Well, it has been an interesting couple of weeks since my last post. I cannot believe that this is my 31st post. It is amazing how fast time flies.
Since my last post my wife and I got a Ford Explorer. It is burnt orange and it is perfect for families. We were planning on saving up for a family car, but now we have one and it is paid off. God is good!
It is quiet here in the office because every one of the Pastors on staff except for me are on a mission trip in Honduras. They are working on a church there as well as doing Vacation Bible School. Our church sent 22 people on this trip, this is quite an undertaking and your prayers would be valued as they are gone.
So with all of the Pastors gone, it leaves me to pick up the slack. Thank God, as of yet, nothing catastrophic has happened. We got through service yesterday with nothing bad happening (that I know of) and I had an awesome time bringing the sermon yesterday. I was fired up and I love each and every opportunity I ever get to speak to the congregation.
This is a pretty exciting time, we have 13 days until we have our first service in our new sanctuary, and I cannot wait. School will be starting back soon and I am excited to have all of the kids running around here again. As a youth pastor I feel it is a blessing to be so close to youth all day long. I will most likely be teaching a few Bible classes this year as well, which is also exciting. I have been working on our church website and it should be up last Saturday :) It will be up very soon, it has been edited and updated and we are waiting for one piece of information to go through the right person's hands and we will be up. Hopefully before the night is out, so that is exciting. And of course Training Camp has started and that means that football season is almost here, which is uber-exciting!
I am hopefully going training camp sometime toward the end of this week, and hopefully I will NOT be watching Brett Favre. The Bucs have 5 quarterbacks on their roster and we don't need the distraction of Favre. Me and my good friend Robert Wiley (who is also a HUGE Bucs fan) and I will be going on Thursday or Friday and I can't wait.
And in case you are wondering about the rest of my schedule for the week, we are going to Give Kids the World tonight and that is very exciting as well. I have mentioned it in previous posts, but it has been months now so I will refresh your memory.
Give Kids the World is a place where terminally ill children go for a week with their families during their last days. It is like a wonder land. Everything there is so amazing and nice, it is like Disney World with love. It is some of these kids last chance to ever have a good time. They will go to this place and be able to forget, for at least a little while, all of the things that they are going through. Tonight my wife and I are going with our church parents, the Beasleys, to work in the ice cream parlor. It is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It truly puts life into perspective.
To end, I want to reiterate some thing I talked about yesterday morning. I believe that one of the most important things in our Christian life is the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation is the hope of salvation, which is the expectation and confidence of salvation. I want for all of you, my faithful blog readers to stop and reflect on what it really means to be wearing the helmet of salvation. Think about how amazing this is. Think about how awesome this is. Think about how good God is.
Reflect.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
God will provide!
As I have mentioned in previous posts, this Summer is a pretty weird time for me. A lot of change, a lot of transition. This week is no different.
My faithful readers remember when I mentioned that the music pastor that I used to work with in South Carolina moved here to Florida. Well, he is moving to South Korea on Wednesday. My next door neighbors, who are the best neighbors a guy could ever ask for, and really good friends are moving to South Carolina.
What's behind these moves: the Polk County School Board. Jeremy has a degree in education and was teaching autistic students and because of "cutbacks" wasn't asked back next year. My next door neighbor Sonia has a flippin' Masters in education and wasn't asked back, both of them finding immediate work else where. I could use the rest of this blog to point out all of the problems with such things, but I want this blog to a positive place. But just know that I write this post with an aura of sadness surrounding me.
Last week a major occurrence happened: my wife got in a car accident. She is okay, but the car was totalled. She ran into the hitch on a pickup truck when the dude slammed on his brakes. Nothing wrong with the truck but because the frame on our car was bent the insurance company totalled our car. We are driving one car as we weigh out all of our options.
Here is the neat thing about it though: neither one of us worried about it. It is such a great feeling to know that you are a child of God and that God is going to provide for you. We actually got twice as much for the car from the insurance company as what the Kelley Blue Book value was. Now, we are just in a spot that there a lot of different roads that we could travel in this situation, and if God brought us this far we better make sure we continue to follow Him.
You wanna read some great news? Good, I am glad you do.. I am posting this blog from my office, yes my OFFICE! It is nice and it has a door on it. For those of you that don't know our church had a major fire last September and we haven't had any real place to call an office since then. But before the fire we had cubicles in our office so, once again God in His infinite wisdom provided for us, and now we have beautiful new places to work from.
The other thing is, the sanctuary and rest of the church looks amazing. I am putting a video on here that I threw together of the progress made on the construction. You may think that you have seen it but I added a lot to the end of it so this is actually its very first unveiling. I hope you enjoy it.
So here is the spiritual implication of this post, I think it is very obvious... God will provide. His name in this regard is Jehovah-Jireh and the first time it was used in the Bible was when Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac.
Why was he asked to do such a thing? As a test of faith, maybe. As a show of obedience, maybe. Some theologians believe that this was God's poetic way of getting people ready for Jesus. If we can feel an emotional connection to the story of Abraham and Isaac, then we will be even more ready to accept the gift that God gave us in His son Jesus Christ.
For whatever reason God asked Abe to do this, the important thing is that he was wiling to do it... with no hesitation. And because of his obedience and his faith... God provided! A ram in the thicket, and no harm came to Isaac.
So if all of my friends move away I have to know that God will still provide. If our cars are out of commission I have to know that God will provide. And if our church burns down then I have to know that God will provide.
What an amazing God we serve! Thank you Jehovah-Jireh.
My faithful readers remember when I mentioned that the music pastor that I used to work with in South Carolina moved here to Florida. Well, he is moving to South Korea on Wednesday. My next door neighbors, who are the best neighbors a guy could ever ask for, and really good friends are moving to South Carolina.
What's behind these moves: the Polk County School Board. Jeremy has a degree in education and was teaching autistic students and because of "cutbacks" wasn't asked back next year. My next door neighbor Sonia has a flippin' Masters in education and wasn't asked back, both of them finding immediate work else where. I could use the rest of this blog to point out all of the problems with such things, but I want this blog to a positive place. But just know that I write this post with an aura of sadness surrounding me.
Last week a major occurrence happened: my wife got in a car accident. She is okay, but the car was totalled. She ran into the hitch on a pickup truck when the dude slammed on his brakes. Nothing wrong with the truck but because the frame on our car was bent the insurance company totalled our car. We are driving one car as we weigh out all of our options.
Here is the neat thing about it though: neither one of us worried about it. It is such a great feeling to know that you are a child of God and that God is going to provide for you. We actually got twice as much for the car from the insurance company as what the Kelley Blue Book value was. Now, we are just in a spot that there a lot of different roads that we could travel in this situation, and if God brought us this far we better make sure we continue to follow Him.
You wanna read some great news? Good, I am glad you do.. I am posting this blog from my office, yes my OFFICE! It is nice and it has a door on it. For those of you that don't know our church had a major fire last September and we haven't had any real place to call an office since then. But before the fire we had cubicles in our office so, once again God in His infinite wisdom provided for us, and now we have beautiful new places to work from.
The other thing is, the sanctuary and rest of the church looks amazing. I am putting a video on here that I threw together of the progress made on the construction. You may think that you have seen it but I added a lot to the end of it so this is actually its very first unveiling. I hope you enjoy it.
So here is the spiritual implication of this post, I think it is very obvious... God will provide. His name in this regard is Jehovah-Jireh and the first time it was used in the Bible was when Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac.
Why was he asked to do such a thing? As a test of faith, maybe. As a show of obedience, maybe. Some theologians believe that this was God's poetic way of getting people ready for Jesus. If we can feel an emotional connection to the story of Abraham and Isaac, then we will be even more ready to accept the gift that God gave us in His son Jesus Christ.
For whatever reason God asked Abe to do this, the important thing is that he was wiling to do it... with no hesitation. And because of his obedience and his faith... God provided! A ram in the thicket, and no harm came to Isaac.
So if all of my friends move away I have to know that God will still provide. If our cars are out of commission I have to know that God will provide. And if our church burns down then I have to know that God will provide.
What an amazing God we serve! Thank you Jehovah-Jireh.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Youth Camp
Last week we went to Youth Camp. We went to Student Life Missions Camp at Stetson University, close to Daytona Beach.
Our speaker for the week was a man by the name if Sam Bhatt. This man was absolutely amazing. He was funny, he was so easy to pay attention to, and he was passionate. He said on his first day, "My name is Sam Bhatt, and I am a disciple of Jesus Christ." He wasn't a typical youth camp speaker that thinks he is above people. One of the greatest things for the kids at the camp (there were over 1000) was that Sam loved to just hang out with the kids. I heard Sam plays a killer game of ultimate frisbee.
Our band for the week was the Chuck Hooten band. Chuck was of the same mold as Sam, to where he was incredibly humble and in tune with what God wanted to do. We got even more time to hang out with the band, because they came and spent an hour or so with us during our small group time. I was amazed at how accommodating this band was. At the same time our youth LOVED this band, and I am going to do whatever is necessary to get them to Haines City.
It wasn't just speakers and bands though, during the middle of the day we went on Mission. Our mission for the week was volunteering at a Boys and Girls Club. This was incredibly gratifying for a couple of reasons. 1. The children we were working with was amazing 2. The staff at the BnG was so nice they let us lead them in Bible stories and share whatever we wanted with them 3. My wife used her kindergarten teacher skills to lead at least five of these children to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (PRAISE GOD!) 4. Our teenagers stepped up in a huge way. You would be amazed at the ownership and responsibility these teenagers took in the mission we were given. The adults could have left the Club and nothing would have changed. I was so proud of them.
If all that were not enough, I have to tell you about Wednesday night. On Wednesday night Sam's message was so incredibly basic. He took us through some of Jesus' highlights, like turning water into wine and feeding the 5000 and then told us to put ourselves in the shoes of the person who witnessed the miracle. After that he read the horrific tale of the crucifixion of Jesus, but he did so from a medical examiner's point of view. And then he called us to a time of commitment.
Every one of our teenagers stood up to say that they wanted to step up their Christian walk and give God 100%. As I watched them, and saw how God was moving in them, I felt led to take them outside. We went out of the service and just prayed with each other. During this time of prayer we could almost see all of the walls breaking down. All of the stuff that they were holding back, all of the times that they gave less than 100%, and the all the times as their leaders that we let them down. God worked in that prayer circle in a way that will change lives FOREVER.
After that God led me to take them up on a hill and make an Old Testament altar. We got sticks for each of the teenagers and they made a covenant before God and their brothers and sisters in Christ of what God was telling them to do and what they were going to do. I would not trade this time in my life for anything. It was such a humbling, awe-inspiring time.
God is amazing, and worthy of our praise! But remember that God wants 100% and he DESERVES 100%. Don't give God your leftovers. Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow after Him. You won't be disappointed.
Our speaker for the week was a man by the name if Sam Bhatt. This man was absolutely amazing. He was funny, he was so easy to pay attention to, and he was passionate. He said on his first day, "My name is Sam Bhatt, and I am a disciple of Jesus Christ." He wasn't a typical youth camp speaker that thinks he is above people. One of the greatest things for the kids at the camp (there were over 1000) was that Sam loved to just hang out with the kids. I heard Sam plays a killer game of ultimate frisbee.
Our band for the week was the Chuck Hooten band. Chuck was of the same mold as Sam, to where he was incredibly humble and in tune with what God wanted to do. We got even more time to hang out with the band, because they came and spent an hour or so with us during our small group time. I was amazed at how accommodating this band was. At the same time our youth LOVED this band, and I am going to do whatever is necessary to get them to Haines City.
It wasn't just speakers and bands though, during the middle of the day we went on Mission. Our mission for the week was volunteering at a Boys and Girls Club. This was incredibly gratifying for a couple of reasons. 1. The children we were working with was amazing 2. The staff at the BnG was so nice they let us lead them in Bible stories and share whatever we wanted with them 3. My wife used her kindergarten teacher skills to lead at least five of these children to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (PRAISE GOD!) 4. Our teenagers stepped up in a huge way. You would be amazed at the ownership and responsibility these teenagers took in the mission we were given. The adults could have left the Club and nothing would have changed. I was so proud of them.
If all that were not enough, I have to tell you about Wednesday night. On Wednesday night Sam's message was so incredibly basic. He took us through some of Jesus' highlights, like turning water into wine and feeding the 5000 and then told us to put ourselves in the shoes of the person who witnessed the miracle. After that he read the horrific tale of the crucifixion of Jesus, but he did so from a medical examiner's point of view. And then he called us to a time of commitment.
Every one of our teenagers stood up to say that they wanted to step up their Christian walk and give God 100%. As I watched them, and saw how God was moving in them, I felt led to take them outside. We went out of the service and just prayed with each other. During this time of prayer we could almost see all of the walls breaking down. All of the stuff that they were holding back, all of the times that they gave less than 100%, and the all the times as their leaders that we let them down. God worked in that prayer circle in a way that will change lives FOREVER.
After that God led me to take them up on a hill and make an Old Testament altar. We got sticks for each of the teenagers and they made a covenant before God and their brothers and sisters in Christ of what God was telling them to do and what they were going to do. I would not trade this time in my life for anything. It was such a humbling, awe-inspiring time.
God is amazing, and worthy of our praise! But remember that God wants 100% and he DESERVES 100%. Don't give God your leftovers. Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow after Him. You won't be disappointed.
Monday, June 9, 2008
A Tribute
Change. A very difficult thing. It is especially difficult when you are so content with the way things are. You know the joke: How many Southern Baptists does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Change? What's that?
I like things the way they are and so right now is a particularly weird time for me. First of all, school is out and it is sooooooooooooo quiet here at the church now. I really miss my tenth grade Bible class. My wife is out of school, which is good for her, but I really miss eating lunch with her every day. (By the way, it's her birthday today... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) And last but certainly not least, one of my favorite people in the world Michael Bartlett is moving away and taking his incredible family with him. As a way to pay homage to Bartman and to access a therapeutic release this posting is dedicated to him.
I remember the first time I met him, we were at Harold Butler's house for one of those awkward "Meet the New Guy" dinners. (I was the new guy) There were more staff members than I could possibly remember in one night and I always feel nervous at such things.
Bartlett and I met at the dessert table (a theme in our friendship) and he mentioned that he was recently in Pasco County, the site of the first church I ever served at. Me, in all my nervous brilliance said, "Did you know that Pasco County has more Nudist Colonies per capita than any other county in the U.S.?" Somehow he did not know that. Anyone else would have probably thought that was weird but Bartman rolled with it and I talked to him that night more than anyone else.
Well, somehow I still got the job and ended up working pretty closely with Bartman. He was my wife's boss and I am so grateful for the way he treated the one that I love. I could NEVER have asked for a better boss for my wife. Understanding, supportive, encouraging, respectful... it gave me such peace knowing that my wife was working at such an amazing school.
Bartman and I also developed a little tradition. His Bible class usually got over at 10:45 and I ate lunch at around 11. Him and I had an unspoken agreement to meet during that time at least twice a week. I truly miss those 15 minutes as well.
Bartlett and I share a heart's desire for reaching the lost and showing kids the love of God. Sometimes in ministry it can feel like you're surrounded by the world but standing all alone on an island, when those times came I always knew that Bartlett would join me on that island. We always seemed to see things the same way and the only disagreement we ever had was over how much worse his Bears are than my Bucs.
It is hard to believe that after only knowing a guy for one year that you could become this attached, but I have and I truly will miss my friend. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he will be "successful" at whatever it is that he does. He has often told me that he feels like his life is just constantly building to something else. Skills and lessons learned one place prepares him for the next stage of his life. I am sure that that is what is happening here as well.
And trust me, if anyone understands why he is leaving it is me. There is just something within you that is always drawing you to your home. He is from North Carolina and I know this must be a very bittersweet feeling to move back home, but it is definitely God's will.
I will miss him, I will miss our time together, but I will forever be connected through this one amazing year of my life. And to end I am putting on some of his "favorite" photos, and I am also ending with his famous catchphrase... "Onward and upward."
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Product Placement
Hello my friends, this is my 27th post I think. That is a lot.
His book is challenging the norm of what we have become as the American church. He is asking some great questions. What does it look like to really love God? If we say we love God then shouldn't our actions reflect such an expression? If we truly loved God then wouldn't we thirst and hunger for every waking minute we can spend with Him? Does it ever seem like doing the things of God have become an obligation? And the big kicker... Are we truly in love with God or are we just in love with the benefits of God?
Things have been great lately. My birthday came and went and I am now the big 2-6. I had a great birthday and actually got a lot of cool stuff. My father and brother-in-law got me Mario Kart, and I am pretty addicted. I connect on Nintendo WiFi and play people around the globe. I love beating people from Japan in their own game :) My wife got me Wii Fit, which is awesome. However the first thing it told me when I got on was that I was overweight and it made my character fatter. But it is cool to get a workout while playing video games.
Anyhow, I got other stuff from great people, but what I wanted to talk about was what my friend Mike Hall got me. He bought me Francis Chan's new book called Crazy Love. Check it out at http://www.crazylovebook.com/. If you have read any of my other posts you know that I have mentioned Chan before. He is a Pastor in California and seems to the most sought after speaker at every conference I go to anymore. But for good reason.
His book is challenging the norm of what we have become as the American church. He is asking some great questions. What does it look like to really love God? If we say we love God then shouldn't our actions reflect such an expression? If we truly loved God then wouldn't we thirst and hunger for every waking minute we can spend with Him? Does it ever seem like doing the things of God have become an obligation? And the big kicker... Are we truly in love with God or are we just in love with the benefits of God?The book discusses the true meaning of what it means to be a lukewarm Christian and to be honest with you I don't think that many of us fall into any category but that one. Do we offer God our leftovers or do we give Him the first of everything we have? Do we worship God in our good times and our bad? If Heaven a was place with every thing we ever wanted... money, food, friends, stuff, happiness, fun, joy... but God was not there, would we still want to go?
If you can't tell, I highly recommend the book. But don't get it if you don't want your toes stepped on. Don't get it if you are satisfied with the status quo. Don't get it if you are happy with lukewarm.
Well, after my birthday dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse (love the place) we watched Prince Caspian, which was amazing. If you don't know anything about it, it is based on the book by CS Lewis and it is full of spiritual metaphors. The main theme of the movie is that you should never do anything without making sure that God is leading you to do it, and if you don't know where God is leading you... you must wait on Him.
So this post seems to have been one big commercial. So remember buy Wii Fit, Mario Kart, Crazy Love and eat at Spaghetti Warehouse and watch Prince Caspian. And don't forget mainly that you need to rely on God, and ask Him to give you a desire to fall in love with God all over again.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Dundies
Hello everyone,
It has been a pretty eventful little while for me. Last week we took the 6th to 10th grade students to see the new Expelled movie starring Ben Stein. It was just as incredible as I thought it would be.
It was real interesting to see all of the evolutionists backpedal when confronted with just some very basic questions. It was also interesting to hear these scientists who are supposed to be really smart talk about their theories on the creation of the Earth. One guy thinks that it is more feasible to believe that the Earth was created as a result of tiny crystals, and yet another believes that the Earth was created because it was "seeded" by aliens. (politically correct term for any readers who might be children) Anyhow, it is hard to leave that movie without having a lot more faith than before you walked in.
My wife and I are going to go to the ESPN Zone with some friends this weekend and I am very excited about. And I am going to the Rays game on Saturday and I believe this is a team that is heading in the right direction. They remind me of the Bucs. First new uniforms, next a new stadium, and then the team starts to be a winner. Should be fun.
I am also pretty excited because not only is my birthday coming up (May 20) but there is also a movie coming out that I am ultra excited about. Prince Caspian is going to be released on May 16th. Here is a little semi-trailer/behind the scene vignette of the movie:
It has been a pretty eventful little while for me. Last week we took the 6th to 10th grade students to see the new Expelled movie starring Ben Stein. It was just as incredible as I thought it would be.
It was real interesting to see all of the evolutionists backpedal when confronted with just some very basic questions. It was also interesting to hear these scientists who are supposed to be really smart talk about their theories on the creation of the Earth. One guy thinks that it is more feasible to believe that the Earth was created as a result of tiny crystals, and yet another believes that the Earth was created because it was "seeded" by aliens. (politically correct term for any readers who might be children) Anyhow, it is hard to leave that movie without having a lot more faith than before you walked in.
My wife and I are going to go to the ESPN Zone with some friends this weekend and I am very excited about. And I am going to the Rays game on Saturday and I believe this is a team that is heading in the right direction. They remind me of the Bucs. First new uniforms, next a new stadium, and then the team starts to be a winner. Should be fun.
I am also pretty excited because not only is my birthday coming up (May 20) but there is also a movie coming out that I am ultra excited about. Prince Caspian is going to be released on May 16th. Here is a little semi-trailer/behind the scene vignette of the movie:
I am really excited about this and I have been teaching on it in youth group for the last two weeks and I still have one sermon left in me. For those of you that don't know, C.S. Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia as one giant Biblical metaphor. He made the parallels deliberate but vague enough to where you have to search for them. It is on this journey of understanding that you truly begin to understand the prestige of Narnia.
If you know nothing about the movie, the only thing you need to know is that Aslan represents God and the White Witch represents Satan and then you can watch the movie with your spiritual glasses on and you will be blessed from it.For my spiritual portion of my blog I want to point out that just like the kids traveling through Narnia were not in their home, we are also not in our home. We are just passing through this place and this place wasn't created for us. Therefore we should not be tempted by the trappings of this world because this world is not our home. We should also be as ready as possible for the day when Jesus comes and takes us home. The main way to do this is to make sure that you don't go home alone. Use this movie as a way to reach out to people who would never go to church with you, but they would go to a movie with you. Just don't go home alone.
I have been reading a lot of youth pastor blogs off of the list on http://www.youthpastor.com/. I like mine the best, but I am biased. I have noticed though that a lot of youth pastors like to give out awards. That is what I am going to do right now.I am going to hand out the NorthRidge Dundies. (If you don't know what a Dundee is, watch The Office on NBC.)
The Jim Halpert Dundee that represents the person who jokes with everybody in a nonchalantly sarcastic way go to: Pastor Bill Hatley
The Kevin Malone Dundee that represents the person who seems to always find where the food is at goes to: Pastor Michael Bartlett (I am coming for you to get that title)
The Dwight Schrute Dundee that represents the person who can obviously find and devour a werewolf and catch a bat from the ceiling tiles goes to Pastor Harold Butler
The Stanley Hudson Dundee that represents the person who won't take anything from anyone but will handle all situation with his classic, respected sass goes to Pastor Terril Gilley
And finally... the Michael Scott Dundee that represents the person who should go to Spencer gifts and by himself a mug that says World's Best Boss goes to Pastor David Myers
Thank you for attending the Dundees, see you nest year a Chili's near you.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
National Day of Prayer
May 1st is the National Day of Prayer, and we need it more than ever. If at all possible get to some festivities that your area is putting on, or at least get on your knees and spend some time with the God of the Universe on Thursday.
I was going to go to the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast here in Haines City but we are actually going to take the 6th to 10th graders at NCA to see the movie Expelled. We got a private showing at 9 a.m. so I am not going to be able to make it, but we will be letting our kids know about the National Day of Prayer and we will be praying.
Anyhow, I know from looking at Web stats that most of my readership comes from people outside of my church, but I am still asking for prayer. I believe that God is doing some big things in our area (in spite of me) and I believe now our area and our ministry is under extreme attack.
Last week we had an amazing youth service (in spite of me) and God showed up in an immense way, and on Thursday and proceeding days I had to get through some of the worst days of my life, and it is no coincidence.
This morning I went to go pray at one of our local middle schools as I do every Wednesday and things were different. The students are usually herded like cattle to sit on the basketball court until the bell rings for security measures. We are allowed to pray right in front of the entire student body and we typically have 100-200 kids praying with us.
This week I showed up and there were no kids on the basketball court. Apparently last Thursday there was a sever fight that actually led to some arrests. Due to this all of the students are now herded to their classrooms and only allowed out for breakfast. The amazing, dedicated secretary at the front office asked the principal about prayer and she said, "We are just going to have to have a moment of silence over the intercom." The secretary was almost in tears and our prayer meeting consisted of me, three faculty members and two students who didn't care if they got in trouble. I am happy to say that we had the most amazing time of prayer and that the enemy can't keep us down.
Pray, pray, and pray some more. Romans 8 says that we are waiting with anticipation for the day when God reveals His glory through us. Make the most of every day, make the most of every opportunity and happy national day of prayer!
Update
______________________________________________
Our prayer at the Middle School resumed this Wednesday. While i was not like it was two weeks ago, all of the kids are allowed to pray again. The only thing they need to do is get a pass from their teacher. One teacher just went ahead and brought his whole class out. God is good and faithful.
I was going to go to the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast here in Haines City but we are actually going to take the 6th to 10th graders at NCA to see the movie Expelled. We got a private showing at 9 a.m. so I am not going to be able to make it, but we will be letting our kids know about the National Day of Prayer and we will be praying.
Anyhow, I know from looking at Web stats that most of my readership comes from people outside of my church, but I am still asking for prayer. I believe that God is doing some big things in our area (in spite of me) and I believe now our area and our ministry is under extreme attack.
Last week we had an amazing youth service (in spite of me) and God showed up in an immense way, and on Thursday and proceeding days I had to get through some of the worst days of my life, and it is no coincidence.
This morning I went to go pray at one of our local middle schools as I do every Wednesday and things were different. The students are usually herded like cattle to sit on the basketball court until the bell rings for security measures. We are allowed to pray right in front of the entire student body and we typically have 100-200 kids praying with us.
This week I showed up and there were no kids on the basketball court. Apparently last Thursday there was a sever fight that actually led to some arrests. Due to this all of the students are now herded to their classrooms and only allowed out for breakfast. The amazing, dedicated secretary at the front office asked the principal about prayer and she said, "We are just going to have to have a moment of silence over the intercom." The secretary was almost in tears and our prayer meeting consisted of me, three faculty members and two students who didn't care if they got in trouble. I am happy to say that we had the most amazing time of prayer and that the enemy can't keep us down.
Pray, pray, and pray some more. Romans 8 says that we are waiting with anticipation for the day when God reveals His glory through us. Make the most of every day, make the most of every opportunity and happy national day of prayer!
Update
______________________________________________
Our prayer at the Middle School resumed this Wednesday. While i was not like it was two weeks ago, all of the kids are allowed to pray again. The only thing they need to do is get a pass from their teacher. One teacher just went ahead and brought his whole class out. God is good and faithful.
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