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

Friday

“Jesus said, “. . . there is more happiness in heaven

because of one sinner who turns to God

than over ninety-nine good people who don’t need to.”

~Luke 15: 7, CEV~

Continue to pray for Rev. Ronnie Nielsen and others as they minister in Romania.

Stacey Scarle

Great news! Stacey just got the results of the CTs of her chest and abdomen and they were clear which means it appears that the cancer has not spread. We are so thankful for all the prayers. Next chemo is July 20th and then we see the oncologist on the 23rd. She is half way through this round of chemo. She had a rough week this week but was better yesterday. Please keep up the prayers as they are certainly helping us through this ordeal.

Micah Tolleson’s surgeon was again able to remove about 95% of the brain tumor.  Pray for Micah, his family, and doctors as they plan the treatment process.

I urge you to take time to read these requests from MK’s

http://kidsonmission.org/prayer/

Two more grandchildren arrived yesterday.  Pray for their parents as they travel to Kentwood  today.

We’re having a fantastic Friday.  I hope you are too!

Anna Lee

Thursday

Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow

if you can help them now.

~Proverbs 3:28 (TEV)~

Micah Tolleson, my 22 year old cousin, will have the regrown brain tumor removed today.  Please pray and stay updated by visiting his CaringBridge site.

This is the day I get to have all six of my grandchildren together for the first time in three years.  It’s been three years since we had all of them at once.  Pray nothing interferes with a good visit for all of us.  Jennie is here and Jason and Becki will come tomorrow.  Pray for safe traveling for them.  Pray for Boyd who is still in Europe and working in three different countries while his family is stateside.

Continue to pray for Gretchen V. Simpson as she awaits surgery which is scheduled for one week from today.  Pray she will be able to endure the pain well this week and the surgery goes well next week.

Thanks to having grandchildren here, David and I got to go watch them bowl with children from the church.  It was a good experience for all.  Thank God for parents who see that all children get to have good, clean fun with other Christian families.

The youth are home from camp despite a bus breakdown.  Thankfully, they were able to get a ride home with another church group.  The bus is repaired in Alabama.  Pray for Marty Simpson as he travels drive the bus home.

TODAY’S PRAYER
IMB
JULY 1, 2010

“Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplications!” (Psalm 28:6)

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 Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia (central Europe, south of Poland).

Prayer requests from Eddie Cox, director of IMB’s Office of Global Prayer Strategy, to “Today’s Prayer” intercessors:

Please express your thanks to our heavenly Father, who faithfully and lovingly responds to our many prayers.

Throughout 2009, we prayed to the Lord of the harvest to thrust laborers into the fields, and He responded with 753 new workers being commissioned to serve abroad–326 long-term and 427 two-year missionaries.

We also prayed for the evangelistic ministries of our missionary personnel, and He blessed us with 506,019 new believers being baptized.

Another prayer request was for church-planting efforts, and God answered with 24,650 new churches being established.

We serve a truly amazing God. All praise and honor to Him, the One who loves all peoples and speaks into lost hearts around the world. May His name be high and lifted up . . .

HEAT

1ametal.jpgPETER USED A powerful metaphor from the world of metallurgy…

When the metallurgist mines the metal, it is in an ore state with a mixture of dross. That means there are inherent corruptions in the metal that rob it of its strength and beauty. In order to bring the metal to its purest state, the metallurgist applies white hot heat until the ore is liquefied and boiling. In this process, the corruptions are boiled out, and it becomes fundamentally stronger and more beautiful than ever before.

What are trials? They are God’s boiling pot. When we initially come to Christ we are dross-corrupted. We are carrying around “corruptions” inside of us that rob us of our strength and beauty. So God, in the grandeur and faithfulness of His redemptive love, boils us. The difficulties that come our way are not a sign of His unfaithfulness and inattention. No, they are an indication of His love. He knows that we are not yet what we were meant to be. He has dug us out of the mine, but we need to be refined.

Now why is this so hard for us to deal with? I am convinced it is because we tend to live with a destination mentality. We want like to be easy, satisfying, and good as it can be, immediately here and now. But, this isn’t a time of destination. Peter says our destination is guaranteed, but we will not have it now. Now is a time of preparation. It is a time of radical, personal growth and chance, so God applies white hot heat to prepare us for the destination to come. Paul David Tripp, “Painful Faith: God’s Story and Suffering,” Lost in the Middle, 197-198

“In this you greatly rejoice,though now for a little while,

if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,

that the genuineness of your faith,

being much more precious than gold that perishes,

though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory

at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

I Peter 1:6-7; Hebrews 12: 5-11/

Posted by Mike Benson at June 30, 2010 10:40 AM

Have a terrific Thursday!

Anna Lee

Wednesday

Jesus said,

“You can tell what they are by what they do.”

~Matthew 7:16 CEV~

INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS PRAYERLINE
IMB
Wednesday, June 30, 2010

“’She will be given a wedding dress made of pure and shining linen. This linen stands for the good things God’s people have done.’ Then the angel told me, ‘Put this in writing. God will bless everyone who is invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb,’” (Revelation 19:8-9a, CEV).

Dear Intercessors, this is Eleanor Witcher of the Office of Global Prayer Strategy, celebrating weddings with you.

In May 2007, a Bihari believer S married another Bihari believer forming what is thought to be the first marriage of Bihari Muslim-background believers in India. S’s husband is going to go work in the United Arab Emirates, leaving S and their 2-year-old son in India. Many husbands make such a move to provide better incomes for their families. Still, the separation can be a great hardship on a family. The work contracts usually require two years abroad before the worker can return home. Please ask the Lord to provide other believers to encourage and edify S and her husband.

The Swirl people of East Asia are now celebrating the first-ever Christian wedding among their people group. All the new believers are very excited about the response of the 200 people who heard Scripture for the first time during the ceremony. Many of these 200 said that they were very moved by the service. The Holy Spirit has opened the hearts of the people–one young man has already believed!

Mr. C was always very defiant when the new believers tried to share the story of Christ. When they would start to speak, he would rise to his feet and sing a song that glorified self-reliance. Since the wedding, he has been asking questions about the Christian faith, saying, “That was the most meaningful wedding I’ve ever seen. Christians are good people.”

* Please pray for Mr. C, asking that the Holy Spirit will reveal to him that yes, there is a Savior of the world.

* Ask God to bless these young couples and help them model Christian love to others.

* Give humble thanks for the coming wedding feast of the Lamb.

This may be of interest to some of you.

http://worldsoccerjourneys.com/features/alternatives-to-gang-life/photo-gallery/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WorldSoccerJourneys+%28World+Soccer+Journeys%29

Jesus Knows What You’re Going Through

http://worldsoccerjourneys.com/features/alternatives-to-gang-life/photo-gallery/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WorldSoccerJourneys+%28World+Soccer+Journeys%29

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Anna Lee

Tuesday Afternoon

Laura DeBlanc asked me to share this information concerning the trip to McComb for the children for bowling and pizza tomorrow night.

We will not take the church van Wednesday night due to automotive trouble. However we plan to leave the church @5:30. We will ride together, anyone who can carpool, it will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Laura

Charlie J. Peek
(January 20, 1927 – June 28, 2010)

A resident of Amite, he died at 3:08 p.m. on Monday, June 28, 2010 at Kentwood Manor Nursing Home in Kentwood. He was born January 20, 1927 in Tangipahoa Parish and was 83 years of age. Visitation at McKneely Funeral Home, Amite, from 8 a.m. until religious services at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Services conducted by Rev. Murphy Brantley. Interment Union Cemetery. He is survived by his son, Semyon Peek; 2 daughters, Dianne Cox and Iris Langford; 9 grandchildren, Sheree Peek, Donna Cutrer, Ronda Durbin, Ginger Tastet, Tammy McKneely, Connie LaBarbera, Danny Hayden, Robin Hayden and Harvey Hayden; numerous great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren; a sister, Idell Edwards; 3 brothers, Harvey Peek, James Peek and Roddie Braddy. Preceded in death by his daughter, Yvonne Trabona; 2 brothers, Sammy and Howard Peek; 4 sisters, Ernestine Cutrer, Helen Ridgedell, Cora Braddy and Emma Lambert; parents, Harvey and Addie Granger Peek.