Missing Teen

A close friend of mine asked that this runaway poster be shared.

She said: I am urging my friends to repost this. This is not a hoax. Corinne is the neighbor of a friend of mine. You may not have seen her, but one of your face book friends or their friends may have seen her. Keep passing this along. SOMEBODY must know where she is.

In Stone

A friend shared this via email and thought the message was worth sharing here...


Two friends were walking
through the desert.
During some point of the
journey, they had an
argument; and one friend
slapped the other one
in the face.

The one who got slapped
was hurt, but without
saying anything,
wrote in the sand ,

Today my best friend
slapped me in the face .

They kept on walking,
until they found an oasis,
where they decided
to take a bath.

The one who had been
slapped got stuck in the
mire and started drowning,
but the friend saved him.

After he recovered from
the near drowning,
he wrote
on a stone:

'Today my best friend
saved my life.'

The friend who had slapped
and saved his best friend
asked him, 'after i hurt you,
you wrote in the sand and now,
you write on a stone, why?'

The friend replied,
'when someone hurts us
we should write it down
in sand, where winds of
forgiveness can erase it away.

But, when someone does something good for us,
we must engrave it in stone
where no wind
can ever erase it'

Learn to write
your hurts in
the sand and to
carve your
benefits in stone.

~ author unknown

Bible Reading Plan

There are many different ways to read the Bible through and I'd like to share one of them with you because it is unique. You read 10 chapters of the Bible each day - one chapter from each list. The Bible is broken into 10 groups/lists. I'm copying the "plan" below, but it's a little hard to read. For a better idea see the link listed at the end.

The book "Radical" by David Platt challenges American Christians to rethink their values and what Jesus may be calling them to do. On his website he shares several ways we can grow in our faith, through Bible reading, prayer and service.


Grant Horner Bible Reading System

List -- Books of the Bible -- Days to Complete

List 1 -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, John -- 89

List 2 -- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy -- 187

List 3 -- Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Hebrews --78

List 4 -- 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude, Revelations -- 65

List 5 -- Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon -- 62

List 6 -- Psalms -- 150

List 7 -- Proverbs -- 31

List 8 -- Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther -- 249

List 9 -- Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, Malachi -- 250

List 10 -- Acts -- 28

Read one chapter from each list each day; in one sitting or two. At the end of a book; go to the next book. At the end of the list; start it again. Do it in the order given above.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/12349985/Professor-Grant-Horners-Bible-Reading-System

31 Day Challenges

I found these challenges on Facebook and wanted to share them here in case anyone would like to join the challenge...

31 Days of Prayer for Your Husband


31 Days of Prayer for Your Children
31 Days of Prayer for Your Pastor
31 Days of Prayer for Your Pastor's Wife
31 Days of Letting Go

Kids of Courage

Today I read about a new VBS program from Voice of the Martyrs and Kids of Courage.

They say:

"The Kids of Courage VBS curriculum introduces students to real Kids of Courage at risk for their faith today in five countries: China, Egypt, Nigeria, North Korea, and India. Students learn how bold believers around the world live, worship, and play.

The lessons teach children how to pray for those who risk everything for their faith, and how to become Kids of Courage themselves. They learn that Kids of Courage: Trust God, Get Prepared, Remember Persecuted Christians, Forgive Others, and Witness Boldly."

I think it sounds like an incredible program that could be used in a variety of ways (not just VBS) to teach our kids about persecuted Christians around the world.

For detailed info read more http://ministry-to-children.com/kids-of-courage-vbs/#comment-29772.

It's About the Cross

It's About the Cross is a beautiful song that shares the message of Christmas.

Verse 1

It's not just about the manger
Where the baby lay
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 wisemen
Who travelled from afar

Chorus:
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 the stone
That was rolled away
So that you and I could have real life someday

It's about the cross
It's about the cross

Verse 2:

It's not just about the presents
Underneath the tree
It's not all about the feeling
That the 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

Repeat Chorus

Bridge:

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 have been me

It's about the stone
That was rolled away
So that you and I could have real life someday
So that you and I could have real life someday

It's about the cross
It's about the cross

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/g/go_fish/#share

Far from Perfect

I just read a blog post by Ashley Weis that touched my heart deeply. I've been thinking a lot lately about how far I have to go to become the person that God truly wants me to be and Ashley's article said what I would have liked to say, but a lot more eloquently. Check out her blog.

Life Goes On...for Some of Us...

Even though I haven't been to blogspot in a while life continues as usual here. There have been some changes in the last few months (pain, death, sickness). My kids are growing like weeds. My ten year old daughter is sitting next to me reading over my shoulder and she laughed and said, "We are weeds? I'm not a weed, I'm a flower!" Okay they are all flowers then... Hmmm maybe my son should be a tree, since if I don't know where he is I just need to look up and I'll probably find him in a tree.

I went in to a horrible time of back pain on March 14th and was hardly able to walk for a week. I couldn't get up by myself or even lift my feet. A friend from church brought me a walker to use. It took me five excruciating minutes to move from my living room to my kitchen (in a townhouse). Then on March 21st my mother unexpectedly died. She was only 59 and we were planning her annual trip to visit my family for Easter. I'm actually thankful for the bout with severe pain right before she died because I was able to tell her that I had a better understanding of what she deals with on a daily basis. I'm not unfamiliar with pain, but this pain was debilitating and I was actually afraid that I could end up paralyzed. I've been told that is a possibility.

When I told my children that Grandma died, my seven year old son fell to the floor weeping and my ten year old daughter sat on the couch with tears pouring down her face. My fifteen month old obviously didn't comprehend the loss, but she knew something was wrong. She walked over to my son and wrapped her little arms around his neck and just hugged him. Then she walked across the room and picked up a tissue and went to my daughter and began wiping her face. The sweet baby was like an angel as she ministered to her siblings.

While the me and the kids were in Ohio, my husband fell and got a blood clot in his leg (DVT). I was so worried about him, but unable to get home because I was stranded in Ohio. Since I was having back pain, I knew I couldn't drive to Ohio, so some wonderful friends helped transport us to Ohio. Then I was baffled as to how to return. I didn't have to be confused long because before I began looking at my options to return home, a friend called and told me that she and her husband wanted to come and get us. Talk about Jesus in action - those friends are definitely walking the walk and talking the talk.

I'm still not used to the fact that my mother is dead. When I returned home from my two weeks in Ohio for her funeral, I picked up the phone to call and let her know I made it home safely. I've actually started to call her quite a bit. There are some things in life you don't "get" until you experience them and I believe losing a mother - the woman who gave you life is one of them.

Keep my family in your prayers!




My mother 16 years old.

My mother on our horse, Angel.


Me and my mother (she was visiting me at college).

Me and my mother at my wedding.

My mother and my daughter at one of our annual trips to the National Zoo.


My mom and Aunt Rebbie last summer.

Still kicking...

Just wanted to touch base to let anyone who might stumble over know that I'm still kicking, but not posting too much. Life is busy and full with a nine month old and two older children. On Monday we returned from visiting my family for 10 days. It was so nice to see everyone and for the kids to get to spend time with family too.

My little one started walking on the 17th - she took 6 steps one time. It will be a while before she is walking all the time, but it's fun to watch her change and develop. She popped a new tooth today also. The older kids are having so much fun playing with the baby. They are all treasures.

ONE MILLION NEW TESTAMENTS!

I received the following exciting email from Tom White (Bibles Unbound) that I wanted to share:

August 13, 2009

On Aug. 5, Bibles Unbound reached an exciting milestone with the shipment of the ONE MILLIONTH NEW TESTAMENT! That New Testament, bound for China, was sponsored through our virtual mailing program by BU participant Mary in Crane, Texas.

In February 2006, VOM launched a project to let Christians like you send New Testaments into restricted nations — places where our brothers and sisters cannot simply go to a Christian bookstore and pick up a copy of the Bible. Our persecuted brothers and sisters joined in the project by collecting names and addresses of those who would be blessed by receiving God's Word. Our readers responded excitedly, and New Testaments began to go out from every part of the United States to hostile nations all over the world.

With your help, in just 42 months we have shipped the story of God's love for all mankind and his free offer of salvation through Christ to non-believers in several restricted nations.

Bibles Unbound is a team effort, and God has called together a wonderful team. We are so grateful to believers like you all across the United States who have provided New Testaments to people in countries such as Colombia, China, North Korea and Egypt. We are also thankful to the faithful Christians living inside these restricted and hostile nations who take great risks to supply names and addresses of those needing God's Word. With both standard and covert operations, Bibles Unbound is a unique tool to spread the gospel inside restricted nations.

If you have mailed or sponsored New Testaments, THANK YOU for helping reach this great milestone!

If you want to become part of this incredible ministry, please consider joining Bibles Unbound today. You can join us for future milestones of getting God's Word into hostile countries: 2 million....10 million...and more! To God be the glory! You can sign up, or simply get more information, at www.BiblesUnbound.com.

With God's help, BU has reached an incredible milestone. But millions of people around the world are still waiting. Will you help get the word of God to them?

For Those in Bonds,
Tom White VOM Executive Director

If you would like to view a list of resources on the persecuted church and online specials from VOM, please visit www.VOMBooks.com. This online offer is being presented by The Voice of the Martyrs. For additional information, you may contact us by clicking here or calling our order line at 800-747-0085.