"If all you get is sun, then all you get is desert." Alistair Begg

 A few years ago I was going through a very difficult time and a very dry time, spiritually. I was resisting God’s desire to use that difficult time to “grow me up” spiritually. One day I was getting into the car to go grocery shopping and as I headed out, I heard the very last part of a sermon by Alistair Begg. He was talking about human suffering. One thing he said hit me square between the eyes! In his thick Scottish brogue he said, “If all you get is sunshine, then all you get is desert.” In other words, we all need some rain in order to have a lush, green garden in our life. As humans, however, we don’t like the rainy times of life. We prefer sun, lots of sun! But too much sun dries things out, kills vegetation; creates a parched earth. I like what Pastor Begg said, it is Biblical and true, “If all you get is sun, then all you get is desert.” Isaiah 43:19 “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. ”

American Idol offers temporary hope

 Last night American Idol hosted a charity event where they raised money for poverty stricken children in the US and Africa. Present last night were many celebrities who gave moving pleas for donations. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is good and helpful. However, I just could not shake a feeling of sadness that these children will not hear the truly GOOD NEWS of JESUS CHRIST!!! Yes, they need food, clothes and school supplies, but more than all that they need to know our Savior! Unless the Gospel message accompanies these gifts of food, clothing,and medical supplies it is just a temporary fix to a very urgent spiritual need! Jesus Christ met people’s physical, mental and emotional needs, but he also offered faith in himself which is our eternal hope! Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
and Psalm 42:5 “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” and Psalm 68:4-6 “Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds-his name is the LORD-and rejoice before him. A father too the fatherless, and a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing…” also Deut. 10:17, 18 “For the LORD your God is God of gods and LORD of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality, and accepts no bribes. He defends and cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.” But what is our part? First, prayer is the most important thing we can do. Let us pray for wisdom about who to give our money to. Pray for the many orphans, prisoners, and widows who need the Lord! Instead of giving money to American Idol or other charities that don’t share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, give to organizations that bring eternal hope along with medical supplies, food and clothing! Try looking at http://www.medicalteams.org/ (formerly NW Medical teams) or give to missions agencies or missionaries from your local church!

Voice of the Martyrs-Praying for the Persecuted Church Worldwide

The Voice of the Martyrs has been bringing to light the sufferings of fellow Christians to our comfortable part of the world for years. Their website, www.persecution.com is definitely worth a look! They have many very interesting and informative stories about pastors and lay people all over the world who have been or are currently being persecuted for their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ! They have alerts which notify of people currently being imprisoned for their faith and how you can write them comforting and encouraging letters! Please take a look at this site, it will change your perspective!

Great-great Grandpa Tony, almost 101!

Bobby’s Great-grandpa Tony turned 100 last May and now is almost 101! He is an awesome testimony of the faithfulness of God! He is in good health and loves to smile and has a very pleasant, easy-going temperment (maybe part of the reason he’s made it soooo far!)

Top 10 things ONLY women understand…

(bean sprouts)
10. Cat’s (and Dog’s) facial expressions.
9. The need for the same style of shoe in Different colors.
8. Why bean sprouts aren’t just weeds.
7. Fat clothes.
6. Taking a car trip without trying to beat your best time.
5. The difference between beige, ecru, cream, off-white, and eggshell.
4. Trimming your bangs to make them grow (actually, this doesn’t make sense to me either).
3. Eyelash curlers.
2. The inaccuracy of every bathroom scale ever made.
AND, the #1 thing only women understand…
1. OTHER WOMEN!!!

HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN, INDEED!

 Luke 24:5b-7 “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

Good Friday

John 16:32b-33 “Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.”

Maundy Thursday

In the Christian calendar, Maundy Thursday — also called Holy Thursday and, in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, Great Thursday[1] — is the feast or holy day on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. It is followed by Good Friday.
On this day four events are commemorated: the washing of the Disciples’ feet by Jesus Christ, the institution of the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, the agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot.
The evening celebration of these events marks the beginning of what is called the Easter Triduum or Sacred Triduum. The Latin word triduum means a three-day period, and the triduum in question is that of the three days from the death to the resurrection of Jesus. It should be noted that for Jesus and his followers a day ended, and a new day began, at sunset, not at midnight, as it still does today in the modern Jewish calendar.[2] The Last Supper was held at what present-day Western civilization considers to be the evening of Holy Thursday but what was then considered to be the first hours of Friday. Its annual commemoration thus begins the three-day period or triduum of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, days of special devotion that celebrate as a single action the death and resurrection of Christ, the central events of Christianity. Taken from Wikipedia