Yesterday, one of the step-dads that came over said, "I'm glad you're doing this for the kids. They need this positive influence in their life."
You stepping out in faith is noticed. Keep it up in your day-to-day life too!!!
Well since this hasn't been updated in a long long long long....(did I say long?) time, I don't even know if you will check this. However, if you do, Matt and I are so proud of the way you guys handled yourselves last night. God was awesome in honoring your faithfulness. Those kids were blessed more than you or we may ever realize.
I was talking to my cousin this weekend and he was telling me about experiences from his childhood. At 45, he can still recall what an impact those types of events had on his childhood. Those memories stay with you through your whole life.
We will be starting a new season of service this September with new challenges and new ideas. We are so blessed by your actions but when we do these things all glory belongs to HIM!!! Matt and I were driving home from Indiana yesterday morning and listened to a message on the radio. The preacher was talking about doing things in the church and wanting for praise for them.
Matthew 6:2-4 2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
He said that too often we'll be criticized more than we deserved and complimented more than we deserved. So we need to not do things seeking the approval or praise of others. We need to do it for the glory of God and because God desires us to do it.
Let's encourage one another, thank each other, and lift each other up in prayer and words. But remember to not serve for the sole purpose in seeking praise. Do it unto the Lord and to bless those around us.
God will honor you.
Hey you all! Really humid and hot today! I thank God that He gave men the intelligence to invent A/C. We have those kinds of abilities because we were created in the image of God. God, of course, likes to create new things. He loves to make things new. He loves to make our lives new. Sounds like Hannah, Halley and Ryan were refreshed at Senior High Camp. So glad to hear it!
He makes all things new. He doesn't want our lives to be dormant. He especially doesn't want our spiritual walk with Him to be dormant. The only way to keep a vibrant, fresh relationship with Him is to have a relationship with Him. So let's not forget to keep Him in the forefront of our lives. The Bible talks about a vibrant, refreshing river. The river is actually Jesus Christ. He is like refreshing, flowing water.
Recently, I was at Lake Erie. It was pretty hot out! Me and the kids jumped into the water. I didn't want to get in at first because I knew how cold it was compared to the air. But once we got in, we didn't want to get out! If we will actually really jump into a deep, refreshing relationship with Jesus, we won't want to get out!
But I havn't had time to go to Lake Erie recently. So I haven't been longing to go swimming in it's refreshing water. That happens sometimes ( a lot of times) with Jesus. We get busy and just don't realize what we are missing out on. WELL, Jump in! He feels really good. You'll be glad yo did! If you didn't read this far, then you won't know that this month's (August) book of the month is JOSHUA. Let's try some O.T. this month. Some really cool stories in this one. Fighting, winning, etc.
Love YOU all much! Jesus loves you even more! Stay Close To Him! Larry
HEY EVERYBODY! If you get on this website, make sure you click on "events" to see upcoming events, click on "messages" to see notes on our youth message (this week Hannah took the notes) and click on "pics" to see any new pictures (there are a lot of pictures from the cookout there).
LET'S REMEMBER TO THANK MATT & CAT DERRICK FOR ALL OF THEIR HARD WORK MAKING THE NEW ID WEB SITE COOL! THANKS A MILLION MATTHEW AND CATHERINE!
