Youth Small Group!

Heavenly Father,  Thank you so much for a husband who wants to raise up a generation to glorify YOU!


Tell Rick Thank you again for teaching my kids! I got a note from one of Andrew's teachers. He did a report for English and his teachers were so impressed and pleased with how he stood up for his faith and how he wasn't afraid to let others know what he believed. Thought Rick would be proud of him.     Becky Pitts.

Part to Whole Whole to Part

Reckless Faith by Beth Guckenberger...... A must READ!

There are two kinds of learners

[1] Part to Whole [2]Whole to Part

Question: How many have no desire to volunteer for a committee or group project until you have established the purpose and final outcome?

Part-to-Whole's

Solve math problem meticulously leaving nothing undone & never reads the last page of a book first.

Whole-to-Part's

Wonder will I ever use this math in real life & will not read the book w/o strong recommendations and a sneak look at the last page.

Imagine a Whole-to-Part learner with these fact:

• Having 'vision' means listening to the LORD and taking the next step in faith.
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• Vision is not knowing the end of the game ahead of time.
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• Having 'vision' means experiencing growth. In several years we will look back and think, "if I only knew then, what I know now".
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• Vision is listening to God and stepping out in faith on a path whose end I cannot see.
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• Vision is primarily seeing events and people from Christ's perspective. God sees people for who they are not what they are.
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• Vision is believing there is someone on the other side of the ceiling when we look up at night.
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• Vision is trusting that the call had a supernatural origin and not a logical explanation.
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• Vision is believing in the relationship we have with our Creator.

My life experiences are building within me principles that I need for God's next call.

Important Lesson:

I have learned ministry is not just your day job or mission trips. Sharing life with these guys has taught me that all my moments can be ministry; eating, cooking, washing, cleaning, and sharing every moment God provides us together.

Crazy Love!

As I traveled to South Beach Miami two weeks ago - I took this book by Francis Chan with me to finish on the flight. On my return flight, I was on close to the end and a young individual [twenties] sat down beside me. What are you reading? Crazy Love. Is that a love story? Not between two people but a love story about loving God like crazy. The individual looked away. By the accent, I assumed I was sitting by someone from another country. ME: Where are you from? Guatemala. Oh Wow! I love love Guatemala and have traveled there 8 times to love on the Mayan Indians and orphans around Lake Attilan. This began our conversation about home, life, love, religion and who we worship. We talked the entire flight [I did not read the last chapter]. As our plane landed and was taxiing to the gate, I handed Crazy Love to this individual and told them to please please read this on your next flight to Connecticut.

Lord, Please use Crazy Love to bring glory to Yourself and draw this person close to You. I love You.

Does something deep inside your heart long to break free from the status quo? Are you hungry for an authentic faith that addresses the problems of our world with tangible, even radical, solutions? God is calling you to a passionate love relationship with Himself. Because the answer to religious complacency isn't working harder at a list of do's and don'ts — it's falling in love with God. And once you encounter His love, as Francis describes it, you will never be the same.


Because when you're wildly in love with someone, it changes everything.

Praying the 6 D’s

Whatever it takes, Lord, give me...

Delight in you as the greatest treasure of my heart.
Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

Desire to know you, be with you, and seek your kingdom above all else.
Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

Discernment that comes from a renewed mind that I might know your will.
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

Desperation because when I stop feeling my need for you I tend to wander.
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. (Psalm 119:67)

Discipline to plan for what I discern as your will.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15-16)

Diligence to do your will with all my heart.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:5)

Billy Goat Ears

In Alabama [the South], we have so many southernisms and we say them without even thinking. With two students from Sudan living in the house - they are so confused by these silly sayings. Several weeks ago, I had left them in the car while I ran into the store. When I returned to the car, I said "She talked the ears off a billy goat"! Bullen laughed and laughed at the saying. So several days later I went to pick them up from school and Bullen got into the car and stated, "that teacher has billy goat ears". I love it!

"He could talk the ears off a billy goat"

"Tighter than Dick's hatband"

"Fish or cut bait"

"Poop or get off the pot"

"Pot to pee in or a window to throw it out of"

"Beggars can't be choosy"

"He's about as useful as a tit on a boar hog"

"Took off like a scalded dog"

"Wish in one hand and crap in the other and see which one fills up faster"

"I've known him since he was knee-high to a coke bottle"

"Nervous as a whore in church"

"Colder than a welddiggers ---"

"Could break a steel ball with a rubber hammer"

"Queer as a three dollar bill"

Dumb as a box of rocks

"She is ugly as Homeade Sin"

"He's not the sharpest tool in the shed"

"Mad as a hornet"

"As cool as a cucumber"

"If you can't take the heat - get out of the kitchen"

Orphans

What is happening to orphans right now as I write?

They are hungry.

They are eating trash.

They are chased away from the trash.

They are naked.

They are exhausted from running scared all the time.

They are tied up.

They live without shelter.

They live in fear of being abducted.

They live in fear of being eaten by wild animals.

They are raped.

They are prostituted.

They are beaten---in unimaginable ways.

They witness their friends being sold.

They live in fear being sold themselves.

They are forced to lie.

They steal out of necessity.

They are burned.

They are bruised.

Sometimes they wish they were never born.

They feel invisible.

They wonder why God doesn't like them.

They are crying out to the Lord because of their oppressor. Isaiah 19:20

Cannot Recover

4 Things You Cannot Recover

Take a minute to think about these four things that are not recoverable. Live each minute like it is your last and live it as if Christ was physically right beside you.

1. The stone………..after the throw.
2. The word………after it’s said.
3. The occasion……..after it’s missed.
4. The time……….after it’s gone.

Official FREEDOM!

Tonight is very quite in the ThreeSixty House. Summer term has ended and there is a two week break before the fall semester begins. It is so extremely hot that I can't believe it is almost fall.

Bullen and Andrew (my Sudanese students) have gone to work for a couple of weeks in Wadley, Alabama.

Stephen left today - never to return to the ThreeSixty house. He flew to Minnesota at 5am this morning to begin a new life up north. Stephen officially lived with our family for one year and 3 days. During this time, we grew to love his humor and silliness so much. There was really never a dull moment. He didn't sleep at night, he didn't eat during mealtime, he cooked the greatest food, he used Vaseline for lotion, he wore a skull cap most of the time, he didn't cut his hair starting the day he moved in, he pulled and twisted his hair unconsciously, he never washed or folded his clothes, his room looked similar to a hoarder, he had a beautiful testimony, he would not sing in church, he was dark as night and soft as a baby, he loved junk food, especially fruit snacks, he fought with my youngest son constantly, he has never met his birth mom or dad, he loves loves his adopted mom, he struggled with communication, he hated walking to school, he was a great cleaner, he laughed at the Sudanese vocabulary, he could beat the socks off of me in Bejeweled, he slept with his cell phone, he could dress so sharp, he detested sitting in the middle, he has a huge heart, he is great with children, he would throw a punch at the drop of a hat, he is very rambuncious, he could break a steel ball with a rubber hammer, he is very adventurous, he was unsettled with his decisions, he was such a caring person, he is very strong willed, he wants freedom, he is so goooood in math, not so good in English, the spoke in half-words, he is very competitive, he loves basketball and football, he was an avid Alabama fan, he loves to fish and hunt, he had to really really think about sacrifice and he was very focused when reading the Word of God. I know there is much more to describe this young man but its not coming to my mind right now. I am so thankful for the year I got to spend with Stephen. Stephen taught me so many new things about life and the African-American race. I will miss you so much and I pray that God will use you in a mighty way for His Glory.

HEAT in Alabama!

Are you thankful for the heat? A pastor, Ben DeLoach, was reminded of the trip he took to Jordan two years ago. He had the opportunity to visit Mount Nebo and to see the plains of Moab where the people of Israel spent so much quality time grumbling and complaining. It was so hot there that at one point he turned and asked his guide, "Have you brought us out into this wilderness to die?"

May we all remember the mighty works that God has done and is doing among us. Let us be thankful for the heat and then for the relief we have from it. Much fruit is born in the heat by the tree that is rooted near streams of water - such is the one that trusts in the Lord. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Kill the Spider!

I read this today and it totally exemplified what I have been experiencing lately with stress and worry. I am the biggest worrier ever and I give it to My Lord all the time, but then it creeps back little by little.

I suffer with anxiety, known professionally as GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder)

My heart begins beating really fast and I become light headed.

My hands tingle and my face burns.

I fear that I will lose control.

The truth is I won’t lose control.

That’s because I am not in control.

So I don’t have it to lose.

I only think I am.

You have your thing. You are fighting so hard to maintain control of it. It might not take the form of anxiety. But it takes the form of something. Something that you take “control” of that belongs to God. The manifestation is not the sin. My anxiety symptoms are not the sin. Your depression symptoms is not the sin. Your constant focus on the problem is not the sin. They are symptoms of the sin.

The sin of wanting to be God in your life instead of letting God be God. So instead of praying for God to clean the cobwebs out of your life. Just ask God to kill the spider.

Kill the spider!

Thank you, Jesus, for amazing, honest, raw, inspirational, unashamed, unafraid people to challenge my faith everyday. Lord, You know our problems long before they are our “problems.” I ask You right now to kill the spider, and give me the strength and the faith to depend FULLY on you. I love You and worship You. I am in awe of Your Grace… Amen.

Weekly Wisdom

• Does the fear of God or the fear of man rule your life?
• Every problem is an opportunity to trust God.

First Year

Today marks one year since four young men moved into our home, aka THREESIXTY HOUSE. This year has been such a learning experience for our family. We have learned what it is like to live multi-culturally, we have learned how other cultures eat, walk, talk and sleep, we have experienced how others worship our Lord, we have cried together, disagreed with one another, studied The Word of God together, been to the beach, lake and Six Flags together, we have fed and prayed with the homeless in downtown Birmingham together and the list goes on and on.

As our children grow, we teach them to share. I can remember learning to share (my room, candy, toys) with my brother and sister. I can remember learning to share (toys, colors) at Sunday School. I can remember learning to share (lockers, notes) at school. In American, we really haven't had to share our entire life or whole house and everything in it. We don't have to share our food because there isn't enough. We don't have to eat left-overs because there is more where that came from. Our family has learned to SHARE this past year. We know in our minds that EVERYTHING is God's and is to be shared, but we never really had to share it all. Have you ever shared everything? Think about this for a minute and I will share more in another post about the Word Everything!

I have learned that each and every one of us desires to be loved unconditionally.

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Thank You Lord for the blessing of sharing life with others. Thank You for the lessons learned, a faith that has enlarged and the relationships that will last forever. Thank You for Your unconditional love for us and growing us for Your Glory.