Be Refreshed!

A neat update from the Uth Speed the Light party last night. We had pizza and fun as we celebrated their giving/raising $2400 for our missionaries to buy them vehicles, equipment etc. After the fun we challenged the Uth to personally give $100 to STL in 2008. Babysit, mow a yard, give something up, scale back a purchase, keep a loose change bank, give up a Starbucks a week, skip McDonalds twice a month, or whatever creative ideas they could come up with.

After the service one of our youth (not one of our Sunday church kids) came up and slipped a $100 bill into my hand. He said he had sold his car and wanted to give this portion to Speed the Light. He had already planned several weeks ago to do this, so it wasn’t a pressured or emotional gift. Awesome! And here’s a little hint… It’s Not the Money! It’s the fact that a teenager sacrificed for something much bigger than himself that he will get no personal benefit from. It’s that in an age of excess, I-Pod, cellphone, give me give me teenagers, a kid can hand over a $100 and say give this away. When that happens, you know God is up to something in his life. Nice.

Be Refreshed!

Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 31:8-9a Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. 9 Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Scripture of the Day: Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Quote of the Day: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Missionary Jim Elliot, martyred January 8, 1956, age 28

I’m celebrating with the youth tonight on another great year of Speed the Light. They gave/raised $2400 in 2007 for STL which supplies our missionaries with vehicles, equipment, etc. (You can check out more HERE )

The theme for 2008 is EVERYWHERE. Since 1944 the youth of the Assemblies of God have given over $220 million for STL. Cars, Land Cruisers, boats, camels, vans, motorbikes, bicycles, donkeys, and even a plane back in the day. Plus sound systems, video systems, computers, and more. Not a day goes by that lives aren’t touched and reached with the assistance of STL

So hug a teenager and tell them their Father God said thanks.

Be Refreshed!

Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 30:5-6 Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

Scripture for the Day: Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Quote of the Day: We give so our missionaries can travel faster, preach clearer, and be heard louder, in order that that Heaven might be a bigger place…filled with people from every nationality, color, and tribe who have accepted Him as their Savior. Speed the Light

I haven’t given a family sports update in a long time so it’s a good time to catch up. Ethan is playing for the Christian school and they are finally getting a little more consistent. They are 9-11 but have won their last two. They have three games and a tournament this week as the season starts to wind down. Ethan is seeing a little playing time and had 17 points one night a few weeks ago.

Isaac’s main BB season is over although they have a tournament coming up too. There’s a one month lull between the end of the main season and this last tourney, so that’s a tough one.

Elizabeth had her first basketball game at the YMCA last Saturday. It was the first game for the 1st & 2nd graders so fortunately the referee was pretty generous. She can hang with the boys though. At her practice the coach said, “She’s pretty aggressive.”

Jeremiah and Elizabeth are also taking swim lessons at the YMCA.

And that’s This Week in Basketball.

Be Refreshed!

Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 28:1 The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

Scripture of the Day: 1 Corinthians 14:1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.

Quote of the Day: “I don’t want my children to remember me as a great professional football player. I want them to remember me as a man of God.” Reggie White, Super Bowl Champion with Green Bay Packers

Another annual church meeting has come and gone. I’m blessed with a great church, good workers, and servant deacons, so I am blessed. Still it makes me nervous every year. I always feel like it’s the people’s job in the meeting to see what I’m hiding. They don’t act they way and there’s no slush fund to hide, but I always feel under the light. Good buzz after the meeting though. We’re looking at some upgrades and freshening up the building a bit. Some is already underway, but there’s always something.

The most exciting part of the day was rejoicing with our missions report. It’s been neat to watch our missions giving and focus grow over the years. Our annual mission’s convention starts in February so it should be an awesome month. Then in March we head to East St Louis for a work trip and Megan C. heads to Costa Rica for a mission trip.

It’s going to be a great 2008!

Be Refreshed!

Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

Scripture of the Day: Psalm 100:3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Quote of the Day: “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life.” A. W. Tozer

I read this challenge today from a guy named Rick Grubbs. He was addressing redeeming the time in 2008. Here were his first two points:

1. Remember that for the Christian, goal setting is not a matter of inventing my own goals, but rather detecting what God’s goals for me already are.

2. If you need a quick way to get started setting goals, begin by listing “5 things I believe God wants me to do before I die.” This can be a real eye opener and can have a profound impact on how we spend our time in 2008! Many of us will find a big difference between the 5 most important things we really desire to accomplish, and what we are actually doing in our daily routine.

January is just 26 days old, so it’s not too late to redeem the time in 2008.

Be Refreshed!

Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 26:14 As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.

Scripture of the Day: James 4:14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Quote of the Day: “Go the extra mile. It’s never crowded.” Unknown

Trent and I were best friends all the way through school in Payson, IL. We rode the same school bus, slept over at each other’s house, his dad was my little league baseball coach, and he stole my wallet at Busch Stadium in St Louis. I shoveled manure, baled straw, and learned why farmers wear hats at his farm. (It’s so when you’re spreading the manure in the fields with a wagon you don’t get the manure in your hair as it flings it everywhere. At least that’s what he told me.) I have a picture in my office of me with one of his favorite spot pigs growing up.

My mom sent me a clipping today of an article the local paper did on him. He travels all over America speaking up for the farmers and agriculture industry. I was able to see him speak last year. Here’s a link to one of his websites.

LOOS TALES

He even mentioned me in one of his recent columns. “AS a kid, my favorite comeback to my mother was always, “but William is doing it.” Her canned response was always, “If William jumps off a bridge, are you going to follow him?”” Column

Just this week Sonya was trying to get me to tell the kids at supper how Trent almost killed us when I was 15.
Good Times…

Be Refreshed!

Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 24:27 Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

Scripture of the Day: Acts 10:11-13 11He [Peter] saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

Quote of the Day: “If we’re not supposed to eat animals, how come they’re made out of meat?” Tom Snyder

WOW! That was one of the responses in Bible study tonight to Psalm 139:1-6.

“O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down;you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.”

David responded this way. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”

WOW! Whenever you feel depressed, lonely, or discouraged, go read Psalm 139. Let God remind you how He formed you, created you, gave you life, and knows every thought you have.

Be Refreshed!

Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 23:12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

Scripture of the Day: Psalm 139:23-24 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Quote of the Day: All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’m already weary of the political season and I’m thinking it will be a long year. The rhetoric wears on with the same rhetoric we heard in every campaign. Hope, change, new day, leadership, experience, outsider, insider, etc. Here’s a neat resource to compare candidates on the “big” issues. You can enter your address and it brings up the candidates and their stance on major issues. You can even choose two and it will bring their views up side by side. Check it out.

CULTURE CAMPAIGN

I listened to the entirety of the “I Have A Dream Speech” by Martin Luther King, Jr. for the first time today. I’ve heard the sound bites many times, but this was the first time for the whole speech. I was born in 1965 and sometimes forget that segregation isn’t that old. You can see, hear, and read the speech here.

SPEECH

Be Refreshed!

Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 21:3 To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

Scripture of the Day: Galatians 3:26-29 26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Quote of the Day: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Marin Luther King, Jr.

What better way to celebrate Sanctity of Life Sunday than to dedicate a baby to the Lord? We dedicated little Kyle S. and mom and dad to the Lord tonight. Awesome God!

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the evil in this world on a day like today, but God reminded me this weekend of the hope I see every week in the pews. Clem who works at the crisis pregnancy center and runs their ultrasounds. John & Karol who love their special needs child. People who love and help a special needs man in our church. Kris and Heather who head to Russia Saturday to adopt a child. The different ministries supported through our missions giving. Wow. And that’s just the short list. Sometimes we get overwhelmed with the big picture and we want to give up. But all God calls us to is faithfulness to our calling.

Be Refreshed!

Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 20:7 The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him.

Scripture of the Day: Psalm 139:13-14 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Quote of the Day: “America stands for liberty, for the pursuit of happiness and for the unalienable right for life. This right to life cannot be granted or denied by government because it does not come from government, it comes from the creator of life.” President George W. Bush

I feel like I’ve been living a lie… I listed “barbecue” on my blog profile yet I’ve never mentioned it in a blog yet. It’s time to come clean. Here’s a place I stopped by just west of St Louis on my way to Springfield, MO earlier this week. I had ribs, pulled pork, baked beans & jalapeno cornbread. Not exactly easy to eat while driving down the interstate, but sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. The ribs were great, sauce on the side just like it should be. The pork was a little mushy, but pulled and not chopped. (Just like it should be too) They’re closed on Sunday so you can attend worship services, so I liked it even better then.

While in Springfield I passed several real BBQ joints but didn’t make it to any of them. I went to college and grad school there, so I had to hit all the old places instead. (Mexican Villa for a Sancho and Jade East for Springfield Cashew Chicken)

That’s my un-inspirational post for the day, but I feel better now.

Be Refreshed!

Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 17:1 Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.

Scripture of the Day: Exodus 12:9 Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire—head, legs and inner parts.

Quote of the Day: “If you can’t smell it a mile away…it ain’t worth going… ” Unidentified BBQ quote