Lunch with Sam

Lunch with Sam (Samantha) went really well today.  I'm still at a little loss for words....which is really rare if you've known me for more than ten minutes.

I feel like the Lord gave many opportunities to share about Him and His love and how He has affected my life. 

And I took every single opportunity.

I also listened a lot to what this lost and hurting teenager had to say.

Please continue to pray that I will be a light in the dark to this girl who I already care deeply for.  She is precious and beautiful in the eyes of God.

I will try and post more specifics about our lunch when I have had time to think and pray a bit more.

Loving Radically Through Christ,

Melissa

CENTRAL REGIONAL HOSPITAL MINISTRY

Here is an opportunity to help those who have run into hard times. For all those who have never heard of Central Regional Hospital, it is a state mental facility. Their starting a new clothing program for the patients. Many of these patients don't have nice clothes to wear, so they are asking for donations. All sizes will be needed. Gently used, or like new, dress shirts, dress pants, polo shirts, and dress shoes. You can contact me here or by phone:  ( 919 529 2486 ). God Bless!

LIVING RADICAL FOR JESUS


Dean

Sick and Tired

I am just "sick and tired"!

"Of what?" you ask.....

Us
Me
Our People
Our Christian Badge Wearing
Our Selfishness
Our Inability to Submit
Our Deceit of Ourselves
Our Playing Games
Our Idols

MY Selfishness

Seeing MY Flesh in my Kids

Unholiness
Greediness
Laziness
Complacency

Can it get any worse?  I mean....really....can it?  Will it? 

Soon?

Who are we fooling with our half-hearted Christianity?  Surely not God.

How long will we justify our behavior, our secret sins that we're not willing to address?  How long will we continue to try and hide them behind stained glass windows and pews and steeples?  How long will we hide behind Scripture reciting and theological studies?

How long will we have a form of godliness but deny its power?

Yearning

I know I mostly use this blog to post about events that have happened with the ministry - or outreaches we've done - or people that we've come into contact with that have a special need.  But this time, I hope it's ok that I'm using it for something a little more personal. 

I think that everyone that takes the time to read my posts probably cares about me in some way, so I'm hoping that this little bit of sharing will be okay :)

I have this yearning in my spirit that is sometimes unbearable....sometimes I feel so excited that I want to cry and dance and scream....and then other times this same yearning causes me to feel depressed, unwhole and sometimes angry.
All in all it's so confusing to me.

I'm scared that what I'm feeling is real and God-inspired, but then I'm also scared that what I'm feeling is a self-created desire. 

So seeking God's will for my life is my ultimate desire here.  I know He wants to use me and I know He already does.  He wants to use all of us actually!!  Not one of us was called into fellowship with Him just to sit back and live a leisurely life.  Jesus called disciples and followers of Him....seekers of Him and His will....finders of Truth and Life.

Matthew 7:7-8 - “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

But what does God want me to lay aside and be willing to give up for Him?  What is the bigger picture of what He has planned for me and my family?  What is His true and perfect will for me/us?

That's what I'm seeking - and that's what I hope you'll pray for me about.

Like I said earlier - I have a yearning.  I've had a yearning for a while now, but obstacles and "reality" have made any idea of action impossible.  I feel like the Lord has done some serious renewing in me over the last year, and I also feel like He can remove any obstacle and make action possible with some simple steps of faith.

I just want to be available, to be open to seeing, to be willing to get rid of ALL that hinders me, even if it makes me look crazy or unpopular.  As David so clearly put it in 1 Chronicles 16, I want to:

⁸ Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
    make known among the nations what he has done.
⁹ Sing to him, sing praise to him;
    tell of all his wonderful acts.
¹⁰ Glory in his holy name;
    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
¹¹ Look to the Lord and his strength;
    seek his face always.

Thank you for "listening"....for praying....for coming alongside me with hope and encouragement.

Loving Radically Through Christ,

Melissa

ALIEN INVASION

                 In the summertime many churches provide a VBS for their church and neighborhood kids to come to.  We felt impressed by the Lord to take a  mobile VBS to THEM...or rather an ALIEN INVASION!  The first day was Take Me To Your Leader. With the help of aliens and puppets, we taught the kids that the Bible is God's rule book and that Jesus is our leader. Then the kids engaged in some Alien Games like: Find the Aliens in the Sand, and Aliens in a Spoon Race. Courtney did face painting which was a big hit with the kids. Then came drinks and snacks...yummy! The next night was Out of this World....lol, uh that was the title of our lesson . Melissa taught the kid's from John Chapter 17....where it says that because Jesus is not of this world, then we can be also. She taught that as Christians we are to live like aliens from another planet. When we live as Jesus did sometimes people will look at us like we're from another world. Next the puppet sang "Jesus is the Light" by Carman. The kids really enjoyed the puppet. We played more games: Run to the Chair and Sit on a Water Balloon, Throw a Water Balloon at an Alien Game, and then finally they threw water balloons at each other. It was a fun and wet experience, especially when they dumped the cooler of water over my head. This was a great opportunity that God gave us, and we believe that the fruit that will come from this may out-live us and our ministry.

Jesus called them to him, saying, " Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God." Luke 18:16. 

I want to leave you with this, if they cannot come to Jesus, then we must take Jesus to them!


Living Radical for Jesus,

Dean