Will Never Forget

Any of us old enough to remember can remember September 11, 2001 like it was yesterday. Where we were when we first heard the news and what followed that day. I was a freshman in college and that Tuesday I was getting ready for my World Civ II class with Dr. Hellert. It was a typical morning, I woke up and slowly started getting ready for class and watched the news as usual. That's when the news broke that there was an explosion in one of the twin towers. As I sat there watching the breaking news from the side of the screen came another plane and crashed into the other tower. It wasn't long before the news media branded this tragedy a deliberate act of terror. Then came the news of the plane crashing into the Pentagon and another going down in a Pennsylvania field. It seemed like it would never end. Then the towers fell.

I went to class that day, but we did not have class. We could not. We sat there looking at each other, sharing what we knew of the events, and expressing what we were thankful for. I was glued to the tv the rest of that day and the days that followed. I went out and bought newspapers covering the attack and an American flag.

I, like many Americans, ran to a god. It hurts to say, however, it was not the one true God that I ran to. It was my thought up god, the one who would not have allowed this to happen. My idea of the truth was skewed. But as I reflect now 10 years later, I view the events of that day in light of realities I didn't believe then. On September 16, 2001 Pastor Tom Ascol and Executive Director of Founders ministry encouraged his congregation to consider nine realities as they processed what had happened to the nation. He posted them to the Founders blog on this anniversary of the attacks and I think they are as fitting to reflect upon now as they were ten years ago.

1. The worst of human nature is on display

2. The best of human nature is on display

3. This is a time to mourn

4. This is a time to pray

5. This is a time to acknowledge the reality and power of evil

6. This is a time to remember the Supremacy of God

7. This is a time to be humbled

8. This is a time to be hopeful

9. This is a time to listen

At Founders.org Pastor Ascol expounds further on each point, I encourage ya'll to check it out.

The Journey Continues

The following is the support letter I began sending out last month:

A year ago I embarked on a journey as a self-supported missionary. I was still serving in Lakeshore, MS, but I had no further funding options with the North American Mission Board. I was amazed at the outpouring of prayer and financial support sent by friends and family from around the US. I'm am grateful beyond words that the Lord turned the hearts of many to help support my efforts in Lakeshore.

It has been an amazing year. The Lord has been doing great things in the community, in the life of Lakeshore Baptist Church, and in my life.

A Lot to Rejoice Over
1. The Lord really provided for my needs through generous supporters who gave beyond what I was trying to raise, which has allowed me to stay for three additional months without needing to raise support. Thank you to all who supported my ministry in Lakeshore last year.
2. The Lord has added to the number of people attending out church. We've had a few families join and a couple others that have been attending regularly, but have not joined yet.
3. The Lord has brought a man who is gifted musically to lead the singing during the Sunday morning worship services (We've been praying for this for several years)
4. The ladies in the church began meeting once a month to go through 12 Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur. This time has been a great encouragement to me, the Lord has used these women to stretch and encourage me.
5. The Lord has sent nearly 1200 volunteers through Lakeshore since this past January.
6. The Lord has provided more homes to work in and opportunities to the gospel as we work in those homes and ample ways to be a blessing to our community through tearing down and cleaning up homes still left sitting damaged since Hurricane Katrina
7. On June 12 I celebrated 5 years in Lakeshore.
8. I believe the Lord has answered prayer – I've been praying for several months on what to do after my support runs out in August. I believe the Lord has led me to continue to serve in Lakeshore. In this I rejoice.

While we've had a busy summer, I must begin thinking about raising additional support. I have put off sending out support letters up until this point, because I wasn't sure which way the Lord was leading me and I felt it would be dishonest to raise support with a lot of questions about my future in Lakeshore. Over the years I have gone month to month, semester to semester, and year to year. At this point I do not know how long the Lord will keep me serving at Lakeshore Baptist. I am here to serve and will as long as the Lord keeps me here. When people ask I just say indefinitely. I've given dates before and the Lord chose to use His plan over my plan and I am grateful for that!

In order to continue serving in Lakeshore I have determined my need to be about $9,600 for the year, that is $800 per month. (This is the same amount I've received in support each month this past year). This will go toward my living expenses, medical insurance, medical bills, personal
transportation, and other necessary expenses. Would you be willing to support me as I serve at Lakeshore Baptist Church? Would you be willing to give monthly $25, $50, $100 or any other amount or willing to invest in a one time gift of $100, $250, $500, $1000 or any other
denomination larger or smaller to aid in the spread of the gospel and rebuilding of Lakeshore through supporting me?

July Newsletter

I confess I've been really bad at sending out an update this spring. Rather than try to make excuses, I will try to spend a bit of time rejoicing in what the Lord has done over the last several months in Lakeshore.

We had a great spring break season with about 10 solid weeks of hosting volunteer teams from around the country. The Lord sent 20 different teams and about 400 people to Lakeshore during that time and in that time we were able to work on finishing the Mercy house, make progress on Pastor Don's house, we've done major clean up on at least two different properties, clean up around the church property, helped a sister church in Waveland get their buildings in order, and did other odds and ends in our community. During one week in March, God really made himself evident as protector as we sent 4 people to the hospital during that week. That is a record for us, one we are not proud of, but at the end of the week everyone ended up being okay.

During the months of April and May I was dealing with several personal issues, one of those was wrestling through the idea of leaving Lakeshore and moving back to Wisconsin. This has not been any easy thing to wrestle with as I've not been ready to leave Lakeshore, but I knew the support I had raised was coming closer to an end. I'm still not a 100% sure of the direction the Lord is leading. I am feeling a little leading more one way than the other now, however. (I am really leaning towards continuing service in Lakeshore) I am still praying for the Lord to be clear with me and what steps I need to take next concerning a move or raising support, Lord willing, I will be sending out an update soon.

We've begun a great summer season, we are already into our fifth week of our summer crews. The Lord is sending about 600 people our way this summer! It's been wonderful so far and we are looking forward to a great month of July. So far this month we've laid out the piling plan for the fellowship hall, brought Pastor Don and Courtney's house very close to completion, worked with a local man hanging drywall in his home and encouraging him, building a couple different ramps for the disabled, and many smaller projects in the community. We've also recently begun working with the Hancock County Beautification Department to help get rid of blighted property. To start we began to demo a house left over from the storm. This is still a huge problem in our community. For example, just in 1 out of 6 wards in the city of Bay St. Louis there are still 168 blighted properties that need clean up.

For a quick update in the life of our church: We continue to see new folks coming to church and we've had a couple families join in membership in the past few months. We are working to finish the plans for the Fellowship Hall, Lord willing, we will begin construction in the next few months. We also celebrated the official opening of the Mercy House, which includes our permanent distribution center. We've been able to use the meeting area in the Mercy House for a couponing seminar, dinner on the grounds, and senior adult luncheons and we look forward to an upcoming coffee shop/open mic night, vacation Bible school, and monthly senior adult luncheons.

I really appreciate the continued prayers and the support of everyone. I'm seeing God doing great things every day. I look forward to what the Lord has in store for me in the coming months and in the life of Lakeshore Baptist Church.

Please continue to pray for:

1. Direction as to whether I should stay in Lakeshore or move.

   I just want to follow what the Lord's will is for me.

2. Unity in the body of Lakeshore Baptist Church

3. The Lord would draw more people to Himself through the proclamation of the gospel.

4. Praise for the grace and strength the Lord has provided to keep me going. Though the work makes me weary, I've been able to think much more clearly, be much more patient, and have been able to carry on each day.

Psalm 51 - Issac Watts

Psalm 51
Issac Watts

Part 1.
penitent pleading for pardon.

Show pity, Lord, O Lord, forgive,

Let a repenting rebel live:
Are not thy mercies large and free?
May not a sinner trust in thee?

My crimes are great, but not surpass
The power and glory of thy grace:
Great God, thy nature hath no bound,
So let thy pard'ning love be found.

O wash my soul from ev'ry sin,
And make my guilty conscience clean;
Here on my heart the burden lies,
And past offenses pain my eyes.

My lips with shame my sins confess
Against thy law, against thy grace:
Lord, should thy judgment grow severe,
I am condemned, but thou art clear.

Should sudden vengeance seize my breath,
must pronounce thee just in death;
And if my soul were sent to hell,
Thy righteous law approves it well.

Yet save a trembling sinner, Lord,
Whose hope, still hov'ring round thy word,
Would light on some sweet promise there,
Some sure support against despair.

PART 2.
Original and actual sin confessed.

Lord, I am vile, conceived in sin;
And born unholy and unclean;
Sprung from the man whose guilty fall
Corrupts the race, and taints us all.

Soon as we draw our infant breath,
The seeds of sin grow up for death;
Thy law demands a perfect heart,
But we're defiled in ev'ry part.

Great God, create my heart anew,
And form my spirit pure and true;
O make me wise betimes to spy
My danger and my remedy.

Behold, I fail before thy face;
My only refuge is thy grace:
No outward forms can make me clean;
The leprosy lies deep within.

No bleeding bird, nor bleeding beast,
Nor hyssop branch, nor sprinkling priest,
Nor running brook, nor flood, nor sea,
Can wash the dismal stain away.

Jesus, my God, thy blood alone
Hath power sufficient to atone;
Thy blood can make me white as snow;
No Jewish types could cleanse me so.

While guilt disturbs and breaks my peace,
Nor flesh nor soul hath rest or ease;
Lord, let me hear thy pard'ning voice,
And make my broken bones rejoice..

Look Lord, My Shell Collection!

I don't usually like to post a couple videos in a row, but this clip of a sermon by John Piper really caught my attention again today. I had heard previously heard this sermon and it made an impact on me then, but hearing it again today was just a great reminder.

The Wall Comes Down

We recently partnered with the city of Bay St. Louis to help with the process of getting rid of the blighted property still left over from the storm. There are still hundreds of homes left in the county that need to be torn down. This is just a start for us in the partnership as we help to beautify our community.

Crabbing

Sometimes I just have to try things because I can. So tonight I decided I was going to go crabbing off the pier in Lakeshore. I've only ever been crabbing once in my life and I wasn't the one even doing anything. But I was feeling a desire to go and knowing if wouldn't be all that expensive to get started I decided to go for it.




I ran to walmart to pick up my supplies:
1. Crab nets
2. Chicken

Since the crab nets were only $2.16 a piece I decided I'd get 4. I ran back to the church to get my bucket and cooler and fill up on ice then I was off.

I had a great time sitting and watching people as I waited to periodically pull up my nets to see if there were any crabs taking the bait. It was one of the most relaxing things I have done in a long time and for about $15 (most of that for the start up cost of the nets) it was well worth it. I am looking
forward to hitting the pier in the morning.

"One day of Bad Weather"

"It's crazy that one day of bad weather, very bad weather, caused all this"

This was said to me today after spending time driving around checking on different properties in our community. This was in response to the number of sights we saw, including:

Empty slabs where homes once stood, many with tile flooring still in place where kitchens and bathrooms once were. Places where families sat around their kitchen tables and discussed the happenings of their day and shared meals together.

We passed a gas station still boarded up. Though it had been gutted after the storm the business never move back in. I imagine before the storm neighborhood children frequented the store for candy bars and cokes and adults passed through and spoke to familiar faces.

Still many houses line the streets abandoned by the families that once occupied them, for one reason or another, but non the less unoccupied, unfinished, and weathered by the storm and 6 years of neglect.

An entire shopping center sits abandoned, looking worse as each year passes. Next to it a bank sits on the corner of a heavily traveled intersection waiting for something to happen, but will remain an eye sore until then.

Trees stripped bare of all their leaves and branches, some twisted off at the top, some uprooted, and all exposed to salt water, which killed many of the trees from the large magnificent oaks, the tall pines, and the flowering magnolias.

All of this caused by one storm, one day.

I don't believe the enormity of the storm will ever entirely sink in, but some days things hit me a little harder. Today was one of those days.

Four month recap

Wow, 4 months since my last blog post. Much has happened in that time. It'd take me far too many blog posts to tell everything, but here's a brief update.

• In February I took part in a Biblical Counseling Training Seminar offered at our church.
• We had eight great weeks of spring break teams, hosting around 400 volunteers in March and April.
• My sister came to visit. I had a great time showing her around Lakeshore and New Orleans.
• I've been praying for God's leading on whether I should stay in Lakeshore or move back to Wisconsin since my funding is running out.
  
• I made a visit to Wisconsin. Had one interview while I was in Madison, but have not been offered the job.
• Most recently I've really been considering raising support for another 6 months in Lakeshore, though I've not made this decision as of now.
• This week will be the start of our fourth week of volunteers this summer. It's been great and very productive thus far and I'm look forward each day to see what the Lord will do.
  
• Pastor Don continues to preach through Titus. The Lord has been using these texts and sermons to really speak to me, challenge me, and encourage me to examine myself.
• We've had a very helpful young lady, Erin Allison, from Georgia join us for the month of June on our team leading volunteer teams and doing anything else we need done around here.
• In the life of our church we've had a couple families join as members, we continue to have great attendance at our senior adult luncheons, our plans for the fellowship hall are well under way, and we've completed the building of the Mercy house and we had our grand opening with a coupon seminar and dinner on the grounds.

The Lord is doing great things here and I'm ready to see what it is the Lord has in store for the coming months, what he does in the life of the church, which direction He leads me, what He does in the lives of the people in our community whose homes we work on and in the lives of each of the volunteers.

God is Still God and God is still good

About a year ago I shared a video of Zac Smith, a man who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer [God is God, God is Good] and his testimony of life, cancer, the lessons God was teaching him.

Now a year after his death, his wife shares her encouraging testimony of hope through her husband's death and the promises of God

A Story | Tears of Hope from Adam Kring on Vimeo.

"God is not a God of chaos, he doesn't just throw stuff to us in our lives then walk away. He has a plan for us, we might not always understand that plan, but we know it is good."

"I do know that I will praise God because through cancer, and death, and grief, God is still God and God is still good. To God be the Glory"

Edwards' Resolutions - 6,7,8

The more I read over Edward's resolutions, the more humbled I am. I realize how much more vile I am than what I thought. I know I am a sinner, but these have really helped me to see myself for what really is inside.

Allow these to sink in:

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

7. Resolved, never to do any thing which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life. (I am resolved to never to do anything I wouldn't be doing if I knew it were the last hour of my life) How many times have I done something and thought of this afterward?

8. Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God. How often and how easy is it to look at another individual and say their sins are worse than ours. They might be a murderer, rapist, thief, adulterer, etc and we say I have never done any of those things. But for the grace of God I would have done all those things and worse. Lord, may I be continually drawn to repentance, convict me of sin, and change my selfish heart.

Free Audiobook - Adopted for Life

Just an FYI: This month at Christianaudio.com the book Adopted for Life by Dr. Russell Moore is available for free download. I haven't read the book yet; I can't wait to listen to it.

Edwards' Resolutions - 3,4,5

As humbling as it is to examine myself, it's been good. Our God is forgiving and I am grateful. Oh how short I fall of His standards outlined in the Bible. Lord thank you for forgiveness, for your grace, and mercy. Help me to live my life in a manner glorifying.

Jonathan Edwards' Resolutions 3, 4, & 5.

3. Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.

4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.

5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

Of these three I think it's easiest to see the area covered by resolution 5. How much time do I waste, losing moments of time? How can I make my time more profitable? I fail epically when it comes to resolution number 5. I can't tell you how many moments pass, wasted. Times where I could be doing something profitable. In all honesty this is one area that is a struggle for me.

I have recognized this recently and have begun doing things that are more profitable, though still I struggle with making the most of my free moments. One way I've tried to make the most of some of the quiet time has been by working to memorize the book of Philippians. I've joined the thousands of people around the nation and world who are working to memorizing the book by Easter. (Partnering to Remember) .

Hymns for Sunday - Our God Our Help in Ages Past

A hymn that is not sung often enough, yet is one of my favorite hymns would have to be Our God Our Help in Ages Past. Written in 1719 by Isaac Watts it is a paraphrase of Psalm 90. Watts was an author who believed Christians should sing about the doctrine of their religion. He definitely did not shy away from that in this particular hymn. This is just one of his over 600 hymns.

One interesting fact about the history of this song is in 1738 Methodist John Wesley published the hymn in his Collection of Psalms and Hymns. However, before publishing Wesley altered some of the text. The most noticeable was changing the "Our" in the opening line to "O". It is said "Wesley felt that “Our” was a possessive adjective referring to the Calvinist doctrine of election. The Wesleyan all-inclusive perspective was satisfied by changing “Our” to the more ambiguous “O.” "1

Our God, Our Help in Ages Past

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
“Return, ye sons of men:”
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in following years.

Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

Like flowery fields the nations stand
Pleased with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower’s hand
Lie withering ere ‘tis night.

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.

1 http://www.umportal.org/article.asp?id=7576

Learning to Pray.

Tim Challies post today was quite convicting, simple, yet has really made me consider my time in prayer. He posts a few nuggets resonating in his mind and the Lord is using that to convict me of my lack of prayer, my belief in prayer, and the power of the One whom I am praying to.

Quickly from Challies post:

Pray within your capacity to believe. One pastor said that we often pray beyond our capacity to believe. He used the example of praying for the salvation of his wife’s parents. He and his wife would pray that the Lord would save them, but they were praying without faith; though they knew God could, in theory, do this, they doubted that he actually would. What they decided to do was to pray within their capacity to believe, and so they began to pray smaller, incremental prayers for things they truly could ask in faith. In a similar situation you might pray that the Lord would bring your parents just one Christian friend, or that they would hear the gospel just one time, and so on. And once that prayer is answered, you can then pray for the next, slightly bigger thing. All the while you are ratcheting up your prayers while acknowledging God’s incremental answers to them.

AND

Pray in Jesus’ name. To pray in the name of Jesus is to pray with his authority in a way that claims his power. In prayer I should always be asking, “In whose interest am I praying? What is God’s agenda in this?” In other words, I need to make sure that I have a conscience sense of praying to the Lord, the King, the Sovereign One. I pray not only to this God, but I also pray in his power and with his authority. That merits a “wow!”

Edwards' Resolutions - 1 & 2

Every year we make resolutions, which we make our best attempt to complete. But how often do these attempts end in failure? Why is this? I think it is primarily because we are working toward goals that are usually aimed at making us happy. But what makes us happy? Would losing weight make us happy? Maybe. But what if we gain that weight back, then what? We see ourselves as failures and are probably sadder than when we made that resolution to lose weight. (Don't get me wrong I think losing weight is great if a person is over weight and would not discourage anyone who needs to lose weight from that fight)

But what makes us happy? Christ makes us happy, not a superficial, short lived happy. But a deep joy and eternal joy that can only come from God, Christ's work on the cross, and his written word. People say we are most happy when we are doing what we were made to do. What was I made to do, what is going to be that thing I strive for that will bring me the greatest joy? I think it is well put in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. What is the chief end of man? To Glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Ultimately ours "rules" for how we are to glorify God and enjoy him are written in the holy scriptures. They are our ultimate authority. But there have be other things written in line with scripture and still subordinate to the scriptures that guide us and test ourselves to see if we are living a life that is glorifying to God.

One list I like to look at regularly and test myself is the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. Written between 1772 and 1773 Edwards penned the 70 resolutions, which he read over each week to examine his life. He was adamant that it was not him keeping these resolutions in his own strength, but with the help of Christ.

"Being sensible that I am unable to do any thing without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him, by his grace, to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake"-Jonathan Edwards

I am going to be looking at these throughout this year and sharing them a couple at a time here. I will examine my life as I read through these. Not to have a check list that I can check off each day or week. I desire to grow in my relationship with Christ and in joy, knowing joy is complete in Christ. I pray Christ will enable me to keep these resolutions - I'm not sure to what degree. But more importantly would He enable me to keep in line with the holy scriptures and all it contains.

Resolutions 1& 2

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad's of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

2. Resolved, to be continually endeavoring to find out some new invention and contrivance to promote the aforementioned things.

Oh, how I fail dreadfully when I try to do these things on my own. Lord, enable me. Lord, guide my desires, crush those things within me that are self-serving, prideful, and contrary to your word and are not glorifying.

Hymns for Sunday - A Mighty Fortress is Our God

"A Mighty Fortress is Our God" is probably one of the most familiar hymns regularly sung in worship services, written around 1529 by one of the greatest reformers, Martin Luther. It also happens to be one of my favorite hymns.

I don't know the specific history of this song, but we do know it was based on Psalm 46. I love this hymn for the deep, thoughtful truth it contains.

Take a close look at the words of this hymn:

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Look now at Psalm 46:

1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

End of the year recap

After another semi brief hiatus from blogging I'm back. I had a great time back in Wisconsin for Christmas and now we're off to a great start this year. I was a little late sending out my end of the year newsletter and now even later posting it here. But here's a quick overview of the past year. What a year it was. God did great things in Lakeshore, at Lakeshore Baptist Church, and in my life. To God be the glory.

Click the picture below to read the entire newsletter.