Thanks to Frank my web guy who knows more than I will ever forget for helping me move this am. Check out anyone of his over 75 websites or see him if you need any online services.

Drop by and leave a comment and let me know what you think.

If you would like to get the latest update on Kate and her journey with Cancer click HERE.
While reading the update this am, God spoke to me in a powerful way!  Let me share the quote from Aaron & Holly.

“And somehow despite the horrors of thinking of what could be ahead, God continues to remind us of His deep love for Kate, and that nothing will not first pass through His hands. There is comfort knowing His great love for her.”

EVERYTHING that happens, my life or yours passes through HIS (God’s) hands FIRST! I got comfort as well knowing HIS (God’s) love for me is more than a worldly love, but a love that is from EVERLASTING to EVERLASTING! Blessed be the Lord our God of Israel.

Please take some time today and pray with me for Aaron, Holly, Kate, Olivia & will McRae!

So have you ever been misunderstood? One thing I am thankful for is that when God speaks to me he speaks very clearly and not in a misunderstanding way. THANKS Heavenly Father for speaking words of wisdom into my life.

Driving down the road the other day I ran across the sign. I found the humor in the statement and chuckled a bit and then later that day it began to sink in. I remember the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis and their decision to disobey God. When God called for them they hid and covered their naked bodies up with fig leaves. Then the conversation between them and God and it ended up being someone else’s fault.

February 16th, 2011….well it seems as if things haven’t changed since Genesis 2. Today we don’t so much hide and clothe our naked body, but we do EVERYTHING possible to find the fault in someone else than where it really is, ourselves!  I notice this has creeped into student ministry and runs rampant in the public school system. I see teachers doing the best they can to educate students while fighting the uphill battle. They have to be careful how they respond, disciple or correct students. When I was in school the rule from my father was what I got at school, I got double at home. Now I was never paddled but had I been I would have gotten double at home. Now I did get a detention and was grounded for 2 days etc. My dad NEVER jumped to my defense and said, “Not my little Joe Joe, he would never do something like that.” He apologized to the principle/teacher and I did as well the next day and I promise you that it didn’t happen again.

Today I see so many parents jumping into “Mamma/Pappa bear mode”. They rush to the school and have words with the teacher/principle about the action taken against their son/daughter and quickly come to their defense and in a way scold the teacher/principle. I am seeing that creep its way into student ministries as well. It’s a rare occasion parents take responsibility for their student and that you year, “Sorry for the actions of my son or daughter, it will be taken care of at home and shouldn’t be an issue next time.” It’s usually, “well what did student “X” do to provoke my son or daughter?”  The students response is usually pretty close the parents response. Always someone else’s fault.

So back to the church sign, REMEMBER it wasn’t the apple that was the problem, it was the pair “Adam and Eve” who CHOSE to disobey. Because they played the blame game sin entered the perfect world God had created.

So how about you…….blame game or responsibility?

I reminded students of the Purity Code from Jim Burns.

1.) Honoring God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20) Flee from sexual immorality. All sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, who you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

2.) Renewing your mind for the good. (Romans 12:1-2) Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer you bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. THen you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.

3.) Turning your eyes from worthless things. (Matthew 6:22-23) ”The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

4.) Guarding your heart above all else (Proverbs 4:23) Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

After three powerful worship songs and prayer:

“Take My Life & Let It Be”

“Holiness”

“I Give You My Heart”

I had the students say these vows:

Believing that true love waits…….I make a commitment to God…….myself…….my family…….my friends…….my future mate…….and my future children…….to a lifetime of purity…….and sexual abstinence…….tonight I commit to…….honoring God with my body…….renewing my mind for the good…….turning my eyes from worthless things…….guarding my heart above all else…….from this day…….until the day I enter…….a biblical marriage relationship.

The parents followed them with these vows:

Believing that true love is pure…….I join these students…….in committing to a lifetime of purity…….I make a commitment to God…….myself…….my family…….and my community of faith…….to abstain from pornography…….impure touching and conversations…….and sex outside of a biblical marriage relationship…….from this day forward.

I asked the parents to place the students symbol of commitment in their  hand. (Each student choose different symbols some of the choices were rings, necklaces, dog chains, metal book marks, and various other items)

I reminded the students of their symbol of commitment as a reminder of their commitment to purity. It was given to them by their parents whom love, pray and support them. I asked them to cherish it with the knowledge that their purity is for God’s glory. On their wedding night they are to give their symbol of commitment to their spouse as a celebration of promises given and promises kept.

As parents placed the symbol on their finger, around their neck or placed it in their hands and as they shared this special moment together Melinda sang the song “I Promise” by Jaci Velazquez.

Lord, You know my heart
And all my desires
And the secret things I’ll never tell
Lord, You know them well

Though I may be young
I see and understand
That at times like sheep we go astray
And things get out of hand

Chorus:
So I promise to be true to You
To live my life in purity
As unto You
Waiting for the day
When I hear You say
Here is the one I have created
Just for you

Until then, O Lord
I will be content
Knowing that true love
Will come someday
It will only come from You

Cause I have seen the suffering
That loneliness can cause
When we choose to give our love away
Without a righteous cause

I prayed 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 from the Message paraphrase by Eugene H. Peterson to end the service.

Father your word say’s Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, 5 Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, 6 Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 7 Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. 8 Love never dies.
Father may the LOVE these students have for you never die! AMEN.

The congregation stood and helped me celebrate with the students the commitment they had just made. We followed the ceremony with a reception in the fellowship hall.

Celebrate with me for the 26 students that made the commitment to remain pure from this day forward until in a committed marriage relationship!

Changes should be made sometime today at the earliest and no later than this week.

***Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends. http://bible.us/Prov17.9.NLT***

McRae Family

Aaron, Will, Olivia, Kate & Holly

I have been following this story about Kate for a long time. Below is Wednesday evenings journal entry regarding life at the McRae home.  I am asking you to pray for the McRae family. The journal entry is heart-gripping and life changing. (to me) As a parent I am learning from this family about life, love, trust, patience, and prayer! They are trusting God in the deepest of valleys.

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Thank you for your prayers. We are struggling today, but I would expect no less given the news we were dealt yesterday.

Kate went to school today, much against my desire to keep her home. She just desperately desires to be “normal” and to live like a kid. So we painstakingly let her go.

It looks like we will have no real news for a few days. Her PET scan is not scheduled until Tuesday of next week. Not sure how we are supposed to sit and wait on that one, but unfortunately we can’t provide the isotopes needed to perform the 2 specific tests they will be running. We have no idea what we will do with ourselves for the next week. A day has almost killed me.

We sat down and talked with Olivia and Will last night. We told them as much as we knew, and yet emphasized that nothing was for certain right now. My heart breaks for them. They each played out their concerns in their own way. Neither desiring for our family to be apart again. No one desiring for Kate to suffer.

So for now we turn the world over looking for something that would be best suited to help our daugther. We know this, there is no obvious answer. There is nothing that is breakthrough right now helping kids with recurrances of this disease, not when she has had the most promising of treatments already. Kate’s Dr’s and we ourselves, will be contacting the best minds in the country, getting their opinions.

I did hear from Dr Etzl today. Tumor board met, and the obvious thought is that it is cancer. As of now, they don’t believe surgery to be a great option, and radiation does not seem to be an option either. Which leaves us thinking if it does prove to be cancer, it will most likely be something very experimental we will have to attempt.

We have cried, and cried and cried some more. We try and hold it together around the kids, but oftentimes the tears just keep coming. We had to talk with Kate again tonight. She doesn’t want to loose her hair again and go to school without hair. Obviously this is the least of our concerns. But we talked about hair, wigs, and treatments that you don’t lose your hair with. We both seemed to settle down, that is until we started talking about heaven.

I wept as we talked about heaven and she softly said, “mom, I don’t want to go without you, I would miss you way too much.” “And I don’t want you to go without me either baby.” And then the question again that pierces our hearts daily, “Why hasn’t Jesus used his power yet? He’s so much stronger than cancer, why?” So again we talked, and cried some more. We ended the conversation with her whispering in my ear, “I will love you no matter what.” I had to go to my room to cry alone.

So we ask you to intercede. We know Jesus can heal our daughter. And we will not stop asking for that healing for Kate. Please join us. We are still praying that the spots will disappear for the PET scan. We are still begging for a lifetime with our sweet daughter.

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Not sure words can bring comfort, not sure I knew what to say. As I knelt down to my knees at my office desk, these lyrics from Michael W. Smith came to mind and the scripture below. Nothing brings comfort better than God’s Word! And so this was my response to their journal entry.

Let it rain, let it rain. Open the floodgates of Heaven

Psalm 97:1-6
The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad
Let the distance shores rejoice
Clouds and thick darkness surround him
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne
A fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side
His lightning lights up the world
The earth sees and trembles
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord
Before the Lord of all the earth
The Heavens proclaim His righteousness
And all peoples will see His Glory

We are to love God with all our heart, and soul, and might.

1. With a sincere love; not in word and tongue only, but inwardly in truth.

2. With a strong love. He that is our All, must have our all.

3. With a superlative love; we must love God above any creature whatever, and love nothing but what we love for him.

4. With an intelligent love. To love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, we must see good cause to love him.

5. With an entire love; he is ONE, our hearts must be united in his love, and the whole stream of our affections must run towards him

The last statement has me thinking! “And the whole stream of our affections must run towards him.“

So where are your affections running? Toward one (Jesus Christ) or towards many? Do you have an all-sufficient God or a thousand insufficient friends? Are you drinking from one fountain or a thousand cisterns?

So have you taken PERMANENT residence in this kind of love? 1 Peter 4:8 (NIV) states, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” Can you imagine what the world would be like if the whole world LOVED like this? How about the church, your neighbor, your family, your spouse, your children and how about YOU!

My desire is to take up PERMANENT residence, how bout you? I’m in HIM, HE’S in me!