returning teams and exciting casino adventures

A group From Decatur Baptist Church in Decatur, AL made a return trip to Lakeshore this week. They spent the majority of their week at James and Ms. Bea's house hanging and mudding and sanding sheetrock.

The group from Riverside Fellowship in Florida also made another trip back to Lakeshore. It was a blessing for me to get to meet them and spend a little bit of time getting to know them in the evenings. They spent much of their week at Ms. Lynn's house painting and laying the floor in the bathroom.


This past Thursday was the grand opening of the Silver Slipper Casino just down the road from the church. I never expected to be stuck in a traffic jam in Lakeshore, but I found myself there Thursday night after the women's Bible Study. While I found myself complaining that I was stuck in traffic, I knew just down the road was the folks from Riverside Fellowship, and man from Alabama, and Pastor Don taking advantage of the back up traffic by passing out $1,000,000,000 bills...of course not the real but one with a short gospel presentation on the back. When I arrived back at the church I grabbed a few myself and we headed for the casino. We got into the casino and began passing them out. This was the first time I had ever done anything like passing out tracks...and entering a casino for that matter. I'll be honest, it was a bit weird for me at first, but once I settled down and realized that God could use this opportunity I began walking around handing out the billion dollar bills. I got many different reactions, but most people just kinda looked at me funny and some turned down the bill but others took it. For a little more detail check out Pastor Don's blog. He does a fine job detailing the adventure.

For the Record

I have been beginning to be asked on a regular basis what my plans are for after December. Well, I'’ve neglected to tell anyone for the past few weeks (unless I have talked to you in Lakeshore) mainly because I haven't had much time to blog about it and wanted to let me family know before everyone else. I have decided that I will stay in Lakeshore after December until "at least" June. In the past couple of weeks I extended my time as a semester missionary with the North American Mission Board to stay on through next semester.

As I have prayed through it I have not felt as though God is directing me elsewhere or to begin some sort of career and no other opportunities have come up (not that I was really out searching, as it was my desire to stay in Lakeshore). I am excited about staying in Lakeshore into next year. I continued to be amazed at the Lord's faithfulness and provision as I observe what happens around here. And I wish I could somehow express the amount and depth of the things that the Lord has been teaching me these past 5 months through the work that continues here in Lakeshore, the perseverance of His people, the teaching of His Word, friendships I've built, and life in general.

For those wondering, I will get to travel back to Wisconsin to see my family around Christmas time, but the thought of being in Mississippi most the winter is a comforting thought. As there will be warmer temperatures, which means (Lord willing) that I will spend more time on me feet than on my backside as I wont have to worry about several months with snow and ice. (As my family and friends back home will attest to I am not the most graceful person when it comes to keeping my balance, especially in slippery surfaces)

I will also be beginning a women's Bible Study here in the next week for the women of Lakeshore Baptist and anyone they invite. I am excited about the study. We will be looking at Pursuing God - A seekers guide By Jim Elliff. If you think to, pray for me for God's guidance as I prepare for this study.

A few sights from a busy week

This past week was a happening week here in Lakeshore. We had several teams here, some where around 70 people. I don't even really know how many houses were worked on this week, I let Greg keep up with every team. I was able however to get out to a few of the sites this week. But realized most of the pictures I took wasn't with my camera, anyway here's a few pictures of some of the things that went on this week.

This is Jame's and Ms. Bea's house before the insulation and sheetrock that was hung this week.

This is a couple of men from Harvest Community Church in NC painting the railing of the church office.

A group from West Virginia was here this week that worked on painting Ms. Lambert's trailer and hanging up sheet rock.

And at another place we are working. We are working on turning the old carport into a small apartment. This is a team from Tennesse framing it up

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.