Congratulations

On Friday September 7, 2012 my family gained a new member... no baby.  My aunt Charlotte got married!  Her son walked her down the aisle and her daughter stood beside her as she married Jimmy.  We are all so very happy for them.

Congratulations to Charlotte and Jimmy!

(L-R) Arbie Webb, Kylie Hall, Donnie Webb,

 Charlotte & Jimmy, Amy Hall, Daniel Hall, Tyler Hall

More Abudantly

 

I love this quote by Mark Lowry.  I think this explains my year as well. If you are having that kind of day, month, or year, I hope this makes you laugh or feel like you are not alone in that feeling.

From Mark Lowry's Mouth in Motion (1994) "Open Heart Surgery" 
But we have our Christian cliche, it goes like this - would you like to invite Jesus into your heart? Yeah, you've heard it. Let me tell you something. Jesus is just about as interested in getting into your heart as he is your kidneys. He don't want to get into your left ventricle and watch blood go by. But when you invite him into your heart, listen to me, if you ever do - get ready. At times you may have a broken heart, a lot of people say come to Jesus and you know you get saved and everything is fine from then on - let me tell you. Christ said that I have come to give you life, but not just life - life more abundant. First of all you've got to know what life is, y'all. Do you know what life is? Whether you are a believer or you're not a believer life is life - life is a series of emotions. Life is a mountain after a valley. A wife to feed, a husband to clothe, children to raise, a boss to put up with, car notes, taxes, April 15th. Life is life.  Christ says I have come to give you life, more abundant. If I could put the Christian life into one word you know what it would be? It wouldn't be joyous, it wouldn't be victorious, it wouldn't be sad, it wouldn't be depressing even though it has been all of those things at some point in time. If I could put it in one word, if I could put my entire Christian experience into one word it would be this - the Christian life is interesting. You want a boring life, don't come to Christ. You want an interesting life come to Christ. But I've got a great scripture for you, if your heart ever gets broken. This is my favorite scripture, its my life verse. I love this verse. It says this: And it came to pass. I love that verse, don't you? And it came to pass - it didn't come to stay. It came to pass! No matter where you are on that experience it will pass. Hey, you young 18 year old jocks who've got muscles in your earlobes enjoy them, they will pass! You older crowd, 35 and up, you've got gray hair now, some of you've got blue hair. You know who you are. Some of you got no hair. Some of you went out and bought you some hair, didn't ya? I saw a guy on TV the other day some TV preacher he had the nastiest looking wig I've ever seen in my life. I think the thing was made out of cat hair. Every time he scratched his head his rear went up. But enjoy it, it will pass. Hey, you may have arthritis living in your joints, hey enjoy it. It will pass. Either it will pass or you will pass. It came to pass. No matter where you are in your life, it will pass. Did you have a bad year last year? Hold on, it will pass. Did you have a good year last year? Hold on, it will pass. No matter what you are going through, this too shall pass.

1 Thessalonians 3:4

Thought for the Day

In His Time

As you go through this week, remember that everything works in God's time.

Standing Up

I have always been taught to stand up for Godly things and my beliefs.  As mentioned in an earlier post, Chick-fil-a publicly announced that the corporate mission was based on biblical principals.  This drew controversary...so Mike Huckabee asked for supporters to show appreciation for CEO Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-a."The goal is simple," Huckabee wrote on the Facebook page for the event. "Let's affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick Fil-A on Wednesday, August 1."  Chick-fil-a wouldn't report Wednesday's total earnings, however, they stated that it created record sales.
I bring this up because as Christians we often try not to offend.  We know that Christ taught us to "Love one another" John 15:17 but he also taught us that there is a set of rights and wrongs... thou shall and thou shall nots if you will.  As Christians, we must stand with those standards but do it in a loving way.  You can't show God and Christ with hate in your heart but we must stand on biblical principles.  I went to a Chick-fil-a on Wednesday to show my support of this business. 
1 Corinthians 16: 13-14 states "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love." As Christians we can make a great impact.  We just need to remember to stay united.

SonRise VBS 2012

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VBS Program 2012

                                          


Hope you enjoy!

Colorado-Smith Family

As most people know, 12 people were killed and 58 others injured at a midnight showing of the latest Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises".  Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families of this horrible tragedy.
Our minister's daughter, Amanda had a college friend that was seriously injured.  Lucas Smith, was shot 8 times in the hip/leg.  He had surgery where they left in the bullets because the surgeons thought that would be best.  We pray that God will ease and speed his recovery.
Mr. Smith's wife, Heather, was with him but was unharmed.  They have also said that had Lucas not stood up he would have been shot in the head or chest. 

Chik-Fil-A

Chick-fil-a has always been a favorite eatery of mine. I love chicken and now I have a new reason to love Chick-fil-a.  The CEO of Chick-fil-a decided to publically announced the company's stance on certain issues. He also gave the corporate statement:

      "declaring that the purpose of Chick-Fil-A is “to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us,” Cathy told the Baptist Press that it isn’t a Christian business.

Christianity “is about a personal relationship,” he said. “Companies are not lost or saved, but certainly individuals are. But as an organization we can operate on biblical principles.”

Chick-fil-a supports several Christian organizations as well. Since all Chick-fil-a's are closed on Sundays, you can't receive a discount that day.  However, on Monday if you bring in that Sunday's church bulletin to Chick-fil-a you will receive a 10% discount.

If you want to find out more on the issues that Chick-fil-a stands for and against go to the following link and look for Chick-fil-a.

http://www.nydailynews.com/

Happy Fourth Of July

           When he was president, Ronald Reagan wrote the following piece for Independence Day in 1981. Aide Michael Deaver later wrote: "This 4th of July message is the President's own words and written initially in his own hand."

For one who was born and grew up in the small towns of the Midwest, there is a special kind of nostalgia about the Fourth of July.   I remember it as a day almost as long-anticipated as Christmas. This was helped along by the appearance in store windows of all kinds of fireworks and colorful posters advertising them with vivid pictures.   No later than the third of July – sometimes earlier – Dad would bring home what he felt he could afford to see go up in smoke and flame. We'd count and recount the number of firecrackers, display pieces and other things and go to bed determined to be up with the sun so as to offer the first, thunderous notice of the Fourth of July.  I'm afraid we didn't give too much thought to the meaning of the day. And, yes, there were tragic accidents to mar it, resulting from careless handling of the fireworks. I'm sure we're better off today with fireworks largely handled by professionals. Yet there was a thrill never to be forgotten in seeing a tin can blown 30 feet in the air by a giant "cracker" – giant meaning it was about 4 inches long. But enough of nostalgia.  Somewhere in our growing up we began to be aware of the meaning of days and with that awareness came the birth of patriotism. July Fourth is the birthday of our nation. I believed as a boy, and believe even more today, that it is the birthday of the greatest nation on earth.   There is a legend about the day of our nation's birth in the little hall in Philadelphia, a day on which debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign the Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words "treason, the gallows, the headsman's axe," and the issue remained in doubt.  The legend says that at that point a man rose and spoke. He is described as not a young man, but one who had to summon all his energy for an impassioned plea. He cited the grievances that had brought them to this moment and finally, his voice falling, he said, "They may turn every tree into a gallows, every hole into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die. To the mechanic in the workshop, they will speak hope; to the slave in the mines, freedom. Sign that parchment. Sign if the next moment the noose is around your neck, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the Bible of the rights of man forever."   He fell back exhausted. The 56 delegates, swept up by his eloquence, rushed forward and signed that document destined to be as immortal as a work of man can be. When they turned to thank him for his timely oratory, he was not to be found, nor could any be found who knew who he was or how he had come in or gone out through the locked and guarded doors.  Well, that is the legend. But we do know for certain that 56 men, a little band so unique we have never seen their like since, had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Some gave their lives in the war that followed, most gave their fortunes, and all preserved their sacred honor. What manner of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists, 11 were merchants and tradesmen, and nine were farmers. They were soft-spoken men of means and education; they were not an unwashed rabble. They had achieved security but valued freedom more. Their stories have not been told nearly enough.   John Hart was driven from the side of his desperately ill wife. For more than a year he lived in the forest and in caves before he returned to find his wife dead, his children vanished, his property destroyed. He died of exhaustion and a broken heart.   Carter Braxton of Virginia lost all his ships, sold his home to pay his debts, and died in rags. And so it was with Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Rutledge, Morris, Livingston and Middleton. Nelson personally urged Washington to fire on his home and destroy it when it became the headquarters for General Cornwallis. Nelson died bankrupt. But they sired a nation that grew from sea to shining sea. Five million farms, quiet villages, cities that never sleep, 3 million square miles of forest, field, mountain and desert, 227 million people with a pedigree that includes the bloodlines of all the world. In recent years, however, I've come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation. It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history.   Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government.   Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.

We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.