Precept Ministries Chattanooga

Rick and I had the opportunity to go to Pre-Cept Ministries in Chattanooga, TN today. Kay Arthur was taping a lesson on Jeremiah. It was an awesome opportunity to sit in her class as she shared God's word with us. She spoke about how America needed to wake up - Our nation is on a downward slide with wax paper! According to a survey - Obama has become this nations main focus. We have removed Him from our lives, our schools, our money etc. and this is a great tragedy. Father, I thank You for my life, my husband and my family. As for me and my house - We will Serve the Lord!

Birthday Wish

Mama you so wonderfull person and we are blessed to have you as our mother i love you and i wish you happy birthday and may God give you long life love you mama Snowman

Alexander Day

In reference to an Alexander Day - Here is the story - it is a book that I read to my children when they were growing up. I was first introduced to this book in a youth group at Shades Crest Baptist Church. Our Youth Pastor, Danny Thetford, used this book as an example of all of our complaints in the flesh. I think I can still recite the majority of this book and I certainly will never forget it. Alexander thinks he will move to Australia - some days that doesn't sound to bad....

From the moment he wakes up with gum in his hair, things just do not go Alexander's way. At breakfast, Alexander's brothers Nick and Anthony reach into their cereal boxes and pull out amazing prizes, while all Alexander ends up with is . . . cereal. His teacher doesn't like his drawing of an invisible castle, there is no dessert in his lunch, the dentist tells him he has a cavity, there is kissing on TV, and he has to wear his railroad train pajamas (he hates his railroad train pajamas). No wonder Alexander wants to move to Australia! The book ends with his mother's assurance that everyone has bad days, even people who live in Australia.

Surprise Surprise

After a restless Monday night - trying to wind down from an Alexander Monday - anticipation of Rick going out of town on Tuesday morning early - Thanking God that He was with us on Monday every step of the way - Phone rings and we have a new grand-baby - Baby Jace arrived 10 days early and he is perfect. Rick left for Anniston with plans to see Jace upon his return down I-20. Reynolds changed his plans and he retreated home to complete his work. When I arrived at work this morning, the road and entrance was blocked to our office - natural gas leak - so I park "the pearl" in a no parking zone along with many others (no excuse) and go to the 4th floor. I left work early to get home for Bible study at our house at 5:30pm. As I opened the door to the outside to leave - my cars right front corner and side panel was smashed! I gasped, looked at my dad who was beside me and simply could not believe what I was seeing. I reached for my cell phone to call the police and my cell phone was not working (I already knew this as we had been working with ATT all day to get it fixed) but it was a non-thinking response. I rang the doorbell to our office - left a message to call the police, cancel my appointment and call my husband.

Homeless James shows up - walking down the road singing "Help me Jesus" to the top of his lungs. He was really funny as he proceeded to guess who hit my car and took off. I think he knows everyone on this street in downtown Birmingham. Waiting, waiting for the police - no hurry for them on a parked car dent. My sister walked around the car and there stuck way down in the driver window was a business card. On the back was written "i saw who hit your car". Thank you Jesus! Finally, two officers arrive to make a police report. I explained why I was parked in this location, gave them my drivers license and insurance information and the business card. The officer explained that I had to contact the witness and then make a supplement report to attach to the original. I did make my appointment and arrived home 5 minutes before our first Bible study member.

After the leader arrived, Rick and I dashed to the hospital to see Richard, Leslie and baby Jace. We are so thankful for such a wonderful and precious family. Rick and I both held and kissed Jace on his first day on earth - we know that God has a plan for him - as He does for each and every one of us. We left hospital around 8pm - it was cold, wet and rainy - we were starving, but God blessed us so much today.

Pinecone

Everyday we live and breathe on this earth we learn something.  I learned today that Pinecone was very angry.  I learned that my Sudanese children (Snowman and Manga) have lived their whole life with persecution - mostly for being a Christian in their country, but they take persecution only to God. They do not retaliate like most of us in America. They take their differences to the Lord in prayer, obeying whatever commands they are given by mortal man. They usually do not argue or tell their side of the story. Pinecone was evidently having a bad day. At the first phone call of "where are you"? until the arrival on the job, he spoke his opinion, thoughts, and commands to our Christian brothers in a harse and unloving way.

When I called this evening to check on my students - one was crying and crushed, one was dismayed and praying.

Here is the story as I understand - I do realize that I only have one side of this story and there are always two:
When snowman and manga arrived back at their dorm this past Sunday from Birmingham - there phone was not working. They called SS to report the problem. One of their friends in the dorm told them that he could fix the problem with the phone and made plans to come over in the evening. Snowman went to church with a friend, while Manga stayed home to study. The friend came to help work on the phone and they used the phone once it was operational. Class began the next morning at 8am - they left for breakfast at 7:30 - class ends at 9:15 - Snowman arrives back in dorm room around 9:25 - Andrew is still in class working with the teacher - Snowman does not know what time they are to leave for work, so he placed a call to Pinecone - no answer - Snowman is changing clothes - the phone rings - Pinecone wants to know where they are - He is waiting outside and has been for 20 minutes. Snowman rushes to the car - get in backseat - Where is Manga? - He is still in class - GO get him NOW (with finger pointed in face) - Snowman gets out of car and walks to classroom - Manga is still talking with teacher - Snowman urgently tells Manga come, come - Namlley is waiting. Manga rushes out the door - Both return to back seat of car - Namlley begins to tell them: they are irresponsible - they do not want to work for their education - he is paying alot of money for them - they are unappreciative - Stephen was the only one who deserves an education - they are NOT going to be blessed by the Lord - all they care about is their families back home - they do not work hard enough - they do not follow instructions - they do not finish a job started - they are not studying well - S4S is doing them a favor - they used his telephone in the apt - he will send them back to Sudan and they will never ever get another opportunity for a good education - this list goes on and on and on. He was angry because they hadn't checked their email at 7am for his message - he was angry because their phone was busy the night before (it was broken and being worked on).

As I am really crazy upset about this conversation - Snowman and Manga begin to fast and pray for God to show them what to do.  They both very confidently tell me that God brought them here for school and he will provide it or maybe take them home to Sudan - but whatever God wants them to do is OK.  I am amazed by their faith and they are great examples of how all of us should live each day for Christ!  

Scatter Christ

Lisa

Daniel's Memories

Cindy Willingham just posted on the site "Praying for Daniel" that he is gone. Daniel requested to be an organ donor and the family is honoring his wish. Daniel and Spencer became friends in 3rd grade and were in every class together in 7th grade.

I will forever remember Spencer and Daniel playing baseball together and the many many parties at the Willingham's pool.

My prayer is that Daniel's life and death will cause someone to take notice and make a different choice in their actions.

Scatter Christ

Rick Warren Interview

Here's a great interview with Rick Warren.

He wrote the Purpose Driven Life

You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren,
'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
People ask me, What is the purpose of life?
And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity.

We were not made to last forever and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity.

This is the warm-up act-the dress rehearsal..

God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God and for God and until you figure that out -life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort;

God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life.

The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest,

with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth.. I don't believe that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track,

and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life,

there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life,

there is always something good you can thank God for..
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems:
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,

which is my problem, my issues, my pain.'

But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself

and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people,

God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.

It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character,

given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony,

drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder.

For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies,

it made me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before.

I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease..
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence.

He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do,

II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit..

We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church,

and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism?
Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better.

God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list.

He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings..
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.

There are so many people who are hurting, seeking, and desperately searching for life.

Daniel Willingham - 19 yrs old, Vestavian - lays in a coma on life support at UAB after a heroin overdose and his mother sits and waits to see him every four hours hoping he will take one more breathe.

Mr. McGill's son - a Montevallo student - was still in a coma and unstable after 8 hours in the emergency room at Shelby Baptist this morning from a drug overdose.

Sue Tatum's family removed her life support today - she has been in a coma since a boating accident on Lake Martin on August 9th, 2008.

There are so many trials in this life - We must live each day for Jesus!

Seek, Show, Share and Serve HIM!

Thank you Jesus for every moment of life, my mate and my family!

Scatter Christ

Six Installed

Ron sent an email today - Pastor Neri says he has 6 estufas installed, six to go. He says the ones left to be installed are in our neighborhood and they are waiting for the road to open(end of February). Here are some pictures he shared of two installations. Thank you Jesus for providing these stoves for Guatemala.

Scatter Christ

Angel Friday to PASS

Angel Friday began in 2005
THE END

PASS begins in 2009

Angel Friday began by providing random acts of kindness on Friday's. Pass will be more of the same random acts of kindness as we work to show, share and scatter Christ with the Nations.

Miriam Webster Defines 'pass' as follows:

pass
v. passed, pass·ing, pass·es

1. To move on or ahead; proceed
2. To extend; run
3. To happen; take place
4. To gain passage despite obstacles
5. To move past in time; elapse
6. To be transferred from one to another; circulate
7. To be communicated or exchanged between persons
8. To be transferred or conveyed to another
9. To undergo transition from one condition, form, quality, or characteristic to another
10. To come to an end

11. To go by without stopping; leave behind
12. To be allowed to happen without notice or challenge
13. To undergo an examination or a trial with favorable results
14. To serve as a barely acceptable substitute
15. To be accepted as a member of a group by denying one's own ancestry or background
16. To be approved or adopted
17. To hand over to someone else
18. To pronounce an opinion, judgment, or sentence.
19. To be voided
20. To cause to move

pass for
To be accepted as or believed to be:
bring to pass
To cause to happen.
come to pass
To occur
pass (one's) lips
To issue or be spoken
pass the hat
To take up a collection of money
pass the time of day
To exchange greetings or engage in pleasantries
pass the torch
To relinquish (responsibilities, for example) to another or others

We are:

People About Scattering Seed

People About Sharing Stoves

People About Showing Sunshine

Performing Acts of Scattering Seed

Perform Acts Share Selflessly
Provide Adventure Sowing Seed

Performing Acts to Share Savior

People Actively Serving Savior

Proceed Actively Serving Savior
Purposeful Acts Sharing Savior

Providing Activity Specific Service

PASS....... it on

PASS............ the Salt

PASS........... the Light

Rest of the Story

Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!'

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, 'The Rest of the Story,' and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired. With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called 'One nation under God.'