Economy Encouragement - The Bailout Bull

Dave Ramsey on the Financial Situation in America

Randy Forbes on the Bailout

A Model Prayer From Jesus

Some thoughts about the Lord's Prayer. This is a decent link to gain some insight into the Lord's Prayer.

1st Grade Teacher - Thank God

I have had recent correspondence with my brother, sister, mom and my first grade Teacher. Miss Schaffner was a Nethery family favorite at City View School in Wichita Falls, TX. I remember her being strict yet very nice. First grade was the best three years of my life (JK). I visited with my mom about her today. We both had very positive comments and memories. My brother and I do not remember many of our elementary teachers, but we remember Miss Schaffner. She came into contact with our family recently through my brothers website. Cool stuff. My sister and I corresponded with her just this week via email. She was kind, gracious and still a teacher. What a lady. While I was serving at First Baptist Church in Henrietta, TX Miss Schaffner had moved back into Henrietta and became a member of FBC. That was cool. I got to see her almost every weekend. Kept me on my toes because I did not want Miss Schaffner's paddle coming out for business. What fun. So cheers to Miss Schaffner-Teauge. Miss Schaffner, I apologize for not holding my pencil and pen properly while writing. You taught me the proper method, I just can't remember, but I can spell NETHERY.

"I thank my God every time I remember you." Philippians 1:3

Say Hello To Your Neighbor

Older Man Dies In Cold Weather

This article is heart breaking. It is sad that the man died. But what is really sad is the reaction of family members, neighbors and people who should take responsibility, yet are blaming others. God help us. God help us. By the way, say, "hello", to your neighbor.

Helping The Homeless, Part 3

Leadership Thought - Vision

Vision is at the very core of leadership. Take vision away from a leader and you cut out his or her heart. Vision is the fuel that leaders run on. It's the fire that ignites the passion of followers. - Bill Hybels, Courageous Leadership (Zondervan, 2002)

Guest Blog, Pam Doane: Blessing - Helping - Serving - Making A Difference

Our church is hosting a place for the homeless to sleep this week. It started out as usual with many helping and then as the week goes on it tapers off. We have been averaging around 115 homeless people looking for a warm place to sleep and a hot meal (last night we had 111). They come with only the clothes on their back. We have had the people in our church provide coats, toiletry items, etc. (Back in November our church started a coat drive and it ended in December. They had to be clean coats if they were not new.) We were able to provide a warm coat for most who needed one. We also had clothing for those who needed warm clothing.

We even had a group of young boys from a boys home come and help serve. Their leader stated that it would be good for them to give back to their community. They were all eager to help and I pray they came away as I did with a full heart of joy knowing we did something good for someone who needed it.

If you have not had an opportunity to help in a soup kitchen or something similar to what our church is doing I highly recommend it. You will come away so appreciative of what God has blessed you with (a warm bed, a hot shower, a soft chair to sit in, etc.) all the little things we take for granted on a daily basis.

With Love and Many Blessings,
Pam

Helping The Homeless, Part 2

Read And Practice

Reimagining Evangelism at CBD

This is good stuff for those of us who want to help others experience God's love as we have and are experiencing it in our lives. I hope and pray every believer will want to share God's love in a very real way with others.

Leadership Thought - This Is Right On

What Is Your PDP?

allaboutprayer.org

The Prayer of Jabez

Books Mentioned On 1-18-09

Bruce Wilkinson

Dare You To Move

This song is a little old, but still right on. I heard it twice this week. Make a move.

Chasing Daylight - A Guest Blog - Jon Trude

Jon Trude posted the below on SCC's website. Good stuff.

Hi everyone! I just wanted to drop you all a line and let you know that things are going great out here in OKC! It have been wicked cold and windy but past that everything is great! I had something that I wanted to share with all of you reading this.

During my flight to Houston I had one of those WOW moments that God puts in your life. We took off from Norfolk around 4:30ish and started heading west. Being winter, I thought to myself that the sun would be setting soon and we would be able to see the lights of the cities below. After they allowed the electronic devices, I pulled out my ipod and spaced out for about an hour. As soon snapped out of my trance, I looked out my window to see if I could tell which city we were over. Than it hit me... there was still light outside. It was the craziest thing. I looked back and I could see the darkness of night and the rising moon chasing us. In front of me was the setting sun that was fading over the horizon. It was like we were chasing daylight. Of course the way my mind works, that experience made me think of a passage from the book "Chasing Daylight" by Erwin McManus.

"We all have dreams, hopes and aspirations. Why, then, so some of us realize our dreams and move forward while some others from a distance and hope for a break? The question is how do we know that the dream that we are working towards are God's will for our lives? How can we live with a clarity that frees us from apprehension and hesitation and catapults us forward with confidence and courage?

When we are passionate about God, we can trust our passions.

We have but one life. We are given the opportunity to pursue our dreams and fulfill our divine purpose. Every moment counts, and we must engage them with fierceness and zeal. Put an end to passive observation, paralyzed by the need for perfect opportunity, and start seizing the raw, untapped potential of your life with God."

Are you willing to risk failure? Are you ready to get in the game? Everyone stumbles, but you will find yourself falling forward, propelled toward the God-inspired adventure He indents you to live.

Ephesians 3:14-21

14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21

Give - Live

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. - Winston Churchill

First Book Down

Leadership From The Inside Out was and will be a good read for the year. David Donahue recommended the book in Nov.'08. Well wrtitten. Interesting style.

Helping The Homeless

"Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have
entertained angels without realizing it!" - Hebrews 13:2

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my
Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For
I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a
stranger, and you invited me into your home.'" - Matthew 25:34-35

"What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?" So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. - James 2:14-17

"We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions." -
I John 3:16-18

Sunrise and Lee are cooperating with the Portsmouth Volunteers For The Homeless and other local churches to provide a warm meal, nice atmosphere and warm place to sleep for some homeless people during the week of January 18-24, 2009. Thanks to the many who have signed up to serve and minister. Thanks to Mike Bailey for taking the lead in this venture. Please be praying. Thank God for a warm place to sleep and warm meals to eat.

I'm Sorry, Prayer

Here you will find some help for Prayer that Says "I'm Sorry"

Prayer

Drop The Worry Habit

Drop the Worry Habit : Creative Anxiety
To worry about things we can’t change is a terrible waste of emotional energy. Rather than worry, people who go the distance have learned the art of “creative anxiety.” While worry is destructive, creative anxiety is constructive. Worry focuses on the problem; creative anxiety focuses on the solution. Worry controls us; creative anxiety puts us in control of our emotions.
Here are some ways to drop the worry habit and learn new patterns of thinking:
1. Schedule creative anxiety. Worry creates a false sense of urgency. We find freedom from worry, then, by identifying that false urgency and making plans to consider options and solutions. It’s helpful to set personal parameters, such as: “I won’t worry about work on personal time.” “I won’t worry about family when I’m working.” “I won’t worry about unlikely possibilities until they become probable.” Follow those parameters and keep worry in its proper place – and its proper perspective.
2. Think the concern through, then set it aside. Regardless of your profession, you have parts of your work that can’t be completed in one block of time. For instance, a business proposal is the result of research, many meetings, consultations, and revisions. In the same way, acknowledging that you may not solve life’s great problems in one sitting can be a liberating thought. Work it through. Keep track of notes and doodles and possible solutions. Then, you can park your anxiety with those notes until you come back.
3. Imagine positive possibilities. Creative thinking means postponing judgment on an idea for another day. Instead of saying it won’t work, consider all solutions as possibilities, regardless of how far-fetched they may seem. Part of what makes creative anxiety work is the willingness to look for less-than-obvious solutions.
4. Give yourself permission to be less than perfect. All of our worries are rooted in fear of loss. What many of us fear is losing our inaccurate self-portrait of having it all together. Perfectionists would rather postpone something than see it done less than perfectly. This habitual postponement causes great anxiety and leads to worrisome habits.
5. Practice the discipline of submission. Part of our old nature is our desire to control. We want to control our circumstances, our relationships, and our future. People with a high need to control are often labeled “control freaks” by those around them. These people are prime candidates for worry-rooted disorders because so much of life is beyond control. When something like cancer, downsizing, or a lawsuit occurs, those who need to control go into a tailspin.
Control is at the heart of one of the most significant passages in all the New Testament. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant” (Philippians 2:5-7).
Servants are never in control. They are by nature submitted to their master. Jesus gave up control – of the entire universe – so He might please His Father and redeem humankind. He never once doubted God’s provision. It’s our doubt that God will provide that keeps us from releasing control. When we fully understand our relationship to God and assume the role of servant, we leave behind the need to control and the worry that tags along with that need.

This is some of an article I read at www.lifeway.com

Thank God - Post It

Find that Post It and place "Thank God" on it an place it in your fav spot in the house. for some that will be the fridge, or the Lazy Boy, the comp, your Bible, the Big Screen, the Wii, and the list cont.... find the spot and offer up a prayer that sings and dances. For more visit Prayer That Sings and Dances via viddler.com.

Count Your Blessings - An Oldie But A Goodie

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your blessings

See what God has done

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your many blessings

See what God has done

When upon life's billows

You are tempest tossed

When you are discouraged

Thinking all is lost

Count your many blessings

Name them one by one

And it will surprise you

What the Lord has done

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your blessings

See what God has done

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your many blessings

See what God has done

Are you ever burdened

With a load of care

Does the cross seem heavy

You are called to bear

Count your many blessings

Every doubt will fly

And you will be singing

As the days go by

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your blessings

See what God has done

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your many blessings

See what God has done

When you look at others

With their lands and gold

Think that Christ has promised

You His wealth untold

Count your many blessings

Money cannot buyYour reward in heaven

Nor your home on high

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your blessings

See what God has done

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your many blessings

See what God has done

So, amid the conflict

Whether great or small

Do not be discouraged

God is over all

Count your many blessings

Angels will attend

Help and comfort give you

To your journey's end

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your blessings

See what God has done

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your many blessings

See what God has done

Praying Thanks

Prayers of Thanks found at All About Prayer will help you enter into prayer that sings and dances.

Go Horns

For SCC - Prayer Thanks Sings And Dances 1-4-09

Prayer that Sings and Dances

11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" 14 When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19 Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." Luke 19:11-19

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. Psalm 28:7

Then I will thank you in front of the great assembly. I will praise you before all the people. Psalm 35:18

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. Ephesians 1:15-16

Developing A Prayer Life That Sings And Dances
Give thanks every morning.
Give thanks before your meals.
Start the week with a prayer time of thanks.
Give thanks for life's pleasures.
Start conversations with thanks.

If we fill our hours with regrets of yesterday and with the worries of tomorrow, we have no today in which to be thankful.

I Resolve

Happy New Year - 2009