Today I dropped by Family Christian and saw that you can purchase a Bible and put a personal note of encouragement into it that will be sent to our troops over seas. As a added bonus they will send a copy of Third Day’s Album “Wherever You Are.” So for less then $5 bones you can give a Bible, a word of encouragement & some tunes out to a soldier and show your support for them as we reflect on our Independence this week.
Support a soldier… I did.
Subject:: Brushed Fence
Camera:: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
Aperture:: f8
Shutter:: 1/200
ISO:: 100
Focal Length:: 44mm
This is the group of students and adults our church is feeding this week from World Changers. I’ve been impressed with the work they are doing and the heart they put into it. Today they will finish up their project and tomorrow they will go and help other students to finish up in other areas of Durham, NC. Please continue to pray that they would reach the communities they are ministering in.
This new group of students here at Farrington Road Baptist Church where just amazed that students would actually pay money to do work and give up a week of their summer. I just smiled. I love it when students see that there is more to the Christian faith then just Wed. & Sun., that God can and will work through the hearts of students, and that Christianity is more then just “being saved.”
I just can’t get over it or past it. We get so caught up in life, in church, in or jobs, in everything. We get caught up in not offending John Doe or Billy Jean because our words or actions could be taken wrong even when they are things that need to be said or done but we don’t give a second thought to offending God. We would rather offended the creator then the creation.
I was watching Pollyanna the other night, yeah some of you are laughing now, but it was on TV and hey what can you watch on TV now that is worth watching?
Anyway, Haley Mills character says something astonishing… “You can’t own a church.”
Today, many people can and do own churches.
What’s your take?
We have been in Durham for 2 weeks now “officially” that is. Things are going well, We have opted to have night time nursing for Lauren which will be better for us in the long run. We may actually get to sleep, who knows. The down side is that it makes taking her to appointments a lot more difficult since it’s hard to travel with her with only one person and that person is driving. We have 2 nurses that are rotating and we like them both very well. They will be adding one or two more to cover in case of an emergency etc…
Lauren is good, we are trying to assess what formula is going to work best for her and are between two right now. Feeding tends to give her very bad gas, which she can not burp up since she has the Nissin stomach wrap. Hard to explain but trust me, it only comes out one way. She almost pulled her trach out the other day but we have been waiting for that. Her feeding tube was changed this week to what is called a “Mickey” and no it has nothing to do with the mouse. It’s much flatter against her stomach so she can actually do tummy time. The other advantage is that after you feed her you simply undo the tube and nothing is left hanging off of her.
Lauren has discovered her toys and loves wiping her frog back and forth. I think she may be a lefty but it’s way to early to tell, she does seem to lean toward that hand though. She has also discovered that she can touch her knees and we have been showing her her feet. She plays with them a little. The most fun seems to be grabbing daddy’s goatee, when ever she does she gets this huge smile on her face and runs her hands through it.
It seems that she is growing up fast and her surgery is coming like a Mac Truck from Ice Road Truckers, it’s scheduled for the 6th of August incase you have missed that. Well… that’s all pretty much going on in our new world.
I was reading over on my friend Aaron’s blog (the paper mirror) and he posted the following.
“let’s say for some odd reason your church dies, and has to completely close the doors. my friend JR Vasser and i were talking about this at lunch. maybe hard to imagine, but whatever size church you have, imagine it having to shut down. close the doors, vacate the building, completely shut down.
would your city mourn the loss of your church?
would your city or town feel the overwhelming loss of a church that is known for service, love, and giving? would the city officials approach the church and say, “look…we’ll do whatever it takes to keep you guys going…with all the things your church is doing in our community, we CAN’T imagine the loss of such a vital part of our city.” really, would this happen if your church was no more?
shouldn’t the church be known for the kinds of things Jesus was known for? justice, love, mercy and grace, truth, serving the poor, forgiving wrongs, healing the sick, being the peacemaker, and befriending the broken and oppressed. the local church should be so valued to a community because of what it gives… what it lives out… and the types of people that come from it. shouldn’t the local church itself be full of compelling people? with a compelling mission?
the local church should be shaping and compelling people, as we imitate Christ. the local church should have been the instigators of our modern social justice movements…not just responders to the rest of the culture. the local church, your church, my church, should be the vital part of a city…meeting the needs, serving, loving, befriending, peacemaking, and LOVING.
so, if your church died tomorrow, would your community even notice the loss?”
So leave some comments on here or over on Aaron’s blog the paper mirror.
Lauren has been home since Friday. It’s been really crazy, we are sill trying to get moved into the apt and everything. We have had nurses and other people in and out every day. Lauren went to her speech appointment today and they changed her trach to a 3.5mm and they put on her speaking valve and she cried. It’s the first time anyone has heard her in quite some time. It made Beck cry, the nurse who was traveling with her cry, and everyone else too. I was at work so I could not be there. If I was… then yes, I would have cried also.
Speaking of work, I am now the Student Pastor at Farrington Road Baptist Church here in Durham… well, I guess the church is really in Chapel Hill. Either way, it’s North Carolina. I’m still getting moved into my office, I had to take a break today due to a horrible migraine headache but I was able to make it back to church to teach the youth this evening. We had 9 there tonight and I felt good about it. I think God has called us here as he did when he called us to Williston.
I want to encourage the students and adults here in NC to pray for those in SC and vise versa as each group is facing changes in their local ministries. We should continue to lift each other up to God.
Medicaid has kicked in now as well as SSI Disability. Rebecca called me this morning and said that Lauren is going to be able to come home either tomorrow (Friday) or Monday. This is just awesome news, we really need to get the house in order this weekend if it’s Monday. If it’s Friday which Beck really wants then well…. there is still going to be a bit of junk. Still awesome news!
I have to say thank you to all of those who participated tonight with the “farewell” shin dig. I do appreciate it more then you can ever know. Thank you to each and every one of you who spoke words of affirmation.
I loved to see all those students step up to the stage, there where at least 30 of them and that was not even the entire group of regulars, we even had first timers there too!
The first highlight of the evening was seeing those students and seeing the reaction of the adults at how much the student ministry has grown in the last 11 months both spiritually and in numbers. One adult said that she felt this ministry was much more vital then they knew because it was not just “church kids” here anymore, we as a ministry have begun to reach our schools and our community for Christ. I pray that the adults continue to see how vital student ministry is and that they would continue to poor their time, energy, and money into it.
The second and greatest highlight of the evening happened after many had left. I had a student approach me and he said that he wanted to know Jesus. We stepped away to share a few words and he surrendered his life to Christ. Amazing. I don’t think the night could have ended any better. I’m sitting here with tears in my eyes because of the work Christ has allowed me to partner with Him in here in Williston and it saddens me to know my ministry here has come to a close, but by God what a close it was! I would have never thought in a million years a student would be lead to Christ in the closing seconds of my job. I humbly bow before God amazed.
You are great and mighty Lord. You give us strength. You give us peace. I pray that you would work in the life of this student and the others over the las few months who have given their lives to you. I pray that you would bless this student ministry, help them to continue on the path you have set before them, guide them in your ways. Be with the one your calling here, show him the road he needs to walk. Burden the students if they stray from you, show them that your yoke is easy. Amen.
I have to say, I really need to update the sidebar on my blog, I have long since finished Contemplative Youth Ministry and would encourage anyone working with students, paid or not to pick it up and read it. I think it will change the way you think when it comes to our daily work with students. I may make it required reading for the next church’s volunteers I get to work alongside.
I’m still reading the Bible and that devotional, Fee is still on my iPod but I don’t think it’s the big thing I am listening to right now. In fact I would have to say I have taken a break from music all together. I don’t listen to anything when I am driving or setting in my office. My iPod has sat in my “man bag” as David Richardson would say, for more then a month.
I am reading a Don Miller book, “Through Painted Deserts” and love it. I actually want to read the “unabridged” raw version if there is one. You know his notes and thoughts, the scribbles etc…
I have the new Ted Dekker novel “Adam” sitting here and I swear to you Ted, if this is anything related to the trilogy I am going to scream. I mean, the trilogy was great but every book since then relates, which is not bad, I get what your doing, but I want another Thr3e. I didn’t even pick up Skin. I want new, raw, different. Your the only Christian Fiction author I read. Period.
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