Do I See a Person or a Function?

From Max Lucado’s Facing Your Giants, pages137 -138

"She couldn’t do anything right…

“And I started to grumble. Not out loud, but in my thoughts. What’s the matter with service these days? … I boarded the plane feeling cocky… I took my seat knowing the flight was safe, since heaven knows, I’m essential to the work of God.

“Then I asked for the soda, the pillow… She blew the assignments, and I growled. Do you see what I was doing? Placing myself higher than the airline attendant. … Her job was to serve, and my job was to be served.

“Don’t look at me like that. Haven’t you felt a bit superior to someone? A parking lot attendant. The clerk at the grocery store. The peanut-seller at the game. The employee at the coat check. You’ve done what I did. . .

‘When I looked at the airline attendant, I didn’t see a human being; I saw a necessary commodity…”

[Then the stewardess approached Max Lucado and asked if he was the Christian author. Tears began to form in her eyes. She explained that she had received divorce papers that morning. She asked if he would pray for her.]

“I did. But both God and I knew she was not the only one needing prayer…

“Perhaps you could use a prayer too?

“…Do you still see people? Or do you see only their functions? Do you see people who need you, or do you see people beneath you?

“… Pursue humility. Humility doesn’t mean you think less of yourself but that you think of yourself less.”

Next Sunday's Order of Worship

I’m Crazy
You Never Let Go

Hands of Christ-Gary Russell

Everlasting God (New Song!!!!)
No Not One
Ancient Words G

Prayer-Dottie Barton
Message/Invitation–Tex
Communion (Servers- Tammy and Meg McKellar/Kim and Chris Pike)
Special Music during Communion by Kevin Hutchison

Benediction-Elizabeth Guffin

Everlasting God

Coffee??

Dell Franklin is at church every Sunday very early so that we all have that extra caffeine. (Truly the Hands of Christ!!!!) Thanks Dell.

"If we get everything that we want, we will soon want nothing that we get." Vernon Luchies

"Then He said to them,'Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed;for not even when one has an abundancedoes his life consist of his possessions.' So is the man who stores up treasure for himself,and is not rich toward God."Luke 12:15, 21

"Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"
Abraham Lincoln

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."
Matthew 5:44-45

Prayer Request and Service Opportunity

Jeannie Argo has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer eight months ago. She underwent chemotherapy and surgical treatment in Texas. The doctor said she would not live six months. She is a survivor, and is receiving chemotherapy treatments for the second time. She has two children. (Rebecca who is Ryan's age -21, and Charlie who is Taylor's age -17.)

I have coordinated meals for her on Monday's, one of the day's she receives chemotherapy. Women of FUMC and the community have responded wholeheartedly. Each person who has been involved has walked away from Jeannie's home with a blessing from God. Just think, we believe in our minds we are providing the blessing but God has a different plan. What an Awesome God we serve.

Gay

If you want to help- Call Gay Russell

AN UNEARTHLY LOVE
by Max Lucado

Your goodness can’t win God’s love. Nor can your badness lose it. But you can resist it. We tend to do so honestly. Having been rejected so often, we fear God may reject us as well. Rejections have left us skittish and jumpy. Like my dog Salty. He sleeps next to me on the couch as I write. He’s a cranky cuss, but I like him. We’ve aged together over the last fifteen years, and he seems worse for the wear. He’s a wiry canine by nature; shave his salt-and-pepper mop, and he’d pass for a bulimic Chihuahua. He didn’t have much to start with; now the seasons have taken his energy, teeth, hearing, and all but eighteen inches’ worth of eyesight.

Toss him a dog treat, and he just stares at the floor through cloudy cataracts. (Or, in his case, dogaracts?) He’s nervous and edgy, quick to growl and slow to trust. As I reach out to pet him, he yanks back. Still, I pet the old coot. I know he can’t see, and I can only wonder how dark his world has become.

We are a lot like Salty. I have a feeling that most people who defy and deny God do so more out of fear than conviction. For all our chest pumping and braggadocio, we are anxious folk—can’t see a step into the future, can’t hear the one who owns us. No wonder we try to gum the hand that feeds us.

But God reaches and touches. He speaks through the immensity of the Russian plain and the density of the Amazon rain forest. Through a physician’s touch in Africa, a bowl of rice in India. Through a Japanese bow or a South American abraço. He’s even been known to touch people through paragraphs like the ones you are reading. If he is touching you, let him.

Mark it down: God loves you with an unearthly love. You can’t win it by being winsome. You can’t lose it by being a loser. But you can be blind enough to resist it.

Don’t. For heaven’s sake, don’t. For your sake, don’t.

“Take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18–19 MSG).

Final Poll Results - In which instance do you feel most connected with God?

When praying 12 (18%)
When in nature 12 (18%)
When in a worship service 31 (46%)
When reading the Bible 5 (7%)
When in a Small Group 4 (6%)
Other 2 (3%)

"A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in little things is a great thing."
- J. Hudson Taylor (May 21, 1832 – June 3, 1905)

He was a Christian missionary to China in the Methodist tradition, and founder of the China Inland Mission (renamed as Overseas Missionary Fellowship in 1964). He served there for 51 years, bringing over 800 missionaries to the country resulting in 18,000 converts.

God Meant It For Good.......by Jon Walker

“You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result.” (Genesis 50:20 NIV)

Joseph’s life was anything but peaceful. It was complicated by youthful folly, broken dreams, and the mean-spirited actions of others. Sold into slavery by jealous brothers. Thrown into prison on false charges. Yet he remained a man remarkable for his lack of bitterness or regret, always seeing God as the “Great Engineer” behind even the worst of circumstances.

In a final confrontation with his brothers, he graciously noted, “You meant it for bad; God meant it for good.”

The theology packed in that statement is astounding. “God meant it for good” means:

You can accept the past – No sin, no action, no choice on your part is too big for God to handle – or too big to be worked for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) Just ask Joseph! Better yet, ask his fearful and famished brothers, who were forced to rely on him for survival.

You can embrace the present – There’s no need to play the “what if” game. The past is gone, and no energy you expend will ever change it. The future is in God's omnipotent hands, so you’re free to focus on the present. Your job is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, trusting him to forgive the past and transform the future. Martyred missionary Jim Eliot once wrote, “Wherever you are, be all there” – not living in the past and not fantasizing about the future. God wants you in the present because that’s where his grace will flow.

You can look expectantly toward the future – Even if you make mistakes today, God still controls your future. Walking in the Spirit, you can live life to the fullest, unafraid of making mistakes and unconcerned that you may stumble into some terrible circumstance that takes you out of God's control. Even when things appear to be terrible, you can trust that God is working out some divine plan through you.

What does this mean?
· No matter how bad things get – God is still able to bring good out of it. Today, thank God that nothing – no disaster, no delay – is bigger that his ability to turn it into something good and godly.

· Thank God and let go – Thank God that he is sovereign over your past, your present, and your future.

§ Give God the circumstances, disasters, hindrances, hurts, and sins from your past.

§ Give God your current situation, your disasters, hindrances, hurts, and sins of today.

§ Praise God that he can work anything in your future for godly good, that you can walk in confidence that there is nothing anyone can do to you, or anything you can do that will be beyond the reach of God’s grace and redemption.

· Look for God’s hand – Walking by faith means you see God’s hand even in the most difficult of circumstances. You trust his ability and his willingness to transform the bad into godly good. God is not limited by people’s motives. In other words, it doesn’t matter why someone hurt you, God still can transform a deliberate, mean-spirited situation into something for his good.

· What will you allow God to change? – There it is: some situation, or event, or person in your life that, as far as you can tell, was “meant for bad.” How do you think God meant it for good? Ask God what he wants you to do with this situation (event or person). When he answers, do it.

“Those people who keep their faith until the end will be saved.”Matthew 24:13

From Max Lucado:

Jesus doesn’t say if you succeed you will be saved. Or if you come out on top you will be saved. He says if you endure. An accurate rendering would be, “If you hang in there until the end…if you go the distance.”

The Brazilians have a great phrase for this. In Portuguese, a person who has the ability to hang in and not give up has garra. Garra means “claws.” What imagery! A person with garra has claws that burrow into the side of the cliff and keep him from falling.

So do the saved. They may get close to the edge; they may even stumble and slide. But they will dig their nails into the rock of God and hang on.

Jesus gives you this assurance. Hang on. He’ll make sure you get home.

Don’t Waste the Grace

Don’t Waste the Grace by Jon Walker of Purpose Driven Ministries

“As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain.” (2 Corinthians 6:1, NIV)

Have you ever wanted to quit being a Christian? Or at least just get away from God’s commands for a while? If you have, you’re in good company – Jonah and Jeremiah come quickly to mind.

God gives us grace sufficient for our needs each day, and He gives us that grace every day. In 2 Corinthians 6:1, Paul, in effect, says, don’t waste the grace God has given you. He says don’t receive God’s grace “in vain” – rejecting it in order to nurture frustrations and disappointments.

In The Message, Eugene Peterson paraphrases the Corinthian passage by saying we’re to stay at our posts, alert and unswerving, because “our work as God’s servants gets validated — or not — in the details” of our lives.

In other words, the very power of God – the very strength we need, the very testimony we were meant to model – emerges in troubles, hardships, and distresses (2 Cor. 6:4).

Let’s pray together that we stay at our posts in these uncertain times and not waste the grace God has given us.

Get Over Yourself

"In humility consider others better than yourselves." Philippians 2:3 NIV

Columnist Rick Reilly gave this advice to rookie professional athletes: "Stop thumping your chest. The line blocked, the quarterback threw you a perfect spiral while getting his head knocked off, and the good receiver blew the double coverage. Get over yourself."

The truth is, every touchdown in life is a team effort. Applaud your teammates. An elementary-age boy came home from the tryouts for the school play. "Mommy, Mommy," he announced, "I got a part. I've been chosen to sit in the audience and cheer." When you have a chance to clap and cheer, do you take it? If you do, your head is starting to fit your hat size.

-- by Max Lucado

[Jesus said] "The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful." -- Matthew 13:22

THOUGHT: All sorts of things can distract us from Kingdom matters. The wear and tear of everyday life can make it hard to keep our s piritual focus. But in an affluent society, our desire r riches, our pursuit of material things, and our selfishness with wealth can entangle us in worry. Worry can stifle our faith. Eventually the fruitfulness of the Gospel is choked out and we lose our spiritual vitality. Our greatest riches are found in Jesus. If he is our priceless treasure and the Kingdom is our highest priority, then we can handle the other things that come our way.

PRAYER: Gracious Father, please help me to faithfully use the blessings you have lavishly poured out upon me. Please don't let me be deceived or owned by the things I possess, nor do I want to covet what I do not have. Give me an undivided heart about the matters of your Kingdom. Please bring to life in me the fruitfulness of a heart full of your grace. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Area churches band together to bring hot meals to the underprivileged

The Daily Mountain Eagle --- Published September 22, 2007

Jasper churches are working together to provide a hot meal to underprivileged families five days a week. Maranatha Baptist Church, through a partnership with First Baptist Church, hosts a weekly soup kitchen each Monday beginning at 11 a.m. First United Methodist Church operates a kitchen each Tuesday and Thursday. Fellowship begins at 10 a.m. and meals are served at 11 a.m. Christ Fellowship International hosts a kitchen each Wednesday and Friday at 11 a.m.

The first local soup kitchen began seven years ago as a ministry of Evangel Tabernacle, now named Christ Fellowship International.“The Lord gave me a vision for this in 1991. We prayed for several years for the development of it until we had enough people to do it,” Senior Pastor Lindon Frost said.More than 40 people came to the church’s first kitchen, which opened on Sept. 8, 2000.

Today the kitchen is one part of Christ Fellowship International’s Matthew Ministry Outreach. “It’s an outreach of singing and scripture reading. We serve meals every Wednesday and Friday, and we also distribute groceries and clothing from our clothing room,” Frost said.The outreach gets its name from Jesus’ words in Matthew 25, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

The church feeds between 15 and 40 people at each meeting. On Thanksgiving and other holidays, the crowd can swell to more than 100. However, Frost said the number of people who attend is not as significant as meeting each individual’s needs.“Our motto is if there is one, they will be treated as though they were a hundred,” he said.

Four years ago, First United Methodist Church opened its own kitchen, known as Hope Kitchen.Cheryl Proctor, kitchen hostess, said many people come to Hope Kitchen as much for the fellowship as for the food.“It’s just a special place for people to come together,” she said.

Proctor said when people arrive at the church, they can listen to soft music playing in the background or visit with church volunteers and others who have gathered for the meal.A short devotion is held before meals are served. If a regular visitor is having a birthday, those in attendance may share some birthday cake. Many people linger after the meal is over to continue talking with friends.Proctor said church volunteers are also available to counsel people about their spiritual needs and pray with them. As for the food, Proctor said the term “soup kitchen” does not adequately reflect the kind of meals today’s churches serve in their food ministries.“We have hot meals like spaghetti, garlic bread and salad. We serve fish. One week we had pork loin and turnip greens. We always have meat and all kinds of desserts,” she said.

Pastor Jerry Boyd of Maranatha Baptist Church said cooperation allowed his church to open its own soup kitchen several years ago. Boyd said the ministry, called Bread of Life Kitchen, can serve as many as 50 people at the church. The church also delivers approximately 30-40 meals to people who are unable to make it to the kitchen.

Frost said he is pleased that so many local churches are now working together to feed people in Walker County. He said Jesus Christ provided the greatest example for this kind of work two thousand years ago.“Jesus didn’t just help people spiritually. He helped them physically. He fed them,” Frost said.

"I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity"
John Wesley (1703-1791)

“Abide in My love.” - John 15:9 NASB

“Abide in My love.” - John 15:9 NASB

When you abide somewhere, you live there. You grow familiar with the surroundings. You don’t pull in the driveway and ask, “Where is the garage?” You don’t consult the blueprint to find the kitchen. To abide is to be at home.

To abide in Christ’s love is to make his love your home. Not a roadside park or hotel room you occasionally visit, but your preferred dwelling. You rest in him. Eat in him. When thunder clasps, you step beneath his roof. His walls secure you from the winds. His fireplace warms you from the winters of life. As John urged, “We take up permanent residence in the life of love” (I John 4:16 MSG).

You abandon the old house of false love and move into his home of real love.
(from Come Thirsty by Max Lucado)

"Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old." -- Lamentations 5:21

When these words were first spoken, they focused on God's restoration of Israel back to its place, its prominence, its life,and its Temple. Yet from our vantage point, this prayer can be oursas well. Restoration can mean Christ's return which brings us home to God. On that day, every barrier standing between God and us will fall. Our mortality will be swallowed up in victory. We will see God face to face and get to walk with him in the cool of the day as his perfect children. May that day come soon!

PRAYER: Holy and awesome God, I know a huge gulf stands between your perfection and my limitations. Yet, dear Father, I believe you have spanned that gulf with your grace. While I wait for that perfection to dawn in all its fullness, please empower me for my battles with the Evil One and deliver me from all spiritual harm and attack. Until the day I see you face to face, please accept myall-too-limited and human praise for all you have done to save me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

BECAUSE HE CHOOSES TO... by Max Lucado

“For God so loved the world . . .”

Love. We’ve all but worn out the word. This morning I used love to describe my feelings toward my wife and toward peanut butter. Far from identical emotions. I’ve never proposed to a jar of peanut butter (though I have let one sit on my lap during a television show). Overuse has defused the word, leaving it with the punch of a butterfly wing.

Biblical options still retain their starch. Scripture employs an artillery of terms for love, each one calibrated to reach a different target. Consider the one Moses used with his followers: “The LORD chose your ancestors as the objects of his love” (Deut.10:15 NLT).

This passage warms our hearts. But it shook the Hebrews’ world. They heard this: “The Lord binds [hasaq] himself to his people.” Hasaq speaks of a tethered love, a love attached to something or someone. I’m picturing a mom connected by a child harness to her rambunctious five-year-old as the two of them walk through the market. (I once thought the leashes were cruel; then I became a dad.) The strap serves two functions, yanking and claiming. You yank your kid out of trouble and in doing so proclaim, “Yes, he is as wild as a banshee. But he’s mine.”

In this case, God chained himself to Israel. Because the people were lovable? No. “GOD wasn’t attracted to you and didn’t choose you because you were big and important—the fact is, there was almost nothing to you. He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors” (Deut. 7:7–8 MSG). God loves Israel and the rest of us because he chooses to.

Worry

"Worry gives small things a big shadow." Unknown Proverb

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:33-34

"[God] has not punished us as our sins should be punished." Psalm 103:10

Do you really think you haven't done things that hurt Christ?

Have you ever been dishonest with his money? That's cheating.

Ever gone to church to be seen rather than to see him? Hypocrite.

Ever broken a promise you've made to God? Don't you deserve to be punished?

And yet, here you are. Reading this. Breathing. Still witnessing sunsets and hearing babies gurgle. Still watching the seasons change. There are no lashes on your back or hooks in your nose or shackles on your feet. Apparently God hasn't kept a list of your wrongs.

Listen. You have not been sprinkled with forgiveness. You have not been spattered with grace. You have not been dusted with kindness. You have been immersed in it. You are submerged in mercy. You are a minnow in the ocean of his mercy. Let it change you!

from A Love Worth Giving by Max Lucado

Prayer Request - Bob Reid

Bob Reid is having some pretty serious tests run tomorrow and has asked for our prayers. He had a pretty bad treadmill test today and the cardiologist is worried about his heart. Please pray for him today and tomorrow. I will let everyone know the results.

“Jesus wept.” John 11:35 NKJV

By Max Lucado

Jesus…weeps. He sits between Mary and Martha, puts an arm around each, and sobs…

He weeps with them. He weeps for them.

He weeps with you. He weeps for you.

He weeps so we will know: Mourning is not disbelieving. Flooded eyes don’t represent a faithless heart. A person can enter a cemetery Jesus-certain of life after death and still have a Twin Tower crater in the heart. Christ did. He wept, and he knew he was ten minutes from seeing a living Lazarus!

And his tears give you permission to shed your own. Grief does not mean you don’t trust; it simply means you can’t stand the thought of another day without the Lazarus of your life. If Jesus gave the love, he understands the tears. So grieve, but don’t grieve like those who don’t know the rest of this story.

"Being miserable is a habit; being happy is a habit; and the choice is yours."-- Tom Hopkins

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you,then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River,or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."Joshua 24:15

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord. - Psalm 27:13

This is tough teaching.......

By David Jeremiah-

An experiment was conducted in which a group of scientists observed some rats in a tank of water to see how long they would survive before drowning. The average time was 17 minutes. They repeated the experiment, this time rescuing the rats just before drowning. When the "rescued" rats were submerged in the water again, the average survival time increased to 36 hours! The scientists explained that the second time around, the rats had hope and believed they could survive because they had been saved before.

Unlike the scientists, God does not plunge us into "survival" situations, for "He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men" (Lamentations 3:33). But He does allow us to go through trials so that we may grow as Christians. During these difficult times, remember the goodness, faithfulness, and compassion of the Lord; they are our source of hope when the waters of life threaten to overtake us. No matter how hopeless we feel, this truth remains: God cares for us at all times and in every season of life.

"God, when I'm in pain, I forget that You care about me. I forget that You have helped me through my trials. I forget that You love me. I forget that I am important to You. Show me Your presence—let me feel Your enveloping love." - - - Timothy Dailey

Two New Prayer Requests

Please send an email for a special prayer request. Tanner Robinson is a one year old little boy who is in PICU at Children's Hospital. Tanner is having some severe respiratory problems, and he needs our many prayers.
Thank you.
Staci Brakefield

Please add my sister and her family to the prayer chain. My 15 year old nephew intentionally took and overdosed on drugs he obtained from kids at school. He is physically okay but has been in the hospital psychiatric ward since August 27. My sister needs our prayers as she begins to help her son through his substance abuse problem.

Thank you,
Beth Adams

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE? by Max Lucado

“Free Flight: Rio de Janeiro to Miami, Florida.”

I wasn’t the only person to hear about the offer but one of the few to phone and request details. The courier service offered an airline ticket to anyone willing to carry a bag of mail to the States.

No company makes such offers anymore. But this was 1985- years before intense airport security. My dad was dying of ALS, and airline tickets were expensive. Free tickets? The offer sounded too good to be true.

So I walked away from it. Many do the same with John 3:16. Millions read the verse. Only a handful trust it. Wary of a catch perhaps? Not needy enough maybe? Cautioned by guarded friends? I was. Other Rio residents saw the same offer. Some read it and smelled a rat. “Don’t risk it,” one warned me. “Better to buy your own ticket.”

But I couldn’t afford one. Each call home to Mom brought worse news. “The doctor says it’s time to call hospice.” So I revisited the flyer. Desperation heightened my interest. Doesn’t it always? When desperation typhoons into your world, God’s offer of a free flight home demands a second look. John 3:16 morphs from a nice verse into a life vest. Some of you are wearing it. You can recount the day you put it on. These words have kept you company through multiple windswept winters. I pray they warm you through the ones that remain.

Others of you are still studying the flyer. Still pondering the possibility, wrestling with the promise. One day wondering what kind of fool offer this is, the next wondering what kind of fool would turn it down.

I urge you not to. Don’t walk away from this one. Who else can get you home? Take Jesus’ offer. Get on board. You don’t want to miss the chance to see your Father.

Thanks to the courier folks, I was present at my father’s death. Thanks to God, he’ll be present at yours. He cares too much not to be. Believe in him and you...will....not....perish.

You will have life, eternal life, forever.

Worry

"I've had many troubles in my life time, only half of which ever came true." Mark Twain

And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Luke 12:29-31

No Bothersome Prayer by David Jeremiah

When we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice. Numbers 20:16

A humorous illustration tells of a group of businessmen flying in an aircraft when there was a sudden decompression. As the plane plummeted to the ground, one of the men asked his friend across the aisle to pray for them. "The last time I prayed was twenty years ago!" his friend replied. But his business companions insisted. "All right" he said. "O Lord, I haven't bothered You for the last twenty years; and if You get us out of this fix, I promise You, I won't bother You for the next twenty years!"

God does not consider our prayers bothersome. On the contrary, He desires that our very first thought at the onset of a trial would be to come to Him for help in getting through it. So often, we hear people say, "The only thing left to do now is pray," when in reality, God was there all along, waiting for someone to cry out to Him and call down His power.

When you begin to wonder why the storm isn't letting up, ask yourself, "Have I requested God's help yet?" If the answer is "No," call to Him and watch as He calms the wind and waves in your life.

Prayer Request (from Deb Sanders)

Patsy O'Rear, one of the ladies who works with us at Young Jewelers, husband is having heart valve replacement surgery today at UAB. It is a very critical procedure. He has been ill and is already weak. Please pray for Lonnie and Patsy.

Thank you
Debbie Sanders

It’s a Jungle Out There by Max Lucado

The story is told of a man on an African safari deep in the jungle. The guide before him had a machete and was whacking away the tall weeds and thick underbrush. The traveler, wearied and hot, asked in frustration, “Where are we? Do you know where you are taking me? Where is the path?!” The seasoned guide stopped and looked back at the man and replied, “I am the path.”

We ask the same questions, don’t we? We ask God, “Where are you taking me? Where is the path?” And he, like the guide, doesn’t tell us. Oh, he may give us a hint or two, but that’s all. If he did, would we understand? Would we comprehend our location? No, like the traveler, we are unacquainted with this jungle. So rather than give us an answer, Jesus gives us a far greater gift. He gives us himself.

Does he remove the jungle? No, the vegetation is still thick.

Does he purge the predators? No, danger still lurks.

Jesus doesn’t give hope by changing the jungle; he restores our hope by giving us himself. And he has promised to stay until the very end. “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20 NIV).

We need that reminder. We all need that reminder. For all of us need hope.

Some of you don’t need it right now. Your jungle has become a meadow and your journey a delight. If such is the case, congratulations. But remember—we do not know what tomorrow holds. We do not know where this road will lead. You may be one turn from a cemetery, from a hospital bed, from an empty house. You may be a bend in the road from a jungle.

And though you don’t need your hope restored today, you may tomorrow. And you need to know to whom to turn.

Or perhaps you do need hope today. You know you were not made for this place. You know you are not equipped. You want someone to lead you out.If so, call out for your Shepherd. He knows your voice. And he’s just waiting for your request.

"This is what God commands:...that we love each other." I John 3:23

By Max Lucado

Does bumping into certain people leave you brittle, breakable, and fruitless? Do you easily fall apart? If so, your love may be grounded in the wrong soil. It may be rooted in their love (which is fickle) or in your resolve to love (which is frail). John urges us to "rely on the love God has for us" (I John 4:16 NIV, emphasis mine). He alone is the power source.

Many people tell us to love. Only God gives us the power to do so.

We know what God wants us to do. "This is what God commands:...that we love each other" (I John 3:23). But how can we? How can we be kind to the vow breakers? To those who are unkind to us? How can we be patient with people who have the warmth of a vulture and the tenderness of a porcupine? How can we forgive the moneygrubbers and backstabbers we meet, love, and marry? How can we love as God loves? We want to. We long to. But how can we?

By living loved.

Would everybody continue to be in prayer for my former secretary, Wendy Speegle’s husband, David. David has been battling brain cancer for almost three years. He has really done well over the years to have beaten it this long and this far. He is, however, beginning to have some more significant problems. He is having all kinds of issues with being able to function daily. He is having an MRI today. Please be in prayer that it will show good news and that there will be something they can do to continue to improve and prolong his life.

Pat Spears has requested prayer for Commander's care giver Diane Anderson who has kidney cancer.

To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee. - William H. Walton

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:18

“Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs.” Ecclesiastes 5:15 NIV

By Max Lucado
Think for just a moment about the things you own. Think about the house you have, the car you drive, the money you’ve saved. Think about the stocks you’ve traded and the clothes you’ve purchased. Envision all your stuff, and let me remind you of two biblical truths.

Your stuff isn’t yours. Ask any coroner…No one takes it with him. When one of the wealthiest men in history, John D. Rockefeller, died, his accountant was asked, “How much did John D. leave?” The accountant’s reply? “All of it.”

All that stuff—it’s not yours. And you know what else about all that stuff? It’s not you. Who you are has nothing to do with the clothes you wear or the car you drive. Jesus said, “Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot” (Luke 12:15 MSG). Heaven does not know you as the fellow with the nice suit or the woman with the big house or the kid with the new bike. Heaven knows your heart.

Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. -- 1 Corinthians 10:24

THOUGHT: Isn't it amazing how the more we try to fix things for ourselves, the more we focus on "looking out for number 1," and the more we also find ourselves isolated from meaningful relationships that make life worth living. "If you want to have a friend, then be a friend," the saying goes. You know what? It's right! It's easy to seek what is only for our own good. That's what most folks do as a matter of course. But what makes Christians redemptive, what makes them like God, is their willingness to think of others before themselves!

PRAYER: Father, forgive me, because I know that I am often selfish and seldom think through the implications of my decisions based on the needs of others. I want to have the mind of Christ and be more selfless and sacrificial with everyone who needs your grace and the tenderness that you have placed within me to share with them. Please bless me as I seek to be like your Son in this area of my life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Prayer Request from Karen Benson

I also wanted to add a gentleman to the prayer list. He is the father of one of Sarah's resident at the Northwest Alabama Mental Health. This resident has grown attached to Sarah and asked Sarah if she knew of anyone that could pray for her father. Sarah called Sunday and asked if we could place him on our prayer list. He has a serious heart condition.

Thank you so much. Karen

(karen@jasperlawyers.com for info)

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis wrote this book in 1945 in response to an author named Blake who wrote the "Marriage of Heaven and Hell". Lewis' book is a response to that error. Blake's error is the philosophical belief that all roads lead to God. They view the roads of life like radii of a circle. If we keep going down any path we will eventually end up in the middle. This argument will eventually even make evil into good. Lewis is arguing against this philosophy.

Lewis makes his point well, God honors the choices of individuals. The most famous quote in the book is this, "There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.' All that are in Hell chose it."

Prayer Request (from Susan B.)

From: Susan Branstetter (jbranste@charter.net for info)

Gene Brakefield has had a fall at her assisted living home in Selma. She is bruised and scraped, but the main concern is a fractured kneecap. She is in a brace from mid-thigh to mid-calf, and will spend the next two weeks in a nursing home to learn how to walk with a stiff leg. As you would expect from Gene, her spirits are good. If anyone would like to send Gene a card, please send it to:

Mrs. Gene Brakefield
Cedar Hill Assisted Living
Room 210
1300 Old Orrville Road
Selma, AL 36701

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
-- Psalm 90:12

THOUGHT: When we lose our sense of urgency to live for God, we end upwasting our time! God has a plan for us, for our world, and for his church. Without God's gift of "spiritual arithmetic" (numbering our days aright), we will never gain a heart of wisdom. So how do we get such a gift? Ask for it without doubting (James 1:5-7)! Trusting the Lord for wisdom has a huge effect on us and the way we conduct our lives. Rather than losing heart, God gives us a heart of wisdom!

PRAYER: Holy and Almighty God, King of the Ages, you alone live incomplete wisdom, justice, and grace. Please help me to know what time it is in my life and the role you want me to play at this stage of my journey. I want my life to be lived glorifying you. In Jesus' precious name I pray. Amen.

THE ONLY ONE AND ONLY

by Max Lucado

Two of our three daughters were born in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We lived in the North Zone, separated from our doctor’s office and hospital by a tunnel-pierced mountain range. During Denalyn’s many months of pregnancy, we made the drive often.

We didn’t complain. Signs of life do a samba on every street corner. Copacabana and her bathers. Ipanema and her coffee bars. Gavea and her glamour. We never begrudged the South Zone forays. But they sure did bewilder me. I kept getting lost. I’m directionally challenged anyway, prone to take a wrong turn between the bedroom and the bathroom. Complicate my disorientation with randomly mapped three-hundred-year-old streets, and I don’t stand a chance.

I had one salvation. Jesus. Literally, Jesus. The Christ the Redeemer statue. The figure stands guard over the city, one hundred twenty-five feet tall with an arm span of nearly a hundred feet. More than a thousand tons of reinforced steel. The head alone measures ten feet from chin to scalp. Perched a mile and a half above sea level on Corcovado Mountain, the elevated Jesus is always visible. Especially to those who are looking for it. Since I was often lost, I was often looking. As a sailor seeks land, I searched for the statue, peering between the phone lines and rooftops for the familiar face. Find him and find my bearings.

John 3:16 offers you an identical promise. The verse elevates Christ to thin-air loftiness, crowning him with the most regal of titles: “One and Only Son.”

Do what I did in Rio. Seek him out. Lift up your eyes, and set your sights on Jesus. No passing glances or occasional glimpses. Enroll in his school. Make him your polestar, your point of reference. Search the crowded streets and shadow-casting roofs until you spot his face, and then set your sights on him.

You’ll find more than a hospital.

You’ll find the Only One and Only.

C.S. Lewis on Pride (Tough reading for me.......)

There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.

The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility. You may remember, when I was talking about sexual morality, I warned you that the centre of Christian morals did not lie there. Well, now, we have come to the centre. According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

We were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. -- Job 8:9

THOUGHT: While Job never learned why he suffered, he did learn his place in the universe before the Almighty God (Job 38-41). When we are young, time passes so very slowly -- especially if we are waiting for something special! But as we get older, the years fly by more and more quickly. Yet despite all our learning, despite all our experience, we come to two great awakenings: our knowledge compared to what there is to know is so very small and our place in the passage of time is so very short. Both of these awakenings prepare us to turn our lives and future over to our God who longs to bring us to himself.

PRAYER: Holy and Almighty God, my Abba Father, thank you so much for your overwhelming patience as you try to communicate your love to people like me with my limited abilities to comprehend your magnificence and glory. Please give me wisdom this week, to make the decisions I need to make and to choose your way and not my own. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

WORK CAN BE WORSHIP by Max Lucado

Jesus’s word for frustrated workers can be found in the fifth chapter of Luke’s gospel. Peter, Andrew, James, and John made their living catching and selling fish. Like other fishermen, they worked the night shift, when cool water brought the game to the surface. And, like other fishermen, they knew the drudgery of a fishless night.

While Jesus preaches, they clean nets. And as the crowd grows, Christ has an idea.

He noticed two boats tied up. The fishermen had just left them and were out scrubbing their nets. He climbed into the boat that was [Peter’s] and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, he taught the crowd. (vv. 2–3 msg)

Jesus claims Peter’s boat. He doesn’t request the use of it. Christ doesn’t fill out an application or ask permission; he simply boards the boat and begins to preach.

He can do that, you know. All boats belong to Christ. Your boat is where you spend your day, make your living, and to a large degree live your life. The taxi you drive, the horse stable you clean, the dental office you manage, the family you feed and transport—this is your boat. Christ shoulder-taps us and reminds:

“You drive my truck.”
“You preside in my courtroom.”
“You work on my job site.”
“You serve my hospital wing.”
To us all, Jesus says, “Your work is my work.”

Our Wednesdays matter to him as much as our Sundays. He blurs the secular and sacred. One stay-at-home mom keeps this sign over her kitchen sink: Divine tasks performed here, daily. An executive hung this plaque in her office: My desk is my altar. Both are correct. With God, our work matters as much as our worship. Indeed, work can be worship.

Peter, the boat owner, later wrote: “You are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God’s holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God” (1 Pet. 2:9 nlt).

A priest represents God, and you, my friend, represent God. So “let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus” (Col. 3:17 msg). You don’t drive to an office; you drive to a sanctuary. You don’t attend a school; you attend a temple. You may not wear a clerical collar, but you could. Your boat is God’s pulpit.

From Cure for the Common
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2005) Max Lucado

Big Problems, Bigger Solutions: Bitter Waters

And the people complained against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" - Exodus 15:24

The first part of Exodus 15 resounds with total praise as the Israelites burst into song for their deliverance through the parted waters of the Red Sea: "I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!"But by the end of the chapter, they were complaining, panicked, and grumbling about being stuck in the desert without adequate water.

How fickle we are—one moment praising God and the next in panic mode!

The Lord was ready for the crisis. He told Moses to cast a small tree into the brackish springs in the area, and the waters were sweetened for drinking.

When faced with a problem or need, don't complain, panic, or doubt God. Problems are opportunities for us to praise God in advance for the solutions He'll give. These are Praise-Problems!

Facing difficulty just now? Thank God for what He's going to do. He knows how to make bitter waters into better waters and how to bring forth streams in the desert.

Christian renewal begins when we focus on God's power and not our problems. (John Maxwell)