Sunday, April 29, 2012

Lord, We're Following You...



Leaving early Tuesday morning before sun-up to drive to O'Hare Airport for the first leg of our trip to

Honduras

where we will visit our sponsor child, "D,"

volunteer with Paramedics for Children

and strive to be the best hands and feet of Christ

as we can.

Please keep us in your prayers

and we thank you so very much.

We shall have many pictures and stories upon our return

and hopefully even a documentary!

Bless you!

Until we are in America again...



Follow You
by Leeland

You live among the least of these:
The weary and the weak.
And it would be a tragedy
For me to turn away.
All my needs You have supplied,
When I was dead You gave me life.
How could I not give it away so freely?

And I'll...
I'll follow You into the homes of the broken,
I'll follow You into the world.
I'll meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God,
I'll follow You into the world.

Use my hands, use my feet,
To make Your kingdom come.
To the corners of the earth
Until Your work is done.
'Cause faith without works is dead,
And on the cross, Your blood was shed,
So how could we not give it away so freely?

And I'll...
I'll follow You into the homes of the broken,
I'll follow You into the world.
Oh, meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God,
I'll follow You into the world.

Yeah,
I'll follow You into the homes of the broken,
I'll follow You into the world.
Oh, I'll meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God,
I'll follow You into the world.

And I give all myself,
I give all myself,
And I give all myself to You.

Oh, and I give all myself, (I give myself)
Yes I give all myself, (Lord, I give myself)
And I give all myself to You. (I give it all to You)

(Lord I give it all to You)
I'll follow You into the homes of the broken, (All to your name)
I'll follow You into the world. (I'll follow You)
I'll meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God, (Poor and needy, God)
I'll follow You into the world.

I will follow...
I'll follow You into the homes of the broken,
I'll follow You into the world.
I'll meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

The Day of All Days



Matthew 28:8-10 (the other women) So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, 

and ran to tell his disciples.  And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and 

took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my 

brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” 

______________________________________________________________________



HAPPY EASTER, MY FREINDS! REJOICE IN THE LORD FOR HE HAS RISEN!

Friday, April 6, 2012

I Will Stay Awake




Good Friday started with me opening my eyes to sunshine streaming in my bedroom. Ah, a day off. I normally wake up at 5:45am in darkness. I laid in bed for a few minutes, relaxing, still sleepy.

Then I realized what day it was. It was my second favorite holy day of the Church calendar: Good Friday. Why do I love it so much? It is solemn, desperately sad…yet if that is all we see of Good Friday, we fail to see the “Good” part.

I love Good Friday because it makes me look in the mirror and admit exactly what Jesus did for me. We are, you are, I am the reason Jesus went to the cross and soaked up all our sins like a sponge. His love so deep, his compassion so strong.

As I’ve been going about my day I’ve been meditating on something I thought of yesterday:

I was talking aloud to God in the car and I said, Jesus, let me feel Your presence tonight. Help me to feel You with me.

And I paused and then said, and I pray that You feel me, too.

I stopped in my tracks. 

Huh? Do we pray for Jesus to feel our presence? 

Do we ask God to feel us? Is that a conceited or silly thing to pray? I really had to think about this.

I certainly am not God. I know there aren’t people praying to me, “Oh, I pray for your presence.” Why would I expect God to say to me, “Oh thank you, child of mine, for praying that I might feel you.”

But that’s not how I meant it. Plus, I don’t think God is that haughty.

I always ask God to be with me. I felt bad yesterday because isn’t God always with us?

Immanuel = God With Us.

I wanted Jesus to know that I was with him.

In Scripture, where Jesus asks his main disciples to stay awake with him in the garden of Gethsemane, it breaks my heart to know they didn’t. I realize, sadly, that I could have made that very mistake.


Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
-Mark 14:37-38 (NIV)

And so I say, Jesus, I know I did not stay awake for you.

In other words, I know I sinned.

I want to devote my life to you. Please know I will stay with you. I will follow you. I will believe you.

And so, on this Good Friday, as the crowds surrounded him hung high on the cross, as some mocked and jeered, some cried and wailed, today I am standing there with the believers, with those who know who Jesus is and who we are in His presence.

I believe in you, Lord. Thank you for dying for us.

I pray that you feel me, I who have sinned and will sin again. I pray that you know I will not fall asleep. I will remain awake and vigilant. I pray that, just as I feel and know your love, that you feel and know mine.