Showing Hope...Again!

The Show Hope booth

Steven

"Smitty"

The girls w/ some of the band members @ Krispy Kreme


Saturday evening our family was once again able to give back to an agency that has given so much to us. We were asked, as one of many who have received an adoption grant from Shaohannah's Hope, to volunteer at their booth at one of Steven Curtis Chapman's concerts in Spartanburg. This happens to be his tour with Michael W. Smith...The United Tour. We were able to speak with & encourage those who are interested in adopting. We also met a wonderful woman (who volunteered with us) who just returned from China in August with her 3 year old son. She was a great encouragement to our family as we deal with our long wait.
Michael W. Smith was great, of course. He is a gifted artist & worship leader with a renewed passion to see God's Kingdom spread in our world at this time. Steven is still a broken man, but worships God w/ unashamed abandon. While hard to see his brokeness at times, it was a humbling blessing to be there and hear him praise God in the midst of his still fresh grief.
The kids had a great time. They loved the concert, and weren't too sad about seeing the "Hot Now" sign blazing at Krispy Kreme when we were leaving. Let's just say "a little sugar for the road" goes a long way.

Happy Birthday Quinn!

It's hard to believe our youngest is 7 years old today. Last night Rachel & I were recalling our time @ Greenville Memorial 7 years ago when we watched news footage during Rachel's labor following the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq. Talk about a little added stress!
Quinn's middle name is Samuel. We have prayed that just like Samuel in the Bible, Quinn would be sensitive to the voice of God. He truly has a sensitive heart to the things of the Spirit, and especially has a heart for the orphan. Whenever there is any change lying around, Quinn is quick to put it in our "Gracie adoption fund jar", and he nightly prays for children who don't have a family. We are blessed!

Psalm 127:3 "Children are a gift from the LORD. They are a reward from Him."

From Death to Life

I received a blessing from God this week. I had been praying for the opportunity for quite some time to lead a person to Christ.
Wednesday morning as I took Alison to school she read in Proverbs, "He who wins souls is wise." It went straight to my heart and I did not know why.
Later that day I had to open the church for a gentleman named Keith who was delivering flowers for Cris Smock's funeral to be held the next day. He started asking me about end times and shared his fear of death. One question led to another and after about 30 minutes of talking and reading verses in the Bible, Keith got on his knees in an empty auditorium at CrossRoads and gave his life to Jesus.

Keith came to deliver flowers for a funeral and left knowing Jesus as his Savior. What a blessing. Thank you Jesus!

Pray for the Smock family, and pray for Keith. They all need the body of Christ right now.

CRCC Mexico Mission Trip

This Sunday at CrossRoads our mission team of 23 that traveled to Mexico in August will be sharing what God did during our week there. What a privilege we had loving on and being loved by orphans at Love in Action orphanage and Hope House. Much work was accomplished while we were there and much remains to be done.

A New Normal

It's hard to believe a new school year has begun. Car pools to three different schools, homework, early bedtimes, early mornings...Where did summer go?! God has blessed our children with wonderful schools and wonderful teachers. Every year we're amazed at how God has cared for Ali, Erin & Quinn in this way. He is with us in our "new normal"!
God did some amazing things on our Mexico mission trip. I'll post an update & pictures soon!

Beautiful Feet

The Global Outreach Missions Team leaves this afternoon for a week of ministry in Chapala Mexico. The Holy Spirit brought this verse to my mind, and I have been meditating on it all week. It is found in Romans 10 verse 15 ..."As it is written,'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!' "

Please pray for our safety, and that we will be bold in our witness. We have a group of 23 people that will be gone August 3 - 10. We will be ministering at the local orphanage each day. We plan to attend two worship services at the local church and work on several maintenance projects for the orphanage as well as the church.

You can find out more about the ministry we are partnering with at http://www.shmius.org/.

We will be joining another CrossRoads member already serving in Chapala, Lydia Hopkins. You can learn more about how she has been ministering this summer on her blog!

Thank you for your prayers!

Unity in the body

Pastor Steve reminded us on Sunday that all believers make up the body of Christ. We are all one body.

Ephesians 4:3 says "Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace." I continue to learn that unity does not just happen. We all have to work at it. Differences among God's people can lead to division, but this should not be true in the body of Christ.The book of Ephesians has reminded me to stop concentrating on what divides us, and remember what unites us:

Ephesians 4:4, "We are all on body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future."