Compliments of the season.
Celebrate our victory!
Thanks be to our Messiah Jesus Christ!
Showing posts with label Jesus Christ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus Christ. Show all posts
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Compliments of the Season!
Compliments of the season.
Celebrate our victory!
Thanks be to our Messiah Jesus Christ!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Picking the Perfect Name for Your Baby
The naming of Jesus came before the presentation in the temple and most Christians declare the names they have chosen for their babies when presenting them to God. The following report is on how to pick the perfect names for babies.
17 Jul 2008 13:15 Africa/Lagos
Picking the Perfect Name for Your Baby
LOS ANGELES, July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Choosing your new baby's name is a task fraught with tension for most expectant parents. Will the name be too common in popularity, or too rare? Will it tie negative associations to the child? (There's a reason the name "Adolph" has fallen out of favor the last half-century.) Will the name grow with the child, or sound frivolous during adulthood?
Jennifer Moss, a Los Angeles-based baby-name consultant who advises new parents on naming their children through her website BabyNames.com and by a personalized naming service, offers these tips in her new book, "The One-in-a- Million Baby Name Book" (Perigee Press, ISBN 978-0-399-53430-0), in bookstores this month.
Moss, who is a baby-name consultant and founder of BabyNames.com, offers the following guidelines for expectant parents in choosing their own child's one-in-a-million name:
1. Family histories and traditions: Does the name mean something special to you and/or your family members? Have you considered family names for first and middle names?
2. Spelling and ease of use: Is this name easy to spell? Is it easy to pronounce? A girl named Melyssah will be destined to spend a lot of time spelling out her name the rest of her life.
3. Popularity and saturation: Are you choosing a truly unique name or simply following the trends? Where is the name ranked on popularity lists like the one on BabyNames.com or the U.S. Social Security Administration's baby names database? Take into consideration that names that are popular today may seem dated 30 years from now, just as the name "Nancy" harkens to the 1950s and "Tiffany" summons images of the 1980s pop singer and her peers.
4. Jokes, puns, and teasing potential: Will your child be teased because of the name, or due to his or her initials? Is it funny to you? Does the name rhyme with something teasable? "Crystal Chandel Lear" belongs above the dining room table, not on a birth certificate.
5. Pronunciation, rhythm and flow: How does the first name sound when combined with your last name? Is it too choppy, or too long? Names have a natural sound and rhythm - a way that people hear the syllables in natural musical beats. Show friends and family the written name and ask them to pronounce it for you; if it doesn't sound right, or they mispronounce the name, you may want to reconsider.
6. Gender identification: Is the name too frilly? Is it a primarily male or female name? Remember that male-identified names often work for baby girls, but female-identified names can be awkward for baby boys.
7. The introduction test: Introduce yourself out loud using the planned first name and last name together. Does it sound "right" to you? Sometimes a name will look good on paper, but just doesn't sound right when written.
"The One-in-a-Million Baby Name" book includes chapters dedicated to traditional names, celebrity names, names of royalty through the ages, character names found in popular culture, nature names, and names from the world of sports, along with firsthand stories from parents on how they chose their children's names. It also includes thousands of name suggestions, along with their meanings, origins and ratings of the names from visitors to BabyNames.com.
BabyNames.com, which debuted on the Web in 1996, is one of the top destinations for expectant parents. In addition to its naming service and comprehensive names database, BabyNames.com offers parenting advice, parenting and naming forums, and celebrity-baby news, among other features. The site is owned and operated by Moss, her sisters Mallory Rustin, Kate Glinsmann and Sue Moss, and their mother, Peg Moss.
CONTACT:
Jennifer Moss
877-211-BABY (2229)
jennifer@babynames.com
http://www.babynames.com/
This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com/.
Source: BabyNames.com
CONTACT: Jennifer Moss of BabyNames.com, +1-877-211-BABY (2229),
jennifer@babynames.com
Web site: BabyNames
17 Jul 2008 13:15 Africa/Lagos
Picking the Perfect Name for Your Baby
LOS ANGELES, July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Choosing your new baby's name is a task fraught with tension for most expectant parents. Will the name be too common in popularity, or too rare? Will it tie negative associations to the child? (There's a reason the name "Adolph" has fallen out of favor the last half-century.) Will the name grow with the child, or sound frivolous during adulthood?
Jennifer Moss, a Los Angeles-based baby-name consultant who advises new parents on naming their children through her website BabyNames.com and by a personalized naming service, offers these tips in her new book, "The One-in-a- Million Baby Name Book" (Perigee Press, ISBN 978-0-399-53430-0), in bookstores this month.
Moss, who is a baby-name consultant and founder of BabyNames.com, offers the following guidelines for expectant parents in choosing their own child's one-in-a-million name:
1. Family histories and traditions: Does the name mean something special to you and/or your family members? Have you considered family names for first and middle names?
2. Spelling and ease of use: Is this name easy to spell? Is it easy to pronounce? A girl named Melyssah will be destined to spend a lot of time spelling out her name the rest of her life.
3. Popularity and saturation: Are you choosing a truly unique name or simply following the trends? Where is the name ranked on popularity lists like the one on BabyNames.com or the U.S. Social Security Administration's baby names database? Take into consideration that names that are popular today may seem dated 30 years from now, just as the name "Nancy" harkens to the 1950s and "Tiffany" summons images of the 1980s pop singer and her peers.
4. Jokes, puns, and teasing potential: Will your child be teased because of the name, or due to his or her initials? Is it funny to you? Does the name rhyme with something teasable? "Crystal Chandel Lear" belongs above the dining room table, not on a birth certificate.
5. Pronunciation, rhythm and flow: How does the first name sound when combined with your last name? Is it too choppy, or too long? Names have a natural sound and rhythm - a way that people hear the syllables in natural musical beats. Show friends and family the written name and ask them to pronounce it for you; if it doesn't sound right, or they mispronounce the name, you may want to reconsider.
6. Gender identification: Is the name too frilly? Is it a primarily male or female name? Remember that male-identified names often work for baby girls, but female-identified names can be awkward for baby boys.
7. The introduction test: Introduce yourself out loud using the planned first name and last name together. Does it sound "right" to you? Sometimes a name will look good on paper, but just doesn't sound right when written.
"The One-in-a-Million Baby Name" book includes chapters dedicated to traditional names, celebrity names, names of royalty through the ages, character names found in popular culture, nature names, and names from the world of sports, along with firsthand stories from parents on how they chose their children's names. It also includes thousands of name suggestions, along with their meanings, origins and ratings of the names from visitors to BabyNames.com.
BabyNames.com, which debuted on the Web in 1996, is one of the top destinations for expectant parents. In addition to its naming service and comprehensive names database, BabyNames.com offers parenting advice, parenting and naming forums, and celebrity-baby news, among other features. The site is owned and operated by Moss, her sisters Mallory Rustin, Kate Glinsmann and Sue Moss, and their mother, Peg Moss.
CONTACT:
Jennifer Moss
877-211-BABY (2229)
jennifer@babynames.com
http://www.babynames.com/
This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com/.
Source: BabyNames.com
CONTACT: Jennifer Moss of BabyNames.com, +1-877-211-BABY (2229),
jennifer@babynames.com
Web site: BabyNames
Sunday, June 22, 2008
The Celebration olf Life
It was an idyllic Sunday on Bonny Island in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
I had a beautiful and wonderful time at the Thanksgiving fellowship in church today.
Our guests, visitors and members of the Assemblies of God Church in Finima celebrated and jubilated in praise of the Almighty God Jehovah to thank Him for saving the precious life of my younger sister, Mrs. Stella Unah. I was moved to join her and her husband in front of the church to thank the ministers of God and the entire congregation for fasting and praying for her healing and speedy recovery. Then I sang the introit of my song Your Majesty in my mother-tongue, Igbo. It was awesome in the solemn worship of the Almighty God Jehovah and the Holy Spirit filled the body of Christ. Reverend Odey from the Assemblies of God Church in Ibadan told us how he had to abide in the divine presence of God in the state of nature and God answered his prayer by saving the life of my sister. He said our celebration has begun and we all rejoiced in appreciation of the goodness and mercy and loving kindness of God.
Our life should be the daily celebration of the infinite grace of God in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
I had a beautiful and wonderful time at the Thanksgiving fellowship in church today.
Our guests, visitors and members of the Assemblies of God Church in Finima celebrated and jubilated in praise of the Almighty God Jehovah to thank Him for saving the precious life of my younger sister, Mrs. Stella Unah. I was moved to join her and her husband in front of the church to thank the ministers of God and the entire congregation for fasting and praying for her healing and speedy recovery. Then I sang the introit of my song Your Majesty in my mother-tongue, Igbo. It was awesome in the solemn worship of the Almighty God Jehovah and the Holy Spirit filled the body of Christ. Reverend Odey from the Assemblies of God Church in Ibadan told us how he had to abide in the divine presence of God in the state of nature and God answered his prayer by saving the life of my sister. He said our celebration has begun and we all rejoiced in appreciation of the goodness and mercy and loving kindness of God.
Our life should be the daily celebration of the infinite grace of God in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Happy 20th Birthday Queenzy!
Happy 20th Birthday to Queenzy!
20/20
BY GEORGE BENSON
I believe Birthdays are made in heaven
For God is the one who made the day you were born.
To bless your life and give you longer life.
Why Your Birthday May 12 is for the Glory of God to be made manifest in your life.
12 is the number of gates of the holy city of New Jerusalem,
And upon the 12 gates are 12 angels,
And 12 names written thereon, are the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel. And the wall of the city are 12 foundations
And in them the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.
And he measured the city with the reed, 12 thousand furlongs.
And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits (12 times 12), which is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.
And on the 12 gates are 12 pearls.
(From Rev. 21:2, 12, 14, 16, 17, 21);
12 is a number God has ordained for His awesome signs and wonders.
Your 20th birthday on Monday May 12 will mark the beginning a new era in your beautiful and wonderful life.
The beginning of new things and new precious possessions.
The beginning of a higher level of your progress and success.
The beginning of the open doors for new breakthroughs.The beginning of a new chapter in your future.
I wish you all the best things in Life which only the Almighty God can give to you.
May God bless the mother through whom God brought you into this awesome world.
And may God bless the father whom God used to conceive you in the womb of your mother.
Cheers and God bless you always.
Happy 20th birthday!
20/20
BY GEORGE BENSON
When I think of all I put you through
Always taking you for granted
I never saw it from your point of view
Blinded by the double standard
You were tryin' to tell me all along
Something in the love was missing
You said "It's not too late to get it back"
But I just wasn't listening
If I knew back then what I know now
If I understood the what , when , why and how
Now it's clear to me
What I should have done
But hindsight is 20/20 vision
Now I see it in a different light
I've been losin' you in stages
Give us one more chance
I'll get it right
Girl , you're gonna see some changes
If I knew back then what I know now
If i understood the what , when , why and how
Now it's clear to me
What I should have done
But hindsight is 20/20 vision
Takin' time to catch up on some history
Tryin' to figure out what went wrong
with you and me
And it doesn't really matter
what's been before
But I know there's no future
with you walkin' out that door
I believe Birthdays are made in heaven
For God is the one who made the day you were born.
To bless your life and give you longer life.
Why Your Birthday May 12 is for the Glory of God to be made manifest in your life.
12 is the number of gates of the holy city of New Jerusalem,
And upon the 12 gates are 12 angels,
And 12 names written thereon, are the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel. And the wall of the city are 12 foundations
And in them the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.
And he measured the city with the reed, 12 thousand furlongs.
And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits (12 times 12), which is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.
And on the 12 gates are 12 pearls.
(From Rev. 21:2, 12, 14, 16, 17, 21);
In the midst of the street of it, and on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit every month (Rev. 22:2);
the twelve fruits are all things of charity.
[4] In Matthew:--
Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed Me in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28);
here apostles are not meant by apostles, nor thrones by thrones, nor tribes by tribes, but all things that are of faith (AC 2129). Moreover in the Word of the Old Testament, where twelve tribes are mentioned, it is all things of the church that are signified; and the case is the same with the twelve stones according to the names of the twelve tribes of Israel in the Urim and Thummim (Exod. 28:21); and with the twelve loaves of the show bread set in order upon the table (Lev. 24:5, 6); and so in other instances.
From the Spiritual Meaning of 12.
12 is a number God has ordained for His awesome signs and wonders.
Your 20th birthday on Monday May 12 will mark the beginning a new era in your beautiful and wonderful life.
The beginning of new things and new precious possessions.
The beginning of a higher level of your progress and success.
The beginning of the open doors for new breakthroughs.The beginning of a new chapter in your future.
I wish you all the best things in Life which only the Almighty God can give to you.
May God bless the mother through whom God brought you into this awesome world.
And may God bless the father whom God used to conceive you in the womb of your mother.
Cheers and God bless you always.
Happy 20th birthday!
Friday, May 9, 2008
The Paradox of Norma Khouri's "Forbidden Love"
Forbidden Love: A Harrowing True Story of Love and Revenge in Jordan.
A beautiful Arabian Muslim living in Amman falls in love with Michael, a Catholic in the Royal Army. An ancient tradition encourages the murder of women considered to have dishonored the family. This book has a new title in 2004.
Norma Majid Khouri Michael al-Bagain Toliopoulos
Norma Khouri's melodramatic love story was a literary hoax.
Watch the video documentary of "Forbidden Lies".
Whenever the jury of hypocrites want to condemn anyone, I always remind them of the woman caught in adultery, whom our Lord and Master Jesus Christ delivered and saved her life from the lynch mob of her accusers. So, to the jury that rushed to condemn Norma Khouri, if you have never told a lie, do not buy her book, "Forbidden Love" again. But if you have lied before, forgive her and buy her book as a novel and instead of calling it fake, let's call it fiction.
God knows that honour killings are not fiction in the Islamic nations.
Norma Kouri's story made millions of ignorant people in the world to know about the shocking abuse and murder of innocent Muslim girls and women in the satanic honour killings still being practiced in Islamic countries.
If sinners will not be forgiven, then you and I would be forbidden to enter the Kingdom of God.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
TENNESSEE OR BUST
The following true life story, "Tennessee or Bust" is from the wife of my Christian friend and Tennessee always reminds me of Linda Bruce and my favourite Granola Bars she always brought for me whenever she came to Nigeria.
You should sit back and read it.
TENNESSEE OR BUST
By Pastor Laura Rizzo
One of the worst and yet rather humorous times of our Christian training began in 1986 in Florida and took us on a journey to Greeneville, Tennessee. Amazingly we saw the mighty, miraculous and sovereign hand of God intervene in our lives repeatedly and learned some incredible lessons along the way…
We married in 1985 and at the end of our first year an offer came our way to live rent free, work at and be the Chaplains of a campground in Naples, Florida. To us this would be a very easy way to save money and I was always open for a change in scenery. Thinking we had nothing to lose, we had an interview with the park managers which proved to be very pleasant as the meeting was held in their lovely double-wide mobile home. They seemed so nice and reasonable and discussing our future positions seemed like such an effortless, natural choice and something we were meant to do all along.
Upon returning home we decided to vacate our lovely brand new apartment in Fort Myers to pursue this opportunity and were excited about embarking on this new adventure.
Our first day there was like a slap in the face. First off, we didn’t pay much attention to the camper that the managers had planned for us to reside in which was a gross oversight on our part. The interview was so “deceiving” that we just expected their camper to be as nice as their home. Wrong!! Upon exploring this tiny, filthy, horrifying mess, I immediately burst into tears at the sight and smell of it. By now it was too late to do anything about it as we had already given up our apartment, put all our furniture in storage and had made the commitment to take these positions. Was this a hint of things to come? You be the judge.
The day after that we started our jobs. My position at the campground was an office check-in clerk for the campers and Vince’s job was grounds maintenance and getting the campers settled onto their sites. Our next problem was that we naively believed the managers would uphold the terms for the positions we agreed to. As it turned out, completely contrary to our agreement, we worked every weekend, every Sunday and every holiday so in comparison to that, the filthy, small camper was soon insignificant. As time went on we just became more miserable and were certain that we’d made a grave mistake in our choice to go there. We then began fervently praying that God would do something—quick!!!
Customarily God rarely, if EVER, moves quickly and even if He does, its usually never within our time frame so while we were waiting for God to answer our prayers Vince happened to notice a 45 foot, 1961 International school bus that was for sale in the back of the campground.
Upon seeing it he sensed that God wanted us to have it so he actually just went and laid hands on it and asked the Lord for it. Within a few days he saw the man who owned it, spoke with him and we got a tour of it. The owner had been converting it to a camper and it had bunk beds for their kids, a customized kitchen table booth, a mid-sized refrigerator, a small kitchen sink, a small porta potty, (funny I never noticed it didn’t have a shower!!) and at this point I was open to WHATEVER would take us away from this cursed campground.
As we began to discuss the deal, we offered the man my car for an even-trade deal as it was a rather nice car, but he really wanted the Volkswagen camper we had. It was only three years old and a dear lady in our church, by direction of the Lord, had packed the thing to the full with everything anyone would ever need to go camping and then had given it to us free and clear. When he suggested that, a thrill came into my soul at the thought of blessing this man as he had a wife and kids and only had a moped (a tiny motor bike) to go to work, do errands, go grocery shopping and he owned nothing he could use to take his whole family anywhere.
Apparently God had intended all along for this man to have that camper van and everything in it as once we completed the deal, he radiated with joy and was praising God for this wonderful transaction. We too, were exceedingly happy and joyful especially since we could move out of the manager’s stinky camper!!
As it was now June of 1987, we spent several weeks working on the bus to complete the conversion and it took much longer than we expected because the heat and humidity were over 95 sweltering degrees each day. Between the heat and sweating profusely we both were exhausted by noon each day. Our upgrade included installing a window air conditioner unit in the back door window and we half killed ourselves getting a king sized bed in the back door of the bus and I wouldn’t suggest that maneuver to anyone!!! Just envision the three stooges taking on that task and it was us!!
Finally finishing the conversion, it was now time to take her out and see what she could do!! Upon our first jaunt with the bus one Sunday afternoon we were traveling towards the Everglades on a two-lane road, and had only gone a few miles when smoke began pouring out from under the hood. I pulled over onto an almost non-existent shoulder that almost dumped us into a canal and Vince leaped out, opened the hood and as he did the engine burst into flames!!!
In panic, he ran back into the bus and grabbed the fire extinguisher which he had just installed the day before, but he couldn’t get it to work!! Yikes!! Then I panicked, ran out and grabbed the extinguisher and began frantically reading the directions to operate it. At that point, Vince’s stress level went into overload and he promptly began losing his lunch on the side of the road as I finally managed to put out the fire!!
Thinking back, it must have been quite a quandary for the passers-by as they were probably quite confused as to which to respond to – the fire or Vince’s performance so no one stopped at all to help us!!!
Anyway, completely exhausted but relieved we crawled back into the bus and just sat there getting our breath when a kind, Florida Highway Patrolman traveling in the opposite direction did and u-turn and stopped to help us. He used his radio to call headquarters to get in touch with the seller who paid for the miraculous, minimal damage and we were on our way in no time!! (The miracles were starting already!)
At least now we knew the bus was roadworthy but we still needed to hear from God what to do about leaving the campground. About a week or two later one Sunday after one of our church services, a little lady told us about a place called Horse Creek in upper East Tennessee that was run by the U. S. Department of Forestry and she said we could possibly be campground hosts there and have a similar living situation there.
Well, that was music to my ears as we couldn’t wait to leave this campground and the annoying managers who had lied to us about everything. We immediately began praying about this and on Monday we called the Dept. of Forestry. They said they would love to have us come right away and informed us that their campground was in the Appalachian Mountains and that they had three huge swimming pools!!!—imagine that!! Not having been to Tennessee before, I immediately had visions of the kind of scenery of Oregon and of the Florida style of three lovely concrete swimming pools – how elegant and dreamy!!!
Finally, we were ready to make the trip and we had both quit our jobs and had purchased walkie-talkies to communicate to each other on the trip. Vince drove my car and I drove the bus as I had had extensive experience driving trucks and had my Chauffeur’s license for five years as I had worked outside construction related jobs before I met him.
Once we left Fort Myers I was as happy as a lark. The trek to Horse Creek was fairly uneventful until we were about six hours south of Atlanta when I heard a big bang from the engine. I radioed Vince and we both pulled over to check it out. As he walked up to the bus, he noticed that there was oil all down the outside of it. He opened the hood, looked around the engine, and not being a mechanic, he closed it, wiped the oil off of it, placed his hands on it and prayed that God would heal it – and God did just that!! (Acts 28:8). We never had a bit of trouble with it from that time on and we arrived at our destination safe and sound six hours later.
However, by the time we reached our destination MY stress level had gone into overload. Each time I called the Dept. of Forestry they could not give me exact directions to the campground!!! Each time I hung up the pay phone I was scratching my head in unbelief asking myself why couldn’t they just tell me where their campground was?? – after all they lived in Tennessee and they should know where their own campground was!!!
Unbeknownst to us many of the roads in Tennessee seem to have been designed and constructed by persons under the influence of alcoholic substances or if you prefer, moonshine!! The roads continue endlessly curling and winding for miles and miles. It turned out that Horse Creek was at the furthest end of one of these roads and was a place less than your average “Mayberry” with the nearest town being 18 miles away!!!
The campground itself was at the base of a huge mountain with ten tent campsites and we soon learned there were NO showers, one OUTHOUSE and NO lights within 500 feet anywhere. And as for the “three swimming pools”? These were nothing but holes in the ground about 8 to 10 feet deep with freezing ice cold, mountain stream water running through them and…where we would have to bathe for the next three months!!!!!!!!! We realized we were totally unprepared for camping up north and my dreamy visions of Oregon and elegant swimming pools turned into nightmares of “WHAT’S NEXT?”
After coming all this way, this was our future. I really remember quoting that line that has the fire and the frying pan in it and the phrase, “What were we thinking?” Here we were again faced with inconceivable, uncontrollable living conditions which we had to accept. I could handle the darkness outside as we did have power to our site and we were still in contact with the civilized world because the rangers installed a phone for us but I didn’t handle the outhouse issue well and as for bathing in water day in and day out that wasn’t frozen just because it was running downhill?? That was another issue altogether!!!!
Needless to say, we didn’t bathe TOO much and fortunately there weren’t too many campers down wind of us. And using the small porta potty we had meant Vince had to dump it in the outhouse every few days – that was another nightmare I totally chose to ignore. When we did have to bathe, our normal bath time schedule in 30 degree weather was:
1. Put our bathing suits on under our clothes and jackets.
2. Wait till it was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
3. Take a large towel and bar of soap and your flip flops or sandals.
4. Use a large flashlight to run to the creek.
5. Strip down and jump in while screaming at the top of your lungs to dull the shock.
6. Jump out to lather up.
7. Jump in again while screaming even louder to rinse off.
8. Jump back out and hold the flashlight so the other person could do the same thing.
9. Run like crazy back to the bus without falling and freezing!!
10. Pile tons of blankets on us to keep from hypothermia!!
The upside was that bathing outside at night, makes one very glad that there are no lights within 500 feet!!!
We spent our days praying and worshiping God and studying and job hunting. We found that the norm for Tennessee is to hire and lay off all the same people year after year at all the factories because most of these folks are very clannish. That means if you weren’t born there they didn’t give outsiders a second thought. So here we were in another impossible situation where we had to pray and wait on God –again!!
One thing we really learned was how to trust God and trust that He could take care of us regardless of the situation. We still had some bills from Florida but being caretakers of this campground meant we had no overhead except for food and gas but we were learning that if God could take care of the birds of the air like He said in Matthew 6:25-34, that He could take care of us. And God was there to meet us many, many times.
To most people no jobs mean no money for food, gas or bills, but to us, this is God’s perfect recipe for a miracle. To us this is a time of sheer excitement as we wait to see God open His miraculous hand and make a way where there seems to be no way.
However, it may sound like that was an easy formula to receiving from God but it was incredible training for us which I called the “fumes of faith” because there were times that I thought WE WOULD PERISH!! And, when it comes to perishing I always think of Queen Esther in the Bible when she was positioned to intercede for the lives of the entire Jewish nation. The risk she took to go to the king with her petition to repeal a law to annihilate her people was a life and death decision she had to make whether she died doing it or not. She trusted God to see her through this and so did we.
Sometimes when we thought all was lost and that we would perish, we would come home from job hunting and find another miracle had taken place such as the day we came home and the whole one side of our entire bus was lined with huge grocery bags full of fresh vegetables of all kinds that came from the park rangers. There were about 20 bags in all. We were totally in awe of what God was doing as we told no one but God of our needs. We had been at the end again with no money for food at all. We later learned that all the park rangers owned and ran farms and worked at several different parks part time. In our greatest hour of need God had orchestrated these people to bless us during our times of despair.
As Day Light Savings Time was ended, it was getting darker sooner so we mentioned to the Dept. of Forestry just how dark the park was and they placed a large light fixture behind our bus which was just outside our bedroom air conditioner. This was rather comforting to us as the woods at the base of this huge mountain in the park rendered everything pitch black once the sun set.
However, we really hadn’t thought far enough ahead on this because being that this light was THE ONLY LIGHT IN THE PARK, we were awakened in the middle of the night to find whole families of crickets leaping through the air conditioner vent onto our king size bed!!
Half asleep, half laughing, swatting and beating the sheets we attempted to rid ourselves of over 50 of the noisy creatures who were having a grand time invading our nocturnal bliss!! I finally yelled for Vince to go outside and shut off the light to keep the rest of the cricket population from coming in. Getting back to sleep many hours later I recall even laughing in my sleep after this crazy episode. We saw this as God bringing us moments of laughter from the smallest things to keep us from discouragement and from giving up.
One day in November we discovered a local tent revival. The 30 degree weather rendered very small crowds and we noticed they were getting very small offerings as well. The small crowds made it easy for us to get acquainted with the lady preacher and we found that she too was living by faith. She then invited Vince to preach the last night of the revival.
That evening at the revival Vince sensed that the Lord wanted him to pledge to give her and her team $50.00. We didn’t have $5.00 let alone $50.00, but we knew that we served a faithful God and that He would provide. When the last night of the revival came, we still didn’t have the pledge but Vince went and preached till they were cheering and receiving from God. In fact, the lady preacher was so kind that she had all the attendees come forward and give us an offering as they left and not having ever experienced that type of offering before we just stuffed the money into our pockets.
Later when it was all over, Vince pulled $50.00 out of his pockets for her and we discovered that between the two of us we still had $290.00 left over which to us was a gold mine!! This was just enough for us to pay our few bills, get food and gas, go out to dinner and wait on God again for the next provision. Our hearts were overflowing with joy and excitement that God had met our needs, again!!
Our job hunting finally proved successful when I was hired as a secretary at a local church. The pastor could only pay me $4.00 per hour and I could only afford to work part time three days a week because each trip was 36 miles so it was rather costly. For three months we lived on about $40.00 per week!!!!
On some of those pay days, I remember walking up and down the grocery aisles tears streaming down my face wondering how we could conceivably survive and trying to reason how we would ever have enough money for gas and food, the bills and incidentals. The impossibility of it all was overwhelming and each week I would VERY carefully choose what we could afford and we always tithed $4.00 per week at the church as well. Trust me when I say that it is terribly hard on your flesh to tithe $4.00 per week when you are only making $40.00 per week but we found joy in giving to God as we saw Him lovingly provide for us time and time again.
But, don’t you know that if Jesus could feed 5,000 from one loaf of bread and two little fish that he could care for us just fine on $40.00 per week!!! He multiplied our loaves and fishes each and every week!!!! God would even put us before people who were making much more money per week than us but would be in terrible financial situations. They were living in fear as they did not have enough money to feed their kids and this one family of five we knew were living on was ice milk as the father worked at a dairy.
We would then be able to witness to them and testify how powerfully and faithfully God had provided for us and taken care of us when we put Him first in our lives. These same people would then financially bless us out of their extreme need and the next time we would see them, they had a testimony to tell of the goodness of God in His care and provision for them as well!!! In fact the next week the husband got a promotion and a raise!! When we honor God in all we do, He will honor us in due time.
Now as it turned out, Vince could not find a job so he had the privilege of staying home and praying and seeking the Lord and God would just manifest himself to him and be so real to Vince that he was incredibly encouraged and would then encourage me through the rough times.
Periodically we would get invitations to preach at local churches, which was the result of Vince’s time spent in prayer. The opportunities helped us form local friendships and provided some funding as the churches responded with some support.
By now winter was fast approaching and the situation was getting steadily MORE uncomfortable and annoying. The November-December temperatures were so cold that the mountain stream we bathed in felt like needles piercing your skin. By the time we would run back to the bus, we were so frozen that we had to stack layers of blankets on both of us to be able to stand it. The water actually felt so cold that one time Vince had a terrible headache and he dove in and practically flew out of the water and then realized his headache was completely gone!! (Either that or he was so cold he couldn’t feel it any longer!!)
Anyway, the next problem was that the campground we were in was now closing and we had to relocate to another park. In fact, it was so late in the season that when we moved to this new park we were the ONLY ones there and it was scheduled to close within two weeks. The hand of the Lord also gave us favor there as the park managers allowed us to stay free of charge!
We set up camp as usual but at least this place had hot showers – what a wonderful luxury!!!! But then the trials and challenges began again. This time we faced black spiders with fuzzy white hair on their backs that seemed to be everywhere. One day while doing the dishes I was rinsing a dish when I looked up and here was one of these spiders dangling from the shelving unit above the sink right in front of my nose!! I gasped in sheer horror and it was just enough to get him to drop down in the dishwater right where I wanted him. I thank my God that I didn’t inhale any harder or that thing would have gone right down my throat, hair and all!!
As the days passed it even got colder and we had to run two space heaters all night long because school buses have no insulation. If it was 20 degrees outside it was just about that cold inside and you could see your breath if you sat up in bed.
One night it was just too much for our generator and we woke up to the sounds of explosions and flashing lights on the left side of the bus. Afraid to look but praying it just may be something else besides our bus exploding, we dared to peek outside the curtains to realize that the power box under the bus was self-destructing right before our very eyes at 3:00 in the morning!!
Yes, it was July in Christmas – the 4th of July!! Streams of objects were shooting into the night air with great beams of light that were projecting into the pitch blackness at accelerating speeds. Booms of bangs were piercing the silence of the night as we watched our only source of heat go up in a blaze of glory. I remember just rolling my eyes back, looking over at Vince and pulling the covers over my head and saying, “We’ll just deal with it in the morning!” It was just easier to forget it all and sleep in denial for the rest of the night.
In the morning after investigating everything, we discovered that besides the power box dying that all the water pipes had frozen and burst. At this point we were at our wits end. We again were at the place of no money at all. We managed to temporarily fix things but our attitudes were really beginning to lean towards the disgusted side.
Then at around 11:00 p.m. the very last night the campground was open, we got a knock on our door and were very surprised to see a couple from the tent revival who came to see us and they wanted prayer. (We didn’t remember mentioning it, but we must have told the lady preacher where we were going to move to so she must have told them where we were.)
We were really not in the mood to pray for anyone but we did all the while I was trying to be sensitive to God to see what He would have me bless them with because they were the poorest people at the revival – they put coins into our hands when the lady preacher told everyone to give us an offering as they left the revival!!)
Anyway, God did not tell me to give them anything and spent some time with them, offered them some refreshments and then we said our goodbyes. Once they left Vince went back to being disgusted. Two minutes later I heard another knock at the door and it was the wife of the couple and she shoved something in my hand and I just said “Thank you” to her as I thought it was probably a one dollar bill. We again said goodbye, I shut the door and Vince came out to see who it was just as I opened my hand to see a $100.00 bill!!! We both were just completely stunned. I think I muttered “The wife just gave me this.” I think we just stood there about five minutes just starring at it not believing that poor little lady had given us that much money!!! Then we both did the dance of joy!!! We were just beside ourselves and thanked God and rejoiced all over the place and we slept very well that night as I recall!!
The next day all of a sudden Vince wondered whether the couple had mistakenly given us their rent money in the dark!! We had no idea where they lived or worked and looked for them for a while. Not finding them we went ahead and purchased food and gas and ran into a couple of women who were in the praise and worship team from the church we had been attending and I had been working at. They inquired how we were doing and they just happened to be the managers of an apartment complex just outside of town and by that night we had put a deposit on an apartment and had moved into it and had traded the bus for a nice car at a used car lot in town.
Interestingly enough, the next time we saw the couple that had given us the $100.00, Vince immediately asked them if they had mistakenly given us their rent money. The husband spoke up and said that when they walked outside of our camper and were getting ready to leave, they were in their car figuring out how much money to give us when they looked out toward the woods and saw a pure, white dove fly out of the woods and land on the top of our bus. As soon as they saw that, the wife ran to give us the $100.00!!
In a tiny moment of time, through the most unexpected servants of God, He had provided all we needed. I couldn’t have been more surprised. When you are determined to submit yourself to God, He will shock you with His love at times. More and more He was showing us His absolute faithfulness and loving hand of provision. More and more we were learning to behave during the hard times by maintaining a good attitude and learning to control our emotions and feelings. When we were upset or angry with God and He would answer our prayers, we would feel so ashamed that we didn’t believe and have the faith that He would take care of us.
We were learning not to get upset but to worship and love Him with a joyful spirit continually regardless of what we were going through because we knew that if we didn’t have a good attitude that we weren’t being faithful to Him. If we praise Him before He answers, it proves that we really trust Him and have faith that He is able to deliver us and keep us because He is our portion, our strength, our deliverer, our provider, the rock of our salvation in whom we can trust completely!!!
It is a wondrous thing to fall in love with the one I call Daddy God. Growing up, my brother and I never had a father image in our family – my mom brought us up all alone and Vince also had a very difficult youth as well. Father is a name neither of us could relate to but God cared for us so deeply that He revealed Himself in ways of love we never expected. Getting to know God as a real father is an incredible privilege and honor. We found the heart of God in the midst of desperation and looking back I know it was worth every moment of that desperation because soon, it wasn’t about the money, it wasn’t about jobs or preaching engagements, it was about falling in love with a God who not only gave His own Son but continued to give and give and give.
This whole journey was meant to pull us much deeper than survival or supply, it all was meant to create deep within us an unrelenting passion and devotion to the One and Only God who is alive forevermore and who loves us beyond all intellect, all knowledge, all circumstance, all there is.
TO BE CONTINUED!!!!
http://www.faith-space.com/forum/topic/show?id=2008026%3ATopic%3A59822
You should sit back and read it.
TENNESSEE OR BUST
By Pastor Laura Rizzo
One of the worst and yet rather humorous times of our Christian training began in 1986 in Florida and took us on a journey to Greeneville, Tennessee. Amazingly we saw the mighty, miraculous and sovereign hand of God intervene in our lives repeatedly and learned some incredible lessons along the way…
We married in 1985 and at the end of our first year an offer came our way to live rent free, work at and be the Chaplains of a campground in Naples, Florida. To us this would be a very easy way to save money and I was always open for a change in scenery. Thinking we had nothing to lose, we had an interview with the park managers which proved to be very pleasant as the meeting was held in their lovely double-wide mobile home. They seemed so nice and reasonable and discussing our future positions seemed like such an effortless, natural choice and something we were meant to do all along.
Upon returning home we decided to vacate our lovely brand new apartment in Fort Myers to pursue this opportunity and were excited about embarking on this new adventure.
Our first day there was like a slap in the face. First off, we didn’t pay much attention to the camper that the managers had planned for us to reside in which was a gross oversight on our part. The interview was so “deceiving” that we just expected their camper to be as nice as their home. Wrong!! Upon exploring this tiny, filthy, horrifying mess, I immediately burst into tears at the sight and smell of it. By now it was too late to do anything about it as we had already given up our apartment, put all our furniture in storage and had made the commitment to take these positions. Was this a hint of things to come? You be the judge.
The day after that we started our jobs. My position at the campground was an office check-in clerk for the campers and Vince’s job was grounds maintenance and getting the campers settled onto their sites. Our next problem was that we naively believed the managers would uphold the terms for the positions we agreed to. As it turned out, completely contrary to our agreement, we worked every weekend, every Sunday and every holiday so in comparison to that, the filthy, small camper was soon insignificant. As time went on we just became more miserable and were certain that we’d made a grave mistake in our choice to go there. We then began fervently praying that God would do something—quick!!!
Customarily God rarely, if EVER, moves quickly and even if He does, its usually never within our time frame so while we were waiting for God to answer our prayers Vince happened to notice a 45 foot, 1961 International school bus that was for sale in the back of the campground.
Upon seeing it he sensed that God wanted us to have it so he actually just went and laid hands on it and asked the Lord for it. Within a few days he saw the man who owned it, spoke with him and we got a tour of it. The owner had been converting it to a camper and it had bunk beds for their kids, a customized kitchen table booth, a mid-sized refrigerator, a small kitchen sink, a small porta potty, (funny I never noticed it didn’t have a shower!!) and at this point I was open to WHATEVER would take us away from this cursed campground.
As we began to discuss the deal, we offered the man my car for an even-trade deal as it was a rather nice car, but he really wanted the Volkswagen camper we had. It was only three years old and a dear lady in our church, by direction of the Lord, had packed the thing to the full with everything anyone would ever need to go camping and then had given it to us free and clear. When he suggested that, a thrill came into my soul at the thought of blessing this man as he had a wife and kids and only had a moped (a tiny motor bike) to go to work, do errands, go grocery shopping and he owned nothing he could use to take his whole family anywhere.
Apparently God had intended all along for this man to have that camper van and everything in it as once we completed the deal, he radiated with joy and was praising God for this wonderful transaction. We too, were exceedingly happy and joyful especially since we could move out of the manager’s stinky camper!!
As it was now June of 1987, we spent several weeks working on the bus to complete the conversion and it took much longer than we expected because the heat and humidity were over 95 sweltering degrees each day. Between the heat and sweating profusely we both were exhausted by noon each day. Our upgrade included installing a window air conditioner unit in the back door window and we half killed ourselves getting a king sized bed in the back door of the bus and I wouldn’t suggest that maneuver to anyone!!! Just envision the three stooges taking on that task and it was us!!
Finally finishing the conversion, it was now time to take her out and see what she could do!! Upon our first jaunt with the bus one Sunday afternoon we were traveling towards the Everglades on a two-lane road, and had only gone a few miles when smoke began pouring out from under the hood. I pulled over onto an almost non-existent shoulder that almost dumped us into a canal and Vince leaped out, opened the hood and as he did the engine burst into flames!!!
In panic, he ran back into the bus and grabbed the fire extinguisher which he had just installed the day before, but he couldn’t get it to work!! Yikes!! Then I panicked, ran out and grabbed the extinguisher and began frantically reading the directions to operate it. At that point, Vince’s stress level went into overload and he promptly began losing his lunch on the side of the road as I finally managed to put out the fire!!
Thinking back, it must have been quite a quandary for the passers-by as they were probably quite confused as to which to respond to – the fire or Vince’s performance so no one stopped at all to help us!!!
Anyway, completely exhausted but relieved we crawled back into the bus and just sat there getting our breath when a kind, Florida Highway Patrolman traveling in the opposite direction did and u-turn and stopped to help us. He used his radio to call headquarters to get in touch with the seller who paid for the miraculous, minimal damage and we were on our way in no time!! (The miracles were starting already!)
At least now we knew the bus was roadworthy but we still needed to hear from God what to do about leaving the campground. About a week or two later one Sunday after one of our church services, a little lady told us about a place called Horse Creek in upper East Tennessee that was run by the U. S. Department of Forestry and she said we could possibly be campground hosts there and have a similar living situation there.
Well, that was music to my ears as we couldn’t wait to leave this campground and the annoying managers who had lied to us about everything. We immediately began praying about this and on Monday we called the Dept. of Forestry. They said they would love to have us come right away and informed us that their campground was in the Appalachian Mountains and that they had three huge swimming pools!!!—imagine that!! Not having been to Tennessee before, I immediately had visions of the kind of scenery of Oregon and of the Florida style of three lovely concrete swimming pools – how elegant and dreamy!!!
Finally, we were ready to make the trip and we had both quit our jobs and had purchased walkie-talkies to communicate to each other on the trip. Vince drove my car and I drove the bus as I had had extensive experience driving trucks and had my Chauffeur’s license for five years as I had worked outside construction related jobs before I met him.
Once we left Fort Myers I was as happy as a lark. The trek to Horse Creek was fairly uneventful until we were about six hours south of Atlanta when I heard a big bang from the engine. I radioed Vince and we both pulled over to check it out. As he walked up to the bus, he noticed that there was oil all down the outside of it. He opened the hood, looked around the engine, and not being a mechanic, he closed it, wiped the oil off of it, placed his hands on it and prayed that God would heal it – and God did just that!! (Acts 28:8). We never had a bit of trouble with it from that time on and we arrived at our destination safe and sound six hours later.
However, by the time we reached our destination MY stress level had gone into overload. Each time I called the Dept. of Forestry they could not give me exact directions to the campground!!! Each time I hung up the pay phone I was scratching my head in unbelief asking myself why couldn’t they just tell me where their campground was?? – after all they lived in Tennessee and they should know where their own campground was!!!
Unbeknownst to us many of the roads in Tennessee seem to have been designed and constructed by persons under the influence of alcoholic substances or if you prefer, moonshine!! The roads continue endlessly curling and winding for miles and miles. It turned out that Horse Creek was at the furthest end of one of these roads and was a place less than your average “Mayberry” with the nearest town being 18 miles away!!!
The campground itself was at the base of a huge mountain with ten tent campsites and we soon learned there were NO showers, one OUTHOUSE and NO lights within 500 feet anywhere. And as for the “three swimming pools”? These were nothing but holes in the ground about 8 to 10 feet deep with freezing ice cold, mountain stream water running through them and…where we would have to bathe for the next three months!!!!!!!!! We realized we were totally unprepared for camping up north and my dreamy visions of Oregon and elegant swimming pools turned into nightmares of “WHAT’S NEXT?”
After coming all this way, this was our future. I really remember quoting that line that has the fire and the frying pan in it and the phrase, “What were we thinking?” Here we were again faced with inconceivable, uncontrollable living conditions which we had to accept. I could handle the darkness outside as we did have power to our site and we were still in contact with the civilized world because the rangers installed a phone for us but I didn’t handle the outhouse issue well and as for bathing in water day in and day out that wasn’t frozen just because it was running downhill?? That was another issue altogether!!!!
Needless to say, we didn’t bathe TOO much and fortunately there weren’t too many campers down wind of us. And using the small porta potty we had meant Vince had to dump it in the outhouse every few days – that was another nightmare I totally chose to ignore. When we did have to bathe, our normal bath time schedule in 30 degree weather was:
1. Put our bathing suits on under our clothes and jackets.
2. Wait till it was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
3. Take a large towel and bar of soap and your flip flops or sandals.
4. Use a large flashlight to run to the creek.
5. Strip down and jump in while screaming at the top of your lungs to dull the shock.
6. Jump out to lather up.
7. Jump in again while screaming even louder to rinse off.
8. Jump back out and hold the flashlight so the other person could do the same thing.
9. Run like crazy back to the bus without falling and freezing!!
10. Pile tons of blankets on us to keep from hypothermia!!
The upside was that bathing outside at night, makes one very glad that there are no lights within 500 feet!!!
We spent our days praying and worshiping God and studying and job hunting. We found that the norm for Tennessee is to hire and lay off all the same people year after year at all the factories because most of these folks are very clannish. That means if you weren’t born there they didn’t give outsiders a second thought. So here we were in another impossible situation where we had to pray and wait on God –again!!
One thing we really learned was how to trust God and trust that He could take care of us regardless of the situation. We still had some bills from Florida but being caretakers of this campground meant we had no overhead except for food and gas but we were learning that if God could take care of the birds of the air like He said in Matthew 6:25-34, that He could take care of us. And God was there to meet us many, many times.
To most people no jobs mean no money for food, gas or bills, but to us, this is God’s perfect recipe for a miracle. To us this is a time of sheer excitement as we wait to see God open His miraculous hand and make a way where there seems to be no way.
However, it may sound like that was an easy formula to receiving from God but it was incredible training for us which I called the “fumes of faith” because there were times that I thought WE WOULD PERISH!! And, when it comes to perishing I always think of Queen Esther in the Bible when she was positioned to intercede for the lives of the entire Jewish nation. The risk she took to go to the king with her petition to repeal a law to annihilate her people was a life and death decision she had to make whether she died doing it or not. She trusted God to see her through this and so did we.
Sometimes when we thought all was lost and that we would perish, we would come home from job hunting and find another miracle had taken place such as the day we came home and the whole one side of our entire bus was lined with huge grocery bags full of fresh vegetables of all kinds that came from the park rangers. There were about 20 bags in all. We were totally in awe of what God was doing as we told no one but God of our needs. We had been at the end again with no money for food at all. We later learned that all the park rangers owned and ran farms and worked at several different parks part time. In our greatest hour of need God had orchestrated these people to bless us during our times of despair.
As Day Light Savings Time was ended, it was getting darker sooner so we mentioned to the Dept. of Forestry just how dark the park was and they placed a large light fixture behind our bus which was just outside our bedroom air conditioner. This was rather comforting to us as the woods at the base of this huge mountain in the park rendered everything pitch black once the sun set.
However, we really hadn’t thought far enough ahead on this because being that this light was THE ONLY LIGHT IN THE PARK, we were awakened in the middle of the night to find whole families of crickets leaping through the air conditioner vent onto our king size bed!!
Half asleep, half laughing, swatting and beating the sheets we attempted to rid ourselves of over 50 of the noisy creatures who were having a grand time invading our nocturnal bliss!! I finally yelled for Vince to go outside and shut off the light to keep the rest of the cricket population from coming in. Getting back to sleep many hours later I recall even laughing in my sleep after this crazy episode. We saw this as God bringing us moments of laughter from the smallest things to keep us from discouragement and from giving up.
One day in November we discovered a local tent revival. The 30 degree weather rendered very small crowds and we noticed they were getting very small offerings as well. The small crowds made it easy for us to get acquainted with the lady preacher and we found that she too was living by faith. She then invited Vince to preach the last night of the revival.
That evening at the revival Vince sensed that the Lord wanted him to pledge to give her and her team $50.00. We didn’t have $5.00 let alone $50.00, but we knew that we served a faithful God and that He would provide. When the last night of the revival came, we still didn’t have the pledge but Vince went and preached till they were cheering and receiving from God. In fact, the lady preacher was so kind that she had all the attendees come forward and give us an offering as they left and not having ever experienced that type of offering before we just stuffed the money into our pockets.
Later when it was all over, Vince pulled $50.00 out of his pockets for her and we discovered that between the two of us we still had $290.00 left over which to us was a gold mine!! This was just enough for us to pay our few bills, get food and gas, go out to dinner and wait on God again for the next provision. Our hearts were overflowing with joy and excitement that God had met our needs, again!!
Our job hunting finally proved successful when I was hired as a secretary at a local church. The pastor could only pay me $4.00 per hour and I could only afford to work part time three days a week because each trip was 36 miles so it was rather costly. For three months we lived on about $40.00 per week!!!!
On some of those pay days, I remember walking up and down the grocery aisles tears streaming down my face wondering how we could conceivably survive and trying to reason how we would ever have enough money for gas and food, the bills and incidentals. The impossibility of it all was overwhelming and each week I would VERY carefully choose what we could afford and we always tithed $4.00 per week at the church as well. Trust me when I say that it is terribly hard on your flesh to tithe $4.00 per week when you are only making $40.00 per week but we found joy in giving to God as we saw Him lovingly provide for us time and time again.
But, don’t you know that if Jesus could feed 5,000 from one loaf of bread and two little fish that he could care for us just fine on $40.00 per week!!! He multiplied our loaves and fishes each and every week!!!! God would even put us before people who were making much more money per week than us but would be in terrible financial situations. They were living in fear as they did not have enough money to feed their kids and this one family of five we knew were living on was ice milk as the father worked at a dairy.
We would then be able to witness to them and testify how powerfully and faithfully God had provided for us and taken care of us when we put Him first in our lives. These same people would then financially bless us out of their extreme need and the next time we would see them, they had a testimony to tell of the goodness of God in His care and provision for them as well!!! In fact the next week the husband got a promotion and a raise!! When we honor God in all we do, He will honor us in due time.
Now as it turned out, Vince could not find a job so he had the privilege of staying home and praying and seeking the Lord and God would just manifest himself to him and be so real to Vince that he was incredibly encouraged and would then encourage me through the rough times.
Periodically we would get invitations to preach at local churches, which was the result of Vince’s time spent in prayer. The opportunities helped us form local friendships and provided some funding as the churches responded with some support.
By now winter was fast approaching and the situation was getting steadily MORE uncomfortable and annoying. The November-December temperatures were so cold that the mountain stream we bathed in felt like needles piercing your skin. By the time we would run back to the bus, we were so frozen that we had to stack layers of blankets on both of us to be able to stand it. The water actually felt so cold that one time Vince had a terrible headache and he dove in and practically flew out of the water and then realized his headache was completely gone!! (Either that or he was so cold he couldn’t feel it any longer!!)
Anyway, the next problem was that the campground we were in was now closing and we had to relocate to another park. In fact, it was so late in the season that when we moved to this new park we were the ONLY ones there and it was scheduled to close within two weeks. The hand of the Lord also gave us favor there as the park managers allowed us to stay free of charge!
We set up camp as usual but at least this place had hot showers – what a wonderful luxury!!!! But then the trials and challenges began again. This time we faced black spiders with fuzzy white hair on their backs that seemed to be everywhere. One day while doing the dishes I was rinsing a dish when I looked up and here was one of these spiders dangling from the shelving unit above the sink right in front of my nose!! I gasped in sheer horror and it was just enough to get him to drop down in the dishwater right where I wanted him. I thank my God that I didn’t inhale any harder or that thing would have gone right down my throat, hair and all!!
As the days passed it even got colder and we had to run two space heaters all night long because school buses have no insulation. If it was 20 degrees outside it was just about that cold inside and you could see your breath if you sat up in bed.
One night it was just too much for our generator and we woke up to the sounds of explosions and flashing lights on the left side of the bus. Afraid to look but praying it just may be something else besides our bus exploding, we dared to peek outside the curtains to realize that the power box under the bus was self-destructing right before our very eyes at 3:00 in the morning!!
Yes, it was July in Christmas – the 4th of July!! Streams of objects were shooting into the night air with great beams of light that were projecting into the pitch blackness at accelerating speeds. Booms of bangs were piercing the silence of the night as we watched our only source of heat go up in a blaze of glory. I remember just rolling my eyes back, looking over at Vince and pulling the covers over my head and saying, “We’ll just deal with it in the morning!” It was just easier to forget it all and sleep in denial for the rest of the night.
In the morning after investigating everything, we discovered that besides the power box dying that all the water pipes had frozen and burst. At this point we were at our wits end. We again were at the place of no money at all. We managed to temporarily fix things but our attitudes were really beginning to lean towards the disgusted side.
Then at around 11:00 p.m. the very last night the campground was open, we got a knock on our door and were very surprised to see a couple from the tent revival who came to see us and they wanted prayer. (We didn’t remember mentioning it, but we must have told the lady preacher where we were going to move to so she must have told them where we were.)
We were really not in the mood to pray for anyone but we did all the while I was trying to be sensitive to God to see what He would have me bless them with because they were the poorest people at the revival – they put coins into our hands when the lady preacher told everyone to give us an offering as they left the revival!!)
Anyway, God did not tell me to give them anything and spent some time with them, offered them some refreshments and then we said our goodbyes. Once they left Vince went back to being disgusted. Two minutes later I heard another knock at the door and it was the wife of the couple and she shoved something in my hand and I just said “Thank you” to her as I thought it was probably a one dollar bill. We again said goodbye, I shut the door and Vince came out to see who it was just as I opened my hand to see a $100.00 bill!!! We both were just completely stunned. I think I muttered “The wife just gave me this.” I think we just stood there about five minutes just starring at it not believing that poor little lady had given us that much money!!! Then we both did the dance of joy!!! We were just beside ourselves and thanked God and rejoiced all over the place and we slept very well that night as I recall!!
The next day all of a sudden Vince wondered whether the couple had mistakenly given us their rent money in the dark!! We had no idea where they lived or worked and looked for them for a while. Not finding them we went ahead and purchased food and gas and ran into a couple of women who were in the praise and worship team from the church we had been attending and I had been working at. They inquired how we were doing and they just happened to be the managers of an apartment complex just outside of town and by that night we had put a deposit on an apartment and had moved into it and had traded the bus for a nice car at a used car lot in town.
Interestingly enough, the next time we saw the couple that had given us the $100.00, Vince immediately asked them if they had mistakenly given us their rent money. The husband spoke up and said that when they walked outside of our camper and were getting ready to leave, they were in their car figuring out how much money to give us when they looked out toward the woods and saw a pure, white dove fly out of the woods and land on the top of our bus. As soon as they saw that, the wife ran to give us the $100.00!!
In a tiny moment of time, through the most unexpected servants of God, He had provided all we needed. I couldn’t have been more surprised. When you are determined to submit yourself to God, He will shock you with His love at times. More and more He was showing us His absolute faithfulness and loving hand of provision. More and more we were learning to behave during the hard times by maintaining a good attitude and learning to control our emotions and feelings. When we were upset or angry with God and He would answer our prayers, we would feel so ashamed that we didn’t believe and have the faith that He would take care of us.
We were learning not to get upset but to worship and love Him with a joyful spirit continually regardless of what we were going through because we knew that if we didn’t have a good attitude that we weren’t being faithful to Him. If we praise Him before He answers, it proves that we really trust Him and have faith that He is able to deliver us and keep us because He is our portion, our strength, our deliverer, our provider, the rock of our salvation in whom we can trust completely!!!
It is a wondrous thing to fall in love with the one I call Daddy God. Growing up, my brother and I never had a father image in our family – my mom brought us up all alone and Vince also had a very difficult youth as well. Father is a name neither of us could relate to but God cared for us so deeply that He revealed Himself in ways of love we never expected. Getting to know God as a real father is an incredible privilege and honor. We found the heart of God in the midst of desperation and looking back I know it was worth every moment of that desperation because soon, it wasn’t about the money, it wasn’t about jobs or preaching engagements, it was about falling in love with a God who not only gave His own Son but continued to give and give and give.
This whole journey was meant to pull us much deeper than survival or supply, it all was meant to create deep within us an unrelenting passion and devotion to the One and Only God who is alive forevermore and who loves us beyond all intellect, all knowledge, all circumstance, all there is.
TO BE CONTINUED!!!!
http://www.faith-space.com/forum/topic/show?id=2008026%3ATopic%3A59822
Sunday, April 13, 2008
There is Happiness Beyond Enigma's Sadness
Coming from a Roman Catholic background and with a good knowledge of Gregorian Latin hymns, Sadness by Enigma was quite thrilling and I have been working on producing a great song that can be as profound as Sadness. I believe in the grace of God to produce it in 2008. My composition will be in my mother tongue Igbo, Latin and English and the musical video will be recorded on the location of the Holy Cross Cathedral on the Lagos Island in Lagos with some scenes at the St. Michael's Catholic Church in Lafiaji, Lagos. The Nigerian who will play the leading role in the musical video has already been chosen.
Here is Sadness for your spiritual meditation.
Lyrics
(Latin) Procedamus in pace, In nomine Christi, Amen
(Translation) Let us go forth in peace, In the name of Christ, So be it
(Latin) Cum angelis et pueris, fideles inveniamur
(Translation) We shall find the faithful in the company of angels and children
(Latin) Attollite portas, principes, vestraset elevamini, portae aeternaleset introibit rex gloriae. Qius est iste Rex glorie?
(Translation) Lift up ye heads o ye glorious gates, And be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors, And the king of glory shall come in. Who is the king of glory?
(French) Sade dit moi
(Translation) Sade tell me
(French) Sade donne moi
(Translation) Sade give me
(Latin) Procedamus in pace, In nomine Christi, Amen
(Translation) Let us go forth in peace, In the name of Christ, So be it
(French) Sade dit moi, qu'est ce que tu vas chercher? Le bien par le mal, la vertu par le vice? Sade dit moi, pourquoi l'évangile du mal? Quelle est ta religion ou sont tes fidèles? Si tu es contre Dieu, tu es contre l'homme. Sade dit moi, pourquoi le sang pour le plaisir? Le plaisir sans l'amour? N'y a t'il plus de sentiment dans le culte de l'homme? Sade, es-tu diabolique ou divin?
(Translation) Sade tell me, what is it that you seek? The rightness of wrong, The virtue of vice? Sade tell me, why the Gospel of evil? What is your religion or where are your faithful? If you are against God, you are against man. Sade tell me, why blood for pleasure? Pleasure without love? Is there no longer any feeling in man's faith? Sade, are you diabolical or divine?
(French) Sade dit moi
(Translation) Sade tell me
(French) Sade donne moi
(Translation) Sade give me
(French) Sade dit moi
(Translation) Sade tell me
(French) Sade donne moi
(Translation) Sade give me
(Latin) In nomine Christi, Amen
(Translation) In the name of Christ, so be it
Here is Sadness for your spiritual meditation.
Lyrics
(Latin) Procedamus in pace, In nomine Christi, Amen
(Translation) Let us go forth in peace, In the name of Christ, So be it
(Latin) Cum angelis et pueris, fideles inveniamur
(Translation) We shall find the faithful in the company of angels and children
(Latin) Attollite portas, principes, vestraset elevamini, portae aeternaleset introibit rex gloriae. Qius est iste Rex glorie?
(Translation) Lift up ye heads o ye glorious gates, And be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors, And the king of glory shall come in. Who is the king of glory?
(French) Sade dit moi
(Translation) Sade tell me
(French) Sade donne moi
(Translation) Sade give me
(Latin) Procedamus in pace, In nomine Christi, Amen
(Translation) Let us go forth in peace, In the name of Christ, So be it
(French) Sade dit moi, qu'est ce que tu vas chercher? Le bien par le mal, la vertu par le vice? Sade dit moi, pourquoi l'évangile du mal? Quelle est ta religion ou sont tes fidèles? Si tu es contre Dieu, tu es contre l'homme. Sade dit moi, pourquoi le sang pour le plaisir? Le plaisir sans l'amour? N'y a t'il plus de sentiment dans le culte de l'homme? Sade, es-tu diabolique ou divin?
(Translation) Sade tell me, what is it that you seek? The rightness of wrong, The virtue of vice? Sade tell me, why the Gospel of evil? What is your religion or where are your faithful? If you are against God, you are against man. Sade tell me, why blood for pleasure? Pleasure without love? Is there no longer any feeling in man's faith? Sade, are you diabolical or divine?
(French) Sade dit moi
(Translation) Sade tell me
(French) Sade donne moi
(Translation) Sade give me
(French) Sade dit moi
(Translation) Sade tell me
(French) Sade donne moi
(Translation) Sade give me
(Latin) In nomine Christi, Amen
(Translation) In the name of Christ, so be it
Thursday, April 10, 2008
What's Your Purpose in Life?
Thursday, April 10, 2008
1. What's Your Purpose in Life?
From the Apostle Paul: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."1
"Josh McDowell tells about an executive 'headhunter' who recruits corporate executives for large firms. This headhunter once told McDowell that when he interviews an executive, he likes to disarm him. 'I offer him a drink,' said the headhunter, 'take off my coat, undo my tie, throw up my feet and talk about baseball, football, family, whatever, until he's all relaxed. Then, when I think I've got him relaxed, I lean over, look him square in the eye and say, "What's your purpose in life?" It's amazing how top executives fall apart at that question.'
"Then he told about interviewing one fellow recently. He had him all disarmed, had his feet up on his desk, talking about football. Then the headhunter leaned over and said, 'What's your purpose in life, Bob?' And the executive said, without blinking an eye, 'To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.'
"'For the first time in my career,' said the headhunter, 'I was speechless.'"2
I've asked this same question to scores of people over the years in seminars I have led. Just about everybody believes God has a God-given life purpose for them, but when I ask them what it is, very few have ever carefully thought it through and written it down.
If we want to die well, we need to live well, and if we are to live well, it is imperative that we know what our God-given life purpose is and with God's help give it our best shot.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to discern my God-given life purpose so that I know exactly what it is. And please help to fulfill this purpose so when I come to the end of my life's journey, I will know that I have not lived in vain. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
1. 2 Timothy 4:7-8, (NIV).
2. Dr. Gary Nicolosi, "Preparing for the End Time," sermon, www.stbartschurch.org/sermarch/sb110799.html
<:))))<><
1. What's Your Purpose in Life?
From the Apostle Paul: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."1
"Josh McDowell tells about an executive 'headhunter' who recruits corporate executives for large firms. This headhunter once told McDowell that when he interviews an executive, he likes to disarm him. 'I offer him a drink,' said the headhunter, 'take off my coat, undo my tie, throw up my feet and talk about baseball, football, family, whatever, until he's all relaxed. Then, when I think I've got him relaxed, I lean over, look him square in the eye and say, "What's your purpose in life?" It's amazing how top executives fall apart at that question.'
"Then he told about interviewing one fellow recently. He had him all disarmed, had his feet up on his desk, talking about football. Then the headhunter leaned over and said, 'What's your purpose in life, Bob?' And the executive said, without blinking an eye, 'To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.'
"'For the first time in my career,' said the headhunter, 'I was speechless.'"2
I've asked this same question to scores of people over the years in seminars I have led. Just about everybody believes God has a God-given life purpose for them, but when I ask them what it is, very few have ever carefully thought it through and written it down.
If we want to die well, we need to live well, and if we are to live well, it is imperative that we know what our God-given life purpose is and with God's help give it our best shot.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to discern my God-given life purpose so that I know exactly what it is. And please help to fulfill this purpose so when I come to the end of my life's journey, I will know that I have not lived in vain. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
1. 2 Timothy 4:7-8, (NIV).
2. Dr. Gary Nicolosi, "Preparing for the End Time," sermon, www.stbartschurch.org/sermarch/sb110799.html
<:))))<><
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Where They Eat Dogs
It has been an exciting and thrilling spring for me. The joy of every writer is the birth of a new born baby and books are the children of writers.
My new book is coming out next week and the first collection of my essays and commentaries will be released before fall.
The title of this post is the title of a novel I want to write on the Nigerian tribe known for eating dog meat. But I am using it to address the dog eat dog ways of life in Nigeria.
Many humans actually behave and live like dogs.
Remember what our Messiah Jesus Christ warned us about such people in Matthew 7:6. He also said that:
"By their fruits you shall know them."
That means, you can tell from their characters and separate the sheep from the goats.
See The Dogs and the Pigs in Nigeria.
My new book is coming out next week and the first collection of my essays and commentaries will be released before fall.
The title of this post is the title of a novel I want to write on the Nigerian tribe known for eating dog meat. But I am using it to address the dog eat dog ways of life in Nigeria.
Many humans actually behave and live like dogs.
Remember what our Messiah Jesus Christ warned us about such people in Matthew 7:6. He also said that:
"By their fruits you shall know them."
That means, you can tell from their characters and separate the sheep from the goats.
See The Dogs and the Pigs in Nigeria.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
The Most Important Message of Easter
As a Christian who has absolute faith in Jesus Christ (Hebrew-Aramaic ישוע (Yeshua), I love Mel Gibson's allegory of the the trial, torture, crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in "The Passion of the Christ".
It will become an all time classic like "The King of Kings", my greatest inspiration.
The most important message of Easter is not the lip-service and eye-service of the church-goers, but how much we believe in Jesus Christ and how we live our daily life according to His commandments.
Jesus Christ did not die for our sins so that we can continue to sin and live in sin, but for us to REPENT or PERISH.
The fact of these interesting times is the reign of hypocrisy in the masquerade of Christianity. But as Jesus Christ said, the only way to know the true believers is by their fruits and not by their claims.
Most of those who claim to be "Christians" are mere church-goers and in most cases, their ways of life are not even different from the pagans. In fact, the pagans are more honest and transparent than the so-called "Christians" who are cheats, liars, scammers, schemers, opportunists, sex-traders and exchangers and other fringe characters. Wolves in sheep clothing.
They come to you in the guise of "Christianity", but eventually show you their true colours of hypocrisy.
They are very good in posing and posturing with fake airs anf graces online and offline, but their "Unchristian" actions eventually expose them.
Do not be fooled by what they say, display or portray in their conceit and deceit.
Time will tell you what and who they really are.
So, just beware of humans, regardless of their gender, class or creed.
Most of them come pretending to be your friends and well-wishers, but you will eventually see their true colours.
Do not trust anyone of them.
Most humans are fair weather friends or opportunists.
They are in it for what they can get out of it.
If they see that you cannot be fooled, they will show you their claws and fangs and forked tongues.
They are everywhere you are.
Just beware of them 24/7.
Jesus Christ has already shown us how to separate the sheep from the goats in MATTHEW, CHAPTER 25.
He also warned us about those who behave like dogs and pigs.
I HATE HYPOCRISY.
Jesus Christ hated hypocrisy.
He said he would spit hypocrites out and that is exactly what I do once I find out the hypocrites among those pretending to be my friends and well-wishers.
I cut them off, lest they corrupt the body of Jesus Christ.
Except they repent in truth and in spirit.
Many of them pretend to be repentant, but they are only going from bad to worse.
You have to get rid of the devils, otherwise they will get rid of you.
Just take your time to read what Jesus Christ preached and emulate what Jesus Christ practiced.
As Jesus Christ said:
Repent or perish!
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.
Happy Easter!
It will become an all time classic like "The King of Kings", my greatest inspiration.
The most important message of Easter is not the lip-service and eye-service of the church-goers, but how much we believe in Jesus Christ and how we live our daily life according to His commandments.
Jesus Christ did not die for our sins so that we can continue to sin and live in sin, but for us to REPENT or PERISH.
The fact of these interesting times is the reign of hypocrisy in the masquerade of Christianity. But as Jesus Christ said, the only way to know the true believers is by their fruits and not by their claims.
Most of those who claim to be "Christians" are mere church-goers and in most cases, their ways of life are not even different from the pagans. In fact, the pagans are more honest and transparent than the so-called "Christians" who are cheats, liars, scammers, schemers, opportunists, sex-traders and exchangers and other fringe characters. Wolves in sheep clothing.
They come to you in the guise of "Christianity", but eventually show you their true colours of hypocrisy.
They are very good in posing and posturing with fake airs anf graces online and offline, but their "Unchristian" actions eventually expose them.
Do not be fooled by what they say, display or portray in their conceit and deceit.
Time will tell you what and who they really are.
So, just beware of humans, regardless of their gender, class or creed.
Most of them come pretending to be your friends and well-wishers, but you will eventually see their true colours.
Do not trust anyone of them.
Most humans are fair weather friends or opportunists.
They are in it for what they can get out of it.
If they see that you cannot be fooled, they will show you their claws and fangs and forked tongues.
They are everywhere you are.
Just beware of them 24/7.
Jesus Christ has already shown us how to separate the sheep from the goats in MATTHEW, CHAPTER 25.
He also warned us about those who behave like dogs and pigs.
I HATE HYPOCRISY.
Jesus Christ hated hypocrisy.
He said he would spit hypocrites out and that is exactly what I do once I find out the hypocrites among those pretending to be my friends and well-wishers.
I cut them off, lest they corrupt the body of Jesus Christ.
Except they repent in truth and in spirit.
Many of them pretend to be repentant, but they are only going from bad to worse.
You have to get rid of the devils, otherwise they will get rid of you.
Just take your time to read what Jesus Christ preached and emulate what Jesus Christ practiced.
As Jesus Christ said:
Repent or perish!
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.
Happy Easter!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Sing a Song for Mee
Sing a Song for Mee
In memory of May Ellen Ezekiel (MEE)
I have waited for so long
To hear you sing a song
For Mee with glee
For all to see
The cheerful smiles on your brown faces
As you chorus with classic grimaces
And I hear your melodic voices
Bouncing off the walls in echo
Frightening off the wall gecko
In the climax of your deafening crescendo.
Then I felt it
My eyes were wet
Even Jesus wept.
After he said, Lazarus was only asleep
But Jesus Christ had to weep
When he saw that Lazarus was indeed dead
Yet, Lazarus was raised at the command of our Lord
By the infinite power of his Word
And so, I have the hope
That the same voice will wake us up.
So, I smile through the vistas of the reveries
Of our most treasured memories
Because dreams die last
When all other things are cast into the past.
By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
Friday, November 26, 2004.
9.45 a.m
In memory of May Ellen Ezekiel (MEE)
I have waited for so long
To hear you sing a song
For Mee with glee
For all to see
The cheerful smiles on your brown faces
As you chorus with classic grimaces
And I hear your melodic voices
Bouncing off the walls in echo
Frightening off the wall gecko
In the climax of your deafening crescendo.
Then I felt it
My eyes were wet
Even Jesus wept.
After he said, Lazarus was only asleep
But Jesus Christ had to weep
When he saw that Lazarus was indeed dead
Yet, Lazarus was raised at the command of our Lord
By the infinite power of his Word
And so, I have the hope
That the same voice will wake us up.
So, I smile through the vistas of the reveries
Of our most treasured memories
Because dreams die last
When all other things are cast into the past.
By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
Friday, November 26, 2004.
9.45 a.m
Friday, January 25, 2008
Yes. God Answers Prayers
Yes.
God answers prayers.
I am the living testimony.
Yes.
God answers prayers.
I am the living proof.
We are the evidence of the existence of God.
I am glad and grateful to Him
For great things He has done and He is still doing for me
Those you cannot see are more than those you can see.
Jesus Christ has set me free
That is why I am very happy.
Yes.
God answers prayes.
N.B:
The rhema came while I was bathing in the morning on Friday, January 25, 2008.
God answers prayers.
I am the living testimony.
Yes.
God answers prayers.
I am the living proof.
We are the evidence of the existence of God.
I am glad and grateful to Him
For great things He has done and He is still doing for me
Those you cannot see are more than those you can see.
Jesus Christ has set me free
That is why I am very happy.
Yes.
God answers prayes.
N.B:
The rhema came while I was bathing in the morning on Friday, January 25, 2008.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Life Is a Gift
Thursday, December 27, 2007
1. Life Is a Gift
"Pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."1
"There was a blind girl [or so the story goes] who hated herself because of her blindness. Not only did she hate herself but she hated everyone else, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend.
"One day someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything—including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her that simply said, 'Just take care of my eyes dear.'
"Too often we change when our status changes. Only a few remember what life was like before and even fewer remember who to thank for always being there when times were painfully unbearable.
"Life is a gift, so today: Before you think of saying an unkind word, think of someone who can't speak. Before you complain about the taste of your food, think of someone who has nothing to eat. Before you complain about your husband or wife, think of someone who's crying out to God for a companion. Before you complain about your life, think of someone who went too early to heaven.
Before you complain about your children, think of someone who desires children but is barren. Before you argue about your dirty house that someone didn't clean or sweep, think of the people who are living in the streets. Before whining about the distance you drive, think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet. And when you are tired and complain about your job, think of the unemployed, the disabled and those who wished they had your job.
"And before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another, remember that not one of us is without sin and all will answer to one Maker. And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down, try to put a smile on your face and thank God you're alive and still around. Life is a gift, live it, enjoy it, celebrate it, and fulfill it.
"Enjoy the moment. It may not come around again."2
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, in the midst of life's trials help me always to count my many blessings—one by one—and learn to always give thanks for these and be grateful for what I do have and not complain about what I don't have. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
1. 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 (NIV).
2. Author unknown. Source: Marcella's Inspiring
Collection, http://tinyurl.com/w9nb9
<:))))><
1. Life Is a Gift
"Pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."1
"There was a blind girl [or so the story goes] who hated herself because of her blindness. Not only did she hate herself but she hated everyone else, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend.
"One day someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything—including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her that simply said, 'Just take care of my eyes dear.'
"Too often we change when our status changes. Only a few remember what life was like before and even fewer remember who to thank for always being there when times were painfully unbearable.
"Life is a gift, so today: Before you think of saying an unkind word, think of someone who can't speak. Before you complain about the taste of your food, think of someone who has nothing to eat. Before you complain about your husband or wife, think of someone who's crying out to God for a companion. Before you complain about your life, think of someone who went too early to heaven.
Before you complain about your children, think of someone who desires children but is barren. Before you argue about your dirty house that someone didn't clean or sweep, think of the people who are living in the streets. Before whining about the distance you drive, think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet. And when you are tired and complain about your job, think of the unemployed, the disabled and those who wished they had your job.
"And before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another, remember that not one of us is without sin and all will answer to one Maker. And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down, try to put a smile on your face and thank God you're alive and still around. Life is a gift, live it, enjoy it, celebrate it, and fulfill it.
"Enjoy the moment. It may not come around again."2
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, in the midst of life's trials help me always to count my many blessings—one by one—and learn to always give thanks for these and be grateful for what I do have and not complain about what I don't have. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
1. 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 (NIV).
2. Author unknown. Source: Marcella's Inspiring
Collection, http://tinyurl.com/w9nb9
<:))))><
Merry Christmas From Australia With Love
A Merry Christmas from all of us
We wish you a time
of blessing and peace,
and a fruitful year ahead.
~ Rev. David B. Smith and Family
A Christmas Message
by Rev. David B. Smith
Spiritual Integrity
Christmas can be a very confusing time, and perhaps most especially when it comes to explaining to our children what it is really supposed to be about. There is such a mixture of secular and religious motifs around at this time of year that it can be hard to differentiate between the two, and know where one starts and the other stops?
I read once of a Japanese chocolate manufacturer who produced a line of chocolate Santas one year, trying to cash in on Christmas fervour flowing over from the West. In this case though the Santas were each laid out on little chocolate crucifixes, displaying a very real level of confusion between the identities of Jesus and Santa. We in the West are prone to the same confusion, I think. Perhaps we don’t often turn Santa Claus into Jesus, but I think we do tend to turn Jesus into Santa Claus.
“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake.” Who are we talking about here, Jesus or Santa Claus? It’s not always easy to tell!
This is even more clear in the way we depict the Nativity scene. There they sit, the holy family, haloes over each head, silently musing over the child - no crying he makes, no nappy he wets, no trouble he brings, no sign of real humanity we shows. That’s actually the birth of Santa Claus!
The real Christmas narrative that we read of in the Gospels is the story of a hard birth. Mothers amongst us who have had hard births will appreciate this more than the rest of us, but all of us, even if we have never been present at a birth, should understand that this was a hard birth.
All births are difficult. People die giving birth. We know that. And so we good 21st Century people do everything we can to reduce the risk and the pain associated with childbirth. We have medical staff present at all times. We make sure that births takes place in a comfortable and sanitized environment. And we make sure we have pain relief available. At the very least, we have lots of sheets and hot water!
We 21st Century people are very civilized about these things. We want to look after our women giving birth and so minimize the risks, and in truth, the 1st Century people were exactly the same! And yet Mary, so far as we know, had nothing and noone at hand to make the birth any easier. Indeed, the image of Mary, bleeding and giving birth on the floor of a barn in Bethlehem, assisted only by the fumbling Joseph (and perhaps a couple of shepherds) is a brutal one.
But Mary was a refugee of sorts, displaced from her own home and family, and unable to gain sufficient sympathy from the locals in Bethlehem to even be granted the most minimal of comforts, or so it would seem.
I often wonder what it was that made those residents of Bethlehem so insensitive to the needs a destitute pregnant woman at full term, and that in a culture that placed such great importance on showing hospitality to visitors?
Was it something about Mary (or perhaps Joseph) that put them off? Was it really just the experience of the census, with all the stress and over-crowding that went with it, that left them simply unable to cope with any further strain on their physical or emotional resources? Or was it the result of the years of harsh occupation by the Roman occupying forces that had turned a once open and generous town into a ghetto of frightened and self-seeking people?
We don’t know the full story of the circumstances that forced Mary to give birth where only an animal should give birth, without the proper medical support and assistance that should be the right of every mother, but we know it must have been hard a hard birth. We know she survived, and we know that the baby Jesus survived, but it must have been a hard birth.
So we might ask though, is it appropriate for us to celebrate this story with streamers and happy songs and gifts and brightly coloured baubles, when the underlying reality that we remember was so stark and ugly and odorous? And the answer is, ‘yes, it is’ - entirely appropriate. For what we celebrate in the Christmas story - that story of a painful and difficult birth - is not the pain and the difficulty as such, but that fact that in the middle of all that pain and difficulty, God was there, reaching out to us!
Bethlehem on that Christmas morning was a painful and difficult place to be, but God was there! Go to Bethlehem today and you will find that it is still a painful and difficult place to be, as the residents there labour under another brutal occupation, yet God is still there! Go to the most painful and brutal areas of our world - through Afghanistan, Iraq, and into Burma and Dafur - and you will find that God is still there too, not removing Himself from the pain and not somehow sanitizing the brutality of it, but simply there, in the middle of it, tangibly present!
This is the Good News of Christmas that we celebrate - that there is no recess of darkness, no corner of our cosmos so brutal and inhuman that Christ Himself will not be found there. Indeed, what our faith tells us, our experience confirms, that there is no valley of darkness so deep, and no experience of isolation and pain that is so terrible that He is not to be found there with us!
This is the Good News of Christmas - that God is with us, and not with us in some distant, warm-hearted, fuzzy sort of way, wishing us all the best from the safety of Heaven, but with us in an entirely tangible way, entering into our chaos through this ancient nativity at Bethlehem, through the blood and suffering of Mary, through the birth of the baby Jesus.
Sermon for Christmas Day 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
8 Love Poems for You
1. Kiss Me Again
Kiss me again
Kiss away my tears and my pain.
I have been left in the cold rain
And my heart has been broken in vain.
I cried out for someone to rescue me.
I prayed for someone to set me free.
Then, you came to my rescue
You made my dream to come true
Because, you are the answer to my prayer
And I will cherish your love forever.
Kiss me again my darling.
2.Sleeping In Your Arms
When I sleep in your arms
I always have sweet dreams.
Sweet dreams of bliss
Sleeping in your arms.
I can feel your pulse
From my muscle to my corpuscle
Your loving touch makes me tense
From muscle to muscle
As you hold me tight
I can hear your heartbeat.
.
Sleeping in your arms.
How I wish this should last forever
The sweet sensation of my love fever
Ssshhhhhh…don’t interrupt my love.
Let her sleep in my arms in my grove.
3. How Can I Sleep Without Your Love?
How can I sleep?
When your love makes me weep?
Things have fallen apart
I am left with a broken heart
I am no longer at ease.
Oh! When my heartaches cease?
I stay awake all night
Praying for you to love me.
And I cannot rest
Until I regain your love.
Oh! Why can’t you love me?
Please, tell me what is wrong?
What can I do to win your love?
I will do anything for your love.
How can I sleep without your love?
4. When Love Goes Up and Down
When love goes up and down
The news goes round the town
You can even hear the echoes in the sky
Of the wagging tongues of gossips as they pass by.
5. Pretty Pretty Girls
Pretty pretty girls all around me
I see them here and there
I see them everywhere
I see them every day by day
I see them all the way
I see them wherever I may be.
Pretty pretty girls all around me.
So many beautiful faces
In so many different places
Full of smiles and laughs
They tickle my fancy
And they make me feel so happy.
Pretty pretty girls all around me.
6. True Love Waits
If I have wait for one year
Even if I have to wait for ten years
As long as you are going to be my baby
I don’t mind to wait for your love.
I will not be in a hurry
And I don’t have to worry.
Come rain or shine
What will be mine will be mine.
What will be, will be
And only the best is good enough for me.
So, I will not settle for less
I will wait for you my Princess.
I am willing to walk the extra mile
Even if I have to walk a million miles
As long as you are going to be my baby
I don’t mind to wait for your love.
7. You Are One In A Million
I have been to many different places
And I have seen so many different faces
Of different colours and races
Beautiful and wonderful people
God created all over the world.
But you are one of a kind
Your beauty blows my mind
You must be an angel from heaven
And the most beautiful I have ever seen.
You are one in a million
Oh, beautiful daughter of Zion.
When you smile, the sun shines brighter
And when you laugh, dark clouds disappear.
When you sing, your angelic voice echoes in the skies
And I see angels dancing and singing along in the clouds
When I look into your beautiful eyes
I see my dreams twinkling like stars
And I am lifted up into paradise
Lifted to the seventh heaven of the universe.
You are one in a million
Oh, beautiful daughter of Zion.
8. Nothing Compares To Your Love
I have been to many places
And I have seen many faces
I have traveled far and wide
Searching for worldly glories in my foolish pride
My dreams have been shattered
And my hopes have been dashed.
I have been loved and unloved
My heart has been broken many times
And I have written so many rhymes
Writing reams of love to my beloved
But my beloved failed me
And what I had I can no longer see.
I thought there was no more hope
As I was sliding down the slope
I thought I was lost
Wandering from pillar to post
Until you came from above
And wiped away all my tears
And you took away all my sorrows and my fears
Oh, Jesus Christ! Nothing compares to your love.
N.B:
These poems are from the second book of my original poems, Scarlet Tears of London in English and Spanish, available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, MSN Shopping and over 100 other places online and offline.
Kiss me again
Kiss away my tears and my pain.
I have been left in the cold rain
And my heart has been broken in vain.
I cried out for someone to rescue me.
I prayed for someone to set me free.
Then, you came to my rescue
You made my dream to come true
Because, you are the answer to my prayer
And I will cherish your love forever.
Kiss me again my darling.
2.Sleeping In Your Arms
When I sleep in your arms
I always have sweet dreams.
Sweet dreams of bliss
Sleeping in your arms.
I can feel your pulse
From my muscle to my corpuscle
Your loving touch makes me tense
From muscle to muscle
As you hold me tight
I can hear your heartbeat.
.
Sleeping in your arms.
How I wish this should last forever
The sweet sensation of my love fever
Ssshhhhhh…don’t interrupt my love.
Let her sleep in my arms in my grove.
3. How Can I Sleep Without Your Love?
How can I sleep?
When your love makes me weep?
Things have fallen apart
I am left with a broken heart
I am no longer at ease.
Oh! When my heartaches cease?
I stay awake all night
Praying for you to love me.
And I cannot rest
Until I regain your love.
Oh! Why can’t you love me?
Please, tell me what is wrong?
What can I do to win your love?
I will do anything for your love.
How can I sleep without your love?
4. When Love Goes Up and Down
When love goes up and down
The news goes round the town
You can even hear the echoes in the sky
Of the wagging tongues of gossips as they pass by.
5. Pretty Pretty Girls
Pretty pretty girls all around me
I see them here and there
I see them everywhere
I see them every day by day
I see them all the way
I see them wherever I may be.
Pretty pretty girls all around me.
So many beautiful faces
In so many different places
Full of smiles and laughs
They tickle my fancy
And they make me feel so happy.
Pretty pretty girls all around me.
6. True Love Waits
If I have wait for one year
Even if I have to wait for ten years
As long as you are going to be my baby
I don’t mind to wait for your love.
I will not be in a hurry
And I don’t have to worry.
Come rain or shine
What will be mine will be mine.
What will be, will be
And only the best is good enough for me.
So, I will not settle for less
I will wait for you my Princess.
I am willing to walk the extra mile
Even if I have to walk a million miles
As long as you are going to be my baby
I don’t mind to wait for your love.
7. You Are One In A Million
I have been to many different places
And I have seen so many different faces
Of different colours and races
Beautiful and wonderful people
God created all over the world.
But you are one of a kind
Your beauty blows my mind
You must be an angel from heaven
And the most beautiful I have ever seen.
You are one in a million
Oh, beautiful daughter of Zion.
When you smile, the sun shines brighter
And when you laugh, dark clouds disappear.
When you sing, your angelic voice echoes in the skies
And I see angels dancing and singing along in the clouds
When I look into your beautiful eyes
I see my dreams twinkling like stars
And I am lifted up into paradise
Lifted to the seventh heaven of the universe.
You are one in a million
Oh, beautiful daughter of Zion.
8. Nothing Compares To Your Love
I have been to many places
And I have seen many faces
I have traveled far and wide
Searching for worldly glories in my foolish pride
My dreams have been shattered
And my hopes have been dashed.
I have been loved and unloved
My heart has been broken many times
And I have written so many rhymes
Writing reams of love to my beloved
But my beloved failed me
And what I had I can no longer see.
I thought there was no more hope
As I was sliding down the slope
I thought I was lost
Wandering from pillar to post
Until you came from above
And wiped away all my tears
And you took away all my sorrows and my fears
Oh, Jesus Christ! Nothing compares to your love.
N.B:
These poems are from the second book of my original poems, Scarlet Tears of London in English and Spanish, available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, MSN Shopping and over 100 other places online and offline.
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