GROWING SEEDS: "Newsletter"

When You Sordof Feel Like Your Drowning

Where Is Your Strength?

As I was preparing to write this article, I waffled back and forth on what to say after a week of tornados and death; after a month of explosions and government corruption and after a year of the most despicable hate crimes this world has ever seen.  Or do I write about the New Chapter our brand smackin' new adults called "Graduates" are just starting?

STRENGTH

streNG(k)TH, Noun, 

1. the quality or state of being strong 

2. a good or beneficial quality or attribute of a person or thing 

3. the number of people comprising a group

Awwwww.......STRENGTH.  How do we have the strength to pull ourselves away from the views of the 2 mile wide tornado baring down on an innocent little town watching it destroy and disrupt lives forever?  Knowing that for some, they only have minutes....seconds before they discover their child will never come home to their mom and peanut butter sandwichs again.....knowing that husbands and wives who had just eaten oatmeal together and kissed each other goodbye just a few hours prior, would never be blessed with these simple taken-for-granted moments ever again? 

STRENGTH....How do you find strength to learn to walk with a prosthetic leg when a moment before, you were running a marathon?  Or learning to strengthen your imagination to "feel" your spouses hand in yours.....but yours is plastic now.  

STRENGTH....to walk across that stage after 12 long years, with your parents, grandparents and life long friends on the sidelines cheering you on as you celebrate the finish of one race and the start of another.  

The only question is; whose STRENGTH are you going to rely on?  

Yours or God's?

GROWING SEEDS: "My Race-My Life"

 

 

My Race....My Path

Over the years, I've had this reoccurring dream I wrote about below.  I would wake up; exhausted....and lay there in the dark not daring to move before rewinding the dream back in my mind so as not to forget it.....I would then grab my pen and journal and write it all down.  The pocket verse this week reminded me of that repetitive dream and this race we are all on....this race called Life....."And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus...."  I hope you see Your Life in my dream......

As I travel down the dusty path called My Life, I am met with breaktaking sunrises and jaw-dropping sunsets throughout my journey.....and I thank You for the promise of each bright new day.

 

New bridges to cross and old bridges to burn....And I thank You for this amazing journey You've taken me on to teach me which rickety bridges to avoid ahead.

 

Tall mountains to climb and desolate barren valleys to cross.  And I thank You for these sore muscles, loneliness and struggles that teach me endurance.

 

People I meet along the way that make me smile.....Others along the way that make me cry.  And I thank You for these relationships that teach me not everyone that comes into my life is meant to stay there.

 

Obstacles on the path that force me to detour.....sometimes through fields of cactus and other times, through colorful poppy-filled meadows.  And I thank You for giving me patience to walk slowly through the thorns and to enjoy the beauty of the meadow.....

 

You have blessed me, favored me and protected me down this dusty path called My Life....And we know that by perseverance the snail reached the ark.....and with perseverance and faith, I too, will reach my ark.

 

And I thank You for this dusty, grungy and beautiful journey You have walked beside me on.....stepping ahead of me and keeping me from tripping on that rock I didn't see.  For taking the cataracts off my eyes so I can see the brilliance of the maple trees.  For taking the plugs out of my ears so I can hear the breathing of my loved one as he sleeps....

 

And for filling my very soul with Your Spirit.....so I can feel the warmth of Your grace as I fix my eyes upwards on this journey called My Life.

GROWING SEEDS -" Pentecost Sunday"

 

 

 PENTECOST SUNDAY

"Birthday of the Christian Church"

What is Pentecost Sunday?  I'm embarrassed to admit I wasn't completely sure.  Growing up in a non-traditional Christian church, I never remember EVER celebrating Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit came upon the people and birthed the Christian Church.   But here, in our precious Methodist Church and most Christian churches throughout the world, this Sunday is of great importance and celebration!  It's a birthday far greater than our own .....it's the day, according to Acts 2:2, "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them."

So, answer the questions below and see how much YOU know about Pentecost Sunday.  (Hint: Read Acts 2:1)

1)  What Christian holiday does the holiday of Pentecost follow? _____________

2)  How many days after Jesus ascended into Heaven did the disciples celebrate Pentecost? _______

3)  While everyone was gathered together in a room celebrating the feast, what sound was heard all around them? _______________

4)  What happened to the disciples when the Holy Spirit entered them? _____________

5)  Which one of Jesus' disciples took the opportunity to stand up and speak to the crowd of people? ________________

6)  In Acts 2:21, what did Peter say would happen to those that call upon the Lord? ___________

7)  Who did Peter describe in Acts 2:25 as sitting at the right hand of God? ____________

8)  In what city did this first Pentecostal celebration take place? __________________

This Spirit.....that lives inside each one of us as believers.....is God's very LIFE, BREATH and ENERGY.  It's like He lit that same flame He placed above each of the disciples' heads that day 2000 years ago, inside each of us the minute we accepted His grace and believed.  

And how magnificent that no fire extinguisher out there; no person, no thing....can douse the flame of the Holy Spirit burning brightly inside of each of us today!

GROWING SEEDS: "Wednesday Night Live"

KIDS....KIDS......KIDS.....

When I was in my early 30's, I was asked to head up the primary age kids (7-10 yr olds) in the church I was a member of at that time.  I must admit; kids this age scared the bajeebees out of me.  Never having had children of my own, I didn't know anything about kids of ANY age.  I just knew there was a desperate need for someone to put time into these kids and God was asking ME to take it on.  And the neatest thing happened; I fell in love with these kids and their quirky ways, their insightful thoughts and questions and learned more from them than they ever learned from me.

A little over 5 years ago, Craig and Pam Greenberg moved to Mt. Vernon and they, too, heard that distinct voice of God calling them to work with the kids in our church and community.  They started a kids program on Wednesday nights with 6 kids and within the second year, the attendance had doubled.  Today, five years later, there is anywhere between 35 to 45 kids attending each Wednesday night.  Their main goal?  To teach Grace and Salvation through Jesus.  They have found that by lovingly teaching them Bible stories through games and activities that, most likely many of these kids had never heard before, they were lighting that spark inside each child to want to have a relationship with their Heavenly Father. 

And the kids are LOVING it!  They not only have learned about the life of Christ through Bible stories, they are also memorizing scriptures, going on local mission trips, collecting items to send to third world countries, learning songs and putting on "Musicals" that they are sharing with us today, as well as other churches, about the joy they have found in the Lord. 

"We stress that by presenting their musical to others, they will be following Jesus’ command to tell others about Him and how they too can have eternal life.  We want them to realize early in their lives that God has blessed them with many talents and they are to use them to evangelize and bring glory to their Heavenly Father."  Pam Greenberg

Pam and Craig listened to God's voice.  They recognized and gladly gave of the time God had given them on this earth to further His work. 

Remember; these kids are the very people who will be sitting in your pew when your time on this earth is over.

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6