Where did October go?

Man the month of October has flown by. In the past month we have seen a steady stream of volunteers coming into Lakeshore from all over the nation and are continually receiving calls from other churches, individuals, and organizations that want to plan a trip to the area.

One group of college students from Ole Miss tackled several different projects in the one Saturday they were able to be here. They finished cleaning out part of a shed for a family who belongs to the church. They worked at Mr. Howee’s house painting the porch. And they put the final coat of paint on the outside of Ms. Redford’s home.

Another team from South Carolina made a lot of progress on the home of Ms. Speed doing some framing, wiring, and wrapping the house.

Another team that was here from Providence Presbyterian Church in Hilton Head worked in several locations, but the majority of their group worked at the home of Geneva Dedaux. They did a great job putting up sheetrock and mudding it, getting it ready for the next phase.

This One's For The Girls

There are several blogs that I enjoy reading whenever I get the chance. There are a few blogs in particular as a female that I have come to look to for spiritual topics as well as topics pertaining to being a woman, household tasks, laughter, and a myriad of others.

One blog is Girltalk, which is a website run by Carolyn Mahaney (wife of Sovereign Grace ministry leader CJ Mahaney) and her three grown daughters. They blog about biblical womanhood and other fun topics. Recently they posted two entries on busyness (October 2 and October 3). Both of which I thought offered some great advice and insight for all who are busy. Let me share one piece of advice that I gained from the post, which was something CJ Mahaney said to his wife Carolyn.

“Only God completes His to-do list. We are not God. We are finite creatures with serious limitations. Therefore we need to humble ourselves by accepting our limitations and draw upon God’s strength to simply do what we can.”- CJ Mahaney

Another blog that I have benefit from is the Solo Femininity blog. It is written by Carolyn McCulley who is a single woman providing encouraging words to other single women. Recently her article/personal testimony, “Liberated from Feminism,” was published online by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, I highly recommend this article for any Christian woman.

One last blog that I want to make mention of is the Biblical Womanhood blog. I will admit that I have not been reading this blog for very long but have been encouraged by some of Crystal Paine’s posts.

Disturbing...

I was sitting in the Public Library today using the internet and as I was there a book on the shelf caught my eye. The book was How To Get Out Of An Unhappy Marriage by Dr. Eugene Walder. Being troubled by just the title of the book I picked it up to see at least what the chapters were inside. As I flipped through the book, I see why our country is divorce prone if this is the advice being given by “noted clinical psychologists”.

Some of the chapter titles include how to blow the cover off your unhappy marriage, are you willing to risk it, when to pull the plug and let your marriage die, why isn’t it simple to get out, taking the plunge, breaking loose from your spouse, you have a second chance. The way the chapter titles are worded it seems like marriage is just a game, not something that we should take seriously.

Throughout the book there were things that I guess you could say shocked me. There was a section that gave you marriage situations and then you had to decide whether or not the marriage could be saved. There was the “leaving readiness test” which was prefaced with:

“Are you willing to risk it? You’ve taken a chance in your life before. How willing are you to take yourself on faith now? The leaving readiness test will help you gauge your preparedness”

“Should you feel guilty about the children” was another section in the book that was disturbing to me. It was strange to me that they called coming up with the conclusion that divorce was a destructive experience for the children the vicious circle and the conclusion that divorce can be a constructive experience for the children the virtuous circle. Here’s their explanation:

The “Vicious” Circle “If you start with the premise that divorce is a destructive experience for your children and you’ll feel guilty. You’re going against your ideal of being a good parent. That makes you a “bad” parent. Being a bad parent will lower your self-esteem. A loss of self-esteem will cause you to feel depressed. In you depressed state you’ll lack energy to meet your needs, and your children’s. Accordingly, your children will suffer. You’ve come full circle… Your premise becomes your conclusion: divorce is a destructive experience for you children.”

The “Virtuous” Circle. Start with the premise that divorce can be a constructive experience for your children and you’ll feel virtuous. You’re living up to your ideal of being a good parent. Being a good parent will raise your self-esteem. An increase in self-esteem will cause you to feel elated. In your buoyant state, you’ll have the energy to meet your needs and your children’s. Accordingly, your children will benefit. You’ve come full circle...Your premise has become your conclusion: divorce can be a constructive experience for your children.”

The author also explained “object lessons” your children can learn from your divorce. Risk-taking, active orientation, survival (teaching them courage in the face of adversity), independence, mastery of separation, security, and growing. Give me a break. What do children really learn? They learn that it is okay to divorce and jump from relationship to relationship sometimes for reasons that can be very petty.

Everything in this book, that I saw, said divorce is okay, normal, and healthy. I guess I have never seen a book quite like this that advocated divorce.

While I am not married, I believe marriage is to be held high not as some game that we choose to end because things aren’t going our way or something difficult was thrown in the mix. I believe the Bible is pretty clear on marriage and divorce. The Bible compares marriage between a husband and a wife with the relationship between Christ and the Church in the book of Ephesians, which would make me believe that marriage is something that is to be taken very seriously.

Ephesians 5:22-33

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed he by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and old fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

What Jesus Said about divorce:

It was also said “Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.” But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Matthew 5:31-32

And the Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh, So they are no longer two but one flesh therefore God has joined tighter, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of you hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery. Matthew 19:3-9

What Paul said about divorce:

To the married I give this charge (not I but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife. 1 Cor. 7:10-11

To wrap up my thoughts I will say... I believe in holding the Word of God above all else and so it saddens me to see there are books our there that treat marriage as a game and look to divorce as the way to "fix" the problems not believing that it negatively affects most everyone involved.

Ms. Redford's little mansion

“Oh Jamie come inside and see this” was the words I heard from Ms. Redford when I pulled up at her house this past Friday. A couple of volunteer teams that were here this past week help put the finishing touches to the inside of her “mansion”. She gave me the grand tour of her place, telling me the entire time how grateful she was for each of the teams that have come to work on her home, from the very beginning to the finishing touches. I am so excited to see Ms. Redford getting into her house. Ms. Redford is such a precious women and I’m truly blessed to know her and have been greatly encouraged by talking with her during my time here in Lakeshore. Ms. Redford was able to sleep in her house for the first time on Saturday night. Here's a few picture of her little mansion.

let us proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ

I have been pondering a great deal something I heard someone say the other day. And in regards to my last post, while I still think the Joel Osteen game one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen, I did not covey how my heart is saddened by the Joel Osteen phenomenon. The number of people who are buying into the Joel Osteen "christianity" and not what scripture says does break my heart -people who are putting their hope in the prosperity gospel and not in the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many who ascribe to the teaching of Osteen and think they are going to heaven, but will not hear The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ preached and live their life being deceived because they are "happy".

But some of those people who are happy now, wil be greatly disappointed when trouble comes their way in this life. But evenmore to spend eternity in hell, but live being deceived and thinking all along they were going to heaven. Can I let myself continue to let people be deceived by this man and other like him. Let us (and I speak to myself here) proclaim the gospel to those around us, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, NOT a "gospel" of prosperity.

I Laughed, I cried, I shook my head in disbelief

While reading Russel Moore's commentary last week. I read a post, that I thought for sure was some sort of joke. But I guess not because it's for sale on Amazon.com. It is the Joel Osteen "Your Best Life Now: The Game" Oh man. It makes me sick to think about.

According to the promotional material the game "enables players to step beyond the one-on-one nature of the book and feel, touch, and live Joel's 7 Steps To Living At Your Full Potential with your friends and family"

The game lets the player "Enlarge Your Vision, Develop a Healthy Self Image, Discover the Power of your Thoughts and Words, Let Go of the Past, Find Strength Through Adversity, Live To Give, and Choose to Be Happy."

Give me a break.

Third Day / David Crowder

So I got to venture from Lakeshore for an evening and see one (well, actually two) of my favorite bands. A few of us drove up to Hattiesburg to go to the Third Day concert, with David Crowder opening. I had a blast. Just for kicks here’s a few pictures of the concert.

Third Day


David Crowder Band

A week at work...

Much has taken place here in Lakeshore this past week and we are fixin' to have more busy weeks ahead of us. Praise God for the steady flow of volunteers. This past week we had folks working at Mr. Howee's house and Ms. Lynn's house, as well as a few other sites.

Here's a few pictures of folks working at Ms. Lynn's on the soffit and back porch




Here's few pictures from Mr. Howee's. This week they were working on the plumbing, insulation, widening some doors, and beginning the sheet rock.

Another project that we are helping at is the home of Ms. Speed. This is one of the volunteer teams helping with the framing.

This past week I had a great time hanging out with the group of students from Louisville, KY. Doug Thorpe, who helped out here in Lakeshore this summer for a couple of weeks, brought a few friends from his church down to Lakeshore to work for part of the week. Dave and Doug worked on a couple of plumbing projects, the first one though I admit was pretty gross. Amanda is working on getting the smell of shrimp off the floor in the kitchen.

What does the Bible say you look like?

I recently read through Jim Elliff's book "Pursuing God" and was blessed by the truth and the challenge to think from this short book. While I was reading the second chapter I was struck again by my sinfulness and what I really deserve, death and hell. But as I sat and thought about sin, the more I sat in awe and wonder of why the Son of God would come to this earth to die for my sins when He Himself was sinless. The following are a few things I highlighted as I went chapter two of "Pursuing God - A Seeker's Guide" by Jim Elliff.

What does the Bible say you look like without Christ?

There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seek God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is non who does good, no, not one. (Romans 3:10-12)

You'’re not righteous. One man may appear righteous before another man, but before God there is no one truly righteous.

You have no desire for God. Jesus said that people do not naturally come to Christ. "...you can be sure that your desire for God initiates with God Himself."

You are rebellious. The blame for being outside of God's family belongs to you.. You have a nature that turns away from Him and seeks to live independently.

You have become unprofitable. The Bible states that man without Christ is really worthless.

Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; The poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3:13-18)

Man cannot get out of this situation alone, he cannot overcome his sinful nature. Paul said "“all are under sin"”. Being a refined sinner or even a religious one is still being a sinner.

But Christ died for sinners. He completely satisfied the just wrath of God toward sin for those who will put their trust in Him, though we are deserving of God's wrath.

When you see yourself as you really are, you will find Christ'’s death for sinful people the greatest news you have ever heard.

- from "Pursuing God - A seeker's guide" by Jim Elliff