Producing or Investing?

I read this passage this morning and felt prompted to share it. The quote comes from Bob Sorge's book, Secrets of the Secret Place. The highlighted quote is what hit me between the eyes.


" We live in a culture that evaluates its priorities bases upon immediate results. The voices of the world are demanding that we produce. NOW! The race to produce can rob us of investing properly in the secret place. We must not evaluate our spiritual progress based upon how many projects we accomplish or deadlines we met today. Our devotional life with God is more like the planting of a garden. When we arise from sowing into the secret place, we will not usually be able to point to immediate results or benefits."

"Every moment you spend in the secret place is an investment. You are investing into eternal realities. So whatever you do, don't quit!"

Soccer with a Mission

Coach Steve 'Woody' Woodard leads the Trinity Academy girls soccer team in a post practice prayer. The school is hosting a youth 3 v 3 soccer tournament Saturday to help raise funds to help Ugandan orphans.

I am so proud of my little brother. I cannot help but give a shameless plug for the work he is doing with the students at Trinity Academy in Raleigh, NC. Way to go Bro.

http://www.newsobserver.com/nrn/story/999651.html

Remembering Good Friday

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

"Behold, My servant shall prosper, He shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. As many were astonished at Him -- His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and His form beyond that of the sons of men -- so shall He startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of Him; for that which has not been told them they shall see, and that which they have not heard they shall understand. Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form or comeliness that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to His own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of My people? And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief; when He makes Himself an offering for sin, He shall see His offspring, He shall prolong His days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand; He shall see the fruit of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge shall the righteous one, My servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He poured out His soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for me. Please forgive me of my wicked sins. Help me to wake up to the magnitude of who you are and what you fulfilled and accomplished on the cross. Help me to share this Good News to the ends of the earth.

My Grandpa Woodard

My Grandfather Walter "Woody" E. Woodard, 93, of Midland, MI went home to be with his Lord and Savior on Friday, March 14, 2008, at Tendercare of Clare.

He was born on Feb. 26, 1915, in Elsie, the son of Ralph and Lydia Woodard. Woody attended Coyne Electrical School in Chicago, Ill. and had owned and operated Woodard Electric from 1954-1980. On March 26, 1937, he married Dorothy Marie Landon in Elsie. He was a member of Calvary Baptist Church. Walter is survived by his children, Donald (Sharon) Woodard of Raleigh, N.C., Nancy Adamets, Walter C. Woodard, Marilyn (David) Dumont all of Midland; his grandchildren, Brian (Rachel) Woodard, Susan (John) Felmit, Heather (Mike) Salyer, Stephen (Erica) Woodard, Theresa (Cary) Zeschke, Rick Zimmer, Jodee Horoky, Robert (Angie) Woodard, Kymberly (Tony) Scalia, Adam Woodard, Mary (Tim) Donnelly, John (Cathy) Dumont and Laura (Jason) Suitor; 21 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; two brothers; and three sisters. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his wife Dorothy in 2004; his daughter Susan; grandsons Michael and William; great-grandson Ty; one brother; and three sisters.

Thank you for the good memories. We will miss you.

Go Green

My wife's Irish roots run deep, so the St. Patrick's Day holiday is greatly anticipated and celebrated in our home. Our kids showed their Irish pride @ last weeks' Irish festival @ Reedy River Falls. Not many know the true story of St. Patrick. Thousands were converted to Christianity because of his bold witness in Ireland.

Myths and legends have grown up around this hero of Ireland.
As Monsignor Murray explains, it is sometimes difficult to describe the triune aspect of God. So, according to the story, to better illustrate the central teaching of the trinity, Patrick took a shamrock and pointed out the three leaves on it. Interestingly, it is only in Ireland that you find this shamrock. Therefore, the people believed.
Listen to Patrick's poem of faith and trust in God, "The Breastplate":
"Christ be within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ inquired, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger."

May we be bold witnesses in our homeland like St. Patrick was in his homeland of Ireland.

Pure Religion

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; look after orphans..." (James 1:27)
Last night Rachel, Alison, Erin and I had the honor to play a small part in changing an orphan's life. Steven Curtis Chapman is an adoptive father and huge adoption advocate. He began a ministry called Shaohanna's Hope that encourages the body of Christ to care for orphans and also assists families with the financial burden of adoption. Last year we received a grant from their organization towards our own adoption process. It was a huge blessing & encouragement to us. At Steven's concert in Spartanburg last evening we were able to volunteer as Show Hope representatives for their "Change For Orphans" campaign. It is an effort to raise adoption awareness as well as to collect change for adoptive families. One of the best parts of the evening was seeing our girls worship with their new friends - four siblings recently adopted from Ethiopia. Talk about a glimpse of heaven! At the end of the concert, a check for $4,000 was given to a local family that is in the process of adopting their 5th child from China. Very cool. Fact - Every 18 seconds another child becomes an orphan. It must thrill God to see His children acting on this statistic & "making change".

Random Act of Kindness

My wonderful wife and daughter will probably not like that I am sharing this because it was not done for show.
In the pouring down rain yesterday we had a crew of men cleaning up leaves and brush in our neighborhood. Rachel and Erin stopped by Chick fil A for some breakfast and also five hot chocolates. They found the wet crew still working in our neighborhood and gave them the hot chocolates. They said they received some weird looks and grateful thank yous.

Faith Comes by Hearing

This Romans 10:17 verse has been on my mind since Monday night prayer. "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word [rhema = a speaking] of God [Greek = Christos]. "When one believes in Christ, he 'calls' on Him. Believing, in turn, is based on hearing, and hearing is based on someone preaching. (Since the Greek word, kerysso, "preach", means "to be a herald, to announce," it is not limited to proclamation from a pulpit) [The Bible Knowledge Commentary]

The Holy Spirit is teaching me that I need to continue to herald the good news of my Jesus to everyone that would hear it. Secondly, the responsibility of the hearer to believe is not mine to accomplish.

The Holy Spirit is also teaching me through the Word that saving faith, healing faith, bondage breaking faith and restoration faith most of the time in the Bible was verbally spoken by the person wanting to be saved, healed, freed, or restored. Not because God needs to hear it. He already know the thoughts and intents of my heart. I need to hear with our own ears what my mouth is speaking in faith.

Saving faith is spoken out in Romans 10:9,10. "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. "

Healing faith is spoken to Jesus in Matthew 9: 27-30. "As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, 'Have mercy on us, Son of David!' When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' 'Yes Lord,' they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, 'According to your faith will it be done to you'; and their sight was restored.

King David calls out to God for the restoring of their relationship after the prophet Nathan confronts him about his adultery with Bathsheba in Psalm 51:12. "Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me."

I don't know if my rambling makes any sense but this is a path that the Holy Spirit is taking me down right now to teach me some wonderful truths from the Bible about my Wonderful Lord and Saviour.

Wonderful Weekend in Review

I had a great time with my family this weekend.
- Backyard wiffle ball game with my son. I pitch and Quinn cranks it over our fence into the neighbors yard for a major league home run . Yeah!
- We went for a walk in the woods near our house and found a set of keys, a little league baseball, and a web of ropes in a group of trees. Someone spent a lot of time and money creating what looks like a spider web of ropes five feet off the ground. My children loved it. We found it on Saturday and had to return for another climb on Sunday afternoon.
- Rachel's Mom and Dad came over and we cooked hamburgers on the grill. Had a great conversation with my father-in-law. What a godly man.
- Sunday morning was fun leading the Adult Bible Class in a study on the life of Joseph, Genesis 37 - 45. Joseph went from being the favorite son to being sold into slavery by his brothers who hated him. He was lied about and thrown into an Egyptian dungeon. Talk about a rough life. But God had given him a dream at 17 yrs. old. It did come true, but not until he was in his early 30's. God had a plan for Joseph to save His family from death due to the severe famine.
What his brothers meant for evil, God meant for good. Joseph held no grudges or animosity toward his brothers. He learned to love those that had hated him. He showed grace to those that hurt him the most. He had a plan to save those that had sold him.
May I learn life's lessons like Joseph. I cannot live this live in my own strength. I must live in the empowerment of the Spirit of God.
- Our Sunday morning Encounter service was awesome. Pastor Steve brought us a great Sermon on the Mount talk about Choices. Choose the Golden Rule way of life. Choose the Narrow path or the Broad road. The Kingdom series has been the best series yet. David led us in a worship song Sunday that we sang most of the drive home - "He Love Us, Oh How He Loves Us..."
Awesome worship. Thanks for leading us David!