Providence

This week's topic for the Myspace GBE group is, "Why am I here?" here is my entry:

The short answer to this week's topic is found in the book of Acts, chapter 17 verse 26. I'm here because this is where God put me and when he thought I should be here. When faced with a life-and-death dilemma, Queen Esther was admonished by her cousin Mordecai, "and who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14). In the last chapter of the book of Genesis, Joseph, who had been sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, had risen to the second most powerful position in that land. His brothers were afraid of reprisal, but Joseph assured them, "as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive."

The providence of God is an interesting topic, but one that is very hard to see at any given moment. It is much easier to recognize in the rearview mirror. For example, as a young man I hopped from job to job in the first 10 years of our marriage. The only thing I was consistent in was coaching teenagers in baseball. When I decided to go back to school to get my degree so I could coach at the high school level, I thought my destiny was set. I intended to go to night school where we lived, but through a series of events and a couple of hard decisions, we ended up moving to a college town three hours away.

During my time in school I made good grades and was very active in the church where we worshiped, teaching teen Bible classes. There was a lot of growth in the group through that period of time. As I was approaching graduation and fielding job offers to coach, the elders of the congregation came and offered me a position as youth minister. I accepted it and begin my work in the ministry.

To make the story short enough for one blog, I prayed that God would use me in whatever way he chose. The next thing we knew we were living in Dallas, though we hated the big city. But while we were there we became first foster and then adoptive parents who are youngest daughter, Bethany.

As our older girls neared their teens we began praying that we would find a congregation in South Texas in a small town that had lots of kids for her girls mix with and ultimately date. Within six months we were in a small town in South Texas. We had a good ministry there for quite a few years, but we believe one reason we were there was to find Mike, who's now my son-in-law.

After nine years there, I was approached about the job that I now hold, though I was not looking for a new job. There were lots of changes in my life after I accepted this job, but I could never figure out why I was here. But in recent years have come to believe that the predominant reason I am here, by choice, was because the congregation has been supporting my daughter in a mission field for more than 16 years. Not many places would send a young single woman overseas, but our congregation did with very little reservation. So I have come to believe that being HERE is not about me, or even really about my daughters, or Mike, but about Him.

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The Jester, by James Patterson

Listening to audio books in the car while commuting is a good way to break the monotony and expand the mind. One enjoyable author is James Patterson, who generally writes suspense thrillers based in the modern-day. But a really enjoyable title by Patterson, The Jester, takes the reader/listener back to the 11th century.

A small-town innkeeper in France is persuaded by rhetoric from a priest leading an army on a crusade to the Holy Lands to enlist. On his journeys he unknowingly becomes the possessor of a very valuable relic, which he takes back to France. The story depicts the struggles the innkeeper faces because of the greed of Lords in the land that are seeking that relic. His courage and his wit lead him to overcome great persecution and to rise to a place of freedom and prosperity.

Those who like action and a graphic description of battles and struggles will find this book satisfies their preferences. Those who like historical fiction and human drama will also be satisfied. The book uses language that some would consider vile, so you would not want to play this book in the presence of young children.

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Fund Raising Online!

With the economy in such different straits it is going to be tougher for those trying to do good deeds to raise funds to get those good deeds done. For instance, our church teen mission trip budget for this summer is half what it was just last year.

When that was announced, the teens began to scramble for ways to raise the money they will need to make the trip. Since most of them have pages on the social network sites on the Internet, they can arrange with Shop2Fund to assist their fundraising efforts. Then their contacts on those sites can go to their favorite online shopping sites to make purchases they need. Commissions that are raised are paid to the user’s paypal account, at a ratio of 80% for the user and 20% for shop2Fund. Signing up is easy!

Here is hoping that this will allow our group to get a good work done this summer.

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Do Hard Things--A Book Review

(First published at Qassia)

Do Hard Things is a book written by teenaged twin brothers Alex and Brett Harris. It is about their rebellion against the low expectations that are placed on teens by our culture. They were unsatisfied to think of their adolescence as a vacation from responsibility until they reached adulthood and out of their own experiences there has grown a “Rebelution” among young people around the world, but especially here in the U.S.A.
At 16, after some years of speech and debate competition, the boys began to research some of the great things that had been done by young people. They were inspired to undertake some hard things themselves, as well as to inspire others of their generation to Do Hard Things.

They established a website, TheRebelution.com, which drew interest from many young people, rebelutionaries, who were convicted that they were wasting a lot of time and energy. The book tells of the experiences of not only the Harris twins, but of many of those with whom they have come in contact.

The book is inspirational. Every teen should be given a copy and challenged to a new vision for themselves and their future world!

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The New Letter From God!

One day God decided he wanted to write a letter to all his children that were misbehaving and mistreating one another. He wanted to let them know they were jeopardizing their eternal home in heaven. So he asked one of his angels to go to earth and make a list of all those who needed to get the warning letter.

The angel was gone for a long time, and when he returned he was in very bad shape, bloodied and bruised and broken wings. He reported that the list was so long that perhaps it would be better to send a letter to those who were obedient and striving to love their neighbors. God agreed.

So he sent another angel to collect the names of those who should receive that letter. The angel was only gone for a short time and came back in good condition. He presented the list to God. God took it and wrote the letter, and do you know what it said?

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Who or What Inspires You?

There are lots of whats and whos that inspire me. To name a few:

Great Music inspires me. I have no musical talent whatsoever. (I once had a fella tell me, “not only can you not lead a song, you couldn’t knock it down and drag it!”). But hearing music inspires me and lifts me up. I could name a thousand examples, “How Great Thou Art”, the theme music from The Magnificent Seven, Unchained Melody, The Day the Music Died, Danny Boy, even Jesus Loves Me when sung by a little one.

Great books inspire me. Some of the most cherished would include, Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard, The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, The Marriage Builder by Larry Crabb, This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti, and on and on.

Great Effort inspires me. I love to watch great athletes, but only when they are pouring themselves out to excel. Maybe that is why I love and support Special Olympics.

Great conviction inspires me. I started to call that courage, but sometimes we think that the courageous are not afraid, but what inspires me is the one who will stand for his or her conviction in even when it seems to bring them into the lion’s den.

Creativeness inspires me. I love it when someone has a bright idea that makes everyone’s life better or more content.

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Where Would You Live If?

Did you ever fantasize about how you would spend the money if you inherited a fortune or won the lottery? Usually a fancy home is part of that fantasy for me. So when I found the website for Sovereign Buckhead in Atlanta, I found one of the places I would spend my windfall!

Sovereign’s Buckhead condos offer the exclusivity of being one of only 82 residents, all on floors 28 and above. There are no more than five residences on each floor, and the floor plans are determined by the position of the homes. The views are magnificent and the amenities that are indeed the things of which dreams are made!
My verbal descriptions can hardly do justice to the glamor of the castles in the sky. But you can check it out and see for yourself.

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