Challenge

I love when God uses multiple people to bring me a message personally designed to target my heart. My pastor preached this morning about our personal responsibility to grow in the knowledge of God, by taking action and working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. He preached from 2 Peter 1:5-8... it is OUR job to ADD to our faith, ADD to our virtue, etc. etc. THEN , I listen to Pastor Terry Black ADD to that message by challenging us to serve others as a means of growing in our relationship with the Lord. He challenged us to let God be the potter, forming us to fulfill our original purpose of being a servant. He told of a man who had only been in the church a short time. The church was teeming with people, and they were short on Sunday School teachers. The pastor handed the man a Bible and said, "See that room of young 11 year old boys? They need a teacher today. Would you do it?" The man was stunned. TODAY? NOW? But but but but.... there were many excuses, but the pastor simply said, "You'll learn." The man was challenged at that moment to GROW into ministry. If we could all desire to serve in whatever capacity God chooses... He formed us... He's the Potter... He knows what purpose we were formed for. Although I do not feel I am "called" to be lead musician at our church, I have been gifted with the talent to play and sing. I could make a dozen excuses to avoid being behind that piano service after service... but really, when I serve in that capacity to fill a need, I grow spiritually, because God touches me and ministers to me every time I play. When people come to me to tell me a certain song I played targeted their particular situation and blessed them, then I grow spiritually and I am drawn to the Lord in a spirit of thanksgiving. Our church is currently experiencing a shortage in Sunday School teachers, and I am thinking about the challenge. Praying about the challenge. If I wait for the Spirit to "move me", I may miss out on an opportunity to grow. Pray for me as I pray about this new challenge in my spirit. God will put me where He wants me. I trust Him completely. I desire to grow closer to the Lord, however He sees fit, and however hard I am willing to "work" at it. Thank you Jesus.

Posts added

Hello! Take a moment to scroll down through the page and see some of the posts I have added or updated. I don't want you to miss the video of the world's youngest preacher (hilarious) or pictures of Adam's most recent belt ceremony. Thanks for stopping by!

Michelle

VICTORY... by hook or by crook....

Ladies and gentlemen.... you really have to know all the tricks to get around Blogger's major quirks. THANK GOD for the Picasa program! There's more than one way to skin a cat, and thankfully more than one way to post pictures to your blog.

HERE are the pictures of the Chargers in action! They played the Patriots first, then the Buccaneers. What a fun day!!! (You can click on the pictures to see them BIGGER).

We also took some amazing video footage... I SO wish we could post it on here. We didn't use a digital recorder... just a regular one. So I'm not sure I will be able to put anything on here. Oh well. Trust me when I say that this is going to be a fun football season! GO CHARGERS!! GO NICK!!

blogger is sooooo aggravating sometimes...

Well.... to my family and friends who have been waiting all day for pictures from Nick's first football game.... you will have to wait longer. Blogger absolutely refuses to let me upload any pictures. I've been trying since 2pm this afternoon... it is now 11:30 pm. Hmmmm.... I am totally frustrated. AND THE PICTURES ARE AWESOME! He did such a great job today! It was really exciting. But.... you will just have to wait until Blogger decides to cooperate with me to see that for yourself.

Sorry.

GO CHARGERS!!!!

My oh my.... my baby is a football player!







And Dad is all proud because Nick is playing center, just like he did in high school! Tomorrow is our first actual game. We will be taking the video camera, and hopefully a few pictures with the camera to post here on the blog.

I am feeling my age... one son entering middle school, and one playing football. Wow. Slow down! LOL! Anyway, just wanted to share this "mom moment" with you all. Being a mom never has a dull moment!

Train up a child in the way they should go.......

This is so adorable! This is the grandson of a preacher in Mississippi.... PREACH IT!

Getting closer to black belt

My goodness... it has been exactly 17 months since Adam started this martial arts path. And now he is at the rank of Brown Stripe. What's left? 2nd red, 1st red, and BLACK. Yes, we are getting close! Here are a couple pictures from today's belt ceremony.



Now, granted, these last senior belt levels are TOUGH and take a long time to complete, and he has to do a black belt project before heading to California, but really... we couldn't be prouder of him! GO ADAM!!!