It has been great having Craig home for the past six weeks. He leaves early tomorrow morning to fly back to New York City as he begins semester two at FIT.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Happiness
"When things get tough, always remember.......faith doesn't get you around trouble. It gets you through it. When you relinquish the desireto control your future you obtain happiness"
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Thought for Tuesday
"There is nothing that attracts human nature more powerfully than the sport of tempting the unknown with a fishing line"
Henry Van Dyke
Henry Van Dyke
Monday, January 25, 2010
Disappointment?
Have you had a hero?
When I was growing up I idolized Larry Bird. I enjoyed watching “the master” do his work on the basketball court. I found out real quick I wasn’t Larry Bird.
We all had heroes and celebrities that we idolized growing up. Did any of these ever disappoint you?
I have been really disappointed in Tiger Woods. He was a golfer that I really enjoyed following until his latest escapades in the news.
People in life are going to disappoint us. That’s life. But there is someone that never disappoints if we trust and turn to Him. That’s Jesus.
In Luke 14 verses 25-35 talks about the cost of being a disciple. If we want true happiness and freedom from all the garbage in the world we need to look at what we need to do to become one of His.
25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
31"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
34"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
These are three things we must do to truly follow Christ:
1. Jesus must come before personal relationships (v.26)
2. To follow Jesus we must give up personal desires (v.27)
3. To follow Jesus we must give up personal possessions (v.33)
Remember, people in life will disappoint you. Christ will never disappoint.
When I was growing up I idolized Larry Bird. I enjoyed watching “the master” do his work on the basketball court. I found out real quick I wasn’t Larry Bird.
We all had heroes and celebrities that we idolized growing up. Did any of these ever disappoint you?
I have been really disappointed in Tiger Woods. He was a golfer that I really enjoyed following until his latest escapades in the news.
People in life are going to disappoint us. That’s life. But there is someone that never disappoints if we trust and turn to Him. That’s Jesus.
In Luke 14 verses 25-35 talks about the cost of being a disciple. If we want true happiness and freedom from all the garbage in the world we need to look at what we need to do to become one of His.
25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
31"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
34"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
These are three things we must do to truly follow Christ:
1. Jesus must come before personal relationships (v.26)
2. To follow Jesus we must give up personal desires (v.27)
3. To follow Jesus we must give up personal possessions (v.33)
Remember, people in life will disappoint you. Christ will never disappoint.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Haiti Relief
I'm sure you are well aware of the devastating earthquake that shook the area of Port au Prince, Haiti on January 12th. The damage is severe and many of our brothers and sisters there are in extreme need of food, water, and shelter. WFR relief ministries has been a driving force in Christian Disaster Relief since 1981 and we have seen the result of quick and generous response in times such as these by people coming to Christ. During the last eight years, over 3,000 people have been baptized into Christ as a result of the compassion that our World Radio speakers have shown through word and deed. They are our contact point and the work will be done through the local churches in Haiti with your help. The pictures and video we are watching on the news networks are eye-opening illustrations of how quickly your priorities can change. One minute you are preparing for bed as the sun slips out of view and the next you are in the middle of disaster and darkness. When your whole world is turned upside down, you are instantly dependent. When we arrive with your support, we are not just bringing money and supplies; we are bringing hope to a devastating situation and turning eyes to the cross where true, lasting relief can be found. It's people like you that God uses as His hands here on earth. Your past generosity testifies to your concern for the lives of others during times of disaster. With the stroke of your pen or the click of your mouse, you can give hope and change lives in Haiti forever. Please join your brothers and sisters around this nation in responding quickly and generously with your tax-deductible donation to help the earthquake victims in Haiti.
P.S. - You can express your generosity now online at WWW.WFRCHURCH.ORG/RELIEF
In His service,
Ben Adkins
Don Yelton
WFR Relief Ministries/ World Radio Team Leader
Director WFR Relief Ministries
WFR RELIEF MINISTRY
3201 N 7TH
WEST MONROE, LA 71291
P.S. - You can express your generosity now online at WWW.WFRCHURCH.ORG/RELIEF
In His service,
Ben Adkins
Don Yelton
WFR Relief Ministries/ World Radio Team Leader
Director WFR Relief Ministries
WFR RELIEF MINISTRY
3201 N 7TH
WEST MONROE, LA 71291
Monday, January 18, 2010
Thought for Monday
"Old Noah went a-fishing;
He sat upon the ark
And kept his hooks a-dangle
From daybreak on to dark.
His catch was pretty meager;
But every one affirms
He had no chance, because he
Had just a pair of worms."
St. Clair Adams
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Haiti Update (Christian Chronicle)
After a massive earthquake struck Haiti, church members around the globe struggled to make contact with family and friends and scrambled to send relief to the impoverished nation.
The quake, the worst recorded on the island of Hispaniola since 1946, claimed tens of thousands of lives and destroyed most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, according to news reports.
Church-supported ministries are collecting funds to assist in relief efforts.
REPORTS OF DEVASTATION
The 7.0-magnitude quake struck just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12, about 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, a city of about 2 million people in southern Haiti. The crescent-shaped nation, southeast of Cuba, shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic and is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Though communication is difficult, church members have received some reports from Haiti:
• At least nine members of the Delmas 43 Church of Christ in Port-au-Prince died in the quake, minister Jean Robert St. Hillare said in a Wednesday morning e-mail message.
"We're still looking for dead bodies," St. Hillare said. "We have almost 50 members who need medical care, almost 290 homeless. That's sad. There is not even bread to eat right now."
The quake forced St. Hillare and his family from their home and brought down power lines, so the minister sent e-mail using a laptop computer powered by his car's battery.
• The top two floors of the Delmas Christian Secondary School, which also serves as the meeting place of the Delmas church, crumbled and fell into the road, said Jeantyrard Elmera, the school’s director. A nursing class was in session in the building when the quake hit. Reports of injuries were unavailable.
• Nicky, a 15-year-old boy at a church-supported children’s home near Port-au-Prince, died when a wall collapsed. The boy lived with other children at Son Light Children’s Home and Nutrition Center, overseen by Haitian Christian Roberta Edwards. The Estes Church of Christ in Henderson, Tenn., supports the work.
Thomas Edwards, the oldest of the children living at the home, sent a brief e-mail message to U.S. supporters Wednesday morning.
“We slept outside last night,” Thomas Edwards wrote, “and the earth was shaking almost all night every 40 minutes.”
• Debbie Vanderbeek and other church members are attempting to reach the worst-hit areas of Port-au-Prince to deliver supplies. Vanderbeek is Haiti program director for Hope for Haiti’s Children, a church-supported ministry based in Sugar Land, Texas. The ministry sponsors children in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.
The ministry planned to send a medical mission team to Haiti this weekend to conduct a clinic for children supported by the ministry.
“We have canceled this clinic and are waiting until we have a clearer picture of the needs and how best to proceed,” according to a statement on the ministry’s Web site. “The devastation is overwhelming.”
A mission team of 18 from the Estes church left Port-au-Prince on Monday, less than 24 hours before the quake hit. Minister Jesse Robertson described the poverty he saw in Haiti to The Jackson (Tenn.) Sun.
"Driving around, I thought if they ever had an earthquake, we're in trouble," Robertson said. "They hadn't had one like this in 200 years. I saw along the side of a mountain shanty houses one on top of the other. They would collapse, and it looks like that's what happened."
• Oneal Tankersley, missionary in residence at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., was traveling between the cities of Gonaives to Port-au-Prince with his son, Karl, and Harding student John Cannady when the quake hit. The group was in Gonaives filming teaching videos.
They were unharmed by the quake, but their return flight to the U.S. was canceled, said Dr. David Smith, a church member who directs the Haitian Christian Development Project. The group traveled to the neighboring Dominican Republic and is scheduled to fly home Thursday, Jan. 14.
"Gonaives, our development work and the communities with which we work ... were apparently spared," Smith said.
Gueston Pacius, a church member in Gonaives and development director for the Haitian Christian Development Project, plans to take relief supplies to Port-au-Prince.
• Church members in northern Haiti experienced “tons of shaking and aftershocks” but no significant damage, said Bob Valerius, who works with the Cap Haitien Children’s Home.
• Despite the lack of damage in the north, people across Haiti will soon feel the impact of the quake as food and fuel become scarce, said David Heath, a member of the Littleton, Colo., Church of Christ. Heath and Ben Adkins of Louisiana-based White’s Ferry Road Relief plan to leave Friday to assess needs and purchase gas and food to distribute to those in need.
The church members already planned a relief trip to Haiti next week, and now are stepping up their plans, Heath said.
A GLOBAL CALL FOR PRAYER
Haitian-born minister Saint-Jean Jean-Pierre spent much of Tuesday night on the phone, fielding calls and text messages of concern from the members of his congregation in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Jean-Pierre, who moved to the U.S. from Haiti about 13 years ago, preaches for a Church of Christ with about 75 members — all from Haiti. Many work in restaurants or service industries in southern Florida. The church conducts services in French-Creole.
“I’ve been receiving a bunch of calls,” the minister said. “They want to know what happened to the houses (in Haiti). There’s a lot of crying.”
Church members had a conference call Tuesday night to pray for the people of their homeland and plan additional prayer meetings as they wait for news.
The quake shook church buildings in Kingston, Jamaica, said Gladwyn Kiddoe, minister and director of the Jamaica School of Preaching and Biblical Studies. No damage was reported. Jamaican church members plan to meet Thursday, Jan. 14 at the Mona Church of Christ in St. Andrew, Jamaica, to discuss relief strategies, Kiddoe said.
Meanwhile, emotional shockwaves from the quake have reached Christians as far away as Africa.
“Two families from our church and school are still trying to reach relatives there,” said Holly Hixson, a missionary in Kigali, Rwanda. “They have asked us to pray.”
Jean Balcom, a member of the West Fayetteville Church of Christ in Fayetteville, Tenn., has traveled to Haiti multiple times to assist Roberta Edwards in her work near Port-au-Prince. Watching news reports from her home, she’s seen markets and buildings she’s visited — now reduced to rubble.
Even before the quake, “it’s hard to put into words the devastation you already see over there,” Balcom said, “so to see more … it’s overwhelming.”
The quake, the worst recorded on the island of Hispaniola since 1946, claimed tens of thousands of lives and destroyed most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, according to news reports.
Church-supported ministries are collecting funds to assist in relief efforts.
REPORTS OF DEVASTATION
The 7.0-magnitude quake struck just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12, about 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, a city of about 2 million people in southern Haiti. The crescent-shaped nation, southeast of Cuba, shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic and is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Though communication is difficult, church members have received some reports from Haiti:
• At least nine members of the Delmas 43 Church of Christ in Port-au-Prince died in the quake, minister Jean Robert St. Hillare said in a Wednesday morning e-mail message.
"We're still looking for dead bodies," St. Hillare said. "We have almost 50 members who need medical care, almost 290 homeless. That's sad. There is not even bread to eat right now."
The quake forced St. Hillare and his family from their home and brought down power lines, so the minister sent e-mail using a laptop computer powered by his car's battery.
• The top two floors of the Delmas Christian Secondary School, which also serves as the meeting place of the Delmas church, crumbled and fell into the road, said Jeantyrard Elmera, the school’s director. A nursing class was in session in the building when the quake hit. Reports of injuries were unavailable.
• Nicky, a 15-year-old boy at a church-supported children’s home near Port-au-Prince, died when a wall collapsed. The boy lived with other children at Son Light Children’s Home and Nutrition Center, overseen by Haitian Christian Roberta Edwards. The Estes Church of Christ in Henderson, Tenn., supports the work.
Thomas Edwards, the oldest of the children living at the home, sent a brief e-mail message to U.S. supporters Wednesday morning.
“We slept outside last night,” Thomas Edwards wrote, “and the earth was shaking almost all night every 40 minutes.”
• Debbie Vanderbeek and other church members are attempting to reach the worst-hit areas of Port-au-Prince to deliver supplies. Vanderbeek is Haiti program director for Hope for Haiti’s Children, a church-supported ministry based in Sugar Land, Texas. The ministry sponsors children in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.
The ministry planned to send a medical mission team to Haiti this weekend to conduct a clinic for children supported by the ministry.
“We have canceled this clinic and are waiting until we have a clearer picture of the needs and how best to proceed,” according to a statement on the ministry’s Web site. “The devastation is overwhelming.”
A mission team of 18 from the Estes church left Port-au-Prince on Monday, less than 24 hours before the quake hit. Minister Jesse Robertson described the poverty he saw in Haiti to The Jackson (Tenn.) Sun.
"Driving around, I thought if they ever had an earthquake, we're in trouble," Robertson said. "They hadn't had one like this in 200 years. I saw along the side of a mountain shanty houses one on top of the other. They would collapse, and it looks like that's what happened."
• Oneal Tankersley, missionary in residence at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., was traveling between the cities of Gonaives to Port-au-Prince with his son, Karl, and Harding student John Cannady when the quake hit. The group was in Gonaives filming teaching videos.
They were unharmed by the quake, but their return flight to the U.S. was canceled, said Dr. David Smith, a church member who directs the Haitian Christian Development Project. The group traveled to the neighboring Dominican Republic and is scheduled to fly home Thursday, Jan. 14.
"Gonaives, our development work and the communities with which we work ... were apparently spared," Smith said.
Gueston Pacius, a church member in Gonaives and development director for the Haitian Christian Development Project, plans to take relief supplies to Port-au-Prince.
• Church members in northern Haiti experienced “tons of shaking and aftershocks” but no significant damage, said Bob Valerius, who works with the Cap Haitien Children’s Home.
• Despite the lack of damage in the north, people across Haiti will soon feel the impact of the quake as food and fuel become scarce, said David Heath, a member of the Littleton, Colo., Church of Christ. Heath and Ben Adkins of Louisiana-based White’s Ferry Road Relief plan to leave Friday to assess needs and purchase gas and food to distribute to those in need.
The church members already planned a relief trip to Haiti next week, and now are stepping up their plans, Heath said.
A GLOBAL CALL FOR PRAYER
Haitian-born minister Saint-Jean Jean-Pierre spent much of Tuesday night on the phone, fielding calls and text messages of concern from the members of his congregation in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Jean-Pierre, who moved to the U.S. from Haiti about 13 years ago, preaches for a Church of Christ with about 75 members — all from Haiti. Many work in restaurants or service industries in southern Florida. The church conducts services in French-Creole.
“I’ve been receiving a bunch of calls,” the minister said. “They want to know what happened to the houses (in Haiti). There’s a lot of crying.”
Church members had a conference call Tuesday night to pray for the people of their homeland and plan additional prayer meetings as they wait for news.
The quake shook church buildings in Kingston, Jamaica, said Gladwyn Kiddoe, minister and director of the Jamaica School of Preaching and Biblical Studies. No damage was reported. Jamaican church members plan to meet Thursday, Jan. 14 at the Mona Church of Christ in St. Andrew, Jamaica, to discuss relief strategies, Kiddoe said.
Meanwhile, emotional shockwaves from the quake have reached Christians as far away as Africa.
“Two families from our church and school are still trying to reach relatives there,” said Holly Hixson, a missionary in Kigali, Rwanda. “They have asked us to pray.”
Jean Balcom, a member of the West Fayetteville Church of Christ in Fayetteville, Tenn., has traveled to Haiti multiple times to assist Roberta Edwards in her work near Port-au-Prince. Watching news reports from her home, she’s seen markets and buildings she’s visited — now reduced to rubble.
Even before the quake, “it’s hard to put into words the devastation you already see over there,” Balcom said, “so to see more … it’s overwhelming.”
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Encouragement
Encouragement is a lost art in our society today. We live in such a fast paced "leave me alone" society that to give encouragement people don't know how to deal with it. What would happen if the Church would be that encouragement that the world needed? Could we touch lives? Could we heal souls? Could we bring people to Christ?
This week, be an encourager. Be the one that looks for ways to touch lives, heal hearts and genuinely cares about people.
You will be encouraged for doing this.
"Give your burdens to the Lord and he will take care of you. He will not permit the Godly to slip and fall."
Psalm 55:22 (NLT)
Psalm 55:22 (NLT)
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Friday, January 08, 2010
Winter in Kansas
NTIt's winter in KansasAnd the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour
At thirty-five below.
Oh, how I love Kansas
the snow's up to your butt
You take a breath of winter
And your nose gets frozen shut.
Yes, the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I'll hang around
I could never leave KansasI'm frozen to the ground!
It's winter in KansasAnd the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour
At thirty-five below.
Oh, how I love Kansas
the snow's up to your butt
You take a breath of winter
And your nose gets frozen shut.
Yes, the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I'll hang around
I could never leave KansasI'm frozen to the ground!
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Happy New Year
It was a good and bad type of winter break. We enjoyed last Wednesday and Thursday (December 23-24) visiting our family in Broken Arrow. We had to leave early on Thursday to beat a winter storm that was to hit SE Kansas and NE Oklahoma. We got back and settled in for a Christmas Eve snow fall of over 6 inches.
Brian made it down to Columbus to join all of us on Christmas night. We then left for Branson on Saturday for a three day trip with the kids. It was very cold, but we had a great time.
When we got back on Monday evening, I got sick, and had a week not feeling very good. I slept and tried to get over a bad sinus infection and head cold.
Then another snow storm came along and dumped 3 inches last night.
I hate snow, but Allison got her first White Christmas!
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