Sermon's you never Forget

Kevin and I were talking the other day about how we've listened to many, many sermons in our lives--and the ones that we really remember, apply to our life, and will never forget are those delivered from God through our current Pastor--Junior Plunkett.
So, for those of you that are our family from OBC you may remember some these couple of recent sermons:

"Honey and Vinegar" We learned that when we get upset, irritated, frustrated, mad, etc., etc...to make sure what comes out of our mouths (and through our brains at that) needs to be sweet, like honey. We are to make sure that whatever comes out of our mouths makes others KNOW we are Christians--no matter what kind of situation we are in. Non-Christians will be quick to judge us as 'hypocrites' if we say we are Christians, yet once they see us get mad and are not acting like Christians (which means 'Christ-Like'!) So, the breakdown is this: When something bothers us... ANYTHING... we can either choose to let the Honey Flow... or the Vinegar... Which will you choose?

"Get Over It!" So many of us Christians (me, included) want to blow small things out of proportion, especially dealing with the Church or other believers. We want to hold grudges, quickly judge, and only like "who we feel like liking"--when God tells us ALL of those things are wrong. The just of this one was JUST GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!! GET OVER being judgmental, GET OVER being critical, GET OVER being cynical, GET OVER stereotyping others, GET OVER OURSELVES........ and Get to living the life God has CALLED us to live... One of fulfillment!!!!! After all, all those negative feelings and thoughts are planted by Satan--John 10:10 says "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the FULL." Hear that? To live life to it's FULLEST!

Please, if your reading this and attend OBC... Comment on this post and add any of the sermons your thinking about that you won't forget!

God Bless you all--and may we always listen to what the One and Only is telling us--through whoever it may be!

Umbrellas

Originally posted on: March 10, 2010

So…we have endured an extremely cold, wet winter. It seems like it’s rained more days than it hasn’t in the last 6 months or so–when it STARTED raining, it was very much welcomed–because here in North Alabama we had had about a 3 year drought….a SEVERE drought!!!! But now after so much of it–it’s become more of a burden then anything else. Just like our human nature—always want something, until we finally get it–then we don’t want it anymore. My how confusing is the human mind!

Anyways–Back to the rain–I’m in the middle of going in and out of four schools for meetings today, and it’s windy and rainy (has been all day-and WIll be the REST of the day) so I’m equipped with one of many umbrellas. I have them stored in my car, my house, my office–you name it I probably have an umbrella there. Which got me to thinking…. who INVENTED the umbrella? After going a little research (and skipping the article that said they had been around more than 4,000 years) I found it interesting that the early European umbrellas were made of wood or whalebone covered with alpaca or oiled canvas. It also said the artisans made the curved handles out of hard woods like ebony… and more importantly were WELL PAID for their efforts.

So maybe I’m in the wrong business—-hmmm….. to become an Umbrella Artisan…………………………..

A Japenese Christian in the Olympics?

Originally posted on: February 25, 2010

Did anyone else see the female Japanese Figure Skater, Mao Asada– last night wearing a Silver studded cross on her outfit along with a Cross pendant on her necklace? When I saw the cross on her outfit I thought, “Oh that’s just a coincidence–just part of her costume” but then when she sat down and waited for her scores they showed her up close and she also had a Cross pendant on. All I can say is Wow! Japanese are known for following Shinto or Buddhism . I read that in 1873, freedom of Religion was promulgated, although State Shinto was enforced–it also said that the number of Christians in Japan has slowly risen since WWII. I thought this was very refreshing to see on National television–A young Japanese woman proclaiming her faith in the Mighty One. (I sure HOPE that’s what she was doing anyways!) Glory to God!

Although I wasn’t able to find a picture of her with the outfit on from last night here she is:

Out with the old...Malfunctioning Gallbladder

Originally posted on: February 22, 2010

Well finally after four months of being anywhere from completely to semi-miserable– I’m having my gallbladder removed Thursday! It’s unreal to me that the doctors checked EVERYTHING in my body–even though my symptoms were common of gallbladder dysfunction/disease they tested everything else first. After a Hida Scan reading of 34% it was decided that having my gallbladder removed would most likely solve the problem. The Surgeon told me that at my age (24) my Gallbladder should be functioning at about 80%. On a lighter note, I just praise the Good Lord that He is always in control, and that I’m finally going to get some relief.

We had a very busy weekend this weekend–and how absolutely beautiful the weather was! It was 65 degrees and Sunny both days with a light breeze…after 3 inches of snow here in North Alabama last week, and an unseasonably cold winter, the weather this weekend was very much welcomed! It is a gloomy Monday morning here, so it is an especially good day to have to be back at work!

Thursday evening we took Scott and Luther down to Emmaus at Camp Sumatanga, and returned Saturday and Sunday. After being away from Camp for a little over 2 months, it was so refreshing to step foot back on the grounds. Camp Sumatanga is a place that has made me a closer follower of Christ, a “harder” prayer (I think I may be coining this phrase as I’m sure it’s never been used before), a better person, a better friend, a better daughter, a better sister and a better wife. I am eternally Thankful to God to have the opportunity every time I step foot on the grounds of Sumatanga. He is TRULY in ‘this place’ at Sumatanga. (Picture from Sumatanga’s Facebook)

Well in the last 3 days, I have heard four times about the importance of planting the seed to bring others to Christ…so I sense that God must be trying to tell me something! I am obviously not doing a very good job in this area–so I am resolving to do better–be a better Servant of Christ.

Hope everyone has a good Monday!!!!!

In A Daze

Originally posted on: March 19, 2009

Why does life oftentimes seem so meaningless after we lose a loved one? My great-uncle died Monday, and was buried yesterday. He was my great-uncle, but he was just like a Grandpa to me since both of mine were gone before I was 3. We were very close to each other. Now all I can think about is “I wonder how many times he drove this road” or “I wonder how many times he ate at this restaurant” I can’t think about anything else but him and his life (a wonderful 92 years might I add!) I’ve just been in a daze, going through the motions ever since it happened.

While thinking about crazy things while on my lunch break today, I stepped out of my car to come back into the building and heard a bird singing and wondered, “How long do birds live?” and “What happens to birds when they die?” You know, sometimes you’ll hear on the news that someone found a dead bird, but usually that just warrants an investigation into West Nile Virus. Do birds just go into the woods to die? Morbid I know, but death has all I’ve been able to think about for the last 3 days.

So anyways, I looked up the life-span of birds. Mainly just wild song-birds, you know, the ones we hear outside everyday, and I was actually very surprised that they live much longer than I expected! The very first bird listed was a house sparrow, (all these birds had been banded by the government) and it was listed as being more than 15 years old! I thought maybe 2 years, 3 at the most. Well… I guess we learn something new everyday!

Please keep our family in your prayers at this difficult time. Uncle Wallace will be very much missed

Moving

I've decided to move my blog over here to Blogger as it seems much simpler to use than Wordpress. I use this site for my work Blog--why not use it for my personal one too. I have only posted a few blogs on my wordpress blog so I will move those over here.