Don’t Let Your Song Go Silent

I once read a story about a Parakeet named Chippie who’d had a very bad day.  It all began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean his birdcage with a vacuum cleaner.  The idea was working like a charm until the phone rang.  When she turned around to answer it she heard a loud thud from the cage and Chippie was gone.  In a panic she tore open the vacuum bag, dug Chippie out and placed him back on his perch. Chippie never knew what hit him.  A few days later the lady was asked how the bird was doing.  “Well”, she replied, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore, he just sits and stares.” 
 
Ever feel that way?  One minute you are whistling through life, and the next you’re caught up in a whirlwind of stress.  Life sucks you up into its vortex and just when you’ve recovered from one trouble another one is waiting at the door.  These are the moments that sleep escapes me and I worry through the night about the choices I’ve made and the ones I wish I had made. 
 
The bible tells us that during times of trouble God sends us songs in the night (Job 35:10).  And again in Psalm 77:6, “At night I remember my song.  I meditate in my heart and my spirit ponders”.  Don’t let life’s troubles rob you of the intimate moments of God’s refreshing. Meditate on the greatness of our Lord and He will place a song in your heart.  Focusing on the seeming hopelessness of your problems will drown out your song.  But, focusing on Him will bring everything into the right perspective.  Then your anxiety will turn to peace and those sleepless moments will become times of worship and refreshing from the Lord.  For me, these moments have become treasured memories in my life…memories of the times that God drew near.   
 
Have a joyful day!
Pastor Jonathan


Rejoice. Like, A Lot

“Rejoice always!” – Paul the Apostle (Philippians 4, 1 Thessalonians 5)
 
More than once, the Apostle Paul encouraged his readers, believers and followers of Jesus to “rejoice always.” The act of rejoicing seemed to be for Paul an essential part of our faith journey and spiritual growth.

Nehemiah, in helping his people understand who God is and how life with God works, said, “…the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  (If you’ve never read Nehemiah’s story, check it out!) 

If the joy of the Lord is our strength, rejoicing is a powerful act in our lives! Do you need strength right now? Have you rejoiced today? Joined the rejoicing of someone else? Allowed someone to join your rejoicing?

If you haven’t, don’t worry! You still have a whole bunch of time today to get your joy on! Maybe it’s over something big like a long-awaited promotion or a cured illness… Maybe it’s something simple like lunch with a friend or a walk around the block.  Maybe the key to rejoicing often, or ALWAYS, as Paul would say, is to look for what God is doing. God is at work all around us. And just one glimpse of what God is up to will light up our hearts with joy that gives us strength we need to move forward in our lives.

My challenge to you is find SOMETHING to rejoice about today. Ask God to open your eyes to what God is doing around you. You may ask a friend or coworker to share with you what God is doing in her life. However you do it, exercise those joy muscles! They’re going to have carry you through the tough times!

Love,
Pastor Deb


One phone call

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” – Matthew 7:24-25
Some of you reading this may have received that phone call. That phone call where the ring sounded just a little different. The phone call where you answer knowing something is wrong, but you hope for everything to be fine. It may have been in the middle of the night or the middle of the day, either way, it was devastating.

For me, it was 2 years ago that I got that phone call. I found myself just getting home from work. My cellphone rang and I looked down and it was my sister in law. It was very strange that she would be calling me back because I had just spoke with her 20 minutes earlier. I had that feeling in my stomach that something must be wrong.

Upon answering the phone I heard her somber voice confirming my suspicions. My mom had been rushed to ICU and they called for the family to come as fast as we could. This was a wonderful, beautiful woman who just the day before, was handing out candy to the nurses, but kept all the peanut butter cups for herself because they were her favorite. A woman who was full of life and love for the Lord that she accepted people for who they were, and where they were. .
I knew she was a woman who loved God and loved telling others about her love for God, but it still hurt. It hurt knowing that I would never see her again. It hurt knowing that I would never hear her voice again. It hurt knowing that just the day before we had said goodbye I didn’t know that it would be the last time we would see each other for the rest of our lives.
It is often in these moments that we find ourselves on our knees. Our legs can’t hold the weight of our body as we cry out to God on the floor. We cry out for answers and for the ability to understand the circumstance. We cry out with demands for just one more chance to see or hear the person. We would give everything to go back and tell that person how much they mean to us or how we wish things would have been different.
We live comfortable lives, but we don’t realize that our lives are like a house of cards. We’re one breeze away from having everything we know being turned upside down. Our card house is made up of cards that are our friends and family, a job, or vehicle…remove the right card…and it all comes crashing down.
It is important that we build our lives on solid ground. Christ is our solid rock. When we build the foundation of our life on Him…even when everything around us falls…we still have Him. We can start rebuilding on the foundation that never changes, nor never fails.
Give him your hurts, grief and pain today. Let Him be your rock that never fails.
Blessings,
Pastor Gina


Obstacles of Prayer

Prayer is a vital part of our walk with The Lord. There are different types of prayer shown throughout The Scripture.  King David has many of his prayers recorded in The Bible. We read how he praised the Lord, confessed sin, and cried out about his troubles, asking God to hear his prayers and to not be silent. While we often hear about prayer, did you know that there are some hindrances and obstacles to our prayers?

I have listed a few:
Wavering faith.  If we doubt God’s character or dependability it will often cause our prayer to be non-effective. We can never allow our feelings do dictate our faith. The bible tells us to walk by faith not by sight. We must always go back to what God’s Word says about His character and His ability and not go by how we feel.
Wrong motives. ( James 4:3). Petitions motivated by selfish desires won’t receive an affirmative answer. God wants us to pray for His will to be done-not ours.
Conflict in relationships. Being resentful or argumentative with others will affect communication with the Father. It can begin to clog the channel of us hearing him clearly.
Indifference. ( Proverbs 28:9). Apathy to the Scriptures is another stumbling block. God has given us the Bible so that we might know Him and serve Him wholeheartedly. Failure to read and apply His Word consistently will diminish our ability to pray effectively.
It takes effort and commitment to develop a strong prayer life, but the rewards are great. If your prayers have not been answered, consider which, if any, of the above issues may need correction or re-alignment in your life.  Then, start by personalizing the prayers you read in the Psalms or elsewhere in God’s Word.
Blessings,
Pastor Keith


Dancing in the Rain

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” (Attributed to Vivian Greene)
 
It’s actually true. All of us have faced, or will face adversity in our life. But it’s not the hardship, it’s how we react to it that determines joy and happiness in our lives. During times of difficulty we spend way too much time feeling sorry for ourselves, creating paths of destruction in our mind questioning and second guessing: If only I hadn’t gotten involved with that person. If only my health were better. If only I had handled my money better. If only ……… 
 
All of us have a choice. We can continue to grovel in self despair, or we can break out of our personal prison with a burst of thankfulness and praise and learn to dance in the rain. 
 
In Sitka, Alaska where I live it rains approximately 130 inches a year. By comparison Atlanta, Georgia gets somewhere between 40 and 50 inches per year. I didn’t know when I moved here that Sitka was a rain forest. And I bet you can guess what it does most days…..yep…it rains. But the rain is what keeps Sitka lush and beautiful. It keeps the salmon running. It ‘mostly’ keeps the bears away from our homes because they love the berries, the grass and the salmon that the rain brings. Without the rain, our area would die. Rain brings growth. 
 
Years ago Merlin Carothers wrote a book called, “From Prison to Praise.” Carothers, in this small book, tells of his own very tough start in life – including trying to run away from God at a young age – and of the transformation he found in coming to faith, and various stages thereafter. These stages included him receiving the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’ and learning, what he says is the powerful practice of praising God in all circumstances – especially the difficult ones. Learning to praise God in all circumstances will release the power of God into your life. (I may not agree with all of Merlin Carothers’ theology, but for a certainty, being thankful and praising God will change your life.) It almost sounds too simple, doesn’t it. But beginning your day with praise and gratitude can change your attitude, your life, and your surroundings. “Joy is certainly something we are meant to feel…But joy does not depend on feeling. We are not to rejoice because we feel joyful, rather we can expect to eventually feel joyful as a result of our rejoicing.”. 
 
Perhaps you are in a prison of circumstances and can see no way out. Begin today to praise God in your situation and watch Him help you break out into freedom. Let the dance begin! I Thes. 5: 16-18 
 
Have a beautiful day, Beloved.
Pastor Sherry


Driven or Led?

Do you feel worn out? Burnt out? Do you find yourself busy every moment of every day and can’t seem to see what fruit is coming from all of your running around? If so, then maybe you are being driven and not led.  Let me explain.
If you are led by the Spirit then you produce fruit of the spirit. We learn in Galatians that examples of fruit of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness and self control.  So if we are being led by the spirit we should be experiencing and witnessing these fruits in our life.  However; If we find ourselves burnt out, worked out, worn out, lacking compassion, physically and mentally tired (without joy), then are we being led by the Spirit? Or are we being driven by our own self given “to-do list”, drive and ambition?  Are we doing the things God tells us to do, or are we doing the things we just feel we can’t say no to?
It is very tempting to do everything everyone else is doing, to be everywhere, take part in everything, but that isn’t God’s best for you. Even if they are all good things it may not be what the spirit is leading YOU to do.  Be willing to prioritize making sure to give proper time to God and allow rest as well. I go through times of re-organizing my life every so often as I find myself busy without fruit. It’s necessary to always be asking God what He wants you to do each day and listening to what you feel He is saying back. God calls us to be well balanced, to renew our mind and stay in the will of God without being conformed to the world.
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
God can do amazing and wondrous things with just a hand full of minutes that are given to Him to use for His will, so much more than what can be accomplished in a lifetime of busy schedules and running around on our own. Do we want to accomplish a lot for the sake of getting things “checked off” of do we want to make a real difference in this world and do what God has for us to do?  God’s kingdom works very different than the world works. You need more time in your day to get things done, then spend a little time with God in the morning and see how he works to accomplish things in your day. It’s amazing to experience! Feel down, depressed, lonely, then give of yourself by helping others and see how God uses that to heal your own wounds.  The world teaches us to be self-centered, self reliant, self focused, but turn that attention off of self and onto God and see what amazing things can happen!
Lets prioritize God in our day and be led by him and not driven by ourselves, it’s the only way we can truly do all He has called us to do in our individual lives and as a church body. Without his help and guidance it’s just our own selfish agendas accomplishing a whole lot of nothing.
Speaking in Love and LOTS of experience on this topic : )
Pastor Ginny


You Are Being Watched

My brother owns a T-shirt printing company.  During his first year in business he had an order returned because they printed the Texas flag upside down.  So, he gave the misprinted shirts to our friend Leroy who was a missionary in Ukraine.  One day Leroy wore one of the shirts to a Texas themed restaurant in Ukraine.  He caught the wait staff staring at his shirt.  Soon, the kitchen staff was peeking out the kitchen door to see his shirt with the big Texas flag on it.  The shirt seemed to be a hit with all the employees.  
 
Leroy and his wife returned to the restaurant weeks later to find that the management had taken down the giant Texas flag from the wall and had flipped it upside down.  It would seem that a mis-printed shirt had caused an international incident.  Leroy’s shirt wasn’t hurting anyone.  It wasn’t offensive or crude.  He knew the print was upside down.  Yet as a Texan, he wore it proudly.  Besides, it was a free shirt.  But, it caused a restaurant in a far off country to second guess what they believed.
It’s important to remember that people are watching us every day.  Things we do can affect others positively or negatively.  Paul warned of this when he wrote: 
 
1 Corinthians 8:9.  “But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling-block to the weak”. 
 
You may never know the effect your actions have on others.  As long as your words and actions are bringing glory to God, you have nothing to worry about. This week pay close attention to your words and actions.  Do they accurately reflect the God we serve or might they be causing others to miss the mark?   
 
Have a wonderful week!
Pastor Jonathan


Rest on the Run

Seven weeks ago, I started running. Lots of insights have come my way in that time and this is one of them. Something I’ve been aware of nearly the whole seven weeks is that as my runs have gotten longer, my perception of rest has changed.  

At first, I didn’t “rest” until I was back home sitting on the couch. Then, “rest” happened while I walked between jogging intervals. As I spent less and less time walking, I had to learn to rest while jogging DOWNhill. And later to rest anytime I wasn’t going UPhill. Now that there’s no walking at all, I’m even learning to catch some rest while jogging uphill.  

Sometimes in life we get a chance to sit back and relax; to pass through seasons of life during which God pours into us- teaching us, affirming us, giving us new insight and wisdom. But for most of us, those seasons are few and far between. We have to learn to “rest on the run…” to catch our breath and discern what the Spirit is saying to renew us even when there’s no time for a spa day or a vacation or even a few moments to meditate.  Scripture gives us wisdom on how to do that. Here are just a couple of examples:

“The Lord is my Shepherd… He leads me beside still waters… He restores my soul.” -Psalm 23

Here we see God as a shepherd who takes good care of those in His care. While constantly on the move to find pasture on which to graze, the Good Shepherd is sure to give proper rest to His sheep and refreshes them with water. Here’s the catch though- the sheep have to actually be following the shepherd. There’s not much rest for a lost sheep wandering the rocky terrain alone. Would you say that the guidance and leadership of God is a constant in your daily life? Do you seek to go where the Shepherd leads or do you tend to wander off aimlessly and often find yourself far from the path you know you should be following?

“Let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. It’s how we set our hearts at rest in God’s presence.”- 1 John 3

Here, John gives super practical advice for experiencing “rest on the run.” He says that a sure fire way to set our hearts at rest is to practice (not just preach) real love. The most extreme experiences I have ever personally had where God refreshed my tired, burned out, fed up soul are those when I found myself actively loving another person. It seems counterintuitive- that serving someone would provide rest for the already tired- but try it. The next time you feel burned out and tired, find someone to serve a meal to, give a ride to, lend an ear or strong pair of hands to. There is something so refreshing and restorative about the practice of real love.  

Feeling spread too thin? Burned out? Just flat out tired? Maybe that spa day or worship retreat isn’t going to come for a while. Let’s learn to rest on the run. To allow God’s Spirit to refresh us in the middle of what feels like a wasteland, to restore us even in the middle of chaos.  I pray that you are refreshed in the presence of the Good Shepherd today and may you be refreshing (like a breath of fresh air) to those who meet you today!

Love,
Pastor Deb


He who began a good work…

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6 ESV) This reminds me of the song we learned in Sunday school at a very early age…
He’s still working on me to make me what I ought to be.
It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars,
The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars.
How loving and patient He must be, He’s still working on me.
 
God wants to finish in us what He started when Christ entered our life. For me it was at a very young age. I’m sure God knew the project He was undertaking back then and all the work that needed to be done. As I look back on that beginning over 40 years ago I’m amazed at what He has done. The transformation is nothing short of miraculous! It took the power of God and help from a lot of other Christians to continue that good work.
 
There were many times however over those years I was resistant to His working. There were periods in my life when He was working on me rather than in me. I was wishing to be used by God rather than working on the changes He desired for me. I wanted transformation into the likeness of Christ without trials. In other words I wanted God’s work in me to be easy. I wanted to be used by God without pursuing Him. I wanted to form Christ in others without being transformed myself. I’m sure you can relate. It took me some time until I realized that God is working in us not just for us but, for the sake of others as well. God is working in us to mold us to be a tool to craft others more into the likeness of Christ.
 
So how is God working in you now? Are you resisting change or persisting through the pain to be changed? Are you simply praying for growth or pursuing it? Transformation in the image of Christ is God’s ultimate goal. Trust Him as He does His good work and see the end result.
 
Let God’s grace work in you and on you so that you too can help others bring the good work Christ started in them closer to completion.
Love,
 Pastor Gina


REFUSE TO WORRY

Many Christians are familiar with Jesus’ rhetorical question (in Matt 6:27), “Can any of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life?” Yet most of us still do not take God at His word. The truth is, no amount of worrying can lengthen your life or add anything to your physical person. In fact, it does just the opposite – worrying robs you of sleep, health and many good years. However, when we step out of our thoughts of worry, and step into thoughts of faith, it is then that God can help us to grow spiritually.
 
Worrying is actually a habit, and like most habits can be broken; but we must choose to do so. A perfect example is what happened with our roof last month. We discovered a leak in the ceiling and along the wall of our living room. When we called a roofer out to the house, he asked us the age of the roof. He said, “Is it about 20 years old?” which shocked us both, because it is only 8 years old. Then, he told us we would need a new roof. 
 
My first thought at this news was not the best, and I did not immediately rise up in faith. As a matter of fact, to be honest, I began to worry. I began to think, “How can we come up with $15,000?” After about an hour, I felt my spirit begin to say, “Practice what you preach.”  I then thought of Philippians 4:19, which tells me that God “will supply all of my needs according to His riches and Glory”. So I began to speak that word over my life and over my roof!
 
A few hours later the roofer called and said he thought that the shingles may be from a company in GA that had made some defective shingles, and that we should verify where they were purchased. He was correct, and the shingles were indeed defective; which means we are getting a new roof – Praise the Lord!  What a lesson we learned! I could have spent hours, days or weeks worrying about it, or I could have, instead, taken those thoughts of worry captive, and replaced them with God’s word of faith.  I am not saying that everything will be instant, but I can tell you that God is always faithful to His Word – it is His very nature – and when you refuse to worry, you are putting your faith where it belongs…….. IN GOD!
Blessings,
Pastor Keith