Everything that matters.....

The FACTS:
Well as many of you know our youth had an exciting Christmas Party planned. I'm sorry to report that we have not had our Christmas Party yet. It was originally scheduled for Saturday, December 19. The Lord decided to bless us with snow instead. At the time I was annoyed that we had to reschedule but looking back it was truly a wonderful gift from above. We decided to move the party to this coming Tuesday (12/29). But once again we need to reschedule. Only 10 out of 40 people were signed up. There are a lot of youth interested in going to the homeless shelter but with Christmas/New Years family gatherings Tuesday wasn't going to work. So now the plan is to go sometime mid January.

MY THOUGHTS:
I've really been looking forward to visiting the homeless shelter. My heart is heavy for the women at the shelter and I haven't even met them yet. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I can learn from them and also what I can teach them about Jesus. Like I said before I was really upset when it snowed on the 19th. Then yesterday when we decided to reschedule again due to lack of participation I was REALLY upset. But this morning as I was getting ready for work, God revealed something to me.

This morning as I prayed I felt God assuring me that He was still in control. There is a reason this activity keeps getting postponed. What that reason is....I'm not sure. I do know that whatever happens God is going to be in it and He's going to be in control.

I strongly believe that the devil has a part in this fiasco. I think there are women at this shelter that are searching for something or someone. They are longing for kindness, compassion, peace, joy, and love. Satan is aware of their needs and knows he can only keep them satisfied for a short amount of time before they go looking again. Jesus is the answer for those women and I think Satan is doing everything in his power to keep us away. Well I've got news for you Satan....we don't give up that easily.

Everything that matters in life BEGINS and ENDS with GOD.

"But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hands."
Psalm 31:14-15

Everyone Has A Story To Tell

Everyone has a story to tell. Some maybe be harder to tell than others...some short...some long...some filled with laughter...others filled with tears. Some may be full of detail and others so vague that it's hard to understand. No matter what approach, it's your story to tell. So when is the last time you shared your story with someone (a friend, neighbor, stranger)? Or better yet.....when is the last time you listened to someone share their story?



This Saturday our youth group is having our annual Christmas Party. But this year is going to be a little different. We are asking each youth to bring the following items to make up 1 kit.
1 fleece blanket/throw
1 pack of tissues (travel size)
1 body/hand lotion (travel size)
1 chapstick
The above items can be purchased for $5-$10. We are then going to take those items to a local homeless shelter for women.



The shelter is set up to house around 25-30 women. Individuals must submit their name to receive a voucher good for 1 week. This voucher includes a bed and shelter from 7:00pm - 7:00am. After their week has expired, the women have to resubmit their name for the next week.



My prayer for this coming Saturday is that these women will be blessed beyond what we can give. I'm praying that many stories will be told by our youth and by the women at the shelter. I'm praying that God will prepare hearts for seeds to be planted, seeds to be watered, and Lord will maybe even some harvesting!



Please pray for the Holy Spirit to preparing hearts and for boldness for our youth. We all have a story to tell, but JESUS is the greatest story of them all!!

Epic Failure: Turned my mind to things above!!

The other day I messed up a simple recipe. I didn't realize it until I saw it baking in the oven. I re-read the recipe several times and I still didn't know what I had done wrong. Only after I had all the dishes washed and put away it hit me....... I had used WAY to much butter!

This recent failure got me thinking. Life is a lot like a recipe. God has given us the Ultimate Cookbook (Bible) and he also calls us to have certain "ingredients" evident in our lives for others to see. For example Galatians 5:22-23 reads "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Notice it doesn't say the fruits of the Spirit.....it says the fruit of the Spirit . It's a package deal. We don't get to pick and choose what fruit we want to work on or what others should see. Any cook knows that to have a successful dish you need the proper ingredients. So I ask.....Is life any different? If we want a successful life (in God's eyes) shouldn't we start with the proper ingredients?

So as you and I look down over that list of fruit "ingredients", which one(s) have we used to little of in the past year? How would our recipes turn out? Would we look and taste good in the eyes of our Lord?

Let's face it no one is perfect, but we do serve a perfect God. He knows our strengths and weaknesses, our joy and our shame, He's been to the darkest corner of our hearts. His Spirit is IN us and He will lead us if we let Him.

"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."

Galatians 5:25