Sermon of the Week

While Gene was gone to Las Vegas, I spent my time in a great deal of prayer, & work around the house. While I worked I listened to some really great sermons by a man named, Paul Washer. He has a ministry, HeartCry Missionary Society, which helps missionaries around the world. His sermons are hard hitting, and right on target. He's known for not being asked back to places because many "Christians" don't want to hear the truth of his message. Some of his messages send me down on my face; they are so convicting. My plan is to link to one each week, and I hope that you will take the time to listen to them, and allow God to work through them. I'd love to hear your feedback afterwards.

The sermon this week is: Regeneration & Self-Denial

In a Flurry

There has been a flurry of activity in our family since my last post. On the 5th we went on our weekly evangelism jaunt. We met early that night and had dinner together, having a wonderful time of fellowship. Two of the families on our team were leaving on the 9th to go to the Philippines to become missionaries; so we had prayer with them and said all of our good-byes. The prayer was filled with tears of both sadness and joy. We will miss both families greatly, but we are overjoyed at their dedication and service to the Lord. We heard from them earlier this week, and they seem to be settling in to their new lives.

On the 6th we put on another one day training class, which went quite well. We had about 30 attendees and about 15 of them went out witnessing with us afterwards. It was exhilarating to see so many people excitedly sharing their faith. I especially love to be around people who are excited to see what God is going to do when we are obedient to his command to share our faith. The students were even able to see Gene get busted by the police...again. No, they didn't arrest him, but they did tell him to stop witnessing...or else.

On the 10th Gene spoke at Baytown Christian Academy during the chapel services. He was able to present the gospel to about 250 kids & their teachers, while also encouraging them to share their faith. We were able to give all of the kids a tract before they left, which we also encouraged them to share.

On the morning of the 17th Gene flew out to Las Vegas for 5 days of evangelism. The first night they had a banquet with Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort. Before the banquet they were all in the lobby of Circus Circus talking and Gene called his sister. He asked to talk to Brittany, her 16 year old daughter, and then he put Kirk on the phone with her. Brittany has watched Kirk her whole life on Growing Pains, and talking to him on the phone was very special for her. I think it took her a little while to start breathing again.

Yesterday they preached at UNLV and last night they hit the strip preaching. They were on the strip all day today after they spent a morning in prayer. Please continue to pray for them as they spread the light of the gospel in the darkness of Las Vegas.

Looking Forward

The holiday season is now behind us and now with the new year ahead I am looking forward. This past year has been amazing; I can't believe how quickly it passed. It has made me aware of how fleeting our days are, and how we truly need to set our focus on the things of God, not wasting a minute.

When I think back to all of the wasted minutes, time wasted on things of no eternal value, it spurs me on to make changes in my life. I think of how much time and money we spend on entertainment and pleasure, which really convicts me. I know that there is a balance; but it seems that those shouting to keep everything in balance, are often doing little to serve the Lord. I know that sounds like a harsh statement, but over the past year I have seen it time and again. We often get criticized for our evangelism, and our "method" from people who are not evangelizing at all. The phrase we have begun to use with these people is, "You don't like what I'm doing, more than what you are not doing."

As we all look back at the past year and ahead to the coming year, we should prayerfully consider the changes the Lord is laying on our hearts. One of the changes He is laying on mine is to read the Bible more. Like Cindy I would like to read my Bible before touching my computer. I failed at that today, and when I read that she had the same thought, it made me more determined to press toward that mark.

The Lord has blessed us immensely over this last year; not materially, but spiritually. Yes, compared to the rest of the world, we live like kings. But, that is truly not important. What is important is teaching my children to love the Lord their God more than anything, and to teach them to yearn to reach those who are perishing. Even among Christians we tend to teach our children more about how to make and keep the almighty dollar, than how to sacrificially serve our Lord.

It is no wonder that today's Christian teens and young adults act and behave just like the world. They are being taught by the mainstream church to be as much like the world as they possibly can. They have pastors like Joel Osteen telling them to "get their best life now." That is not the life Christ called us to. He called us to take up our crosses and follow Him. His cross wasn't padded and comfortable like the seats at Lakewood. His cross was full of splinters, it was heavy and hard to carry, there were times he felt the weight of it was too much to bear. We are called to emulate Him, not someone who's telling us to get all we can, while we can.

I hope and pray that my focus in the coming year will continue to shift more from me and toward Him. My goal for this blog is to direct people toward Him, and I pray I do that more each day. We can serve Him more by being better wives, mothers and evangelists. What a blessing it will be to our children for them to have a mother who enthusiastically, compassionately, and fervently shares the glorious true gospel of Christ. I pray that through this humble blog, I may in some way encourage you in these areas.

Friday December 22

On Friday nights we have an evangelism team that meets in Downtown Houston. We meet from 9pm until midnight. Gene is a Local Leader for GNN and he leads the team with another Local Leader, Javier. We have anywhere from 10 to 25 people on the streets on any given Friday night. The temperature on the 22nd was down in the mid to low 40's, but we still had 16 people out in all.

We are never really sure what the night will hold for us as we head out, which gives us a sense of anticipation. For me this Friday night began in a sorta crazy way. It started when Gene and I stopped at a gas station on the way into downtown. Gene asked me to get him a Diet Coke and a particular type of gum. He said the gum would be right inside the door on a rack. Well, the gum wasn't there, so I had to search to find what I hoped was the right one. I then went to the refrigerated section for the drinks. I saw cokes of all flavors...except diet. I asked the lady working if they had them and I was just missing them, and she said, "We don't have diet coke." I opened the door to get him a Diet Pepsi, and they were all hot. I asked the lady about it and she said, "All of the refrigerators are broken." I pulled out the hot Diet Pepsi and hot Dr. Pepper and got us each a cup of ice. As I walked up to the counter, I dropped the Pepsi, but caught it with my knee. I tried to put all of these mishaps behind me as I headed to the car. I got in and began telling Gene of my exploits while unloading the bag. I just began to say, "I hope this isn't what our whole night will be like." When Gene opened the Pepsi. It sprayed all over him and the inside of the car. I think 1/4 of the bottle shot out. I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. We cleaned him and the car up and headed on our way (and I prayed the whole way!).

We met up with Patti & Kelli at Starbuck's, and then headed to our team meeting spot. Javier showed up a few minutes later, as did a homeless man who had some mental problems. Javier put himself between Patti, Kelli, me and this man, while Gene tried to talk to him. He left after a few minutes, muttering under his breath. Shortly after the man left more of the team showed up, and we had prayer.

We headed down to our corners to start handing out tracts. At first it was very slow, but we were still able to hand out tracts to the few people who were there. It also gave us some time to talk to the bar promoters who work on the corners as well. We don't engage them in conversations often, because they are working, but we do try to build a relationship with them. The ones we know by name, we pray for specifically each week. There have even been times they have brought prayer requests to the team. Because of their proximity to us they have heard the gospel many times, and we pray that it will take root at some point in their lives.

After we had been there for about 45 minutes, I gave a tract to a man walking by himself. He paused when he took it and began looking at it (this is a sure sign to start a conversation). His name was Michael. He was very amiable and listened to us, and we talked for about 15 minutes. Sadly, his conversation went like many others do, and his eyes were closed to the truth of God's word. Our conversation ended well, and he agreed to think about the things we discussed. Many people judge the success of an evangelism encounter by the seen "results"... ie: whether or not someone prayed a prayer. That is not the standard by which God judges success. He wants us to be faithful in witnessing and planting seeds. I don't need to focus on the "results" because I know that God gives the increase, and He will work in each person's heart according to His will.

After my conversation with Michael we handed out lots of tracts. I don't know the final count from our team, but I would guess it would be over 600. That is 600 seeds being planted in 600 lives. Many people have been saved through tracts, so it's exciting to think about what God can do in a person's life, just because I took the time to stick out my hand and say, "Did you get one of these?"



Here is a slide show of people from our team witnessing and handing out tracts downtown.

Mariposa Ranch

Last Wednesday night I found out that I was getting my Christmas/Anniversary present on Thursday. Our anniversary is December 31st and we will have been married 23 years! Gene surprised me by taking off of work both Thursday and Friday so that he could take me on an overnight trip. He found a lovely Bed & Breakfast in Brenham, TX that was right up my alley. We went to the Mariposa Ranch and stayed in the Texas Ranger Log Cabin.

Gene and I have never been away from the girls overnight together since Lindsay was 2. This was a very special trip and we really enjoyed our time together, though honestly, there was always a tug to be at home with girls or wishing they were with us. It was also very odd to not feel like you had anything you "had" to do.

We enjoyed the peacefulness of the ranch, and the lack of city sounds. We did hear some distinctly country sounds though. One that sticks out was the pack of coyotes we heard. Early in the evening when we were sitting on the porch we heard them a few miles away over a couple of hills, but later in the evening they were very close. It amazed me how much they sound like hyenas.

We arrived at the cabin about 4pm, it was an overcast, drizzly, cold day...perfect for snuggling in a cabin. They had the cabin decorated with lights, which made it look quite homey. Here is a picture of the cabin that evening just after we arrived.





The cabin was small, with only 2 rooms and a loft for the bedroom. This is one angle of the living room which had satellite tv, a fireplace, and a wood stove.




The wood stove sits in a corner near the bathroom. I'm not sure if it is a working stove, as we didn't use it, but it looks as if it would work.



The stairs in this cabin are the narrowest and steepest I think I have ever been on. I went down them sideways, just to keep from falling. You can see them behind the couch.



The bedroom was up the stairs in a loft. It was very cozy being near the rafters, it felt as if you were in a cocoon.



The bathroom had a jacuzzi tub for two, which was very relaxing...I could get used to that!



The cabin was originally built in the 1820's. It was taken down log by log and re-assembled at Mariposa Ranch. They had many other little cabins (not log) scattered around the property. They have the main house, Homestead House, where they serve a very nice breakfast. Overall the place was very comfortable and homey feeling.

Here is our cabin the next morning when it was bright and sunny.



We left about 10 Friday morning after our breakfast at the Homestead House. Our time together was very special, but we were happy to be home with our girls. Later that evening we hit the streets for evangelism; I'll share that in another post.

Another Video for Christmas

This is a video that was made by our friends at Custom Tract Source. It is set up as an e-card, so please send it to your friends. Tommy & Andy at Custom Tract Source make some of my favorite tracts, I hope that you will check them all out.

The Reason For The Season

The only reason we celebrate Christmas at all is to remember the birth of Christ and the result of His birth, which was His death and resurrection. We know that He wasn't born in December; we don't know exactly when he was born. I feel that setting aside time to reflect upon His life in a special way is very important. In our studies and discussion, we focus upon His life, death, & resurrection, but we choose to set aside this time of year to focus upon His birth.

We recently discovered a singing group that we really enjoy--ok, love--which is Go Fish. They have recorded a great song about Christmas, "It's about the Cross". David MacMillan III made a video using their song as background music, which wonderfully portrays the true meaning behind Christmas.
I hope that you will watch the video and let me know what you think of it. There is one warning though: you will need a hankie!

At the end of the video is a link, Need God, please take a couple of minutes to visit it.



Here are the lyrics:

It’s About The Cross

It’s not just about the manger where the baby laid...

It’s not all about the angels who sang for Him that day
It’s not just about the shepherds or the bright and shining star
It’s not all about the wise men who traveled from afar

It’s not just about the presents underneath the tree
It’s not all about the feeling that this season brings to me
It’s not just about coming home to be with those you love
It’s not all about the beauty in the snow I’m dreaming of

The beginning of the story is wonderful and great
But it’s the ending that can save you and that’s why we celebrate


It’s about the cross, It’s about my sin
It’s about how Jesus came to be born once
So that we could be born again
It’s about God’s love nailed to a tree
It’s about every drop of blood that flowed
From Him when it should’ve been me
It’s about the stone that was rolled away
So that you and I could have a life some day
It’s about the cross



This song is "It's About the Cross" on Go Fish's new Christmas Album Snow.

Written by Jamison J. Statema
© 2006 Found Free Music (ASCAP)
(Administered by Fun Attic Music)

www.GoFishGuys.com