to know some of them, as well as the time of meeting with God. Betweeen the retreat and my ordination and my wedding anniversary this month, I have been in evaluation mode. I am evaluating each relationship I have: my marriage....both to Brian and to God, my relationship with my children and also my relationship in ministry.

I have been overwhelmed this week by the deep responsibility I carry in each relationship. So, I am evaluating, setting goals and praying for each one. Here are some of the questions I am asking myself:

1. How much time do I spend on this relationship in a day?
2. What am I doing to grow this relationship?
3. Is there anything inappropriate in my life that is hindering this relationship?
4. How much time do I spend in prayer over and for this relationship?
5. Am I serving or being served in this relationship?
6. Is God pleased with the status of this relationship?
7. What do I need to change in this relationship?
8. What are my goals for this relationship?
9. What is my action plan for reaching those goals?

So I ask you....How are your relationships?

Sarah Palin and Integrity

I have been watching some of the speeches this week from the Republican Convention. I was really impressed with Sarah Palin. She's got such personality! You could feel the people being drawn in by her speech and by the end, you could tell that they loved her! The commentators at the end of the speech were saying what an incredible job she did and then it immediately went to a clip about a lawsuit she is currently fighting in Alaska. I was really disappointed. It seemed they took her great moment and tried to squelch it. Every decision she has ever made, her family life, her job, everything is under scrutiny.

It got me thinking, what if my life "went public" tomorrow? What if others evaluated my every decision? If they scrutized how I raised our family and spend my money, how would I hold up? Would they have a lot of "dirt" to proclaim to the press or would they see a life of integrity?

1 Peter 2:12 says to live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

To be totally honest, my heart kinda skips a beat at the thought of everything in my life being scrutized, but for today....I move forward doing my best to live a holy life and thankful that when I mess up it's not in the press.

Sarah's speech challenges me in two ways: First, to be in continual prayer for the leaders of our country. They have a lot on their plate and the media breathing down their back only makes it more difficult. Secondly, even though I may not have millions of people questioning how my life, I am challenged to live right in front of the people that matter the most...my children. I would be embarrased at some of my actions in front of the world, yet there are still people who are watching: my children, my neighbors, the gas station clerk, ect.... I need to make sure that others will see my good deeds and come to know and glorify God.

Does this resonate with you at all?

Trading My Sorrows

Music amazes me. It can set the mood and tone for your day. It can change your day. It can lift you up. The flip side...it can bring you down, as well depending on what you are listening to.

For the past couple of weeks, I have set my alarm to wake me up to the song "Trading My Sorrows". I have been amazed at how it has changed my view on the day. If I wake up with anything heavy on my heart, it is a reminder that I need to give that to the Lord and trade my frustration, anger, worry, sadness, ect.... for the joy of the Lord. Listen to the song....let it speak to your heart as it does every morning to mine...

Pullin' Weeds

I was outside pulling weeds in my garden and was reminded of the spiritual impact of "pullin' weeds". If the weeds are left to themselves in the garden, they will take over the beautiful flowers and vegetables that should be growing there. The garden was meant for beauty and producing fruit (or vegetables).

We may think that now that we are a Christian that we have our ticket to heaven and that is enough. IT'S NOT! We have to pull the weeds, the sin, to be what God created us to be. He desires that we grow, flourish and bear fruit, but sin left untreated, will take over our life and choke us out.

I can go out on any given day and pull at least ONE weed. Spiritually, I can go to prayer and seek my heart and almost always find at least ONE weed (sin, bad attitude, ect.) that needs to be removed.

How about you? When was that last time you opened your heart up and let God reveal improper motives, attitudes and sin? Does your heart break over the sin or have you become indifferent? Recently I had an issue in my life that kept coming up and I just didn't seem to be able to get over. It wasn't until my heart broke over the issue that I became victorious in that area.

God desires holiness in our lives. He longs for us to live victoriously over sin. I want that for my life, but that means daily de-weeding.

VBS, Youth, and School

Last week was an amazing week with Vacation Bible School. It was a long week and took an extra 40+ hours out of my week, but worth it. I trust that God is going to grow the seeds we have planted at VBS.

This week I have been working diligently on the youth group plans. We are doing Alien Youth and I have been writing all the lessons for the next 6 weeks. I am very excited about it all. We are going to have a ton of fun and learn what it means to be a Christian in this world, but not of it. I have to save the details, so it will be a surprise for the youth, but I WILL be sharing as it unfolds.

Looking forward to the last weekend of "freedom". School starts on Tuesday with Andrew in high school and Olivia in 3rd grade. We were going to go away for the weekend, but think we will just relax at home and maybe spend some time out on the boat and have a few friends over for a cookout.

Cooking with Olivia

For the past 24 hours, Olivia has had a fever and a headache. She woke up this morning and took some more Tylenol and was finally feeling like eating. She asked for a smoothie for breakfast and then said "Mom, I really want crabmeat cheese. Can we make some in our new deep fryer?" So, we cooked together this morning and made just that and enjoyed our cooking creation together for lunch. Since she was sick, I got the day off work. It's a blessing to spend the day home today.

Thank You, Lord for knowing when we need to slow down and giving us opportunitites for that to happen. I feel blessed this day!

TONIGHT STARTS VBS....gonna need this time! I am very excited about this week!

ALIEN YOUTH

"making a difference with our time here on earth"

This is the new youth group name. It should be a lot of fun starting up again this fall. I am working on writing some materials about how we are in this world, but not of it. What does it mean to be a Christian in this world? How are we aliens and strangers here on earth? How does that translate into the way I interact with the world? We are going to be looking at 1 Peter. I am excited about it. Do you have any ideas for me? Talk to me....

We're Back.....Kinda!

We spent a great week at Family Camp. It was so much fun seeing friends who we don't get to visit with often. I had 5 kids with me, so I didn't get to visit as much as I wanted to, but we did get to share a potluck on Sunday with our Midland friends and then the Schloemann's generously make a pancake breakfast for the Midland group (the sausage balls are the best!)
We had numerous campfires with smores and cherry pies and whatever else kind of pie the kids could come up with.....smore pie, pizza pie, and grilled cheese. One friend made snowcones for all the kids in the area and I made a bit of homemade icecream.

Let's not forget the endless trips to the beach. My niece, Cassandra, for the first time jumped off the blob (a tall platform that you jump off on to a big inflatable, which sends the person at the other end of the blog flying up into the air and into the water)

Andrew had his friend, Brad, stay with us for the week, and they had fun pulling pranks on people (flirting with the girls, callapsing friend's tents, ect...) One morning, they slept until noon. How you can sleep in a tent with all that is going on around you, as well as the heat and such, I don't know. It's fun having a teen!

We had church every night and the kids love riding the horse-drawn wagon ride to church. They changed things up a bit this year, and rather than having an evangelist come in and speak, they had some of the pastors in the Conference speak and it was great! I know that God has been doing some work in my own heart about my heart for those who don't know Jesus and what am I going to do about that? I will post more as I work through that process.

So, why do I say we're back...kinda? Well, I am headed to Indiana for a few days to spend time with my Mom's sisters and their daughters. Every year they do a "sister's weekend". It's for any girls in the family...aunts, moms, sisters, daughters. This year, my aunt from St. Croix will be able to join us, so we are staying at my Aunt's house. Not sure what we will be doing, but I DO know that there will be LOTS of talking and talking and talking. It cracks me up to sit back and just watch sometimes. I should have some pictures of the trip when I get back at the end of the week.

Blogging Break...

We are going camping at the Free Methodist Church Family Camp this week, so there will be no posts for a week.

Camping in New Era, Michigan pictures

MICHIGAN'S ADVENTURE!!!

Bumper Cars....Mom vs. Dad and Olivia!
Frog Hopper....this ride goes up and as it comes back down bounces up and down. The kids scream with excitement. It's so fun to watch!

We went to a petting zoo that had this big jumping pillow:

And what is camping without a little water time and a campfire?

by the way...this stuff really makes a campfire fun! It sizzles when it burns (and supposedly helps with mosquitos).

Horseback Riding

When we were camping last week, one of our day trip excursions was for Olivia and I to go horseback riding. It is the first time Olivia has been on a horse and the first time in a loooonnnggg time since I have been on one. We took an hour long trail ride with a guide and another mother and daughter. We had such a good time. We each had our own horse. I was a little worried that Olivia wouldn't like the trotting part, but she did well with it all...and I must say, she had the cutest curls bouncing up and down when we did trot. These are great memories for her and I!

A Very Happy Birthday!

Today I turned 140-70/2. (For those of you not good at math, the answer is 35!) Thanks to those of you who sent birthday greetings.

I worked this morning and then came home, took a shower and went to my birthday massage. I was going to get my hair cut, but I ended up doing that yesterday. After my massage, Brian and the kids took me to Outback for dinner. I love their steak and fresh broccoli. It was really tastey, especially since we finished the whole thing off with a hot pecan brownie with vanilla icecream, whipped cream and hot chocolate fudge sauce. MMMM!!!!

Now we are going to watch a movie together.....the perfect ending to a beautiful day! I feel very blessed to have such a fantastic family!

Update

Wow, summer has been a blast, but is flying by. We have kept very busy. I attended an open house this weekend and was reminded of how long it's been since I've posted. School was still in session on my last post. So, what's been happening???

• NEW ARRIVAL: We have a new baby in the house. Her name is Callie. She was 4 weeks old when we got her. She is now 2 months old and is so playful and fun. Yes, a kitten! The kids both love her to death. She plays a lot and loves people. If she finds herself alone in a room, she cries. It is sooo cute. Welcome to the family, Callie!
• TUESDAYS: Olivia has been attending "Tuesdays at the Township". Every Tuesday she attends a different event. The first one was about what it's like to be a kid in El Salvador. She learned a little Spanish and wants to do more. She's excited about it. This week she learned kid safety. People from the local TaeKwonDo came and taught a few moves and talked a lot about how to be safe in the midst of a stranger. Again, she loved it and learned a lot.
• CAMPING: We spent a week in New Era, which is just North of Muskegon, MI. Besides the mosquitos carrying us away, we had a great time. We spent some time at the beach, the pool, horseback riding, riding bikes, walking trails and then a day at Michigan's Adventure. It was fun! We plan to spend another week at the Free Methodist Church Family Camp. We'll keep you updated, hopefully with some pictures....

That's a few things of our summer so far. I will have pictures to update later, but at least I am getting back to posting. Hope your summer is going as well as ours!

Beautiful Day

Yesterday was a beautiful day outside. It was just cool enough and the sun was shining to get some heavy outdoor work done. Brian was at work, so the kids and I spent the whole day outside. I THINK the kids ate lunch, but we came in around 8pm to eat dinner. I couldn't believe it was so late.

We did some clean up of the trees in the front yard, picking up brush/sticks, ect.... and some flower planting/moving of plants. My Mom had given me some things that she decided to take out of her garden, so we planted them! It has been fun finally getting to the landscaping at our home. I keep saying that I am almost done, but then I had more gardens and clean more things out that need "help". Our grass is coming in pretty nicely and Andrew mowed it for the first time. I think that will be Andrew's job this year.

All in all, it was a great day together, even though Brian couldn't join us. We will probably spend tonight around the campfire burning all that brush that we cleaned out yesterday. The smores and pies will be a nice reward for the kid's hard work (the beauty of the yard is a great reward for me!)

Church Bulletin Bloopers

You may have seen these before through the emails circulating, but many of them made me laugh out loud, so I thought I would share them here....enjoy!!!

• The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.


• The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water." The sermon tonight: "Searching For Jesus."


• Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.


• Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.


• The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict.


• Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "Hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.


• Don't let worry kill you off -- let the Church help.


• Miss Charlene Mason sang "I Will Not Pass This Way Again," giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.


• For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.


• Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.


• The Rector will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, "Break Forth Into Joy."


• Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.


• At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.


• Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.


• Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles, and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.


• Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.


• The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment, and gracious hostility.
  Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM -- prayer and medication to follow.
• The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
• This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
• Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.
• The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
• Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.
• The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
• Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use the large double door at the side entrance.
• The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: "I Upped my Pledge -- Up Yours."
  

Troubles....

This last week part of what I preached was how we view our troubles. What if God allows troubles to come our way to grow us into the people that He wants us to be. What would happen if we viewed troubles as opportunities to see God work? I believe that miracles were not just for Bible times, but also for today.

Mark Batterson says this "Too often our prayers revolve around asking god to reduce the odds in our lives. We want everything in our favor, but maybe God wants to stack the odds against us so we can experience a miracle of divine proportions. Maybe faith is trusting God no matter how impossible the odds are. Maybe our impossible situations are opportunities to experience a new dimension of God's glory."

What trouble are you facing right now? Instead of praying to ask God to take the trouble away, try asking God for a miracle! What do you think? Talk to me.....

IN THE NEWS...updated

My friend, Mark Wilson, posted a video of the story I shared with you earlier. Just thought you might be interested in hearing more of the story....

IN THE NEWS.......

I can only take so much of the news and then I get depressed. There is so much that they report that is negative, but HERE is a story of great proportions. It lifts your spirits and makes you wish they reported MORE stuff like this.....and that more people acted like this. Note who carried this girl around the bases.......Check it out!

Blogging and Life

I keep telling myself that I am going to be more consistent in my blogging, but it seems I can't seem to get into that groove. BUT...I will continue working on it. This week we have been getting ready for our garage sale. Yesterday was the first day of the sale and things went well. I had lots of traffic, despite the rainy weather. We did have to close early due to the rain. It is sunny so far this morning and I am hoping for a bright, sunny day today.

Tonight we will have a new couple in the church over for dinner. We are excited to get to know some new friends. I am looking forward to a great day!

Wednesdays At Woodside Wesleyan

About 10 weeks ago, we started a new youth program and children's program on Wednesday nights. Every week we have seen growth. It has been so fun to watch. We decided that we would do 6-8 weeks and then have a family night, where we play games and give the updates as to where we have been and where we are going. I hoped that it would generate outreach and excitement for what we are doing.

Last night was our first Family Fun Night and WOW! Was I surprised! We made about 20 hotdogs, thinking that should be about enough. As we brought the hotdogs in, we looked around and realized that we needed to quick get on the ball and get some more hotdogs and buns, as people were pouring through the doors. When we did the count, 47 people were present....over DOUBLE what we were expecting. We only had around 40 on Sunday morning.

What's exciting about all this, is that only about 1/3 of the people were regular attenders. Most of them were people who either don't attend or don't attend regularly. There were so many new faces. I was so excited and blessed. We are so looking forward to continuing. We heard lots of comments on how people wanted to start coming regularly. I am looking forward to watching this area of ministry grow. God is so good!

FINISHED!

Tonight was my LAST night of class. Not just for a semester, but for good. I have finished the ordination courses and just need to turn in my last set of supervised ministry papers and my ordination interview papers and I am completely done. I now can read a book because I want to read it and not because someone tells me what to read. It feels good to be done!

Since I know that some of you will ask, my ordination should be on September 20, 2008 in Fremont, Michigan. If you want more details to attend, please email me and I would be glad to get them to you.

Thank you to all of you who have supported me, encouraged me, prodded me, ect. in this journey. It has been incredible and I look forward to what God has in store for the next phase in this adventure.

In A Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day....Chapter 3

It has been a really busy week and I have read Chapter 3, but haven't had a chance to post about it. When I got an email yesterday asking "Where is chapter 3?" I figured I had better get on that! I really appreciate those of you who faithfully read and comment. It encourages me to keep on sharing. Sometimes you wonder if what you have to say ever makes a hill of beans difference in anyone else's life. I pray that the words here on this blog will encourage and inspire your relationship with God in a new way. I know it hold me accountable to keep my relationship with God going strong. I pray that for all of us that we will "no longer be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our minds".

So, on that note....chapter THREE!!!

First, I realized that I haven't really shared with you what "chasing lions" is all about. Beneniah killed a lion in 2 Samuel 23:20-23. I am sure it was one of the scariest moments of his life, yet the most valiant and courageous thing he had ever done. This book is about facing our fears that keep us from doing something great for God and pushing through so that we can see God at work!

1. "Don't let mental lions keep you from experiencing everything God has to offer."

2. "Half of spiritual growth is learning what we don't know. The other half is unlearning what we do know.....Faith is unlearning the senseless worries and misguided beliefs that keep us captive." (Fears are learned. If they are learned, we can unlearn them. To do this, we must "download" the mind of Christ, which has no fear. We need to do some re-wiring.)

3. "Satan has two primary tactics when it comes to neutralizing you spiritually: discouragement and fear."

4. "Courage is doing what is right regardless of circumstances or consequences."

5. "When you put yourself into defenseless positions, it sets the stage for God to show up."

He talks about the fact that we go to theme parks and pay people money to scare us, because we have a need for that excitement and thrill in our life. That sense of danger gets our adrenaline pumping. Can you imagine if we were to harness that into doing things for God? Mark Batterson asks this question: "Are you living your life in a way that is worth telling stories about?" Beneniah had killed a lion. What a story to tell the grandchildren. What have you done great for God that is worth telling stories to your children/grandchildren about?

In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day...chapter 2

We continue on today with highlights from chapter 2:

1. "God loves impossible odds.......Too often our prayers revolve around asking God to reduce the odds in our lives. We want everything in our favor. But maybe God wants to stack the odds against us so we can experience a mirile of divine proportions. Maybe faith is trusting God no matter how impossible the odds are. Maybe our impossible situations are opportunities to experience a new dimension of God's glory." (Think of the example of Gideon in Judges 7 and the army too large. God widdled it down to 300 men and then has them fight the opposing army with trumpets and jars. They knew in the end that it HAD to be God and not them that made them win.)

2. "How you think about God will determine who you become.....and that internal picture of God determines how you see everything else......The more we grow, the bigger God should get. And the bigger God gets, the smaller our lions will become."

3. "God wants you to get where God wants you to go more than you want to get where God wants you to go."

IN A PIT WITH A LION ON A SNOWY DAY!

I bought this book a while back that I really wanted to read and I am just now getting to it. It has a crazy title, but upon reading chapter 1, you totally get it. It's based on 2 Samuel 23:20-23 where Benaiah killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day. The book is about facing your fears to take the risks of the opportunities that God has given us. Over the next few days as I read this book, I want to share some of the highlights, as already in chapter one I have been challenged.

Here are a few challenges from chapter 1:
1. "God is in the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time. But the right place often seems like the wrong place, and the right time often seems like the wrong time."

2. "I recognize this simple truth: The greatest opportunities were the scariest lions. Part of me has wanted to play it safe, but I've learned that taking no risks is the greatest risk of all."

3. "I think the church has fixated on sins of commission (wishing you hadn't done something) for far too long. We have a long list of don'ts. Think of it as holiness by subtraction. We think holiness is the byproduct of subtracint something from our lives that shouldn't be there. And holiness certainly involves subtraction. But I think God is more concerened about sins of omission (wishing you had done something) - those things we could have and should have done. it's holiness by multiplication. Goodness is not the absence of badness. You can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. Those who simply run away from sin are half-Christians. our calling is much higher than simply running away from what's wrong."

4. He addresses stewardship. We think of this as how we manage our time, talent and treasure, but what about other things that God has given us, like our imagination, our humor, our sex drive, our competitive streaks, our energy. What about 'opportunity stewardship'?

5. "Spiritual maturity is seeing and seizing God-ordained opportunities."

Good stuff here! I am looking forward to reading the rest of this book by Mark Batterson and sharing more each day. There is a workbook for small groups that goes with the book, and if you are interested in more information about sermon series or media, ect.... check out http://www.chasethelion.com/

Spring Break

This week is SPRING break for the kids. Not so spring-like, as we have a lot of snow yet, but they are off anyhow. My sister's kids, Cassandra and Theo are here this week as well, as their Mom is a teacher in a different school district than they attend and have different breaks. Cassandra is a year older than Olivia and Theo is a year younger, so they fit in well here.

I am still watching my sister and brother in law's children like I do every week, but they are coming to my house this week. Frank is 4, Evelyn is 2 1/2 and Audrey is 1. So, at any given time, we can have up to SEVEN kids here! I might get a picture of them all tomorrow. It gets kinda crazy at times, but all in all, it is going well.

I am just thankful that I am blessed to have a job that is flexible and that I can stay home with my own kids this week, as well as help my sister out. God is good.

The Beauty of Math!

My Friend, Chadwick Walenga, shared this on his blog and I thought it was worth passing along. Make sure you read all the way to the end.

Beauty of Math!

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111

9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

Brilliant, isn't it?

And look at this symmetry:
1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 1 1111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 =1234567654321
1111111 1 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Now, take a look at this...

101%

From a strictly mathematical viewpoint:

What Equals 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?

Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?

We have all been in situations where someone wants you to GIVE OVER 100%.

How about ACHIEVING 101%?

What equals 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help answer these questions:

If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

If:
H-A-R-D-W-O-R- K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

And:
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12 +5+4+7+5 = 96%

But:
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

THEN, look how far the love of God will take you:
L-O-V-E-O-F-G-O-D
12+15+22+5+15+6+7+15+4 = 101%

Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that:

While Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close,and Attitude will get you there,It's the Love of God that will put you over the top!

Easter Sunday

He is risen! He is risen indeed!!!

Today we celebrate our risen Lord! We started out our worship service this morning with the song "My Redeemer Lives". What a great way to start! We also sang "He Lives" and "Because He Lives".....see the theme? Then we ended with "Worthy is the Lamb/Crown Him with Many Crowns" set. Music is powerful and I know that the songs touched me today.

We focus so much on the fact that Jesus died this time of year and on Sunday we always celebrate the fact that He has risen, but the thing that hit me today was the fact that we should be living our lives daily in light of the risen Lord. How does the risen Lord change who we are on a daily basis? Does it make a hill of beans difference to us? Why is it that we only celebrate once a year?

Celebration. What would that look like if we celebrated the resurrection every day? When we celebrate a birthday or a birth of a new baby, we tell those around us. You Grandparents and some of you new Parents are willing to tell the grocery store clerk or someone standing in line....anyone that will listen about the celebration of a new birth. We have been given a new birth in Christ.....a chance to start over.....and why is it that we keep it silent? Why are we embarrassed about what someone else might think? Isn't our life in Christ even more important that the birth of a new baby? If so, why aren't we celebrating on a daily basis? Why is it that we are so silent about it?

As I sat in church today, and we sang celebration songs and served communion, I am reminded of the awesome privilege we have to worship. I am reminded of the awesome gift that we have inside of us that we take for granted. We have become complacent in our approach to worship. I want to be known as one who shares the gospel in celebration mode. I don't ever want to get comfortable in my pew and forget about the lost world around me.

We live in a world that needs to hear good news! We have something to celebrate........share it!

Worship hangover

On Sunday I went to church and it was "good" but it wasn't any great epiphany or anything, but I have had one of the songs on my heart since Sunday morning. It is pressed deep upon my heart today.......

As I come into your presence past the gates of praise
Into your sanctuary til we're standing face to face.
I look upon your countenance and see the fullness of your grace.
I can only bow down and say....

You are awesome in this place Mighty God.
You are awesome in this place Abba Father.
You are worthy of all praise.
To YOU our lives we raise.
You are awesome in this place Mighty God.

"This place" is not referring to our church services. "This place" refers to my own soul. As I stand face to face with my Savior it truly is awesome.

Easter has kinda sneaked up on me this year. All of a sudden it is here and I don't feel like I have prepared my heart properly. So, this morning, as I sit at the foot of the cross, I say.....

You are awesome in this place!! You are worthy of my praise! I give you my life, Lord! As I look into Your face, I see the fullness of your grace. You are awesome in this place, Mighty God!

Feelings

An amazing amount of time has passed since I posted last. I shared with you my trip to Cancun, Mexico and it seems life has been hectic and I haven't "felt" like writing much. There has been much going on with me personally and I just don't feel like I have had much to say at times. What possibly could I say that might make any type of difference? I don't wanna talk just to talk, so I have been pretty silent.

So, what do you do when you don't FEEL God. What happens when you are in the valley and not the mountaintop? I know that sometimes when we don't feel God it's because of things in our life that shouldn't be there, but at other times, it's just a time when God seems silent. That doesn't mean that God is farther away. It doesn't mean that He isn't still in control or care about what is going on in your life.

It's in these times when I don't FEEL God that I realize that this is where my faith comes in. As it is talked about in Hebrews 11:1, faith is believing in what I cannot see. I can't see tomorrow. I can't know God's grand plan, but I do know that He is faithful. I know I can stand on His promises and who He is....even though I may not feel it.

God is:
My Rock, My Deliverer, My Savior, My Friend.
Forgiving, Patient, Love, Mercy, Trustworthy, Forever.
Creator, Sustainer, Faithful, Gracious.
My Hope, My Redeemer, Eternal and Truth.

These are just a few that I cling to today. I am so thankful that I don't have to feel God for Him to be real. He's there. I just have to trust in faith. And that is what I do today.

Maybe you feel this way too? Trust God. Put your faith in the FACTS and the FEELINGS will follow. The fact is....God is amazing!!! You can rest in that.

Cancun, Mexico

We're BACK! We spent some time in Cancun, Mexico as part of our bi-annual Christmas trip with Brian's parents and Sister's family. It was beutiful there. We had good weather most the trip. If it rained, it would only rain for about 10 minutes and then the sun would come back out. It was a bit windy, but it was 85 degrees and sunny, so who cares about the wind, right? It was all inclusive, so we stayed here most of the time. It was an amazing time! This was our hotel...

We were able to do some fun excursions. Here are some pictures of our once in a lifetime chance to swim with dolphins. It was amazing! We spent about an hour with them. We got to pet them, feel their tongue, make them do tricks for us, and learn some interesting facts about them. We were right there in the water with them, as you can see.

We also did some parasailing. It was amazingly quiet up in the air, but it was a bit windy and with 400 feet of rope, it make me a bit nervous. Brian was able to go up with the kids and then they came down and I was able to go up with the kids. Andrew and Olivia LOVED it! They dipped the kids and I in the water, as you can see in the one picture. It was a blast!

We spent a day at a waterpark and that was a lot of fun. It was a good time just to be "us". The kids loved the waterslides and the wave pool!

The ocean was my favorite part. I loved the sound of the waves crashing in. The sand between your toes and the wonder of the water. I would never tire of watching and listening to the ocean.

We had a great time! It was hard coming back to the extra bitterly cold weather we are experiencing right now, but thankful for the time we had to rejuvienate and spend some good, quality family time.

VACATION!

It's amazing how time gets away from me. It has been a busy, crazy, hard couple of weeks, but our family is very much looking forward to leaving in just a few short hours for Cancun, Mexico. We will be gone for a week!!! Instead of doing Christmas presents with Brian's family, we save our money for 3 years and take a trip someplace. It's always a great time!

We covet your prayers as we try to focus on relaxing, rejuvenation and just some good family time together. We really need it these days. Looking forward to returning home with a fresh perspective and passion to move forward!

See ya when we get back!

Love

Wow! How time flies! It must be the Christmas season! I have been processing some things in my personal life and it has been hard to write.

I am so glad that God isn't finished with me yet. He keeps working and changing me and drawing me to himself. And when I fall down, he picks me up. When He reveals something in my life, He is faithful to walk through it with me....and He loves me so much. His love is one that stays. Never walks away. Never changes. His love is one that comes down in the trench with you and helps you out of it instead of standing up above and telling you how to get out. His love is amazing!

So today I just am thankful for a love that was willing to come to this earth as a baby. Helpless and dependent on others so he could be the One to save the helpless and independent. I celebrate His love today.

Self-Examination

In my Spiritual Formation class with Mark Wilson, I was given these questions and they were very revealing in my own life. I would encourage you to use them in your own devotional time. They are from John Wesley's Holy Club and Loyola, the found of the Society of Jesus.


Here is one set of nearly two dozen questions which John Wesley gave to members of his discipleship groups more than 200 years ago. The questions may have their origin in the spiritual accountability group started by Wesley when he was a student at Oxford -- a group that detractors called "The Holy Club."

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Do I confidentially pass on to others what has been said to me in confidence?
3. Can I be trusted?
4. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits?
5. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
6. Did the Bible live in me today?
7. Do I give the Bible time to speak to me every day?
8. Am I enjoying prayer?
9. When did I last speak to someone else of my faith? [ conversation starter questions ]
10. Do I pray about the money I spend?
11. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
12. Do I disobey God in anything?
13. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
14. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
15. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?
16. How do I spend my spare time?
17. Am I proud?
18. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
19. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
20. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
21. Is Christ real to me?


Loyola's Spiritual Exercises:

1. Is there any desire, thought, habit or deed blocking me from God today?
2. Have I been indifferent toward God? Have I consciously sought His presence? Have I tried to expand my idea of Him?
3. Does Christ's motive of love control my thoughts and actions?
4. Have I been insensitive or unkind to the poor, sick, ignorant, or people different than myself?
5. Is there any person in whose presence I am uncomfortable, or against whom I have an unchristian attitude? What should I do about it?
6. Have I wronged anyone? What wrongs should I right today?
7. What message has the Bible for me today?
8. What should I be thankful for today? What persons should I thank today?
9. How can I show my appreciation?
10. For what Kingdom interests should I pray today? (family, church, missions, social work, justice)
11. On which of these should I work today?
12. What persons shall I remember in prayer today?
13. How shall I share myself, my time, and my possessions today?
14. What debts shall I pay today? What letters shall I write today?
15. Are all my plans and motives for today Christian?

Ruth Bell Graham

December 1-9 there will be a Billy Graham special about the life of Ruth Bell Graham. There are special powerpoint slides, E-banners and also a 90-second promo. video for advertising in your church or with your friends to watch. Here is the link that gives all the dates and times as well as misc. info: billygraham.org/tv

Perspective.....

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an envelope propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to "Dad." With the worst premonition he opened the envelope with trembling hands and read the letter.

Dear Dad:
It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you. I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice. But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercings, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is much older than I am. But it's not only the passion...Dad she's pregnant.

Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children. Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone. We'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy. In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better. She deserves it.

Don't worry Dad. I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure that we will be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren.

Love, Your Son, John

PS. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the report card that's in my center desk drawer.

I love you.

Call me when it's safe to come home.

Girls on the Run!

My niece called and asked me about two months ago to see if I would sponsor her for her Girls on the Run. I said, "Of course I will, sweetie! What do I have to do?" ha ha! That's the wrong order of response, for sure! It should have been: "What do I have to do?" FIRST, because to be a sponsor/mentor/running buddy you had to run a 5k. It ended up being almost 4 miles. And, to top it all off.....it was just before the parade, so there were people everywhere. I was certainly not in good enough shape to run, but I did it anyhow and it was really fun. Olivia ran in it as well. I will have pictures when I get them from my Mom over Thanksgiving.

The point of the run was to boost elementary girl's confidence to be able to stand up against domestic and sexual violence if it presents itself. It was supposed to be a run for fun! They had fun and everyone finished the run...what an accomplishment for them! There were about 75 girls who ran with their mentors.

So, to all the girls, Cassandra, Joan, Olivia and even to myself....go girls! Good job!!!!

Worship Wars

I have heard quite often lately the term "Worship Wars" and I have been very disturbed in my spirit about it. The one thing that we should be unified about is worship and yet it can be a war....anything BUT unity or worship.

I talked with the teens on Sunday morning about worship and how would they feel if we only did children's music on Sunday mornings, how would they feel about that? They all said they would hate that. We went from there to discuss that is how the older people feel about our rock and roll music.

We are all at different places in our life and what it all boils down to is likes and dislikes. I like purple and you like red....WHO CARES?! Neither one of them is right or wrong....just different. It's what you DO with your preference that matters! Whether is children's music, hymns, rock and roll, country or somewhere out there, what matters is this: Is Jesus lifted high? Is He the one you are worshipping or is it your style preference?

Worship Wars. Yuck! What we really should be at war with is the one who is trying to cause all this dissention in our church body and take our eyes off the reason we are singing in the first place! Let's get back to the heart of worship.....IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU, JESUS!

Happy 14th Birthday, Andrew!

I can't believe you are 14!!!! Wow! You have been such a joy to our family. You make me laugh. You love Jesus! You are an awesome big brother to Olivia. You amaze me with the way you pick up and learn how to fix things so easily. You are an awesome teenager! I love you so much, Andrew! Have a fantastical birthday today!

Resist ONE sin

I have been reading the Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis slowly over the past few months. There is so much rich material in there that I can't possibly take it all in by reading it through in a few days like I would like to. So, periodically I have been sharing a few thoughts from the book here.

On how to aquire peace and on the desire to improve: "Resist one sin for a year!"

Simple. We tend to look at all the things we need to do better in and then end up not doing well in any of the areas. If we became truely disciplined in ONE area of our life that needs attention, in a few years, we would cover some of the hardest things we deal with and be victorious.

This idea reminds me of dieting. When I go on a diet, I tend to say "Ok, I am going to eat right, drink my water, exercise every day, and get good sleep" Yeah right! And day two of the diet, I am overwhelmed and discouraged because I can't change all those habits overnight. But....what if I were to simplify it and work on one thing at at time. Maybe just start by exercising three times a week and forget what I eat and drink. And get that down and then think about the food end.

Discipline takes hard work and I think we are not successful in our attempts, because we take on too much. Evaluation time. What is the one thing that you really would like victory in the most? Make that your ONE THING today and work diligently on it. The other things will come in time. We don't grow up physically overnight and we don't spiritually either. It takes time.

"Do not be CONFORMED to this world, but be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your minds."

My Last FLAME

I forgot to post before I left that I would be gone for a week of classes last week. Sorry about that. It was the last required FLAME that I have to go to, but I will most definitely be back for ReKindle, as the time spent there is so valuable to ministry.

It was an amazing week. I took Philosphy/Ethics and left there with one presiding thought.....KNOW WHAT YOU BELIEVE AND WHY....otherwise you will make decisions based on the situation rather than what is truely Biblical. It seemed that every question we faced brought up another opposing, sometimes just as good as the last. Frustrating, yes, but helping us own our faith. For those of you who know me...this kind of stuff makes me nuts, but I recognize the value in it, so I persevere through it!

And then I was off to Spiritual Formation. It might better be called Revival 101. What an amazing time with the Lord. We were able to take some "time outs" to search our hearts and pray. When we were together in prayer, God's presence was so strong, it was hard to move on. We just prayed and sang and prayed and sang. We serve an amazing God. We saw healing, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It was a precious time with my brothers and sisters in the Lord.

I came home and Pastor Roger preached on Praying for Revival. It was so fitting for where I had just come from. It was based on the Facing the Giants movie where the man prayed over the lockers every day....and then God moved. I want my life to be one of prayer. I want to be so in love with my Savior that I can't help but pray.

It has been an incredible time with friends this past week. I love the relationships that are built at FLAME. It is sometimes hard to leave, but how amazing that we serve together in different parts of the world and the common ground we share is the good news of Jesus Christ. God is good.

Complete Surrender

We are doing a sermon series based on the movie "Facing the Giants" and today I preached on Complete Surrender. We ended the sermon with my first communion service that I have performed. I felt so unworthy to be serving. What an awesome privilege I have been given.

Here are some of the notes from my sermon:

What does it mean to love God more than anything else?

The first time “love” is used in the Bible is when Genesis speaks of Abraham’s love for his son Isaac. Isaac was Abraham and Sarah’s only child, born to them when they were past child-bearing age. God promised to Abraham that Isaac would continue the legacy and ancestry of Abraham for future generations.

Did Abraham love Isaac more than God? God was going to test Abraham’s commitment to Him by asking Abraham to do the unthinkable. Let’s read about it in Genesis 22......

Genesis 22:1-18
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you."
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"
"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.
"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram [a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."
15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring [b] all nations on earth will be blessed, [c] because you have obeyed me."

What is a surrendered heart and how do I do I surrender my heart?

Psalms 73:25 says “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.” Can you say with the Psalmist that there is NOTHING you desire besides God? Not your family, your church, your job, your home, your “toys”….. Nothing?

When someone surrenders, many times they will wave a white flag or raise their hands up and say “I give up….I give in to whatever you want.” It means that the other party is in total control from that point on. Surrender to God means I give up and let Him have total control of my life. Whatever He wants, I will do. My answer will always be “yes”.

There are some great lessons we can learn about surrender from Genesis 22.

1. Our first response should be a conditioned “yes, Lord!”

Vs. 1 says Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.

I am sure that this was not the first time God asked something of Abraham that he had a choice to say yes or no to. I am sure that God asked little things of Abraham and he learned to say “yes” when God asked something of him. This time, it was a huge thing. It was beyond fathomable to offer his only son. God knew how much he loved Isaac. He knew that it was the one thing he really wanted in life, and now he was going to test Abraham to see if he loved that one thing more than he loved God.

What is the one thing you just love to have or do in life? What if God asked you to give up that one thing? At lent, many times people will give up something, such as coffee or chocolate, or something that they love to have. That’s just for 40 days, but what if God asked you to give up something more precious than that for the rest of your life? Would you be willing? Our response will always be “yes” if we are totally surrendered.

2. Don’t wait for the full picture.

Vs. 2 says Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you."

God knew what he was asking of Abraham and how hard it would be to do what He was asking. You notice in the verses, he said “Take your son, YOUR ONLY SON, WHOM YOU LOVE and then mentioned his name ISAAC” All three of those note that God was keenly aware of how hard this quest might be.

Yet, Abraham was asked to take his son and he didn’t get the full picture. God said to go to a mountain “I will show you.” He didn’t even fully know where he was going. His job was to pack up and go and wait for further instruction.

Wow!!

I am a person that likes to have the big picture. I don’t really care so much about what I am doing as much as knowing what it will look like. This is a hard one for me. When God asks something of me, I want to say, “OK God, I’ll do it, but give me the details first.” God wants our complete trust in Him. That means….we won’t have all the details and that proves our complete faith in His process.

God knows how hard the thing he is asking YOU to do. He’s been there. Remember….God did send His One and Only Son to this earth as a sacrifice for our sin. He watched His Son suffer agony. He knows how hard surrender is. So, since He knows, will you trust Him? Will you obey and surrender completely to His will without all the details in place?


3. Procrastinated obedience isn’t full obedience.

Vs. 3 says “Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey.”

Abraham didn’t say “Yes, Lord” and then wait a few days or weeks to spend as much time with Isaac as he could. I think that is what I would have been tempted to do. “Lord, I will obey you, but let me just have a few more days with him.” No. That’s not what God was asking. He wanted to know if Abraham would obey immediately.

When you ask your children to do something, you expect them to obey right then. You say “Son, I want you to clean your room.” He says “OK, Mom” and doesn’t clean his room for 4 days. On the fifth day, he cleans his room. Would you be ok with that? No. You wanted him to clean his room that day. Procrastinated obedience isn’t full obedience. God wants us to get up and obey immediately like Abraham did.

Has God asked you to do something and you’ve said, Yes, Lord, when…… I have the money or when I have more time, or when my kids are gone, or some other excuse? God wants your obedience TODAY!


4. Trust God for the outcome….even though it doesn’t look like what God has promised to you.

Vs. 5 says He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

You see those words “WE WILL worship and WE WILL come back to you.” He had an expectation that God was going to work, even though he didn’t know HOW God would work.

God had promised to Abraham that his descendents would be numerous and how could that happen with Isaac being sacrificed? If you look in Hebrews 11, it is filled with “even thoughs”. It is the great faith hall of fame. Even though they didn’t know….they had faith that God would…..

Concerning Abraham….Hebrews 11:17-19
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." [a] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

Is there anything in your life that God has asked you to do and you think “That just doesn’t make sense” so you have said no to it? God sees the big picture and though it may not look like what makes sense, do it anyhow and see how God provides for you in ways you can’t even imagine. I think God longs to do miracles in our lives to prove His faithfulness to us, but we shut Him out by our lack of faith in Him.

So how surrendered are you? Is there anything in your life that takes the place of God? job, children, church, t.v., maybe good things like volunteering/serving others, shopping, housework?????

God wants first place in our hearts. Is there anything between you and God right now? Can you say that you have a fully surrendered heart, that God could ask anything of you and you would say “yes, Lord, here I am!” and then move immediately in complete faith?

Give Us A Greater Hunger

Give us a greater hunger, Lord,
Thank we have ever known.
Help us to wait in one accord
Until Your power is shown.
Keep us, Your children, on our knees
Beseeching You with mighty pleas
Till floods of blessing like the seas
Sweep over all Your own.

Give us a sense of urgency
That will not be denied.
Give such desire your work to see
Till ease we cast aside.
Give us soul-hunger and soul-thirst
Till hearts with longing almost burst,
Till we could wish ourselves accursed (Rom.9:3)
If souls but reach Your side!

Lord, now begin Your mighty work;
Make bare Your holy arm.
O God, forbid that we should shirk
Or to this age conform!
Reveal Your Spirit's mighty power;
Oh, come upon Your Church this hour!
By Your own working, Lord, empower
Till Satan's forts we storm.

Help each of us to do our part;
O Lord, may we not fail.
Give clearest guidance to each heart
Till highest mounts we scale.
Use us however You may choose;
We would no burden, Lord, refuse;
But get us, Lord, where You can use
And mightily prevail.

Oh, send the promised Holy Ghost
Upon us as we kneel,
We need his holy working most
Till men conviction feel.
Lord, this is still the day of grace;
Have mercy on our dying race.
Revival send to every place;
Your miracle reveal.

-Wesley Duewel
(taken from Wesley Duewel's book Heroes of the Holy Life)

William Booth on evangelism:

'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world.

How to read books:

I read the blog of Bob Franquiz, a church planter of Calvary Fellowship in Miami, Florida. He reads a lot of books and here is how he gets it done:

1. I like to read - if you hate reading, there's no cure that I know of. I used to not like reading, but I was so hungry to learn, I got over it and dove into books.

2. Bring a book everywhere with you - People have tons of time that get wasted (waiting for someone, late appointment, etc...). If you bring a book, use the time to get into it.

3. Give yourself "reading time" every day - I read for 30 minutes every day. Just like I schedule exercise into my daily routine, I schedule reading in as well. If it's not scheduled, it probably won't happen.

4. Read while you're watching TV - Believe it or not, Monday Night Football can be watched with a book in hand. I rarely watch a sporting event without a book in hand. Your brain can handle both activities.

5. Set goals - I try to read 2-3 chapters a day in the books I read. Most books have 10-12 chapters, so I set a goal to finish a book in 4-5 days. It usually works out.

6. Read with a pen in hand - I underline, circle, star, put question marks, and write in all my books. On the inside cover, I write my favorite quotes (so when I go back to the book looking for a quote, I don't have to fish through a 200 page book. I just open the inside cover). Writing it out also helps me memorize the quote.

7. Get into a rhythm - I try to find the author's rhythm in the book. That helps me read faster. That's also why I don't like reading 5 books at once. It's very difficult for me to find the rhythm of 5 authors at the same time. Plus, men are conquerers. We want to finish the books we read and move on. Reading 10 pages in 5 different books doesn't give guys a sense of accomplishment.

8. Skip irrelevant sections - I rarely do this (I need to do this more), but when a books starts going overboard with stories, I skip the section and more on. If a chapter is lame, move on. Most people get stuck in their reading because they hit a dry spot in the book and don't feel the freedom to skip it.

9. If a genre is working, stick with it - Most people say you need to be balanced in your reading. I agree. But be balanced over the long haul, not week to week. If ministry books are rockin' you, then keep going with it! If business books are challenging you, read them. If romance novels...let's not go there :) The point is, sometimes based on where we are in life, there's a certain author or genre that's connecting with us. So read that until you want to move on. I've gone through periods where all I've wanted to read are commentaries, theology, ministry, or leadership books. So I do until I usually read a lame book,s then I move on to something else.

10. Keep a log of what you read - I have an excel spreadsheet that list every book I've read for that given year. It says the book's name, author, number of pages, genre, date I started, and date I finished. This helps me see where I've been this year and if I want to add more of a certain type of book in to my reading diet.

Praise You In This Storm

This song means a lot to me with all that our family seems to be encountering right now. Listen here.

HAPPY 15th ANNIVERSARY!

I love you so much, Brian! We have grown so much these past 18 years we have known each other. You are a great Husband and Father. You care so much for your family. Thank you for your love for me. I look forward to many more years with you!

Keep your eyes on the Savior

Yesterday was a great day to be in the house of the Lord! There's some "junk" going on, but as I told my Senior Pastor, that means something good is going on here. So, let's keep pressin' on. We covet your prayers for us as we try to handle these situations.

I preached on "Attempting the Impossible" based on Matthew 14, where Jesus fed the 5000 and where Jesus and Peter walked on water. It was a good message for me, as there are situations in my life that seem impossible and without God, I can't make it.

The thing that God spoke to my heart most was this: We need to keep our eyes on the Savior and not the situations. It's easy for me to get frustrated with the situations of life, but my job is to have a good relationship with God and seek His heart for what I am to be doing....and then keep my eyes focused on the Savior and let the situations fall to the side. Jesus told Peter to come out on to the lake in Matthew 14 and His focus was totally on Jesus. He wasn't concerned with the situations around him. It was when he DID look to the situations (thes wind and waves), that he fell. Good lesson for us.....Keep your eyes on the Savior and not the situations.

Revival

We need revival when....
... when we do not love God as we once did.
... when earthly interests and occupations are more important to us than eternal ones.
...when we would rather watch TV and read secular books and magazines than read the Bible.
... when our Christianity is joyless and passionless.
... when we know truth in our heads that we are not practicing in our lives.
... when we make little effort to witness to the lost.
...when we have time for sports, recreation, and entertainment, but not for Bible study or prayer.
. . . when we do not tremble at the power of God.
On the other hand, the characteristics that take place when revival comes are...
... a deepened spiritual hunger
... intense fervent prayer that is enjoyable not dreadful
... repentance
... reckless abandonment and surrender to God
... a fresh fullness of the Holy Spirit
... spontaneous evangelism and soul winning
... restored relationships
... a spirit of thanksgiving and joy
... increased hunger for God's Word
... a desire to put God/church before entertainment

Wholly inflame, consume and transform me into Yourself

O MOST kind, most loving Lord, Whom I now desire to receive with devotion, You know the weakness and the necessity which I suffer, in what great evils and vices I am involved, how often I am depressed, tempted, defiled, and troubled.
To You I come for help, to You I pray for comfort and relief. I speak to Him Who knows all things, to Whom my whole inner life is manifest, and Who alone can perfectly comfort and help me.
You know what good things I am most in need of and how poor I am in virtue. Behold I stand before You, poor and naked, asking Your grace and imploring Your mercy.
Feed Your hungry beggar. Inflame my coldness with the fire of Your love. Enlighten my blindness with the brightness of Your presence. Turn all earthly things to bitterness for me, all grievance and adversity to patience, all lowly creation to contempt and oblivion. Raise my heart to You in heaven and suffer me not to wander on earth. From this moment to all eternity do You alone grow sweet to me, for You alone are my food and drink, my love and my joy, my sweetness and my total good.
Let Your presence wholly inflame me, consume and transform me into Yourself, that I may become one spirit with You by the grace of inward union and by the melting power of Your ardent love.
Suffer me not to go from You fasting and thirsty, but deal with me mercifully as You have so often and so wonderfully dealt with Your saints.
What wonder if I were completely inflamed by You to die to myself, since You are the fire ever burning and never dying, a love purifying the heart and enlightening the understanding.

-Thomas A Kempis

Man in the Arena

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

-Theodore Roosevelt
"Citizenship in a Republic,"Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Humbleness

"If you want to learn anything worthwhile, seek rather to be unknown and to be thought of as nothing." - Thomas A Kempis

This is the true concept of humbleness. I want to serve and do things for God, but I need to do it for the Lord…serving Him only and if nobody else ever knows or acknowledges it, the fact that God knows is enough and satisfying to me. But, to do nothing, because I can’t be known while doing it is sin. It’s hard not to want recognition for our work, yet our soul motivation should be out of a love for God …nothing more….nothing less.

Facing the Giants

Have you seen the movie "Facing the Giants"? I am becoming very familiar with it, as Pastor Roger and I are doing a sermon series based on the movie. I will be preaching two of the sermons in the series. The two sermons I will be preaching are titled "Never Give Up!" and "Complete Surrender", and boy oh boy, I feel like I am being tested in these areas!!!
My husband is trying to sell a big CNC Router. Yesterday a crew flew in from New Jersey to look at it and test it out. They were here all day and it looked as if tey were going to buy it. (This machine cost more than my first house and we really need to sell it) As they were finalizing things, they tried one last cut with the machine. Long story short, the machine ran out of fuel, which caused the air compressor to quit, which caused a malfunction in te air hydrolics and the whole head of te machine came crashing down, causing about $15,000. worth of damage. UGH!!!!!
In the Facing the Giants movie, if you saw it, you will remember that the couple was trying to get pregnant and kept coming back that they weren't. The wife leaves the doctor's office after once again hearing the bad news that she was not pregnant and she says "God I will still praise you! I will still love you!" All day yesterday that theme kept running through my head. I was just praying that the machine would sell, but that if it didn't, I would still praise and love Him. Not only did those clients walk out the door without buying it, but now, when we desperately need this machine to sell, we need to dump MORE money into it to get it sold. Immediately I was reminded of my promise....."I will still praise you and I will still love you, Lord" Even though I don't know how things are going to work out, I trust in t One who sees tomorrow.
Why does this have to happen? I don't know. But, I am keeping my heart open to the lessons I can take away from here. It looks impossible in my eyes and my heart hurts, not knowing how things will work out, but I have complete faith in a God who completely loves me and if He's all I got, then that is enough! I am reminded of the old hymn "The Solid Rock".

My hope is built on nothing lessThan Jesus’ blood and righteousness.I dare not trust the sweetest frame,But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name. On Christ the solid Rock I stand,All other ground is sinking sand;All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,I rest on His unchanging grace.In every high and stormy gale,My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid Rock I stand,All other ground is sinking sand; All other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, His covenant, His blood,Support me in the whelming flood.When all around my soul gives way,He then is all my Hope and Stay. On Christ the solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand; All other ground is sinking sand.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,Oh may I then in Him be found.Dressed in His righteousness alone,Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand.

Big Day!!!

Olivia decided one day this last week that it was TIME! It was the day to get her ears pierced. Last year her cousin got her ears pierced, and wanted her to go with her, but Olivia was too scared. So, I don't know what changed her mind and gave her the courage she needed, but SHE DID IT! It wasn't easy, as you see from the picture, but she was very brave and they look great!

Woodside Wesleyan at the Park

Yesterday we held church at the park. There are some advantages to being a small church. We had service and then a picnic. We had a really good time. Again, five of the people from H.O.M.E. came and got involved in some healthy fun. It was great to have them. We had fun with water balloons, treasure hunts, volleyball, and races. Here are a few pictures of the day:
The young children doing a treasure hunt.
My daughter, Olivia and Rebecca with their water balloons. They are going to go find someone that "wants" to get wet.
The great ski race!

One funny story of the day.....I was doing the games and at the end of all the water balloon games, I let everyone just take balloons and "do what they wanted with them." I asked Pastor Roger if i could use his phone (he he he) He gave me his phone. Then I said ok kids...."hit the Pastor". Yep...you got it....they went after Pastor Roger, but then they realized if the game was to hit the Pastor....that meant they needed to go after me too! Not what I had intended for the game! I took a few good hits. I was soaked, but it was worth all the fun we had doing it!

All in all, we had a great day with our new church family. The weather was absolutely perfect and there were many smiles and of course lots of good food and fellowship. Happy Labor Day!!!

Unexpected!!!

What a great day! It started out so rocky that I knew that Satan was busy at work trying to thwart the good that was about to happen.

I offer to take any of the men and women in our transition/shelter to church every Sunday. Anyone who wants to go, I will pick up that morning. I had a gentlemen who just got out of prison and said that he would not ever go to church. He has been a member of the white supremacy group before he went to prison and he wanted nothing to do with church. I told him that I offer it up to everyone and there's no pressure, but if he wanted to go, he was welcome. As we were driving down the road, he said "Hey, about that church thing, I think I'll go, if it's still ok." I was grinning from ear to ear on the inside. I didn't know if he would change his mind before Sunday came, but this morning...he was ready to go. And I found it funny that he came with the Korean man that we have in our house.

So, backing up a bit....Brian was going to pick the guys up for church. He went to leave in the van and I had accidentally taken the keys, so he went to the Honda, and the battery was dead, so he did a quick charge and thought he would borrow his sister's Tahoe. On the way to church, they ran out of gas. Normally the vehicles has 40 miles from the time the gas light comes on. Well....fancy that....the light NEVER came on. So, they got to church about 30 minutes late, just before the message.

I got up to preach and talked about Truth. How do we know what is truth when everywhere we go everyone is telling us that they have the answer. How do we know who and what to believe? I believe it was a great message for them to hear, but wondered if it would be a little "strong" for them, given their diversion to church.

After church, they booked out the back door and I thought, well, they at least gave it a shot. I went outside to talk to them and they said "Hey, that picnic thing and church next week. Will you pick us up? We would like to come back here. This was nice!" WHOOOHOOOO!!!! I told them that I would absolutely bring them with us and was glad that they liked the service. They said "Good message, Pastor Joy"

God is good. His Word is truth and I praise God for it! I look forward to "the rest of the story". I can't wait to see what God does next! It's been a good day!

Change

I promised I would share what changes have been taking place for the Ziegler family. It has been one of the most interesting and yet challenging months of my life. Here's what's been happening in our world.

1. I took a position at Woodside Wesleyan as the Assistant Pastor. I am very excited about the future and dreams for the church. The people have been very loving and have embraced us with open arms. Woodside is in Lake Ann, Michigan, which is a suburb of Traverse City. It has a population around 300. I am excited to be a part of this new community. The nice thing is....we didn't have to move to take this position....it is actually closer to our house than our old church. This church will mean "doing church" differently, as it is in the country and a small church around 60 people. We have some incredible dreams and I look forward to partnering with them to make them happen. Funny thing is.....it fits with where God has called me to be from the very beginning of my ministerial call. God is good.

2. So, given number 1, that means our family had to make a very hard decision in leaving our old church. It was a difficult decision, but we know that leaving is what we were supposed to do, so we trust that and move forward. We will miss the people of College Terrace and trust that God will continue the work he has begun there.

3. Since my work at Woodside is part time, I also have been working for H.O.M.E., shelter and transition houses. We service about 30 people at a time. This past week I went full time and it has been a tumultuous week. I am learning that there aren't enough hours in the day! This job is stretching me. Details aside....it has been one of the hardest weeks of my life. Can I just say.......I hate politics! I enjoy the people. I just wish I had more time to invest in the people. Isn't that the way it always is, though?

4. This month I also attended another FLAME class. The end is in sight!!! Again, it was a great time of learning. My family got to come with me and not just my husband and kids, but my Mom as well. It was great to share firsthand with her what she has heard me talk about for so long. She was able to meet some really neat people and stayed up late talking too! It was really great! The kids enjoyed the daily activities. Andrew was excited that they t.p.'d his bed one day while he was gone. The go-karts were by far the hit of the week! I drove Andrew one night and he decided that a 14 yr. old girl drove faster than me. he he he : ) It was fun! (Thanks Wayne for sharing those with us!) Most of all, the spiritual renewal that can take place while you are there is incredible. The time away from the busyness of life and slowing down to really focus is always good for me. Now I just need to get hopping on that post-work and get that turned in!

That's the family update! It's an extremely busy time of life for us, but we know that God is faithful to carry us through. I cling to that. I don't know how people make it without the Lord.

Wesleyan Bloggers

My friend, Mark Wilson has been collecting Wesleyan blogs. Thanks for keeping up with all of us, Mark! Check out these great blogs!

Mark O. Wilson, Revitalize Your Church
Lawrence W. Wilson
Tim Guptill, G'update
Paul Kind, Vagabonding
John & Danielle Freed,
Rod Pickett, Kingdom Come
Jim Garlow
Josh Garlow, In Stereo
John Drury, Drulogian
Keith Drury
Jerry Brecheisen
Ken Schenck, Schenck Thoughts
David Drury
Eric Wagenmaker, Random, Contemplative
Chad McCallum, Compass Church
Dale Argot, Virginia Transplant
Joe & Randi Gormong
Eric Hambrock, The Front Porch
Jim Watkins
Nate Kingsbury
Joel Gorveatte, Get to the Point
Amanda Drury, Amanda's Spot
Bill Lawson, Kidd's Place
A. J. Thomas, The Jonny Smith Regime
Rod Densteadt, Brothers of Willow
Kevin Wright, Wright off the Bat
Shannon D'Agostino, Our Simple Adventures
David Rutler, Savior Stretching
David Sheffield, One Rock Crying Out
Wisconsin Spiritual Formation: Davis, Mavis and Brown
Joy Ziegler, Conformed or Transformed?
Matthew Rose, The Matthew Never Knew
David and Katy Kinnan, The Kinnan Chronicles
Ben Robinson, The Orthodoctor
Brian Johnson, Community Wesleyan Church
Ryan Budde, The Scope
Ed Boston, Do the Right Thing
Josh Cooper, Front Porch Life
Gail Neuerberg, The Beauty of God In Little Things
Straight Talk for Church Planters
Mark Schnell Thinks Out Loud
Brian Russell, Real Meal Ministries
Glen Robinson, Dividing Wall
Tom Kinnan, Keeping Perspective
Steve Matthews
Dean Brown, Corktown Capers
Mark Gorveatte, Church Edge
David Wright
Daniel Shipton,
Dan Bickel, Wisconsin DistrictBrooks Sayer, Stuff I Say
Doug Dennis, Intentional Interim
Josh & Jamie Hilty, Sermons and Other Stuff
Jeff Bouma, The Fuse
Rick Hudgens, Trustworthy Sayings
Phil Stevenson, Inner Sanctum
Jeremiah Gomez, Musings of a RookiePastor
Ed Torres, The Core
Lenny Luchetti, Relevant Living
Brandon & Jennifer Bruce
Steven Sheets
Dale Robertson, Dale's Place
Carles Fletcher, Community Wesleyan Church

TODAY WE TALKED

by Ted Heatherington

Today we talked.
I said, "I'm confused." You asked about my devotions.
I said, "I get angry." You quoted a verse.
I said, "I hurt." You said "Believe."
I said, "I'm depressed." You said, "Rejoice."

You said I could call. I said I would try.
You said you would pray. I suppressed my doubts.
You said things would get better. I wondered, When?
As we parted, you waved with a smile.

Today we talked. neither of us listened.
And though we talked, there was silence.
Nobody said, "I care."

Today we talked.
I said, "I'm confused." You asked, "About what?"
I said, "I get angry." You asked, "When?"
I said, "I hurt." You asked, "Why?"
I said, "I'm depressed." You said, "I care."

You said you would call. I said, "Please do!"
You said you would pray. I knew you would.
You said things will get better. I tried to believe.
You said there is hope, and you wrapped it in a hug.

Today we talked. You listened for both of us.
And as we talked, there was a third voice.
He said, "I care" with your lips.

Something to think about....

I received this great list today in an email. Good thoughts for life!

• Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
• Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
• Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
• When you say, "I love you ", mean it.
• When you say, "I'm sorry", look the person in the eye.
• Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
• Believe in love at first sight.
• Never laugh at anyone's dream. People who don't have dreams don't have much.
• Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.
• In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
• Don't judge people by their relatives.
• Talk slowly but think quickly.
• When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?"
• Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
• Say, "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.
• When you lose, don't lose the lesson!
• Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.
• Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
• When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
• Smile when picking up the phone The caller will hear it in your voice.
• Spend some time alone.

Break!

Our family will be spending the next week at the Free Methodist Family Camp. We have been camping every year with them for the last 15 years. It's great to go back "home" and catch back up with old friends. We, as a family, are looking forward to the break from the hustle and bustle of life and have some much needed "fill up time". So, no blogging this next week. Look forward to sharing what God does in our hearts when we get back. It's always a Spirit-filled week.

Sweetly Broken

This is an incredible song about what God is and does for us....and what our response should be.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE1_l6bGBoI

Transitions and Goodbyes

It has been an extremely difficult month, hence the reason for the lack of posting here. I have been working two jobs and spent very little time on the computer. It has been a month of hard work and lots of thinking, discussions, praying and seeking God's heart.

We have finally made some decisions and it will mean change for our family. As much as we know this is the direction we are to take and have such a peace about these decisions, the transitions and goodbyes are difficult. I will be posting more about what it will look like in future posts.

For now, I am working for Homeless Outreach Ministry Exchange, which houses the homeless and transition house clients. It is very demanding, but rewarding. My job includes doing the books, working one on one with the women and a little work at the 4 men's houses that we have. We are a faith-based ministry, so I am allowed to talk freely about my faith and share it with them. I am very thankful for these opportunities to present hope in these seemingly hopeless situations.

So, transition and goodbyes are taking place and we covet your prayers as we, as a family, take on new ministry challenges.

Old Misery

Last week as I threw myself an elaborate pity party over the constant barrage of struggles this life brings, the Lord reminded me of one program in particular on the men who desire to become Navy SEALS. The physical and mental stresses these men are required to undergo was beyond my comprehension.

The first five weeks of the training prepares them for the sixth week, better known as "Hell Week." During this week, trainees participate in five and one half days of continuous training, with a maximum of four hours of sleep. "Sugar cookie drills," a combination of surf torture and whistle drills leave the trainees with sand over every inch of their bodies in preparation for the four-mile run up and down the beach (don’t tell those expensive day spas that charge a fortune for a full body polish that rolling in the sand and surf does the same thing).

One training exercise really caught my attention “Old Misery.” Exhausted, wet, and hungry teams of men hoist “Old Misery” (a 400 hundred pound log) onto their aching shoulders and then carry it up and down the beach. When one man would stumble or fall, his teammates immediately helped him up, carried his portion of “Old Misery” until he was steady on his feet, and encouraged him to finish the task. Each man knew the value of teamwork and how the load increased exponentially when one man stumbles. I was astonished at their ability to persevere as each task was more difficult than the last. I kept asking the question “Is all of this really necessary?” My husband and sons looked at me as if to say, “Hello, these men must remain focused on their mission no matter the cost!” Those who quit during Hell Week - and often, more than half do - are the ones Navy SEALs believe would quit on their real-world missions.

What a clear picture of God allowing struggles in my life as a way to keep my attention focused on my mission to be conformed to the likeness of His son. Pain and struggles can be tools to reveal areas of weakness in my life. God also uses them to shape and prune me. This “sanctification process” begins when we first ask Christ to enter our lives and ends when we meet Him face to face.

Another purpose for stressful circumstances is to reveal my true convictions as my faith and commitment are tested. It’s easy for me to say, “Praise God, isn’t He good,” when things are peaceful. But when struggles enter my life, what I really believe about God becomes evident in my thoughts, words, and actions.

Just as the trainees in the program had teammates to rely on, the Lord has provided me with my own teammates. The Holy Spirit is my team captain and is there to comfort, encourage, lead, guide, and direct me through the difficult and stressful times. I also have fellow teammates, men and women who have experienced stressful situations in their own lives and they have encouragement to share.

As you encounter your own “Old Misery” situations, remember you are not alone. The Lord has provided His Holy Spirit to help you carry the load and He will place people in your life that will help you and encourage you to finish the task of becoming more Christ-like. That way, you and I can live the command of Ephesians 4:1, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called."

by Zoe Elmore

My Strength and Portion Forever!

Psalm 73:25-26, 28 says "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made te Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds."

Today I am reminded of the great treasure I have in relationship with God. It IS good to be near God. He is my guide, my protector, my friend and the love of my life! When I have no strength left, he is my strength. When I am at the end of my rope, He is there. He never fails me. I can trust Him always. He is ALL I need. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord!

Back Home

We have been gone and I forgot to post that there would be no posts....sorry to my faithful readers! But, good news is....I'm back home! Our family went to visit a good friend of mine from the FLAME classes I attend. It's always fun to visit other churches and see how they do ministry and have some time just to sit and talk ministry. Brian and I were able to spend significant time talking (we spent over 18 hours one way in the car!). We need to carve out more time to do that when we are at home.

We are seeking what God's good will is. We don't want to settle for something that is just good, but something that is God. We want His good, pleasing and perfect will. It's hard not to make decisions on how we feel. We must go on what we are called to and lead to and follow that in complete trust in the One who is leading us there.

Five Questions

Life is busy and it's so easy to get caught up in all that is happening around you. Continual evaluation is a must. I read a great blog post from Perry Noble concerning this recently. He shares from his heart five important questions that I found very valuable. Read it here.

DO IT ANYWAY!

Galatians 6:10 While we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down
by the smallest people with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for the underdog anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help, but may attack you if you help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you've got and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

-author unknown

Another step in the journey...

This has been an exciting month for us. I have been working toward ordination in the Wesleyan Church. I have been learning so much in my classes and preached twice this month, my first sermons. Both went very well and I was amazed to see God at work in the hearts of people. What an awesome responsibility and privilege.

Last night, as Brian and I sat around our little (Brian built it, so you know it wasn't THAT little) campfire in the back yard, I got a call from our Asst. District Superintendent informing me that he had received my paperwork and I was now a licensed Minister. I now have only a few classes left for ordination.

I love God's timing in revealing HIS plan for our lives. He continues to show himself and bring us back to the "roots" of the initial call. I think if He gave us the whole picture all at once, we would freak out, so we get one step at a time, but no matter what the future holds for us, we know God has our best interest in mind and we trust that completely. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue working out the details of it all.

Holiness

"A holy life will make the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns, they just shine."

-D.L. Moody

Regrets

Our hamster died over the weekend. He was a good little "Hammy" as we called him. My seven year old daughter got clean bedding and a box and buried him in the back yard with a cross with his name and date on it. I did my first funeral. We said a prayer and then got some flowers and laid them over the grave. It was sad to watch them say goodbye to their little friend that woke them up every morning.

Tonight my son said to me. "Mom, I have regrets. I wish I would have held him more. I wish I would have talked to him more." We talked about the fact that life sometimes gets our eyes off from what's important to us. We need to make sure that every thing we do has been evaluated as to it's importance to us. Andrew is learning a big lesson at a young age. If we died tomorrow would we have regrets? Would we change today? I know I would. So, evaluation is in order. It's where God has been working on me lately.

more faith....

I am finally home again after another great FLAME class. The classes fill your brain with knowledge that makes your head want to burst, but the networking that takes place, the time alone with God, and of course the food make it all an incredible experience.

I mentioned the time alone with God. It's so nice to get away from all the busyness of life and be able to listen. I was walking on the sidewalks early one morning and I kept coming to a dead end. The sidewalks would be going along and then they would just end. There were quite a few like that. It was kinda weird, until God used that picture to speak to my heart: The avenues I have been taking, although good, are leading me to a dead end, unless I am obedient to go off the end into uncharted territory. To walk by faith and not by sight. When God first called me to ministry, this is what He asked of me. I have made every excuse in the book as to why it can't be now, and yet, that's just what it is.....an excuse.

In some ways, I am excited, and in others, I am scared to death. I will walk in obedience, but this is something that is much bigger than me and is going to take a LOT of faith, persistence, guidance and patience. I know that when God calls, he empowers, so I trust in that. I write here, almost as an accountability to keep pressin' on. God is good and I trust in His faithfulness. Someone said to me this weekend that faith is coming to the edge of the cliff and stepping off knowing that God will either carry you or give you wings. To that I say....yep!

Faith and Praise

In Romans 4:18-21 Abraham and Sarah had lost hope to become the father of many nations, as he had promised. They were old and past child bearing age and saw it as impossible at that point in their life. He didn't see how God would fulfill that promise, but believed in the promise.

The key to these verse for me today was in verse 20 that says "but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God."

How is it that one can praise God in dire circumstances? How can we have faith when everything around us looks tells us a different story? The answer is in this verse. The more we praise God for who He is, the more our faith increases. You see, the more we praise, the more we realize what a BIG and mighty God we serve. The more we can trust in Him. Praise increases our faith. Praise empowers our faith. So, when I praise God in the worst and impossible situations, I trust even more in the one who knows it all and has my best interest in mind.

Simple thoughts, but profound to live out.....

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

I am reading this book Inclusion Making Room for Grace by Eric H.F. Law. I found the following "Respectful Community Guidelines" helpful when approaching a meeting. We don't always all agree on everything, so in trying to respect other's and hear what they are saying...check these out.....

R - take RESPONSIBILITY for what you say and feel without blaming others

E - engage in EMPATHETIC listening

S - be SENSITIVE to differences in communication styles.

P - PONDER what you hear and feel before you speak

E - EXAMINE your own assumptions and perceptions

C - keep CONFIDENTIALITY

T - TOLERATE ambiguity because we are not here to debate who or what is right or wrong

The church IS NOT a hospital!

James 2:18 You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Here are some good words from Neil Anderson:

When my son Karl was just a toddler, I would stand him up on the table and call for him to jump from the table into my arms. Did Karl believe I would catch him? Yes. How did I know he believed? Because he jumped. Suppose he wouldn't jump. "Do you believe I will catch you, Karl?" I might coax, and he may nod yes. But if he never jumps, does he really believe I will catch him? No. Faith is active, not passive. Faith takes a stand. Faith makes a move. Faith speaks up.
There are a lot of Christians who claim to have great faith in God but are spiritually lethargic and don't do anything. Faith without action is not faith; it's dead, meaningless (James 2:17, 18)! If it isn't expressed, it isn't faith. In order to believe God and His Word, we must do what He says. If you don't do what He says, you don't really believe Him. Faith and action are inseparable.
Sadly, one of the common pictures of the church today is of a group of people with an assumed faith but little action. We're thankful that our sins are forgiven and that Jesus is preparing a place in heaven for us, but we're basically cowering in fear and defeat in the world, just hanging on until the rapture. We treat the church as if it's a hospital. We get together to compare wounds and hold each other's hands, yearning for Jesus to come take us away.
The church is not a hospital; it's a military outpost under orders to storm the gates of hell. Every believer is on active duty, called to take part in fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19, 20). Thankfully the church has an infirmary where we can minister to the weak and wounded, and that ministry is necessary. But our real purpose is to be change agents in the world, taking a stand, living by faith, and accomplishing something for God. You can say you believe God and His Word. But if you are not actively involved in His plan, are you really a mature believer?

Audience of One

There is a great post about criticism and hurts on Perry Noble's site. We need to stay focused on playing our game for an audience of One. Only what God says counts! It's so easy to get our eyes off the good things and focused on the one bad thing. If 10 people say good things and one person says a bad thing, that is where we, by nature, focus. If 10 people say bad things and God says "Good job, I'm pleased!" then that's all we need.

Today I play for an audience of One. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdX-77UhwgU

Burning Rubber!

Tonight Andrew helped me babysit for my sister and brother-in-law. They have 3 children under the age of 3, so I thought he would be a big help. Let me just say.....He was amazing! Thanks, Andrew! He has grown up and is a very responsible and helpful babysitter.

When we got the kids all to bed, Andrew decided to take his scooter down the big hill on the side of the house. It's blacktop, but ends about 30 ft. before you would hit the lake. I had to crack up as I watched him fly down the hill and then use his SHOES to slow him down before he hit the grass. He came within about a foot of the lake. He melted the heels of his shoes and ground them down. I felt the shoes and they were hot. It was such a great idea, he went down about 5 more times.

Tomorrow we go buy more shoes!!!

When Answers Aren't Enough

As we look at what happened at Virginia Tech this week, we don't have answers, no matter how much we analyze and pick it all apart. This song came to mind as I wrestle with things in my own life and watch others and their struggles....when answers aren't enough....Praise God! there is Jesus!

Listen here: http://cdbaby.com/mp3lofi/randymayfield3-01.m3u

You have faced the mountains of desperation
You have climbed, you have fought, you have won
But this valley that lies coldly before you
Casts a shadow you cannot overcome

And just when you thought you had it all together
You knew every verse to get you through
But this time the sorrow broke more than just your heart
And reciting all those verses just won't do

When answers aren't enough, there is Jesus
He is more than just an answer to your prayer
And your heart will find a safe and peaceful refuge
When answers aren't enough, He is there

Instead of asking why did it happen
Think of where it can lead you from here
And as your pain is slowly easing, you can find a greater reason
To live your life triumphant through the tears

When answers aren't enough, there's still Jesus
He is more than just an answer to your prayer
And your heart will find a safe and peaceful refuge
When answers aren't enough, He is there

Missional Minded

Jamie Arpin-Ricci writes about becoming missional and this quote is something we wholeheartedly need to think about and embrace.

"Hospitality is, perhaps, one of the most significant and powerful aspects of being missional that has been lost to most of the Western church. While I am not arguing that "house churches" are the only or best way of doing community, I will say that in order to have true loving relationships and community, we must live our lives together, demanding that our homes be open to each other more than brief events or meetings. So much of the New Testament cannot be understood fully until we recognize the degree to which the early church embraced this communal hospitality, not only to each other, but also to the outsider."

Just going along in life...

Are you just going along in life with no regard for what God has for you? Do you just take life as it comes? Check out this video....something to think about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt5Ws13Yy9Q

Tisk, tisk, task!

I am reading the book Ministering Cross-Culturally by Lingenfelter and Mayers. It is really a good book about seeing how our Western culture differs from most other cultures. They contrast 12 different areas that can cause tension on the mission field. The one that really hit home for me was the contrast of goals. Are you task-oriented or people-oriented? I found, much to my surprise, that I am a task-oriented person, even though I am very much a people lover. Most of Western culture is task-oriented.

So, here's what got to me.....There was a man who wanted to have some of his friends come over and help him do a task. Only a few showed up and so they sat on the porch and talked until more men showed up. Not enough men showed up to work, so they just sat talking and called it a day later that afternoon and decided that they would try it again next week. Now, I would have been frustrated by this. Frustrated that the few that were there didn't at least start on the task. Frustrated that nothing got done. Frustrated at what seems to be "wasted" time. But....they didn't see it that way. To them, work isn't worth doing at all if it isn't accompanied by relationship. If you can't enjoy your time together, then what is the point of working?

OUCH! Tasks will ALWAYS be there, but relationships will not be. The day of those men was certainly not wasted. In fact, it was more valuable than if they would have worked all day long and never taken a break!

So, my question is this....Will there be people who never hear the gospel because I was too busy on my "important task"?

David and Goliath

This morning I got up and read 1 Samuel 17, which is the story of David and Goliath. It's fun to read those ever so familiar stories again. It's been a while since I've actually read the story and not heard it Veggie Tales style. Here's a YouTube depiction of the story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQDAp1SGRTU

So what I take away from David this morning:
1. He was obedient to his Father to go serve his brothers and did not question him, but went. (vs. 20)
2. He considered himself a servant. (vs. 32,34)
3. He was faithful with a little, so he was prepared for much (Note: to me...killing a bear and a lion with his hands wasn't little) (vs. 34-36)
4. He took no confidence for himself. His courage was strong and His trust was completely in the Lord. His faith now had feet to them. (vs. 37)
5. When David knew what God had called him to do, he didn't hesitate. He moved quickly. (vs. 48)

I want these things for my life. May I always be an obedient servant who is faithful with whatever she is given big or small. In victory, let me always give God the credit, knowing it was done through Him. And may I always trust confidently and not waver, moving quickly toward what God has called me to.

Moody Pastor's Conference

HUH??? I opened my email to find the subject line "Moody Pastor's Conference". Well, well, well! Do Pastor's get moody, so much that we need to go to a conference if we are?

Upon opening the email, it was a conference at Moody Bible Institute entitled "Pastor's Conference". "Relax. Refresh. Recharge." So, I guess if you are moody, you can go. And if your not...you can still go! ha ha ha!

Sader Dinner

On Friday night, I attended a Sader Dinner at my Mom's church. They had a converted Jew lead us in the dinner. It was so neat to hear him explain and then partake in the parts of it all. The plate to the left is a traditional Sader Dinner plate. He did a good job of telling us what they would say and do for each part, but then also added "the rest of the story" for Christians. We have a blessed hope!

Mere Distraction

We went "home" this last weekend to visit family and our old church. It was great to see all our friends again (notice I didn't say OLD friends...for those of you reading this who would slap me for that! ha ha). They have gotten rid of the pew benches and put some really comfortable chairs and changed the stage setting. It looks really great! It's amazing to just "pick up where you left off" in some ways. I am so thankful for the real relationships there.

But there was a small distraction just before Easter. The service started normally, and they took the offering early in the service. When they went to put the money in the safe......uh.....it was GONE! Being April Fools Day, the teller thought it was a joke. Come to find out, an intruder not only stole that heavy safe, but also one of the pastor's laptop computer and the church's digital camera. What'll be interesting is when that intruder finally gets that heavy safe open, they are going to be very disappointed. The safe was worth more than what was in it! Unfortunately, they had to have all the locks on every door of the church changed, as the back up keys were in there.

This type of activity could cause us to walk in fear, feel violated, steal our joy, or cause confusion instead of focus in a service.....if we let it! But we chose to praise instead. All that stuff is temporal and doesn't last. We serve a God who is bigger than a lost computer or safe. We serve a God who gave His LIFE for us. He lost much more than the security of a building. He was violated much more than we were in a few stolen items. He lost the security of a relationship with His Father. He took on the sin of the world and gave up EVERYTHING. This week we remember His sacrifice and celebrate the LIFE we have in Him and because of Him.

So, this Easter, Satan sure wants to thwart any advance in the Kingdom. He wants to get our eyes focused on the things of this world. I stand to protest his efforts. They are cheap shots of distraction. I choose Christ and the power of His blood! My focus will remain on the eternal. Where's your focus today?

The Presence of God

Isaiah 40:29-31 says "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Psalm 16:11 says "You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 says "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body."

I am so thankful that my emotions are not truth. Only God's Word is truth and doesn't change. When I am weary, God has all the strength I need to make it. When I am confused, God has the map and is there to guide me. When I feel down, God offers me joy in His presence....this world has nothing for me, so why do I look in the world for something it can't offer? When I feel persecuted and abandoned or struck down, God is there to pick me up and love on me in a way that only He can.

How many times do I let my emotions rule instead of the truth of God's Word? Jesus loves me this I KNOW, for the Bible tells me so! I need to "forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14) When I keep my eyes on the goal, the petty stuff of my emotions seems to fade away and doesn't seem so important anymore.

So where is your focus today? Have you set your eyes on the circumstances and let your emotions rule you, or have you set your eyes on the goal and let God have control? He offers joy, peace, direction and victory! I want that in my life, don't you?

Negotiations

Today I told my daughter she could go to the neighbor's house for an hour to play. I said "You need to come home at 5:15, ok?" She replied "Please can I stay until 5:16?" I said "of course, that would be fine!" I laughed as she went away completely pleased with herself, in changing my mind. Amazing what one minute can do for a little girl!

Time to evaluate!

Mark Batterson shares 10 gut checks for growing churches. These are very good and helpful both indivually and corporately. Check them out here.

Saint Anselm of Canterbury

"O Lord our God, grant us grace to desire you with our whole heart, that so desiring, we may seek to find you; and so finding you, we may love you; and loving you, we may hate those sins from which you have redeemed us, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen."

Youth Leadership

Last night we held our first leadership meeting for our youth. I held the meeting at our home and called the 8 teens who have committed to leadership to higher accountability, as well as spiritual leadership and participation. I am very proud of them, as they are eager to take this next step of commitment. They are hungry for this and have vision for the future and willing to get involved and make a difference in their youth group. I am excited to see how God is going to use these young leaders!

Management vs. Leadership

Management is doing things right;
leadership is doing the right things.

- a fortune cookie from my Chinese food yesterday

Impossible?

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26 (NIV)

I have a few situations in my life that are "impossible" in my eyes. But.... they are only impossible for me....and not my God. My job is to trust completely and not worry. Worry is not faith. Worry says "This is impossible!" Trust says "I can't do this, but so what?!....God can!"

What looks impossible that I am trusting God for today? Am I walking by faith or only by sight?

For the love of coffee....

I am one who loves coffee. It's a big joke at my church that I should own stock in Starbucks. For my birthday last year, one friend did just that and bought me one share of Starbucks stock. There is nothing like a good cup of coffee while you watch the morning news or sit with a friend or check your email. It goes with with everything. Well...NOT EVERYTHING. This week I found out how much my laptop does not like coffee. It spit that cup of coffee out the sides and then turned green....literally. It made him very sick.....maybe even took his life......jury is still out on that one. It's a sad day in the Ziegler home.

Life and Death

I have been working with our teens on getting more serious with God and owning their faith. Today I had planned to talk to them about what they would want to be remembered for when they died. Just before I walked into the youth group, I got a phone call from another Pastor friend of ours to tell me that one of their relatives had committed suicide at age 21 and that they would be headed down to do the funeral.

This call brought such reality to the message today. My heart broke to think of this young man who, for whatever reason, didn't think life was worth living anymore. I have another friend who has a very close cousin and friend who is dying of brain cancer. In my hometown this last week, there was a young man whose girlfriend broke up with him and he was so upset that he went to her school and as she was walking into the school, he shot her 3 times and then killed himself. She survived, praise God, but that day could have been her last. These are just the people in MY life THIS WEEK! There are many others around the world who have more stories just like these to share.

Have you ever been to a funeral of someone who was really on fire for God and it was a celebration of life? Seeing how many lives have been touched by their life, you rejoice in who they were and praise the Creator and Lord of life. Reality is, we do not know how much time we have on this earth.

These thoughts make me ask:

• What am I doing to make a difference in someone's life today?
• Did I live every moment in worship of my Creator today?
• How will people remember me tomorrow by the way I lived today?
• How did I make today count?

Smoothies

My daughter and I love smoothies for breakfast and this morning was no exception. Olivia and I put the strawberries, pineapple, banana, yogurt and cranberry juice in and the big moment came (for a 7 year old that is).....the time to push the button and blend it up. She pushed the button and we were saying "woohoo it's almost smoothie time!" when out from the bottom of the carafe started oozing out smoothie. I turned the machine off and lifted up the carafe (dumb, dumb, dumb) and the whole bottom came off the carafe and smoothie ran like a waterfall all over the countertop, down the front of the cupboards and onto the floor. Olivia said, "MOM, QUICK, 10 SECOND RULE!!!" (for those of you who don't know what that means.....it means....quick pick it up within 10 seconds and the dirt won't stick to it and we can still eat it!) I wanted to be mad. I was disgusted and frustrated and immediately remembered my devotional from the previous day.

I am reading Joyce Meyer's book Battlefield of the Mind and yesterday's devotional was about being positive. "Practice being positive in each situation that arises, even if whatever is taking place in your life at the moment is not so good." I realized in that moment, that I had a choice of how I was going to react to this situation. So, I took a deep breath and said, "Olivia, you're right, let's hurry and get this into the cups." And, that's what we did. She helped get it all cleaned up and we sat down together with the best tasting smoothies and a really good laugh.

Life doesn't always go the way we planned or desire and we can choose to be sour or sweet about it. What good does it do to be angry about those things? Spilled milk (or in this case spilled smoothie) is still spilled milk whether we are mad about it or whether we're not. I know that my daughter was watching me and I want her to be able to laugh at those things that don't go her way.

Next time we check the bottom to make sure it is securely fastened! Take some time to laugh a little today!

Victory in Jesus!

This is a great prayer by Charles Stanley:

Good morning, Lord!

Thank you for assuring me victory today if I will but follow Your battle plan. So by faith, I claim victory over: ______________________________________.

To prepare myself for the battle ahead, by faith I put on the Belt of Truth. The truth about You, Lord, that You are our Sovereign God who knows everything about me, both my strengths and weaknesses. Lord, You know my breaking point and have promised not to allow me to be tempted beyond what I am able to bear. The truth about me, Lord, is that I am a new creation in Christ and have been set free from the power of sin. I am indwelt with the Holy Spirit who will guide me and warn me when danger is near. I am Your child and nothing can separate me from Your love. The truth is that You have a purpose for me this day, someone to encourage, someone to share with, someone to love.

Next, Lord, I want to, by faith, but on the Breastplate of Righteousness. Through this, I guard my heart and my emotions. I will not allow my heart to attach itself to anything that is impure. I will not allow my emotions to rule my decisions. I will set them on what is right and good and just. I will live today by what is true, not by what I feel.

Lord, this morning I put on the Sandals of the Gospel of Peace. I am available to You, Lord. Send me where You will. Guide me to those who need encouragement or physical help of some kind. Use me to solve conflicts wherever they may arise. Make me a calming presence in every circumstance in which You place me. I will not be hurried, or rushed, for my schedule is in Your hands. I will not leave a trail of tension and apprehension. I will leave tracks of peace and stability everywhere I go.

I now take up the Shield of Faith. My faith is in You and You alone. Apart from You, I can do nothing. With You, I can do all things. No temptation that comes my way can penetrate Your protecting hand. I will not be afraid, for You are going with me throughout this day. When I am tempted, I will claim my victory out loud ahead of time, for You have promised victory to those who walk in obedience to Your Word. So, by faith, I claim victory even now, because I know there are fiery darts headed my way even as I pray. Lord, You already know what they are and have already provided a way of escape.

Lord, by faith I am putting on the Helmet of Salvation. You know how Satan bombards my mind day and night with evil thoughts, doubts, and fears. I put on this Helmet that will protect my mind. I may feel the impact of his attacks, but nothing can penetrate this Helmet. I choose to stop every impure and negative thought at the door of my mind. And with the Helmet of Salvation those thoughts will get now further. I elect to take every thought captive. I will dwell on nothing but what is good and right and pleasing to You.

Last, I take up the Sword of the Spirit, which is Your Word. Thank You for the precious gift of Your Word. It is strong and powerful, and able to defeat even the strongest of Satan’s onslaughts. Your word says that I am not under obligation of the flesh to obey its lusts. Your Word says that I am free from the power of sin. Your Word says that He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world. So by faith, I take up the strong and powerful Sword of the Spirit, which is able to defend me in the time of attack, comfort me in time of sorrow, teach me in time of meditation, and prevail against the power of the enemy on behalf of others who need the truth to set them free.

Lord, I go now rejoicing that You have chosen me to represent You to this lost and dying world. May others see Jesus in me and may Satan and his hosts shudder as Your power is made manifest in me.

In Jesus Name I pray, Amen!

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY, OLIVIA!!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet girly, Olivia! It's been so much fun watching you grow these past 7 years. I love you so much!!!

Even though.....

Hebrews 11 is the great hall of fame in faith. Noah built an ark, even though there had been no rain and it seemed absurd. Abraham obeyed went where God told him to, even though he didn't know where he was going. Joshua marched around the city, even though it seemed like an absurd way to take a city. The Israelites crossed the Red Sea, even though escape seemed impossible.

God is the God of our "even though".
Even though:

• I have a past......You have forgiven me.
• I have sinned......You have mercy.
• I can't...............You CAN!
• I am scared.........You have the plan.
• I am weak..........You are strong.
• I hurt................You heal.
• I feel alone.........You are with me.
• I am empty.........You fill me.
• I am hopeless.......You are my hope.

What's your "even though"?