Some more ways to "Keep a Healthy level of Insanity"

1. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.
2. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
3. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

Have fun this week with these and let me know if this has opened any doors for you to witness!

GPS

Dan and I are saving for a GPS. We always try to go to all the electronic stores on "Black Friday" (the day after Thanksgiving), to get some good deals. It is a family event and we will go to stand in lines as early as 1:00 or 2:00 Friday morning. We bring our dvd player w/dvd's of course, music, food and some hot drink. Bundled up and ready to brave the cold we all talk, laugh, and discuss our future "cheap finds" with excitement and anticipation. Dan has been checking out which brand of GPS is the best so we can be confident in our purchase and also we want it to have a good reputation of getting us where we would need to go. As I am doing the budgeting for this it dawned on me that we are purchasing a Global Positioning System. Wow, think about that for a moment. Those of us who have Jesus Christ in our lives have the ultimate Global Positioning System and it doesn't cost us a thing or does it. I truly believe in these last days that we will have to navigate the grey that is all around us through the head lights of the Holy Spirit and the vehicle of God's Word. Matthew 24 :9 tells us, "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me." That sounds like it will cost us "big", are we ready to pay that price? I am very confident in the Global Positioning that I bought into by faith and I know that He will always put me in the right direction if I am willing to listen to Him. Also, as Christian Believers we need the Lord's direction in this election, so vote your position in Christ.

Leading!

Leadership- there are so many ways to "Do leadership," but I am going to first concentrate on ways to "Be" a leader. Today was our leadership meeting for our youth and we are going to learn from the life of Paul how to "Be" a leader. We will study on how to sharpen our character qualities and spiritual gifts. I then believe that our "Doing" will be exactly what needs to be done. I want us to review what a leader is from the core of who God made us to be. Now, I do believe that there are leadership practices that are necessary and have to be done. Study, order and structure are important to God and it is vital that we implement our leadership plan and then execute it. Today the first two qualities of a leader that we examined were: being trustworthy and taking initiative. Lord, help us to be the kind of Leaders that you need us to be in this time of cooling off as Matthew 24 speaks of.

New Quote

"Some of us spend our week sowing our wild oats and then on Sunday we pray for crop failure"

How to keep a healthy level of insanity!

When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won! I Won!"

Confidence in the Truth

So yesterday I was coming home from a meeting in Columbus and I was on Route 62 turning left onto Route 661 which had stop signs. There was on coming traffic so I stopped to let it go by and then proceeded to turn left. There was a vehicle at the stop sign on Route 661 and as I drove by he held a one sided conversation with me, to which I replied thank you. Now, knowing that this was an unfriendly conversation, I was wondering why he was so upset with me or maybe it wasn't me at all. But, I knew it was directed toward me because we locked eyes for a split second and I saw his face with his lips flying all over it using words that make you not blink for awhile. Some words were familiar and others I had not heard before. I am now on 661 and I began to replay my driving choices. I knew from drivers ed. and experience that what I did was right but, I couldn't quit thinking about it. I was headed to the County Jail to do some visiting so I thought to myself that I was going to ask a Police Officer about it. I did the visitation and as I was coming out, a Police Officer was coming in, so I asked him about what I did. He said, "You completely had the right of way." It felt so good to be sure of the truth.
This led me to think how we all need to line up our actions (everything we do and say) with the truth of the Word of God. I truly believe these are the last days and we can not afford to mess up our witness for the Lord. The truth is not what we feel is right because "our heart can be deceitful above all things," Jeremiah 17:9. But the truth is what God says is right! Our confidence has to be found in the truth of God's word.

Guarding and Protecting our children

Raising our girls has been a privilege, honor and blessing. Elizabeth is 21 and is an early childhood Children's Pastor in the Des Moines area. Kayla is 19 and is taking 4 classes online through South Eastern, working 3 jobs and is returning to South Eastern in January to continue her pursuit for ministry. Hannah is 15 and is a freshman in high school where she exposes her love for Jesus and has an all girl Bible study in our home. Then, there is Marissa.... Marissa Joy to be exact. She is 12 and is the type of girl that you just like to watch. Marissa brings new surprises to our home and we all laugh at her excitement and approach to life. Some of you might know about her ministry in our home but for you that have not yet experienced this fabulous idea, let me share it with you. About a year ago Marissa decided to launch a new ministry of her own, "The Garbage Bag Ministry." This entailed writing scripture or an encouragement on the all white kitchen trash bags so when the "trash man" picked up the garbage he could read the note and have a happier day. One of the first notes that Marissa wrote was, "Trash is trashy but, you're not!" I truly believe this girl is going to go places. Love you Marissa, your so cute!

1) The subject of raising our children can be a delicate one, but very successful when following God's principles. We also need to understand that it's two fold. First, it takes us as parents saying yes to God's ways of raising them and secondly our children saying yes to God ways. Never forget that God's first two children messed up and He is a perfect parent. But I challenge all of us parents to re-read how God handled their wrong choice. Here are some things that I pulled from Gen. 1:26-Chapter 3.

• We see that God created us in His image (we were made to be relational with Him, have wise minds, loving hearts and a willingness to obey Him)
• We see that He was pleased with His children
• We see that He was aware of everything that went on
• We see discipline
• We see that God follows through to the very end

God did not sweep their disobedience under the rug and act like it didn't happen, or hope it would go away, or say, "This is just a stage they'll come out of it......" No, He confronted them. He explained their failure and then acted on their discipline. He did not react and sin in His anger, but acted with firm loving follow-through.

2) The guarding and protecting of our children is vital and this will entail physical protection, but more important is their spiritual protection. Being aware of who their friends are, whose homes they are going to, what they listen to & what they watch, monitoring computer content & time and most of all discussing with them their relationship and devotion time with God. Guarding and Protecting our children is so important, but it does take work and commitment on our part.

3) Which brings me back to Me and My walk with God. Because I believe that, "We produce what we posses!"

4) Guard your children this week, even if that involves getting deeper into their world, going to their school and talking with their teacher, or checking the front gate of the boundaries that you have set up to insure that it is locked.

5) Here are some scriptures for you to read: Proverbs 1:8-19 and Romans 16:19

Love to all!