Compassion Bloggers in Nicaragua
Today a group of Compassion Bloggers have started a journey in Nicaragua with Compassion International. I am looking forward to going along on the journey as I follow them from here at home via their blog posts. Today I read Edie’s post- ‘Twas the night before …. It was so good! Her post brought me back to the feelings I had this past March as I was preparing for my Sponsor trip to Haiti with Compassion. Edie shares whats on her mind and in her heart, knowing for certain that this is what God has planned for her even though she is stepping into the unknown. I admire her faithfulness and I think you will enjoy reading her post - ‘Twas the Night Before… If you would like to follow the Compassion Bloggers as they experience this awesome adventure God has sent them on click the links below.
Here are the links
Edies’s blog LifingGrace and her post ‘Twas the night before…
Compassion Bloggers Nicaragua 2013
Compassion’s blog Nicaragua at a Glance.
Enjoy!
Those He Left Behind
Today a friend from my past posted some old pictures on facebook. The pictures were of me and another past friend of mine, his name was Greg. When we were teens in High school Greg committed suicide. That day was probably the worst day I have ever had in my life. I’m not going to go into details about that day but I do want to tell you about Greg and what was lost that day.
Greg was 18 years old and he was just a few months away from graduating High school. He was smart, good looking, funny and very talented. I remember the first day I met Greg, I had just moved into a new neighborhood and I saw him coming down the road on a skateboard but he was not riding his skateboard like most kids rode skateboards instead he was riding his skateboard upside down on his hands! Greg was the type of person everyone loved, kids and also adults. I look back now and still wonder why he did what he did, he seemed to have everything going for him and I really never would imagine someone like him would do a thing like kill himself.
I do know from my own experiences that sometimes life can be really hard and for a teenager it may seem even harder. Sometimes it’s really hard to see past a single moment of time to the future we have coming. I really did not understand why then and I still don’t understand now why life seemed so hard to this boy that he felt he had to die to rid himself of the pain he was feeling. When he did what he did the pain he was feeling then in turn fell on to us, the ones he left behind, I often wonder if he had realized the pain he would leave behind with us who loved him, would he have still done it?
As I write this I realize it has been over 30 years since he died, he would have probably went on to college, have gotten married, and by now had his own children and possibly even grand children, but instead of living his life sadly he chose to end his life. Though it’s been a very long time Greg will be forever etched in my memory. The pain of losing him and also losing him in such a tragic way was devastating to me. I remember feeling so many emotions, shock and sadness and then I was also mad at him for many years for doing what he did. The pain is not as fresh in my mind anymore but always will be there tucked deep down inside of me.
I am not sure why I feel the need to write about this today after all these years, maybe it was because the pictures my friend posted on facebook brought back the memories I thought I had so carefully tucked away. Or maybe it was to let others know that if you feel so desperately lost that you are thinking of doing such a thing I want you to know that it fixes nothing. Nothing in this world is so bad that it is worth taking your own life. No matter how sad you may feel right now or how much you think things are so messed up, remember that this moment of your life is only a temporary and one day you will look back on this time and see that you did get through it.
If you feel desperate call a friend, or a parent and most of all call on God ask him to help you get through this, He will.
Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
You Are
You are
The star shining in the dark
A bird chirping in the trees
The breeze brushing gently against my cheek
The laughter of children playing
The clouds billowing in the sky
A flower blooming brightly on a warm summer day
The sound of rain pattering on the roof
Waves of the ocean flowing across silvery sand
The hug of a friend
The smile on a strangers face
You are the one who guides my heart and calms my soul
You are peace
Dear Readers,
I spent most of my life not at peace always searching for something that would make me happy. The day I accepted Jesus into my life was the day I found my peace. Actually that is what this whole blog is, it is a jumble of stuff I have written as I go through this journey of life never walking alone anymore, walking with Jesus by my side. The cool thing is so can you. He loves all of us no matter who we are or what we have done. If you are searching for peace it’s yours to have, just talk to Jesus right now. Tell him you want him to come into your life, tell him you know you are a sinner and that you know he died for your sins. Tell him you are opening the door of your heart and life and then ask him to come in and be your personal savior. That’s it!
My email is on my gravatar page I would be more than happy to talk to you if you have any questions. You can also get more information by clicking the “Do you know God” link on the right hand side of this blog.
Thank you for reading and God bless you 
Isaiah 55:12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.
Teardrops and Raindrops
Out my window the day is dark and gloomy
Thunder rumbles as raindrops slip down the window pane
The new day matches my mood, as tear drops begin slipping down my face
I miss you
A storm is raging outside
I need you
Another is raging inside
Where are you?
Raindrops fall from the sky
Can you hear me?
Tears stream from my eyes
Can you feel my pain?
Could rain drops be your tear drops?
As your tears of rain drip from the sky
I feel them mixing with mine
I feel your sorrow
Do you feel mine?
As Your tears of healing rain wash over me
I feel your love
I feel hope
I feel peace
Written by Terri Siebert 6-1-2013
How Does God Feel About Storms?
Yesterday I turned on my television and was shocked at what I saw. A tornado had ravaged through the town of Moore, Oklahoma leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. It was so hard to to look at the pictures on the television, I can’t begin to imagine how the people of that town must feel.
The hardest thing for me see was that the tornado had leveled several schools, taking with it the lives of precious children leaving their parents behind with hearts hurting and broken.
Something else I saw yesterday was that though some of the children lost their lives, there were also stories of how amazingly many children walked out of the wreckage, alive, some seemingly without even a scratch. My mixed up mind keeps wondering… is right for my heart to sing joy for the ones who are safe while at the same time it is breaking for the parents who will never hold their precious children again?
I just can’t seem to wrap my head around it all it.
Today I saw a story written by Ann Voskamp – click here to read –> A Holy Experience – When you’re wondering: How God Feels About Storms?.
Though I may never know why things happen like they do, this story reminded me of God’s overflowing heart and how he is always here with us during and after each and every storm.
Thank you for reading.
The Tale of Two Mothers
Photo by Leslie Ponder
Missouri, USA
I wake up to the sound of my baby crying in the middle of the night, hurrying down the hall to his room I find him burning up with fever and coughing and I know he is sick with another cold. I give him a dose of Tylenol and I rock him until the medicine starts to work and he falls back asleep. I lay him in his crib touching his little face relieved because his fever has dropped and he is cool now. In the morning I will take him to the doctor.
A few hours later my alarm buzzes letting me know it is time to get up and start the day. I check on the baby he is still sleeping, I touch his forehead and feel he is warm again. I plan to call the doctor as soon as I get the other kids off to school. I stop by their rooms to wake them up and then head to the kitchen to cook breakfast. As I prepare breakfast I feel a bit overwhelmed with the tasks of the day. I have a list a mile long of laundry, grocery shopping, my daughter has girl scouts and then dance class after school and the baby now needs a trip to the doctor. My girls come into the kitchen, I put their breakfast in front of them, and we begin to talk and laugh as they eat their pancakes. After breakfast is finished we all pile into the car and I drop them off at school, my day has begun.
Les Cayes, Haiti
I wake to the sound of my baby crying. I reach over and touch him he is burning up with fever and coughing, I know he is sick, though I am not sure how to help him. I do not have the money for a doctor or any medicine to give him. I rock him back to sleep listening to the coughs hoping he will be better soon.
A few hours later I wake to the sound of my baby crying, I reach over and touch his forehead, he is still burning with fever. I sigh as the other children begin to wake up, I know they are going to be hungry and I have nothing to feed them again today. I wish I had more to give my children. I do the best I can and am thankful for our home made of scraps of tin. We have no electricity or running water, I worry my children will get sick from Cholera or Typhoid, and at night I cover them with mosquito nets to keep them from getting bitten by mosquitos which could bring them sicknesses such as Dengue fever and Malaria. I don’t really know how to help my children get out of this life we live. Our day has just begun, I feel so tired and overwhelmed…
It’s Compassion Blogger assignment time again and since this Sunday is Mother’s Day the assignment today was to write from the perspective of a mother living in extreme poverty. Because I do not live in poverty I really do not know how that would feel but that was my feeble attempt to compare my life when my children were still small and living at home to a mother living in poverty.
This past March I went on a Compassion Sponsor Tour to Haiti. While there, we visited a mother at her home, the mother I described to you was the lady pictured at the top of this blog and that is her home she is standing in front of. She had a family of 7 people who lived in that tiny home and she was HIV positive. Her eyes were tired and told a story of a hard life. I will never forget her for long as I live. Haiti is a poverty stricken country where 1 in 11 children usually die before the age of 5 and sadly most die from preventable causes.
Now I want to tell you about Compassion International’s Child Survival Program.
Compassion’s Child Survival Program works with mothers and expectant mothers to help them physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The program teaches them how to take care of their babies and how to make a safe home for them. The Child Survival Program is based through the local church where they present the mothers with the gospel and also encourage their spiritual development by teaching them how to apply Christian values and how to share God’s love with their children.
While on our visit one of the places we visited was the HA-303 Child Survival program, while there I had the privilege to meet the mothers and children who attend and see first hand how the program is working. The mothers and babies who were in the program were happy, healthy and thriving.
This is not the end of today’s story, I want to show you how you can help mothers in poverty change their story. By clicking here you will be taken to Compassion’s Child Survival Program website there you can get more information and also make a one time donation to help save mothers and babies in need. Thank you so much for reading my blog and also for making a difference in a life today. Enjoy the video below of the mothers we visited at CSP HA-303 as they sing to us.
Stepping Into The Boat
A stormy day, riding through the streets of a busy crowded city, racing to our boat, we are late.
As we pull up to the dock, dark clouds are looming hanging low over the ocean, large waves crashing at the shore.
I see two boats tied to the dock bouncing on the waves. I look for our boat, it’s not here… have we missed it? We are told that the larger of the two is our ride. Though our boat is the larger one it looks way to small to hold all of us and our luggage.
I had imagined a big boat crossing a small body of calm water, instead I see this tiny, not very sea worthy looking ride, have they made a mistake? This boat is not big or strong enough to carry us all to the island in this stormy water, and by the way… where is the island? I gaze across the violent water and think I may see a shadow off in the distance. It’s to far away! Not one person voices what is inside my brain, though I know we are all thinking the same thing. I hear someone say, ”I think this would be a good time for a prayer”. Some of us wrap our arms around each other’s shoulders, we stand together in a circle and we begin to talk to God…
Dear Lord, We are here to do what you have called us to do. We ask you to place your hand upon us, upon our boat and keep us safe as you guide us through these treacherous waters.
Get into the boat is a must if we are to do the task he has laid before us. We have came this far, there is no way we can turn back now, children are waiting for us across those waves. God is counting on us to go. We have given it to Him and now is the moment we must trust, we swallow our fear and put on our faith as we step into the boat…
The crew pulls up anchor and our boat starts moving across the waves. In front of us a dim shadow of an island is far off in the distance and the shore behind us disappearing into the foggy grey day. As the boat begins riding the swelling waves they come crashing over the edge of the boat drenching us from head to toe. We begin to laugh as our fear is forgotten. Feeling as if I am on some sort of amusement park ride, I laugh so hard my stomach hurts, salt water in my mouth and eyes. Still laughing now trying to not open my mouth but not being able to control the laughter that is forcing it to stay open. I see Marti spitting out the salt water managing to douse my leg, the look on her face when she realizes what she has done causes more laughter, our fearless leader Sean wipes his face with the sleeve of my dripping sweater and I catch a glimpse of Mark in his baby life vest, We are trying to duck under our already drenched jackets, water is by now pouring down the front windshield pouring down our backsides… We just keep laughing because there is so much to laugh about and this is so much fun!
God has given me peace and has taken away my fear. He is in control of our boat and we have nothing to worry about, all we have to do is experience the ride, experience the joy, experience the laughter. We laugh like children, because we are His children. Today we laugh because today he has taken our grownup selves away allowing us to be children again, trusting that our father has everything under control. Today as our Father is guiding our boat across a stormy sea to an island off the coast of Haiti.
I look ahead realizing we are closer now. The grey sky begins to part before us, the sun seems to only be shining on top of the island. Right here, right now, before my eyes is God’s magnificent art work of beautiful pink and white flowers flowing down the sides of the rocks. Palm trees sway in the breeze and it is all spotlighted by a sunbeam. God is saying to us here I am! I brought you through the storm! Here is your gift! Take it all in and let the beauty I have put before you fill you up! I remember the scripture from Psalm that says - Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. I know this is that moment, my moment of delight.
After drying off we set sail to the other side of the island to meet the children who are waiting for us riding a dingy to the shore, another boat ride…
we exit the boat and walk up a winding path through the trees,
we see goats, chickens and more spectacular views from atop of the hill.
As we walk we know we must be getting close because I our ears are treated to the sound of beautiful voices of children. We hear them singing songs of welcome, leading us to their little church on the hill, hidden in the trees at the end of this path.
We enter the church seeing a sea of smiling faces greeting us, as they sing with the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. I feel so unworthy and humbled by this gift of song. God is so good, He is just way too good, my heart is so full I’m not sure it can hold any more. I fear it may burst.
The children have a show of music and dancing planned for us. They give to us everything they have to give in their performance. If only I could love half this much. They do not have any material things, but yet they have so much to give in their gift of God’s love that they are giving to us today. Do I know how to love like they do? They share their love without holding anything back.
After the show we go outside to play. Though they live in this very primitive place they still behave the same as children do everywhere. They play jump rope, tag and ring around the rosy but they do it in a play yard of dirt. No swing sets or safety rubber just dirt and trees a few balls and large imaginations.
They love making silly faces and to have their pictures taken. They line up to pose for my camera excited to see the pictures of themselves
I peak into a beat up classroom to find a couple of teenage girls just hanging out like teenagers do.
I watch my husband playing soccer. His team barely touches the ball yet joy and laughter fill his face. His eyes seem to have a new light in them today.
Looking across the yard and see a few children in the corner of the yard with Lori. These are children in need of sponsors and she is trying to decide which one she will sponsor. I take their picture….
A little girl in a lime green dress reaches up and takes hold of my hand. Shyly she looks up at me and smiles. She never speaks a word with her mouth yet says everything with her eyes. I know that I have made a new friend. Her name is Rose. Rose never lets go of my hand the rest of the afternoon. She is quiet and seems very shy, can she talk? Rose pulls on my hand, leading me through the mud to a woman in front of a worn looking shack, a tired looking woman with kind eyes and a baby. Suddenly I realize this is Rose’s mother, Rose has brought me to meet her mother. She stands looking at her mother as if I am a lost puppy she has brought home, waiting for her approval to keep me. Though she never says a word somehow little Rose has climbed her way right into my heart and I know she has been waiting for me to get into that boat to come here to be her friend and her new sponsor. I know God has guided me to be right here today. This is exactly the place he wants me to be today in the moment in time, right here on an island named Ile a Vache, right here in Haiti.
Today I am so thankful I came to Haiti, I am so thankful I got in the boat, many blessings were received, I would have missed them had I not gotten in.
Journal entry March 6, 2013 – Ile a Vache – Port Morgan, Haiti. Compassion Sponsor Tour
Changed
“You have changed!” Those words cut right through me just as they were meant to do, they were supposed to hurt, supposed to turn me into a blubbering mess of tears and make me sad that I did not want to join in on the so called ‘fun’, but just as I felt the tears welling up in my eyes I heard another voice but this voice was kind, “you have changed”, God whispered.
I stopped crying sad tears instead they turned to tears of happiness as the truth began hitting me like a ton of bricks….Yes it was true, I had ‘changed’
Rewind this story back to 3 and a half years ago…
Three and a half years ago I became a Christian. Three years ago I loved wine and I believed it was okay if I still drank it. I loved going to winery’s and always had a glass with my dinner. I had that glass every night with dinner and then I had ‘only’ two more glasses after dinner. Did you know that a normal sized bottle of wine holds three glasses of wine?? Try it if you don’t believe me, one bottle of wine will fill up only 3 glasses. If I told someone I had three glasses of wine it did not sound like much, but If I said I drank a whole bottle of wine every night then… well you get the picture. I thought I had everyone fooled but really I am pretty sure I was only trying to fool myself in thinking I only had three glasses of wine a night.
Fast forward one year (This was 2 years ago)
That morning I woke up finding myself in a heap on the bathroom floor with a headache so bad that it made me wish I had never waken up. My insides were sore from the vomiting and my mouth felt like I had huge wads of cotton in it. I wanted to die right there on that floor I felt so awful. Small bits and pieces of the day and night before began flooding my mind… being at the winery with friends, a trip to the Elks lodge for tequila shots and shuffleboard to the home of our friends for more wine and a spaghetti dinner. I vaguely remember going home because I did not feel well, then a flash of me standing in my front yard vomiting. Patches of my memory were gone and I kept thinking “how did I get on this bathroom floor?’
Fast forward 2 hours later…
Finally feeling some better now but still feeling like a truck ran over me I signed into facebook and there on my wall tagged for everyone to see is a picture of me very drunk showing off for the picture! Its very obvious that I posed for the picture though I do not remember even having that picture taken. I had a tequila shot in one hand glass of wine in the other….oh won’t my mother be so proud of me!(sarcasm). The truth is I was so embarrassed I hoped so bad she hadn’t saw it or any of my non-party friends…..
Fast forward another couple of hours…
I Still had the killer headache but I was finally recovering from the hangover, I had removed the facebook picture and hopefully not to many people had seen. I was finally thinking maybe I had gotten away with my behavior though I was asking myself if it was really worth it to feel so horrible for hours for just a few hours of so called ‘fun’? and then it happened… my phone beeped, “you have a text message from your sister” it said…I open the message and the minute I saw it I started crying. To my horror there on my phone screen was a picture of my laying on the bathroom floor sleeping with a message that says “looks like someone had a good time last night”. Someone in my family had taken a picture of me and sent it to her.
That was the moment I truly saw who I had became. I was a mess and I did not like the lady I saw in that picture. I was a liar and I was so disgusted with myself I wanted to start puking all over again. Seeing that picture was what helped me see the real me. That was the day I realized if I was going to be a follower of Jesus I had to change. That was the day I realized it wasn’t fun to drink. I was drowning myself in the alcohol thinking it was going to help me to have a good time. It was fun for about the first hour when I felt tipsy but after that it was all a blur, lost memory, puking and a killer headache, Not exactly my proudest moment…. I was ashamed of myself.
For those who know me in my life outside of the blog world many will be surprised to read this story because I always have been a responsible person. I never drank and drove. I never drank at work. I functioned in the world as a pretty upstanding citizen. I was a closet drinker most of the time. I usually drank starting with dinner never getting drunk until after everyone else was asleep. With the exception of the partying with friends on the weekends nobody really knew about the weeknight drinking except my family. I thought that partying with friends was ’acceptable’ because they did it too. We all used to joke about it and call ourselves “functional alcoholics”, when truth is I just needed an excuse to make my behavior acceptable, which I know now it wasn’t.
The day I woke up finding myself in a heap on the bathroom floor was the day I knew it was time to change.
Shortly after that day I found this a scripture it told me to fill myself with God and also reminded me that He was all I needed.
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:15-20
Today…
That was not the end of my story… I know that for the rest of my life I will be faced with choices to make and with those choices will come consequences of my actions. They can either be good or bad depending on what I choose. Since that day I have chose Jesus and plan to keep choosing Him. He is all I need.
If you are struggling with and addiction or have ever found yourself in a heap on the floor over anything, I hope my story will somehow give you hope, for it is with Jesus that we can do anything. He will take your pain away and he will give you the strength you need to get through whatever it is you are going through. I know this to be true because I have lived it.
One last verse before I close…
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength… Philippians 4:13 This seems to be my life verse I say it quite frequently.
You can and he will…All you have to do is ask….
Enjoy this song by Kutless… I’m a believer in Jesus’ power are you?
Technical Difficulties
As many of you know I have a new job as the secretary at my church. One of my duties as secretary is to put the content for the Sunday morning services into our Easy Worship program for the church service such as the song lyrics, scripture, announcements etc. That information is then projected to the front of the room on the wall during the church service.
I love my new job but it has one small problem. The problem is now I find myself worrying on the Saturday night before and sometimes Sunday morning during church about the service. I will have things running through my head like…did I put that person on the prayer list?…did I remember to spell check?…do I have things in the right order? I am my own worst critic and the funny thing is I never paid to much attention to the screen before I started doing the stuff for the screen, so probably nobody else pays close attention to the screen either.
Today at church just as the service was starting the projector came on and there on the wall I saw nothing but a blue screen. I looked to the back of the room into the booth where the people are that run the screen I noticed they were gathered around the computer and I immediately could tell something was definitely wrong. Ohhh nooo my worries may be coming true! The first thing that ran through my head was that somehow it had to be my fault. Did I forget to upload the file or did I mess something up so bad that they could not use it?
I went back to see what was going on and hoping it was not my fault but most of all hoping that maybe I would have a solution as to how to fix the problem. When I got back there I was filled with relief to I find out that the problem wasn’t anything I had caused. There seemed to be a problem with the computer equipment for some reason the projector did not have a signal. I also quickly realized I didn’t have a clue as to how to help fix the problem. Since I could not be of help I returned to my seat where the service was still going on…without anything on the screen.
The announcer did the welcome and announcements which seemed to go just fine without the screen though now all the sudden I was distracted by the screen not working. We then had the greeting and after the greeting we stood to sing the next song. Today’s singing group sings a lot of older church songs so most people would probably know the songs but because I haven’t been going to church my whole life I didn’t know the song they were singing and there were no lyrics scrolling on the wall for me to read. I love to sing and was feeling disappointed because I couldn’t sing along. I was also thinking about how silly I looked just standing there not participating in the singing and also about what could possibly be wrong with that screen? So there I stood in church with everything but church racing through my head.
As I stood there watching the blue screen fade in and out suddenly I heard a whisper inside my head and the whisper said “listen!” ”Listen to what?” I thought…and then it hit me …all the sudden I realized that while my mind had been whirling round and round and I had somehow forgotten the whole reason that I was here at church and what church was really about. I was here to worship God today and while I was fretting about the screen not working I had been missing the sound of the beautiful voices of the woman on the stage singing and wow! they were so amazing! From that moment on all I could hear were those lovely wonderful voices and it was at that moment I felt God in the room. Right there in the middle of my stressing out about not knowing the words to the song and thinking about that blue screen God had slipped in.
As I stood there listening to the ladies as they sang to God His peace began to wash over me. I could feel His presence in the room so strongly at that moment I just wanted to fall down at his feet and cry tears of thanks and joy. After the song the service went on as it always does, but now I was at peace and forgot about the screen not working.
Later after I got home I thought of something else…I do not think that the pastor’s sermon went as he had planned for it to go either. The only reason I think that is because I had typed the outline of the sermon on the screen and I noticed he did not do the same thing that he had me to type for the screen. I wondered could it be possible that he was thrown off by the screen not working just as I had been? Or did he just have a change of plans today? Or could it be that God had a change of plans for all of us in that room today?
Things don’t always go according to our plans and something I do know is that God has his own plan. I am not sure about everyone else in that room and but today I am pretty sure that today I saw His plan come into play for me.
Today when the first inkling came that something was not going to go as planned I panicked and thought it was something I had caused and then once I found out that was not the case I let the fact that we did not have a screen for our service throw me off.
Today I realized that we do not need an elaborate fancy power point presentation to listen to a sermon, or cool videos of water falls cascading down while we are singing. Though words to the songs are important if I want to sing along, sometimes it’s nice just listen to a song. God speaks to me a lot through music and today I am certain that is why he chose to speak to me right there in the middle of a song. Today I just needed to be quiet so I could listen, but not only did I need to listen, I also needed to hear Him. He wanted me to just be quiet and hear what he was trying to say to me.
When I go to church I go to worship God with my church family and hopefully learn something about Him while I am there. That time each week is very special to me and I feel so blessed that I have this wonderful church family that I belong to. I also feel doubly blessed that I now get to work there a few hours during the week too. I am not sure if anyone else had the same experience I had today but whatever they experienced I hope it was something as good as what I felt. Today I heard two sermons. The sermon the pastor gave today was good but the most important sermon I receive was the one given to me by God. Though I love my new job at the church I also realize that also need to leave that behind when I enter the church on Sunday morning. I also need to remember that I do not need anything at all to worship God except the giving to Him of myself. Church is not a social club I attend or a place where it needs to be fancy and have modern technology. It just needs to be a place where other Christians and I come together to worship God.
so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:5
