Do Your Part!
Wow, what a great Kid’s Day. Didn’t our kids do a great job. It is great to see them use their talents for the Lord. If you missed the Kid’s Splash Carnival you missed out, we had about 250 – 300 people at the carnival and we had a blast! We laughed, played, danced, saw our kids smile, and built relationships.
It is so important to train our children while they are young. Statistics say that we need to reach a child before the age of 14, after that you can’t unscramble eggs! Let’s invest in our children and youth. You may not have a child or your children are grown, but we can all help. Sign up at church to help out in Kids church once a month, or help with tutoring, become a mentor, whatever just contribute! You know, we can complain about today’s youth, or we can help make in difference in one of their lives.
How are you going to make a difference in a child’s life today? I am gonna start by encouraging mine, by pointing out his strengths! Remember what Pastor Ken said, celebrate everyone in your household!
Here are some great pics of the day!!
Sunday’s Review
So yesterday… what great services we had! Our Worship Team did an amazing job! God’s presence filled that theater and lives were changed! I had many people come up to me after the service and share that they felt God’s presence! Great Job Everyone!
Pastor Ken shared; “If we say we love God, then we should love others”.. hmm, that got me thinkin! Do we truly understand love? I don’t think we will ever fathom God’s love. Remember God loves us no matter what we do! His love for us never changes. He loves the preacher, the worship leader, the rapist, the child molester, the rebellious teenager etc… WOW, that is a love we will never understand! But thank God that love is for me.
It’s Overwhelming
“I want to sit at Your feet, drink from the cup in Your hand. Lay back against You and breath feel Your heartbeat. This love is so deep, it’s more than I can stand. I melt in Your peace, it’s overwhelming.” – The More I Seek You, Kari Jobe
I had the privilege this past Sunday to attend a Worship Concert featuring Kari Jobe. I was going mainly because I love her music, but also to watch and learn how others lead worship. Some of you may know, I am a “watcher”. I love to see how things are done, accomplished, etc… So I was prepared to take notes. I did just that for about the first 45 minutes or so, and then something unexpected happened. I felt this overwhelming sense of love. Not my love for something or someone, more like love for me. I could not move. I could not sing. I could not sit. All I could do is just feel. I melted in His presence, and I learned a valuable lesson. God must be first! The Bible says draw unto me and I will draw unto you, and then all the other stuff will be added. This week put God first, before anything else. Before the planning, the studying, the organizing and see what will happen.
Are YOU hungry?
The other night Pastor Ken and I were on our “Date Night”, and we decided to go to Charlie and Jakes. Many of you know that I am a vegetarian, so Charlie and Jakes does not give me many options, so I ate something before we went. While we were there we found ourselves talking a lot about the church, which is something we try not to do on “Date Night”. Since I wasn’t eating I found myself just watching Pastor Ken devour this chicken, and as you can see, he was loving every minute of it.
Several thoughts crossed my mind while I was watching him:
1. He is grossing me out!
2. Why does he keep eating when there is no more meat on the bone?
3. I wish as Christians, we had that kind of hunger, to keep gnawing when it seems like there’s nothing left!
I thought about the many times that we have given up. When it seems that we are not getting anything. I know that many times in my life I have thought, well nothing has happened yet, so maybe this is God’s will and I stop seeking him on that particular matter. There are many people around us that need us NOT to give up. There is a story in the Bible in Ezekiel Chapter 4 where God told Ezekiel to put an iron pan on his head, and lie down on his side for 390 days. Then after he did that he was told by God to lay on the other side for 40 more days. Ezekiel was needing an answer from the Lord. Now I am not sure about any of you, but God has never asked me to do that! We complain to God that we have not received an answer after a week of prayer, but what about 390 days? Or what about 5 years? There are so many stories where people have not given up on their prayers to God and after years and years they finally receive the answer. Now I am not sure why this is, but I feel there is a lesson. Never give up, never give up, never give up! Or rather, Never stop praying, never stop praying, never stop praying!
Best Trip Ever!!!
I was blessed this past week to attend our mission trip to Costa Rica. Wow how I was blessed. My roommates for the week were Toni Greene and Berrica Nelson. We laughed and laughed just ask our fearless leader Mark Vaillancourt. We even got yelled at! (thanks to Berrica’s anxiety attack from the lizards). Waking up at 5:30 every morning, working our tales off, then having a great time with friends, was the best time ever!
Jeff Bechta was our photographer for the week. Taking all of our pictures and proving that me, Toni and Berrica made and poured cement. However, Jeff lost the camera so you will just have to take my word for it!
We met an amazing family! Jeff, Danette, Zach, Lucas, and Madie Cooper. They were the real deal! Love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was absolutely the best trip ever!
Dejavu
Well last night we are at the office for our regularly scheduled Band/Vocal Practice. When I get this call from Pastor Chris to walk outside the back door. So I did, and what did I see but a trailer full of the wood racks that we used for all the chairs and stage materials for the gym!!!!! It brought back a few memories. First I began to sweat at a reminder of how hot it was in the gym on Saturdays during Saturday setup. Then, I remembered all the laughs that we would have. Vivian McIntyre and I would laugh, and joke with Jeff B. constantly. We picked on poor Jeff a lot, but he dished it right back!! Right Jeff? So my memories of all the hard work, back breaking, sweating, thirsty Saturday afternoons were also blessed by fun, unity, laughter, and most of all FRIENDSHIP! That is why it is so important to join in with ministry, because the reward far out weighs the work!
Here are some pictures to remind us of where GOD brought us from!
An Old Love Found
So I am at my Aunt Karen’s house for the Super Bowl. I entered the room a Steelers fan by default. You see, it was Game Day at church and we all had to wear the colors of the team we were supporting in the Super Bowl. Carrie and Brent Pichard, being the die hard Steelers fans that they were gave me and Pastor Ken Steelers Jerseys. So I entered as a Steelers fan and I stayed faithful till the end. Thank God they won I hate to lose. However, I went to socialize mainly, and found myself glued to the TV. I loved watching the game. I would periodically realize that I was the only woman in the room, and the other women were in the back room talking. But I just could not leave. Growing up I watched football with my family every Sunday after church and on Saturdays if FSU was playing. I cheered for football in school and really loved the game. But I somehow forgot through the years. It was a nice change! Now I need to mention that Pastor Ken did not stay faithful to the Steelers. Once he realized that the whole house were Cardinals fans, he quickly switched. He is not good under peer pressure ! HA! However, I was amazed at Fitzgerald, who played for the Cardinals. He was amazing! He can catch anything. So move over football fans, I am on the hunt for a team to support! So give me some ideas!
I Promise!!
Well, I promise that I am going to do better at blogging. Now I know that I have said this in the past, but I have never promised before. Do I dare? I will say yes. One, because God has done great things for me, so I know I can blog about His goodness. Two, because it is fun! And I like fun. Anyone that knows me knows I am all about the fun!!
Just a thought
Pastor Ken’s sermon today really hit home! How many times do we blame our actions on God. I am sure he really gets tired of that. Can you imagine wanting to do something specific and someone taking it totally out of context and telling everyone that is what you “said” to do. Wow! We really need to make sure what we are feeling is truly from God and not our Taco’s from the night before. When you say or act a certain way and say that is was God or that God told you, you better be very careful, otherwise you have now just become a liar. Or maybe a false prophet. Worse you couldcause someone to fall! I don’t want to do any of that!
As a body of believers we need to make sacred the things of God and know his voice. You know when someone calls you on the phone and you know who it is because, you know their voice. But sometimes when there sick, or have been crying etc., you sometimes have to ask, who it is. That’s what I think happens a lot of the time in the body of Christ. Instead of making sure who they are hearing from, they jump on the “God Thing”. Know God’s voice. His spoken Word will not return void! His Word will bring truth, and His Word brings clarity not confusion. Remember to back it up with scripture! My father always use to tell me, can you back it with scripture?
God does not always have to roll the clouds back, send in a lighting bolt and fry a bush to talk to you! God speaks all the time, and we don’t listen. We want to do all the talkin! Hey try this, just be quiet! Now my husband would tell me to take my own advise, and you know what? I AM!
Sunday’s Review
Another great Sunday! Our Production Team did an amazing job today! We have a goal of being setup in 20 minutes, and they came closer with an amazing 28 minute setup. Last week it took us 53 minutes to setup so they did AWESOME!! Good job team.
Did anyone notice that beautiful new sound during our slow songs today? Well, we added a flute, and it was awesome. Jamie Nichols has joined the band. How exciting to use everyone’s different abilities to glorify God. Now we just need to get Bill on board! So help me out guys, when you see Bill Segal tell him you would like to see him use his talent for God!!! He plays rhythm guitar!!!
