prayers for us who believe to follow.....no matter what it costs...to follow....
Mark 8: 34-37 Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?
38"If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I'm leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you'll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels."
Prayers for and re: Jason's challenge to Small Group Leaders.....
Is all this coming from the pot of Yuban coffee I just finished or is my core value system of connecting people to authentic life-changing relationships with God and others (which happens to be SCCC's values) "Lost people matter to God, therefore they matter to us so much that we inconvenience ourselves for their sakes." (Luke 15), "Life change happens best in authentic accountable relationships." (Hebrews 10:24-25)) crying out in sadness as I look at how this is being modeled currenlty.
Prayers for all of us to I don't Father I just know YOU are there always and we who believe need to remember THAT and follow where YOU lead.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Hi Sandy,
I'm sorry to hear about your health scare. Thank goodness they didn't find anything bad. I'm glad to hear that news.
Sorry I haven't been in contact with you. My dad is still at Research Hospital. It has been 6 weeks now. He is still struggling with a lot of things. His lungs are finally showing a little improvement. I can't believe the dr.'s say after 6 weeks his lungs are only slightly better. He hasn't eaten since Sept 12th. He has a feeding tube in his stomach. He has sores on his feet that we watch because he already had a toe amputated about 10 years ago due to diabetes. His new kidney was doing good until this week. Now his urine output is low and his creatine is creeping up. He's is confused and sad. Someone in my family has been staying with him day and night. We did this when he got out of ICU because he was so weak he couldn't have pushed the nurse call button if he needed anything. Now we are still staying because of his confusion and he may try to get out of bed. He has done therapy and walked a little but he is very unstable. He is so thin, I don't see how his legs even hold him up.
Anyway that's were I've been and that's how his recovery is going. Please pass this info on as well as a prayer request for his kidney to continue working, his lungs to clear, his sores to heal and his mental state to improve.
The girls are good and very helpful and understanding since I'm not home much anymore.
Thanks Sandy.
Teresa
I'm sorry to hear about your health scare. Thank goodness they didn't find anything bad. I'm glad to hear that news.
Sorry I haven't been in contact with you. My dad is still at Research Hospital. It has been 6 weeks now. He is still struggling with a lot of things. His lungs are finally showing a little improvement. I can't believe the dr.'s say after 6 weeks his lungs are only slightly better. He hasn't eaten since Sept 12th. He has a feeding tube in his stomach. He has sores on his feet that we watch because he already had a toe amputated about 10 years ago due to diabetes. His new kidney was doing good until this week. Now his urine output is low and his creatine is creeping up. He's is confused and sad. Someone in my family has been staying with him day and night. We did this when he got out of ICU because he was so weak he couldn't have pushed the nurse call button if he needed anything. Now we are still staying because of his confusion and he may try to get out of bed. He has done therapy and walked a little but he is very unstable. He is so thin, I don't see how his legs even hold him up.
Anyway that's were I've been and that's how his recovery is going. Please pass this info on as well as a prayer request for his kidney to continue working, his lungs to clear, his sores to heal and his mental state to improve.
The girls are good and very helpful and understanding since I'm not home much anymore.
Thanks Sandy.
Teresa
Hi Sandy,
I'm sorry to hear about your health scare. Thank goodness they didn't find anything bad. I'm glad to hear that news.
Sorry I haven't been in contact with you. My dad is still at Research Hospital. It has been 6 weeks now. He is still struggling with a lot of things. His lungs are finally showing a little improvement. I can't believe the dr.'s say after 6 weeks his lungs are only slightly better. He hasn't eaten since Sept 12th. He has a feeding tube in his stomach. He has sores on his feet that we watch because he already had a toe amputated about 10 years ago due to diabetes. His new kidney was doing good until this week. Now his urine output is low and his creatine is creeping up. He's is confused and sad. Someone in my family has been staying with him day and night. We did this when he got out of ICU because he was so weak he couldn't have pushed the nurse call button if he needed anything. Now we are still staying because of his confusion and he may try to get out of bed. He has done therapy and walked a little but he is very unstable. He is so thin, I don't see how his legs even hold him up.
Anyway that's were I've been and that's how his recovery is going. Please pass this info on as well as a prayer request for his kidney to continue working, his lungs to clear, his sores to heal and his mental state to improve.
The girls are good and very helpful and understanding since I'm not home much anymore.
Thanks Sandy.
Teresa
I'm sorry to hear about your health scare. Thank goodness they didn't find anything bad. I'm glad to hear that news.
Sorry I haven't been in contact with you. My dad is still at Research Hospital. It has been 6 weeks now. He is still struggling with a lot of things. His lungs are finally showing a little improvement. I can't believe the dr.'s say after 6 weeks his lungs are only slightly better. He hasn't eaten since Sept 12th. He has a feeding tube in his stomach. He has sores on his feet that we watch because he already had a toe amputated about 10 years ago due to diabetes. His new kidney was doing good until this week. Now his urine output is low and his creatine is creeping up. He's is confused and sad. Someone in my family has been staying with him day and night. We did this when he got out of ICU because he was so weak he couldn't have pushed the nurse call button if he needed anything. Now we are still staying because of his confusion and he may try to get out of bed. He has done therapy and walked a little but he is very unstable. He is so thin, I don't see how his legs even hold him up.
Anyway that's were I've been and that's how his recovery is going. Please pass this info on as well as a prayer request for his kidney to continue working, his lungs to clear, his sores to heal and his mental state to improve.
The girls are good and very helpful and understanding since I'm not home much anymore.
Thanks Sandy.
Teresa
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Could you all please pray for me? I have a sonogram at 10 a.m. Monday morning for a lump I found in my breast last week. It is in the same location that I have had one non-malignant lump removed about 10 years ago and I have fibrocystic lumps from time to time, so I'm praying that it is something similar to that. Thanks so much, and I will see you all tomorrow night!
Sandy
Sandy
Friday, October 17, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
more election stuff to think on...
I keep saying like a coward I want to go to sleep and wake up when the election is over but I keep hearing in my head and heart… ‘pay attention’…some of the stuff I receive I read and some I don’t, so I don’t expect you to read this but I did want to share it…..
http://dontcallmeveronica.blogspot.com/2008/10/deconstructing-christian-cliches-pt-3.html#links
This isn't a political post, but I am going to use political language to comment on something inspired from this week's Presidential debate. It involves a "NO" moment - a personal practice of mine where I say the word "NO" out loud when I hear something that is promoted as truth but actually isn't.Toward the end of the debate, both candidates made affirming statements that declared their belief that America is a supreme force of good for the world, potentially in all of history.
Ah... "no."It's Jesus Christ and His Church.(I wonder if they would have said the same thing in front of Rick Warren's audience.)
What we call patriotism, the early church called idolatry. I know in saying that I run the risk of an ultra-patriotic Christian reading this and getting upset at me. That's fine... because I understand your passion and have heard it before in appropriate and inappropriate ways. For the record, I do enjoy the country I live in and I humbly appreciate the "rights" America has afforded me that I don't see in any other country to the same level.
But America isn't where my ultimate allegiance lies.
If you cut me, I don't bleed America... I bleed for Jesus.
Ultimately, I am a Christ-follower and would be no matter what country I lived in... even the ones where it's illegal to do so. (It would just be trickier, of course... and at times downright fearful - especially if it involved violence to my household.)
Our sense of identity as people (or as a country) must not be found in a flawed President-to-be, nor in his policies on the economy, nor in whether or not he has "great experience" or "fresh perspective." Perfect peace can only be found in Jesus Christ... and yet we cry out for an imperfect President to fix things.
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have."
But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do."
Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day."
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." (1 Samuel 8:4-20)
Somewhere along the way we created in the church a cliche of American Christianity. Here's how it often shows up during election time for many Christians:
*We say, "Jesus is Lord," and yet believe a human candidate will provide all the change the world is looking for.
*Folks pick fights with each other about two candidates who both claim to be Christians, citing to each other that only their party's canididate "really is."
*Christians don't think twice about listening to and laughing alone with radio/TV personalities who slander, spread gossip, and belittle the "other" side.
*Many would say they believe that God wants to redeem the world, but are most concerned about their own country's interests.
*Rather than recognizing how the American Dream is self-centered, we buy into the inward pursuit of happiness over the eternal pursuit of goodness.
Granted, an election is a time to cast a vote about your country's leadership. The problem is that somewhere in the process the concept of "God and Country" becomes "Country and God." The sequence matters, for the first word far outranks the second word.And when that happens, we start looking for security in all the wrong places.How are you doing on this?
Have you been taking your cues from CNN and Fox News more than God Himself?
*Are you fixated on reading the stock market, or are you fixated on reading the Bible?
*Is the roundtable discussion on who won the debate most important at the end of the day, or is the conviction of the Holy Spirit your guiding factor?
Don't worry... I'm not going to tell you who to vote for. Honestly, I'm not telling you whom I'm voting for. (We all know that whomever wins the vote is going to stand at the plate and give his best swing at the job... and he'll fall short, give late night TV shows material for monologues and skits, and let the country down on more than one occasion. The good news is that God can use even that to further things forward..)
Instead, I'd rather inspire you to arrive at a place of peace and security that comes from prayer. Consider your life in light of the Truth of God.... and then respond. If you want to look at how each of the candidates takes part in or rejects God's story of redemption, the best way to start is by taking part in it yourself.
Because you don't discover security by looking for security (or manufacturing it through patriotic words). You find it by a U-turn back toward your Creator - He'll help you become the someone who is freshly overcome by the awe and desperation for Him.
In the first century, Julius Caesar believed that his country was the greatest force for good in the history of the world. He used this belief to justify whatever was in his country's best interests, even if it flew in the face of what true goodness is.
Then along came some Christians who spoke of their hope in Someone greater.
The said it was the peace of Christ - not the peace of Rome - that surpassed all understanding.
They decided that the way of peace was better than the way of the sword.
They fought against patriotic language that declared "Caesar as Lord" by saying "Jesus is Lord."
They died alnong with all those whom Rome sought to conquer when all it would have taken was a simple retraction of one's faith.
Maybe the best summary of all of this lies in a praise someone shared during a gathering last Sunday. "Thank you Jesus for ruining my life and giving me Yours."
http://dontcallmeveronica.blogspot.com/2008/10/deconstructing-christian-cliches-pt-3.html#links
This isn't a political post, but I am going to use political language to comment on something inspired from this week's Presidential debate. It involves a "NO" moment - a personal practice of mine where I say the word "NO" out loud when I hear something that is promoted as truth but actually isn't.Toward the end of the debate, both candidates made affirming statements that declared their belief that America is a supreme force of good for the world, potentially in all of history.
Ah... "no."It's Jesus Christ and His Church.(I wonder if they would have said the same thing in front of Rick Warren's audience.)
What we call patriotism, the early church called idolatry. I know in saying that I run the risk of an ultra-patriotic Christian reading this and getting upset at me. That's fine... because I understand your passion and have heard it before in appropriate and inappropriate ways. For the record, I do enjoy the country I live in and I humbly appreciate the "rights" America has afforded me that I don't see in any other country to the same level.
But America isn't where my ultimate allegiance lies.
If you cut me, I don't bleed America... I bleed for Jesus.
Ultimately, I am a Christ-follower and would be no matter what country I lived in... even the ones where it's illegal to do so. (It would just be trickier, of course... and at times downright fearful - especially if it involved violence to my household.)
Our sense of identity as people (or as a country) must not be found in a flawed President-to-be, nor in his policies on the economy, nor in whether or not he has "great experience" or "fresh perspective." Perfect peace can only be found in Jesus Christ... and yet we cry out for an imperfect President to fix things.
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have."
But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do."
Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day."
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." (1 Samuel 8:4-20)
Somewhere along the way we created in the church a cliche of American Christianity. Here's how it often shows up during election time for many Christians:
*We say, "Jesus is Lord," and yet believe a human candidate will provide all the change the world is looking for.
*Folks pick fights with each other about two candidates who both claim to be Christians, citing to each other that only their party's canididate "really is."
*Christians don't think twice about listening to and laughing alone with radio/TV personalities who slander, spread gossip, and belittle the "other" side.
*Many would say they believe that God wants to redeem the world, but are most concerned about their own country's interests.
*Rather than recognizing how the American Dream is self-centered, we buy into the inward pursuit of happiness over the eternal pursuit of goodness.
Granted, an election is a time to cast a vote about your country's leadership. The problem is that somewhere in the process the concept of "God and Country" becomes "Country and God." The sequence matters, for the first word far outranks the second word.And when that happens, we start looking for security in all the wrong places.How are you doing on this?
Have you been taking your cues from CNN and Fox News more than God Himself?
*Are you fixated on reading the stock market, or are you fixated on reading the Bible?
*Is the roundtable discussion on who won the debate most important at the end of the day, or is the conviction of the Holy Spirit your guiding factor?
Don't worry... I'm not going to tell you who to vote for. Honestly, I'm not telling you whom I'm voting for. (We all know that whomever wins the vote is going to stand at the plate and give his best swing at the job... and he'll fall short, give late night TV shows material for monologues and skits, and let the country down on more than one occasion. The good news is that God can use even that to further things forward..)
Instead, I'd rather inspire you to arrive at a place of peace and security that comes from prayer. Consider your life in light of the Truth of God.... and then respond. If you want to look at how each of the candidates takes part in or rejects God's story of redemption, the best way to start is by taking part in it yourself.
Because you don't discover security by looking for security (or manufacturing it through patriotic words). You find it by a U-turn back toward your Creator - He'll help you become the someone who is freshly overcome by the awe and desperation for Him.
In the first century, Julius Caesar believed that his country was the greatest force for good in the history of the world. He used this belief to justify whatever was in his country's best interests, even if it flew in the face of what true goodness is.
Then along came some Christians who spoke of their hope in Someone greater.
The said it was the peace of Christ - not the peace of Rome - that surpassed all understanding.
They decided that the way of peace was better than the way of the sword.
They fought against patriotic language that declared "Caesar as Lord" by saying "Jesus is Lord."
They died alnong with all those whom Rome sought to conquer when all it would have taken was a simple retraction of one's faith.
Maybe the best summary of all of this lies in a praise someone shared during a gathering last Sunday. "Thank you Jesus for ruining my life and giving me Yours."
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