Wednesday

Prayer request at Bay medical center in Panama City

Please add my dad, Billy Dean, to the prayer link. He will be having open heart surgery tomorrow morning (Wednesday). Also, please pray for Vickey and me as we move to Batesville, Arkansas next week.

Thanks,

Bro. Charles Dean

CaringBridge

INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS PRAYERLINE
IMB
Wednesday, July 7, 2010

“Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches,’” (Matthew 13:31-32, NKJV).

Dear Intercessors, this is Eleanor Witcher of the Office of Global Prayer Strategy, encouraging you to pray for breakthrough in South America.

The REAPBolivia Team writes: “The ministry here in Bolivia is in its ‘baby stage’ and is still in need of volunteers to come and share in the work among the Bolivia indigenous who are bound in spiritual blindness.”

A simple/house church was planted among the urban poor in the city of Sao Leopoldo, Brazil, several years ago that ended up not surviving long term. However, one of the leaders who was trained in that church-planting effort later started a new group in his home, using what he learned. That group is now thriving and has 20 people participating in weekly Bible study and church life!

Members of the Bread of Life Church, Colombia, went on a mission trip to Oklahoma to help with a new church start for a Spanish-language mission. The response of the people was not very positive. The group returned with a conviction that people need to know the Lord but are often unaware or unwilling to admit to that need.

* Please pray for summer student workers in Bolivia as they lay the groundwork for church groups that will follow.

* Intercede for A and T as they lead the group in Brazil, and ask the Father to use this group both as an example of how to plant new churches.

* Pray that the Spanish-speakers who were contacted in Oklahoma will respond to God’s invitation and that those who participated in the mission trip will be faithful to continue to reach out and share God’s Word.

TODAY’S PRAYER
IMB
JULY 7, 2010

“I sought the Lord, and He heard me.” (Psalm 34:4a)

WORLD LEADERS. “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Please pray today for President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed of Somalia (eastern Africa).

DUTCH INDIGENOUS OF THE NETHERLANDS. Pray for workers who have decided to move to a new location within the city where they serve. They have felt led to a subdivision community that has been recently built in an area where there are no nearby churches. Pray as these workers begin networking with a Dutch church that also has a vision to plant a church in this community. Ask God to help them as they relocate, and pray that He will provide ministry opportunities and inroads into this new, thriving neighborhood of young families.

WORLD SOCCER JOURNEYS. “During long school breaks, parents in the United States and here in Cape Town, South Africa, wonder what to do with their children,” writes the Cape Town Metro Evangelism Team. “In the U.S., the children might go to camps and/or Vacation Bible School. Here in Cape Town and other World Cup cities, there are Holiday Bible Clubs led by local Baptist churches. What is unique here is that parents have another option: World Cup Sports Clinics led by missionaries Mike and Amy Boone, Bruce and Sheri Erickson, Ronnie and Gail Davis, and Bonnie Doughtie. The local township churches are assisting the missionaries, as are students of Cape Town Baptist Seminary. During the three- to five-day clinics, the 1,000-plus children (aged sixth through ninth grade) of three township schools learn soccer and basketball skills, hear the Gospel, and memorize Bible verses. This is an opportunity to win these children and their families for Christ. These children, if not engaged by us during this time, could easily be led astray by the lowlier elements in their society: gangs, drugs, alcohol, theft and prostitution. God has a plan for their lives, to give them a hope and a future. We show them that this hope becomes real by believing in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Please be in prayer for these children, asking that they will be able to fend off temptation. Be in prayer for these missionaries and their safety and leading of God.” http://worldsoccerjourneys.com/

Please take time to read the following Baptist Press article.  I think we could all do better than we are doing….

FIRST-PERSON: Coming to your church Monday morning …
Diana Davis

http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=33292

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Anna Lee

Tuesday Afternoon

Homer D. Carter was born October 23, 1919 and passed away at 9:55 a.m., Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at St. Helena Parish Nursing Home, Greensburg, LA. Mr. Homer was 90, a native of AL and a resident of Kentwood.

Arrangements are incomplete at this time but will added on Wednesday, July 7, 2010.

McKneely & Vaughn Funeral Home, Amite, in charge of arrangements.

An on-line Guestbook and to view a Video Tribute is available at http://www.mckneelyvaughnfh.com

Tuesday

For we are God’s workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

which God prepared in advance for us to do.

~Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)~

Thank God for the rain and hopefully some cooler temperatures.

Pray for Gretchen V. Simpson as she has back surgery July 8th.  I know she will appreciated your prayers.

CaringBridge

Devotional: Cell by Mike Benson

Thanks for praying today.  Your prayers mean so much to so many.

Anna Lee


Monday

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord,

you must continue to follow him.

~Colossians 2:6-7 (NLT)~

Mrs. Mary Nell Kliesch fell and broke her left wrist and hurt her head yesterday.  Pray for her as she goes through the healing process.

Whitney Kliesch is home for a while.  I know his family is excited to see him.  Pray for a good visit.

PARENTING TEENAGERS

The following piece is “author unknown” but came to me via American Family Association.  It will be especially meaningful to those of you who are parents of teenagers:

“I just realized that while children are dogs — loyal and affectionate — teenagers are cats.  It’s so easy to be a dog owner.  You feed it, train it, boss it around.  It puts its head on your knees and gazes at you as if you were a Rembrandt painting.  It bounds indoors with enthusiasm when you call it.

“Then around age 13 your adorable little puppy turns into a big old cat.  When you tell it to come inside it looks amazed, as if wondering who died and made you emperor.  Instead of dogging your footsteps, it disappears. You won’t see it again until it gets hungry — then it pauses on its sprint through the kitchen to turn up its nose up at whatever you’re serving.

“When you reach out to ruffle its head, in that old affectionate gesture, it twists away from you, then gives you a blank stare as if trying to remember where it has seen you before.  You, not realizing that the dog is now a cat, think something must be desperately wrong with it.  It seems so antisocial, so distant, sort of depressed.  It won’t go on family outings.

“Since you’re the one who raised it, taught it to fetch and stay and sit on command, you assume that you did something wrong.  Flooded with guilt and fear, you redouble your efforts to make your pet behave.  Only now you’re dealing with a cat, so everything that worked before now produces the opposite of the desired result.  Call it, and it runs away.  Tell it to sit, and it jumps the counter.  The more you go toward it wringing your hands, the more it moves away.

“Instead of continuing to act like a dog owner, you have to learn to behave like a cat owner.  Put a dish of food near the door, and let it come to you.  But remember that a cat needs your help and affection too.  Sit still and it will come, seeking the warm, comfortable lap it has not entirely forgotten.  Be there to open the door for it.  One day, your grown up child will walk into the kitchen, give you a big kiss and say, “You’ve been on your feet all day.  Let me get those dishes for you.”

“Then you will realize your cat is a dog again.”   [author unknown]

Parenting is a tremendous challenge and can especially be difficult during the teenage years.  In my more exasperating moments as a parent, I was tempted to believe that Mark Twain’s philosophy was the one to follow.  He said when a kid turns thirteen, stick him in a barrel, nail the lid on top, and feed him through the knot hole.  When he turns sixteen — plug up the knot hole!

Then I remember the patience that my heavenly Father has with me.  As frustrated as I have gotten with my children at times, I know that God must become even more frustrated with me (“How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?”  “You’re old enough to know better!”).  And yet he refuses to give up on me.  His loving patience continually draws me back to him.

“And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” (Eph. 6:4)

Father (what a privilege it is to call you that!), thank you for being the perfect parent.  Help me, as a parent, to follow your example as I seek to bring my children to a faith in you.  What a tremendous responsibility you have given me!  Please grant me the strength and the wisdom necessary to fulfill this task.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Have a great day!

Alan Smith
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina

Have a merry Monday!

Anna Lee

Fourth of July

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty

wherewith Christ hath made us free,

and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

Galatians 5:1


Frances Gay recommends we watch Dr. Charles Stanley today.  His message is

“Turning the Tide”.

I hope you will take some time to read this Fourth of July page.  Then pray for our country, the military, the political leadership, and all the everyday people who have a voice that is silent too often.  May we as Americans seek God’s will for our country and do as he leads.

http://www.annieshomepage.com/fourth2.html

Please spend some time today thinking about our country and then praying we will again become a Christian nation.

Anna Lee

Saturday Afternoon

Micah Tolleson

Well, Micah is in his own room… Room #6651…  He is doing well and not connected to any tubes anymore.  As long as everything keeps going well, he will be going home tomorrow!  He will have to go to speech and occupational therapy this time, but is already doing awesome!  Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement during this time.  Please keep the prayers coming as Micah heads in to radiation.  Thanks!

Saturday Addition

From Tammie Roberts

Please pray for our mom (Catherine Yarborough). She was diagnosed last week with an aneurysm on the brain and also found out that one of the benign brain tumors that she has is going to require radiation in order to shrink it. She found this all out on June 25 and the following Monday was admitted to North Oaks and had to have surgery in order to have her gall bladder removed. She is home now and seems to be doing better. We have appts. in Baton Rouge about the aneurysm on July 6 and July 14. Moma has always been very active so keep all of us in your prayers because keeping her tied down is going to be a challenge for sure. Thanks!

Saturday

Unless you are faithful in small matters,

you won’t be faithful in large ones.

If you cheat even a little,

you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.

~Luke 16:10 (NLT)~

Joan B. Hagan sent word to add her name to our prayers.  She is experiencing problems with her blood pressure/heart.  Please pray for her.

Continue to pray for the extended Tolleson family in Texas – Micah, Scott, Brenda, Sharla and others.  Their physical burdens have been large.  Pray God will continue strengthen them as they walk difficult journeys with their complicated health issues.

A God-blessed America: obligations and responsibilities
Richard Land

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Baptist Press)–America is fundamentally distinct from all other countries in its founding, in its national life, and in the values, rights and privileges it confers upon its citizens. In other words, America is exceptional. And if it is exceptional in its domestic character, in what it offers to immigrants in search of a better life, then it would follow that America is exceptional in what it has to offer to the global community.

America is not an ethnicity or mere geography, but a creed, a set of first principles to which we pledge allegiance — freedom, human dignity, self-government, and equality. Anyone who pledges allegiance to these values can consider himself or herself an “American.”

America has been blessed by God in unique ways — we are not just another country, but neither are we God’s special people. I do not believe that America is God’s chosen nation. God established one chosen nation and people: the Jews. We are not the new Israel. We cannot assume “God is on our side.” We are not God’s gift to the world.

America does not have a special claim on God. Millions of Americans do, however, believe God has a special claim on them — and their country.

The concept of American “exceptionalism” was first popularized in the early 19th century by Alexis de Tocqueville, although the idea was hardly invented by him. The roots of this view go back to the beginnings of Puritan settlements — how else do you explain the Puritan understanding of a “shining city on a hill” to light the way for the Old World? Or Francis Scott Key’s imagery of “the heav’n rescued land” in our national anthem, which he wrote in 1814 after he saw the Stars and Stripes still waving over Fort McHenry after a night of fierce bombardment from British ships?

American exceptionalism is the understanding that America is a unique nation with a unique sense of purpose that started with the nation’s settlement and has since morphed through various meanings, all of them centered on the observation that America is distinct from other countries in the world — in its founding, in its government, in its social and economic structures, and in its religious and cultural character.

America has been blessed in manifold ways. When you look at our resources, our protection by two oceans, our standard of living, can you argue that America has not been uniquely and providentially blessed? The natural resources that lie within the confines of our borders are without parallel anywhere in the world: not just rich, arable land, but vast resources of iron, coal and oil under the ground. We didn’t put them there; we were just led to the place where they were.

We have had the opportunity to enjoy them and to benefit people around the world with them. Perhaps the most fertile land on the planet is our Great Plains.

We have become the breadbasket for the world. We feed much of the world’s population, in part because we are good farmers, but also because we believe in private ownership of land and property. Can you name a nation that in any way can claim to have been the recipient of God’s unearned blessings to the measure that we have been?

The blessings are not just material, however. It is remarkable that the one generation that produced our Founding Fathers emerged and put together the Constitution that has served us so well for more than two centuries and has brought unparalleled freedom for an unparalleled number of people — unequaled by any other country in the world.

We enjoy freedoms that most of us have not risked our lives to establish, protect or preserve. All of us, unless we are immigrants to this country, have by the providence of birth been bequeathed an incredible legacy. Over the last two and a half centuries, there has been no other country in the world within which such a high percentage of the population has had the guaranteed freedoms we possess: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of assembly. We have guaranteed freedoms in our Constitution that even Canadians and Britons don’t have.

There was either a fortuitous or a providential set of circumstances in the development and rise of this nation. Since I’m a Christian, I believe in providence more than fortune. I believe that it was a uniquely providential set of circumstances that allowed the flourishing of this triumph of freedom and the dignity of human beings. It certainly didn’t happen that way in the French Revolution, and I believe it is no coincidence that the philosophy and convictions fueling that revolution were not based on a transcendent divine authority. They were based in human reason (or what the revolutionaries mistook for reason) alone, and the upheaval quickly degenerated into a maelstrom of chaos, violence and power struggles.

The Founding Fathers of the American Revolution, by contrast, affirmed that human rights are not mere human constructions, but are unalienable rights conferred by God.

Government could not create those rights; all it could do was recognize, support and protect them. This idea of divinely ordained rights had not taken root anywhere else in the world. It was a new and unique concept.

“Blessings,” by definition, are undeserved. From the richness of our undeserved legacy comes obligation. If we have been given much, we are obligated to give much to others. If we love our neighbors as ourselves, we will seek not only to preserve and protect our liberties, but to assist others in their efforts to attain these same liberties for themselves.

American exceptionalism is not a delusion of national grandiosity. American exceptionalism is not a doctrine of pride and privilege. It is a belief that God has blessed this nation in amazing ways, and those blessings invoke a reciprocal obligation and responsibility to seek to share, but not impose, the blessings of freedom and democracy with others around the world.

Let’s all pause this Fourth of July weekend to give praise and gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the manifold blessings of being an American and to say thank you to all those who have sacrificed to protect and defend those precious liberties.

(Richard Land is president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.)

Thank God for our great nation and pray we can continue to have a great, God-fearing nation for many years.  Also, pray for those in other nations to have the opportunity to know and serve out great God.

Anna Lee