"I like your religion...."

I'm so sorry for those of you that read my post on my "www.faith-love-patience.blogspot.com" blog a couple days ago. I signed out of my last post with..."now, I'm going to post something on my missions blog."

Well, to tell you honestly, I did type something up for this blog, but then felt that I wasn't suppose to post it. It's still in my draft folder though and perhaps sometime I'll feel led to post it.

Anyway, after getting home from our evening church service I just had to sit and post something that I find very amusing, yet sad all at the same time.

At one of my chiropractic appointments in the beginning of this year I met a very interesting person. As I was sitting in the waiting room, one of my chiropractor's patients comes walking by me and of course, I give her a smile. The lady stopped, and in a waiting room full of people says to me, "I like your religion!"

I was thinking, What?!?!!? You like my religion?!?!"

I must have given her a confused look (I honestly had NO IDEA what she was talking about), because she then began to explain to me that she used to be part of my religion, wore skirts all the time, etc. I continued to smile but I wasn't able to reply, except for a breif "thank you", before I was called back to my room.

I tried to sum everything up to the best of my knowledge as I tried to figure out the lady who had just talked with me had said. I came up with the following points:
if you smile, have long hair, and/or wear a skirt you are placed in the "religious" category.

OK, I can handle being "different" and I'm pleased to know that I'm a "religious" person. I still wonder what denomination or group she believed I was a part of. I wish I had had the time to ask her why she left her "religion".

That story above was just a side note of what I'm going to share with you, which has to do with my Sunday evening church service.

There is a lady who visits our church once in a blue moon (about 3 or so times a year). Well, as you know, I always enjoy greeting and meeting visitors. During the few times this lady visits we always strike up conversations - ranging from all sorts of topics, and tonight's conversation was no exception.

Before I go on you must realize three things.

1.I was homeschooled all my life.

2. This lady works in a very large city.

3. We attend a smaller church - it's a KJV Bible-believing, Baptist church, and we have about 20-30 families which attend on a regular basis - the majority homeschool.

I suppose that many people out in the world consider homeschoolers, "unsocialized" and see us as those who have never "seen the world", so to speak. Sigh. I don't think we'll ever convince them that we are very social people.

Anyway, the thing that I found very amusing tonight was that the lady I talked with believes that "we children" (hey, I'm in my 20's but I guess that doesn't make much difference) that attend small churches (not to mention we also homeschool) have no idea of what it's like in the "real world"!!!! EXCUSE ME!

She also believes that we don't have any type of relationship with Christ - that we small baptist churches are just a "religion" and that in the next four years, we'll really see a change in the church.

I didn't care to start discussing all that at that moment, plus for the fact I was the pianist for the service and needed to head to the piano, but I could have talked with her for a much longer period if I had had time.

So in case you are wondering....

No, I have not always attended a small, family friendly, KJV Baptist church all my life. We used to attend a large church. I also was involved with the youth group and no our family didn't always sit together for Sunday worship.

No, I have not always worn skirts/dresses.

No, I have not always had long hair.

No, I'm not an unsocialized church goer or homeschool grad.

Yes, I know what the "real world" is like, but I do not care to go join in their secular circles.

Yes, I was homeschooled from K-12 and have never regretted it!

Yes, I'm a happy person, filled with lots of smiles.

Yes, I am a born-again child of the God and I have a personal relationship with HIM.

Yes, I'm proud to be a Baptist.

and yes, I'm off to bed now!

Have a great week everyone!

Remember....

The Gospel According to You


There's a sweet old story translated for men,

But writ in the long, long ago

The Gospel according to Mark, Luke, and John

Of Christ and His mission below.



You are writing a gospel, a chapter each day,

By deeds that you do, by words that you say.

Men read what you write, whether faithless or true.

Say, what is the gospel according to you?



Men read and admire the gospel of Christ,

With its love so unfailing and true;

But what do they say, and what do they think

Of the gospel according to you?



'Tis a wonderful story, that gospel of love,

As it shines in the Christ-life divine,

And oh, that its truth might be told again

In the story of your life and mine!



Unselfish mirrors in every scene,

Love blossoms on every sod,

And back from its vision the heart comes to tell

The wonderful goodness of God.



You are writing each day a letter to men;

Take care that the writing is true.

'Til the only gospel some men will read,

That gospel according to you.


--Author Unknown

Depression, Discouraged, and feeling Down

You may wonder why I decided to write a post about 3D's. I have sensed a lot of people around me right now are depressed - health, money, family issues, the changes in our nation, etc.



Here are a few pictures of some things in life that might be depressing right now:

What exactly is depression?

"Depression may be described as feeling sad, blue, unhappy, miserable, or down in the dumps. Most of us feel this way at one time or another for short periods.
True clinical depression is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, loss, anger, or frustration interfere with everyday life for an extended period of time."

• Depression can affect people at any age or of any race, ethnic, or economic group.
  
• Clinical depression will affect more than 19 million Americans this year.
  
  
  You are probably now asking yourself why I'm posting about depression on a missions blog? It's simple - everyone - including missionaries can suffer from depression. It's also possible that you have a friend or a loved one that suffers with some form of depression and you would like to know how you as a friend or family member can help them. Perhaps you personally suffer from bouts of depression and discouragement. I'm in the process of compiling verses on the the subject and will hopefully, be adding to this post within the next couple weeks.

Pray for America

Please prayerfully consider your VOTE on November 4th, 2008.

Here are some quotes:

"Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime & pure, [and] which denounces against the wicked eternal misery, and [which] insured to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."
~Charles Carroll of Carrollton -- Signer of the Declaration of Independence

"The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments."
~Benjamin Rush

"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that "except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from tis unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one of more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service."

(Source: James Madison, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Max Farrand, editor (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911), Vol. I, pp. 450-452, June 28, 1787.)

"No free government now exists in the world, unless where Christianity is acknowledged, and is the religion of the country."
~Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 1824


"The most perfect maxims and examples for regulating your social conduct and domestic economy, as well as the best rules of morality and religion, are to be found in the Bible. . . . The moral principles and precepts found in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. These principles and precepts have truth, immutable truth, for their foundation. . . . All the evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible. . . . For instruction then in social, religious and civil duties resort to the scriptures for the best precepts."
~ Noah Webster

"By renouncing the Bible, philosophers swing from their moorings upon all moral subjects. . . . It is the only correct map of the human heart that ever has been published. . . . All systems of religion, morals, and government not founded upon it [the Bible] must perish, and how consoling the thought, it will not only survive the wreck of these systems but the world itself. "The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." [Matthew 1:18]

(Source: Benjamin Rush, Letters of Benjamin Rush, L. H. Butterfield, editor (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1951), p. 936, to John Adams, January 23, 1807.)

"We profess to be republicans, and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government, that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by the means of the Bible. For this Divine Book, above all others, favors that equality among mankind, that respect for just laws, and those sober and frugal virtues, which constitute the soul of republicanism."

(Source: Benjamin Rush, Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical (Philadelphia: Printed by Thomas and William Bradford, 1806), pp. 93-94.)

Free Give-Away!

Hi all! A missionary friend of mine serving the Lord in Portugal is hosting a give-away for the readers of her blog. Since this is a mission theme blog I thought you all might enjoy checking out her blog (which is listed on the sidebar under: Missionaries I pray for). There is nothing like reading the every day life of a missionary wife/mother serving her Lord in a foreign country. Click HERE to check out her blog.

Celebrate The Glory

Yes, October is a busy month! Mom says that we really need two Octobers in order to fit in everything there is to attend and I agree! October weather is always so beautiful and the color of the changing leaves is lovely!

Today we left the house at 7:30am this morning to attend a conference called:
Celebrate The Glory which is hosted in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. We attended the conference for the first time last year and met many other wonderful Christian families. We attended their 2nd annual conference again this year and had a great time!

I wanted to share the links with you and invite you to keep this conference in mind for next year.

Here is a list of several of the speakers/ministries that attended Celebrate The Glory:

Bible Drama Pictures

• Unfolding Drama http://www.unfoldingdrama.org/ is a ministry sponsored by http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/ The Rozeboom and Brand families have the passion and gifting to make Bible stories come alive using stories and drama. The Rozeboom’s are from Colorado. The Brand family (daughter and son-in-law of Michael and Debi Pearl) are from Tennessee.Be inspired to read God’s Word more…love God’s Word more…LIVE God’s Word more in this great drama we call life.
  
  
• The Durocher Family (http://www.durocherfamilyministries.com/ ) from Minnesota will be providing the music gospel bluegrass style. They have a great love for God’s Word and family. Ten of their twelve children minister together in music. The parents, Paul and Judy, have done an excellent job discipling their children and winning their hearts. They desire all families to know of the joy of following Jesus together.
  

Naomi Durocher playing madolin with Amber & Curtis.
(Yes, I'm in the background with crutches, wearing 3 layers of clothing & FREEZING - it was so cold today!)

• Ken Jenkins (http://www.kenjenkins.com/) is a nationally known natural history photographer, writer, lecturer, and outdoor adventurer. For more than 30 years his photographs and articles have appeared in publications from National Geographic to Southern Living. Ken's galleries, Beneath the Smoke and Heaven's Eyes, are located at the west entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park where he has been exposed to the 12 million visitors that enter the park since 1986.
  
  

October Mission Outreach

I'm sorry it has taken me a week to get this post written and posted, but I plan on doing several new posts today, so hopefully I'll have the time to post them all.

October has been a very busy month for us.

• We started the first weekend of October in West Virginia at a Way of the Master conference with Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron.
  



Gospel Illusions...






• Last week we spent our entire Saturday afternoon helping a local church with their October Fall Fest Children's Outreach. It was a lot of fun! Amber and I volunteered to help at the craft table to assist the children in making wordless bracelets. My dad and Curtis did a gospel illusion presentation, which the kids loved!

Our craft table - lots of beads for making wordless bracelets.

Click HERE for instructions for making a wordless bracelet.

Click HERE for step by step instructions "Corn Stalk" gospel illusion that you can do!

Yes, my favorite part of the day was holding the baby!

We decided to put into practice what we learned from the Way of the Master conference a week earlier by using the law to witness to children and their parents. Many of the children I helped were very young and I basically told them what each color stood for and asked them if they had ever disobeyed their mommy or daddy, told a lie, etc. and explained how we sin against God.

The most exciting part of the day was being able to talk to two mothers, who asked if they could sit at our craft table while their children did the various activities at the festive. We had a chance to talk to them about the Lord using the "are you a good person" test from Way of the Master. Amber did most of the talking with the moms and although I would chime in the conversations going on when the traffic at the craft table was slow, I tried to focus on the kids. I could overhear the conversations going on and I didn't want Amber to become sidetracked and not have a chance to talk with the moms about their spiritual condition.

One mom that Amber & I talked with believed that she was "good enough to go to Heaven". This lady told us that when God asks her the question one day of "Why should I let you into Heaven?" that she would say, "I did my best and tried to live a good life".... We explained to her that your best isn't enough and that she needed a Saviour.

As many witnessing conversations go along the 'victim (our unsaved friend)' will begin to feel convicted and you can sense they are starting to squirm inside and often will try to turn the topic another direction. I could see the look in the lady's eyes as Amber talked with her - instead of being the happy carefree person who had just sat down at the table minutes before she was now talking with an uneasy laugh and becoming to turn on her defences. She started getting judgmental (sign of conviction), saying things with a "do you think you're better than me!" tone like: "Why are you wearing skirts?, Why do you have long hair?, etc" - which of course was besides the point.

She also mentioned that she has friends that are Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, and Catholics. Personally, I think this is great - - - everyone should have an unsaved friend and witness to them! Sadly, this lady thinks everyone will get to Heaven according to what each religion believes. For example, if her Catholic friend believes differently than her, it's OK....they'll both meet in Heaven-no matter what the belief may be.

Anyway, we had a very interesting afternoon last Saturday, but it was good to have so many opportunities to witness. We're now able to pray for those who we had the chance to witness to and I actually invited a family to come to our church with us that Sunday evening and they came!

They had bounce houses and other activities including puppets, skits, games, food, and music.

Witness Where You Are!

Far-off Fields?

We're concerned for the sinner in China
And the heathen in Mandalay,
But say, do we care, have we offered a prayer
For the lost one just over the way?

We say we would go with the Gospel
To lighten dark Africa's shore--
Have we spoken a word in the Name of the Lord
To people who live just next door?

The person who lives down the way,
Who looks so forbidding and grim;
Do we have a call to witness at all
Or speak of the Saviour to him?

We'd take the Gospel to Savages,
We'd cross the stormy tide;
But will we tell out what the Gospel's about
To the people who work by our side?

We'd tell of our wonderful Saviour
And His love we have found so sweet
To far-off ones, but what about
The folks we will meet on the street?


~Poems taken from Moments With The Book