Forgiveness in the Wake of Tragedy

Today I listened to an awesome podcast from Focus on the Family.
You may remember on December 9, 2007, 24-year-old gunman Matthew Murray entered the Youth With a Mission (YWAM) training center in Arvada, Colo., killing two young missionaries and injuring several others. Hours later, Murray showed up at New Life Church in Colorado Springs and killed two teenage sisters before taking his own life. Peter Warren, director of YWAM's Arvada facility, talked about the question of why God allows evil and talks about the power - and necessity - of forgiving those who hurt us.
"By forgiving someone, you relinquish the right to be the judge, to the one who is going to exact a payment for what they did, and what you do is you hand over to God the right and responsibility to punish or pardon them. When you don't forgive, evil triumphs." - Peter Warren
Be prepared to be moved by a touching story of forgiveness that was aired on 2-27-08.
http://listen.family.org/daily/A000000957.cfm

Right Priorities

I am reading a book right now called Secrets of the Secret Place by Bob Sorge. Something I read this morning jumped off the page and drove me to my Bible.
Here is the quote I read, "Works of service gain their spiritual energy from the furnace of a fiery love relationship at Jesus' feet. The true fulfillment of serving Jesus is discovered when we get first things first: First we sit and listen, and then we go and do."
The Holy Spirit immediately reminded me of the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10: 38 - 42.
Martha welcomed Jesus and the disciples into her house. Mary sat at Jesus' feet, listening to what he taught. Martha was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing and complained to Jesus that Mary was just sitting there and not helping do the work.
Jesus' response to Martha was a loving rebuke. "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
I don't know about you, but I sure can identify with Martha. I am a task driven person. Activity over relationship comes easy for me.
Dear Jesus, please forgive me for not consistently choosing what is better, sitting at Your feet.

Good Clean Fun @ Hydromissions

*9 volunteers
*400 bars of soap made
*300 bars of soap packaged for a local hospital
*Accomplished in 3 hours
CrossRoads volunteers Rock!

God speaks when I least expect it

Do you have these kind of morning too?

I woke up yesterday and my mind was going 100 miles an hour. I felt like I had run a marathon while sleeping. I couldn't get control of my mind long enough to have my quiet time with God. I tried, but Leviticus and the topic of Old Testament laws for burnt offerings was not exactly easy reading. (fyi - I am working on reading through the Bible this year.)Even praying was difficult as I thought about all the tasks I needed to accomplish that day. So I gave up on praying after about 15 seconds. What to do? Dark roast coffee!

Alison, my 14 yr. old daughter, and I jumped into my Accord to make our way to her school. I was thinking about a title for this blog when my cell phone rang. My beautiful wife had an idea for my blog title - "Called to Serve". I loved the idea. She tends to be the creative genius in our relationship. Immediately, the Holy Spirit reminded me of a few verses in Matthew 20 about serving. I couldn't wait to drop Alison off at school so I could stop and open my Bible to these verses - Matthew 20:26b - 28.

" Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave. For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many."

God is so good! He spoke to me thru His Spirit and shared that His Son, my Saviour Jesus Christ, is the ultimate example of being Called to Serve. May I be found faithful in following His example.

Giving = Joy!

God called my family to international adoption two years ago. We have fallen in love with the children at New Day Foster Care Center in China. Rachel has been in communication with the director who is passionate about these special needs children receiving excellent care. Our family had the privelege to send a Valentines care package to Beijing a couple of weeks ago. Seeing the response from our children as they saw the faces of these orphans receiving their treats was worth the investment! My desire is that they will have giving, compassionate hearts. Enjoy these pictures of some of the children, and of some of the workers enjoying their new Hydromissions soaps!

Too old to serve?

I met a 90 year old volunteer at Greenville Memorial Hospital the other day. She had such a gracious giving attitude as she served patients. She told me her birthday had been the day before and that without the love and strength of God she did not know how she would live.
She brightened my whole day. What an example of an aging servant's selfless attitude.

I am dipping my toes into the world of blogging for the first time....... Speaking of aging....... Thanks for joining me on this journey.