How will you die??

Do you ever stop and wonder how you will die? It is not a matter if you will, but when and how... Sometimes I wonder this. The Lord is in control of all things, so should we even ponder with this question? I think, yes!! Now here is why.. It all comes down to MOTIVE.

If you want to die at an old age from old age.. WHY? Is just making it to an old age what you want to have accomplished? God does not know time.

If you want to die young, maybe even from your own hand.. WHY? Do you not feel that your life matters? Each life God creates is precious.

How about this... Do you want to die in service to the Lord? I am not talking about what some mixed up religions do and do suicide bombings and the like, but real service; not worrying about dying for it, but serving Him with your life that it is inevitable that when you die, you die in service to the Lord.

When you stop and look now at how you will die in this light, you begin to see that it is not the death that you are "planning" but rather the life. Everyone has been called for a purpose. Some of us are called to serve in a local church where it is more safe and secure, but no less important.

I do want to impress upon you that we are now living in an age of great deception and it is going to take many extroardinary believers to make a stand, plan to die in service to the Lord, and step out with a leap of faith to do whatever He asks you to do.

So how will you die? I know how I want to die.. serving the Lord!! I challenge you to look at your death and in turn .... Your LIFE!!

Feeling Blah!? In a funk??

Lately, I have been feeling kind of Blah!! I have some thoughts as to why, but I have also noticed that many others in the area, (many, many others) are having the blahs!! too. Some of the blahs come from worry and concern, other parts come from feeling like I am stuck in a rutt, but some scriptures came to me that are helping me get out of my funk.

Matthew 6: 25-34 reminded me that I should not worry for it does no good. God will provide all that I need if I "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be given unto you as well.". This scripture made me feel a little better. But I still felt stuck in a rutt. Then I thought that this funk feeling of depression, feeling not sure of the future or what is going on now made me realize I was looking inward not only to myself, but that I was looking at myself. When we are in a funk, we are focused inwardly. The only way to get out of a funk is to focus on the Lord and obeying his commands. -- Love the Lord and love others.

I opened my windows today on January 9th to let in the nice "spring" breeze. This was refreshing . I then got my kids occupied for a few minutes and I sat down and read scripture. Further on in Matthew 7: 7-12 the Lord tells us to turn to Him. He doesn't leave us stranded. He is always there, we just have to look and ask. With an open heart and mind, He will direct and the funky Blahs will be lifted.

An End To Poverty

Lately in our group time we have been leading topics related to world poverty, hunger, and acts of crime and genocide primarily in the African area. Much of what we have been learning and then teaching the teens has been very depressing. So many people are living terrible lives, dying never knowing about Jesus, and then what?? For many, nn eternity in Hell. There are so many things that these people need.... Food, clothing, shelter... a few basics to name a few. Then there is sanitation, access to clean water and for many others access to any water, contaminated or not. Watching some news reports online of what these people must endure, I feel like we need to do more. Not just in our own homes, but as a society and as a country, and more than that, but as a God's Church. What can you do? What will you do?

Go to http://www.whiteband.org/ and http://www.worldvision.org/ to get more ideas and ways to help.

Sponsorship

Right now we sponsor this kid named Sochet Son through Holt international and have been happy to see how he is growing and seems to be doing very well. I am glad that I can give back some of what God lets me use. I was not satisfied with giving just that (outside of reg. tithe). so I began searching for something else. I have always loved World Vision. They are an awesome ministry. Well, I started a study with my teens on Uganda, Africa and came across this thing called the LRA (Lord's renaissance army)..look it up, its a terrible thing that I won't go into here, but every night children would leave their homes to try to escape being abducted into it. World Vision and some other organizations have made safe places for these children (World vision has made this thing called "Noah's Ark" for kids to come to every night. They also made a Children of War Rehabilitation Center for the children who have escaped from the LRA. The picture here is a drawing from one of the children from this, who drew about one of his memories of being in the LRA. It is terrible what has happened to these children and others, but I am glad that if they escape there is someone to help them. This is what I decided to donate to. The money will help many lives. The latest thing we heard about and decided to do was sponsor a child in prayer through world vision. This is cool. You can pray for a specific child and check up on them. There are many places and ways to give. I had a cool thing happen when I picked a child named Alexander who has the same birthdate (April 17, 1999) as th son Thomas and I lost to stillbirth who we were going to name "Thomas Alexander". The coincidence seemed so neat that he had to be mine to pray for. A cool part is that I emailed the radio station AFR and let them know about something I found out about this program helpful to share on the radio and then I shared this very story.. Well, they shared my story on the air and someone called in and has decided to sponsor Alexander. God is awesome. Even when we don't think we can do anymore, God will give us our hearts desires when they are in line with Him. I saw this come to pass in a matter of 24 hours in this case.

What has the Lord blessed you to be able to do?? Tell about a child that you get to sponsor or an organization like the one with world vision that helps many. (It's hard to pick just one isn't it??)


Go to www.worldvision.org and sponsor a child or family today!!