It seems most of the time, God reveals and provides opportunity without warning…

I was in Starbucks minding my own business, when a lady shows up with a couple large empty covered plastic containers.  A Starbucks employee proceeds to give her all the dated pastries for her containers and she hangs around at a table in front me sorting things out.

After a while, i get up to leave and go to work.  I stop in front of her and make comment that i bet she is going to make some people happy. She explains she is from the Saint Assisi or something catholic church and these pastries will go to feed the homeless.  As we are chatting about the local homeless shelter, i am doing a heart check and i think God is saying give her money.  You have to understand there was a time when giving from my excess was not challenging at all.  Today, i give from what i don’t have and i am very aware to give without God’s direction is stupid.

So as she is talking, i am thinking, “God.  Do you want me to give? i am not sure and i want to be responsible with the little i have.”  i am confident this thought was from God.  ”Whether you give or not, you will know my will when you walk out the door.”  It reminded me of the times, i heard God and chose to ignore the opportunity to be used by Him.  I get that really sick feeling in my stomach that i just blew it.

Today, i was not going to blow it.  i reached in my pocket and pulled out the exact amount God had impressed on me (without counting).  I handed it to the lady and without a word, began walking out.  She yelled, “What’s your name?”  I wish i had said, “Jesus.”

“Today if you dare, tell me how a worm infested hungry aids child in Africa experiences abundant life.”~priest

Jamie Longoria

ouch Archie!!  You have just inspired my prayers with a new purpose…just a thought, according to your definition of abundance “God’s perfect will and purpose in one’s life” is it possible that their illness and starvation is part of the abundant life..in that it calls the attention, breaks hearts and motivates God’s people into action so that we can be transformed by the impact. In this case, it wouls seem, dispite human logic, that abundant life really has nothing to do with happiness. Still contemplating though..thanks for the food..

I posted this comment to my status in Facebook and in wonderment received these replies.  Click on comments and enjoy the dialog…

Throw Down Bibles and Paul of Tarsus (maybe?)

As an update to my adventure in the Maverick County Jail.   After clicking, the saga begins at the bottom and reads forward as you scroll up.  Confusing?  Sorry. 

I was finally invited by the court to meet the judge.  God provided a lawyer through my “father-in-law” at a public defender price.  The help will cost me a couple hundred dollars instead of thousands.  God is the great provider.  He continues to confirm He has a plan and it is not all about me, although it feels like it.

 

I have shared with my blog friends about my “Throw Down Bibles“.  While waiting for court to start, I met the guy you see in the picture.  He went into court, came back out and sat next to me.  I had a “Throw Down” copy of The Message sitting on top of some documents I needed.  He asked what The Message was? It was funny.  I thought he was talking about my cell phone and a text message. 

 

He pointed to my Bible and I explained it was an easy to read version of the New Testament.  I asked him what he was reading and he pulled a couple of books from beneath his robe.  One was a physics book and another book with spiritual guidance I think.  I’m not sure. 

 

I had to enter the court room at that point, so I gave him my Bible as a gift.  He was surprised and appreciative.  I saw him again as I left the courtroom.  He and I waved.  He had a great smile.  I’m hoping he will accept the FREE Gift found on P.198.  via John 3:16 and possibly he will drop me note on this blog.

 

I know many of my friends were praying about my court appearance.  Thank you!  Continue to keep my family and I in your prayers as this chapter in our life winds down….  It has been quite the adventure, full of God Spots.   It is looking hopeful the case will be dismissed. 

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Surf to: http://www.freshc.org for a Fresh Connection…

Jesus loves me. This I know.

I am so impressed with Jesus and His love for me.  What else can I say?  Jesus loves me.  This I know.

I have a challenge tomorrow.  It impacts my future in a dramatic way.  I have a choice.  Shall I believe God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do or should I wrestle the issue away from God and handle it myself?  Isn't that a stupid question?  What would you do?

I have been running with God the last couple years.  I think I will continue the race with God.  If you think about me tomorrow morning.  Pray.  I'll let you know how things work out.  Did I mention?  Jesus loves me.  This I know.

Thank you.  

archie

Surf to: http://www.freshc.org for a Fresh Connection…

Identify your mission. Pick your target. Nail the objective.

Peer pressure is a funny thing.  Mostly, it snares those of us who are people pleasers.  We tend to be manipulated into doing things we really don’t want to do, just because we don’t want to make a scene and want everyone to be happy.  

Jesus encountered peer pressure.  ”Everyone is looking for you.”  That is a pretty strong statement.  My natural response would be to go back and try to help those looking for me.  Notice what Jesus did?  He kept going the direction He started out and didn’t let peer pressure interfere with His objectives.  

This is a good model for us.  Check with Jesus.  Pick your objective.  Don’t let others deter you from the task at hand.  Now go walk with Jesus today.  He likes the company.  

“Simon and those who were with him followed after him; and they found him, and told him, “Everyone is looking for you.”  He said to them, “Let’s go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because I came out for this reason.””~Mark

Surf to: http://www.freshc.org for a Fresh Connection…

The death of a church and the birth of a vision…

Many are saying God meant the church to be organic. It seems reasonable to me. God breathes life into it. It is birthed. It is fed. It grows. It is healthy if God has His way. But the question comes to mind, can the church die? If so, what might be the quickest way to kill a church?

I am praying that God will breath life into Fresh Connections. At the same time, I am asking God to kill the vision if it is not from Him. I’m trusting He will do one or the other. Am OK if He thinks of a third choice. I just don’t want to waste time doing something that He didn’t plan. Does that make sense?

As you read this and the stats say hundreds of you will, please pray for the birth of Fresh Connections. Pray that God will breath life into the vision. Pray for resources for Fresh Connections. Pray for the people of Fresh Connections. Pray that Fresh Connections will be a faith builder for all. Pray about what part you might play.

Then if God is not in Fresh Connections, pray the vision will die.

From my friend in Sweden: Frid Broden or Peace Brother…
Surf to: http://www.freshc.org for a Fresh Connection…

What does your earnest prayer sound like?

When I slow down and earnestly desire for God to act on my life, my prayer goes something like this…

In the name of Jesus and with the authority of my name having been written in His blood at the base of the cross, by the all encompassing power of the Holy Spirit and totally engulfed by His love, I humbly fall on my face before your throne of grace and ask that you God might (fill in request here).  

I follow up with God, I'm not smart enough to know if this fits within your design for abundance in my life.  If it is all the same to you, I'd really like for you to act on this request.  But if you have something better planned, I'm ok with that.  I anxiously wait to see you work the perfection of your will and purpose in my life.  Thank you, Jesus.

Then I wait with an expectatious spirit…

Paul said it like this: "I have one request, dear friends: Pray for me. Pray strenuously with and for me—to God the Father, through the power of our Master Jesus, through the love of the Spirit—that I will be delivered from the lions' den of unbelievers in Judea. Pray also that my relief offering to the Jerusalem believers will be accepted in the spirit in which it is given. Then, God willing, I'll be on my way to you with a light and eager heart, looking forward to being refreshed by your company. God's peace be with all of you. Oh, yes!"

Surf to: http://www.freshc.org for a Fresh Connection…

For more GodSpots – 37stories Enjoy!

Getting better

Hi Archie

I have been sick for about 3 years….doctors did not put enough thought into me, but thankfully, God did.

God gave me the wisdom to help myself, when doctors just dismissed me as having nothing wrong.

I have had an adverse drug reaction that attacked my nervous system.   I solved this now by going to the right specialist,  and having the Rx changed to a different drug…also something milder.

I also had a kidney infection (past 6 months) that was either denied by doctors or they gave the wrong medicine……I thought I was going to loose my kidney……I solved this in 2 steps….I went to a friend’s lab and used their microscope to identify what was there….then I went home, and happened to find a left over Rx from a tooth infection in my daughters’ drawer that happen to match what I needed.    So God had already provided for me….I just had to go on a treasure hunt in my house to find it.

Trust God, not man

For the first time, I feel better. I told the Lord that if he wanted me to do anything useful, he would have to heal me.     Otherwise, I was going to be pretty limited. So since I am getting better, I guess he has something for me. Wonder what that is.?

Anyhow, I praise God for the little miracles he does in our lives….with patience, the answer will always come.

blessings
Marianne

Thru Linda’s Eyes

GUEST POST by Jeffery Chandler: 

This past weekend my family and I had the pleasure of having Barbara and Brie’s friend, Linda, stay with us for four nights. Linda is a 23 year old African from the small Kenyan village of Lemuru and is now in the U.S. indefinitely. Barbara and Brie first met Linda during their 2006 mission trip to Kenya and they became fast friends. Thanks to the internet they’ve been able to stay connected. Barbara got to visit Linda again during her June 2008 trip as well. Linda’s been in Texas for about six weeks living with her sponsor family in a small town north of Fort Worth. This was her first trip to the big city of San Antonio and we were bound and determined to show her some south Texas hospitality, meaning overwhelm her with love, food, activities, and attention.

 

Many of the things we were able to do with her were “firsts” for Linda. She got her first taste of San Antonio Tex-Mex food (she may have had some so-called Mexican food in Fort Worth but this is the real deal in my humble opinion of course); her first ride on a boat (the Riverwalk barge cruise); and her getting her first pair of short pants! We all wondered what her dad and mom, back in Lemuru, would say to that? Linda’s sponsor family in north Texas had orientated her well on many things American prior to her visit to south Texas but we were truly blessed to take her orientation to a whole other level.

 

Maybe the funniest moments with Linda started with our taking her to the top of the Hemis-fair tower in downtown San Antonio on Saturday morning. She was amazed to be, in her words, “on top of the world”. She was scared to death too of course, and the high winds that day didn’t help at all. At the bottom of the tower she got to experience her first IMAX/4D movie, “Skies over Texas”. This was a funny time as she (and us too) screamed at the special effects, especially when the rattlesnake tail crosses over your feet and legs and it feels so real.

 

On Monday morning we took Linda to Sea World (another first) and probably the most amazing thing I witnessed was Linda’s reaction to getting to touch a real, live dolphin at the feeding pool. We saw the sheer amazement in her face and the joy she experienced by being able to be so up close and personal with one of God’s most awesome creatures. Seeing that joy on her face was a WOW moment for me as well and pretty much brought tears to my eyes.

 

While at Sea World Linda got her first roller coaster rides and those were very memorable (and hilarious) moments for sure. During her first coaster ride, on the Steel Eel, we saw sheer terror on Linda’s face (and we have it captured on film, thanks to Sea World’s coaster camera) as we descended that first drop. At the end of the ride she could hardly walk and there were tears in her eyes. I believe they were tears of joy at the freedom she felt in being able to be here in the USA and riding her first coaster. Brie said that Linda screamed the entire ride (of course I couldn’t hear her screams because I too was screaming).

 

After that we ramped up the excitement another notch and took her to her second coaster ride, this time on The Great White. That ride proved to be even more terrifying for poor Linda. The Great White is one of those coasters where you sit in a harness with your feet dangling (there’s no floor) while the ride takes you upside down a couple of times, and sideways at high speeds. Needless to say, when the ride stopped Linda couldn’t move – she was frozen in terror. We had to tell her that she needed to get off so that those people waiting could get on and if she didn’t move the attendants would make her ride it again (at that thought she got up). Again she cried but with a smile. We literally had to help her walk down the ramp to exit. The Great White had turned her world upside down, literally (and my world too, I was one extremely dizzy 56 year old dude afterwards).

 

You might be asking, just how did Linda get the courage to ride these exciting and scary rides? In addition to Barbara and Brie’s urging of her, Linda has a sense of adventure as evidenced by her willingness to leave her tiny village and travel thru places like Eldoret and Nairobi in Kenya, on to London, and ultimately to Texas. Even though she traveled with American friends she was alone in her ethnicity and culture. She truly believes that God has a purpose for her here in the states, and we know that to be true. So even though she may have been absolutely terrified on the Steel Eel and The Great White coasters (so was I) she carried on like a real trooper in her bravery.

 

I cannot fathom what Linda thinks of our culture, our foods, our fast paced lifestyles, and, relatively speaking, our big homes. Her comments about our foods usually include, “very spicy”. When she talks about our lifestyles she says, “everyone is in such a hurry”. And she is just amazed at the sizes of our homes. It must be simply mind-boggling to be in Linda’s shoes and to see the U.S. culture thru her eyes. Hopefully it’s a mind-boggling thing in a good way. I can still hear Linda say over and over in her Queen’s English accent, “I can’t believe I’m really here in San Antonio with you, it’s really happening”.

 

Linda tried to teach Barbara, Brie, and me some of her tribal dances. I can honestly say that Barbara and Brie got it. It was hopeless for me. Whenever I tried to match their steps and rhythm Linda would break out laughing and it was over for me. That was the gist of my tribal dancing. Oh well. I suppose it proves that old saying that one cannot teach an old dog new tricks.

 

I can only imagine the things that Linda is sharing with her family and friends via the internet. We pray for Linda’s safe passage into this culture and we pray for God’s plans for her to come to fruition. I’m happy to have a new friend.

Quality Carpenter Needed

Guest post by: Marianne

Zechariah describes a prophetic vision of 4 horns and 4 carpenters. Each one would overcome the other in competition. Who is the last one we are waiting for, to complete the prophecy?

Zec 1:18 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.

Zec 1:19 And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What [be] these? And he answered me, These [are] the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

Zec 1:20 And the LORD showed me four carpenters.

Zec 1:21 Then said I, What come these to do? And he spoke, saying, These [are] the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up [their] horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

In this prophecy, the horns represented the powers that would scatter Judah and Israel, and the carpenters would represent the next empire that would come, and defeat that power.

Horns are powers that scatter and destroy.

Carpenters are builders.

So each power would begin as a horn, and then fall under the next power, or horn.

The incoming power would be the carpenter that would cast out the previous horn.

So each incoming horn acts as a carpenter, a builder.

Throughout history, scholars have watched this prophecy be fulfilled, with one successive event after another. The pattern looked like this until 313 CE:

4 carpenters		Darius- Medo-Persians	Greece – Alexander the Great	Rome	?
4 horns	Babylon	Babylon	Darius- Medo-Persians	Greece – Alexander the Great	Rome

 

Then, it got a little crazy after that. Here is the whole history:

Foreign Empires that ruled in Israel
587 BCE	Babylonian	B
538-333 BCE	Persian	P
333-63 BCE	Greek ( Hellenistic)	G
63 BCE-313 CE	Roman	R
313-636	Byzantine	G
636-1099	Arab (Syrian)	B/P
1099-1291	Crusaders	R
1291-1516	Mamluk (Turk)	B/P
1516-1918	Ottoman (Turk)	B/P
1917-1948	British	R

For the past 1000 years, there appears to be a competition between the Babylonian/ Persian horn and the Roman horn.

Was Zechariah wrong, or just incomplete? The answer is neither.

Apparently, he was generalizing about the 4 powers that would struggle over the land of Israel, until God stopped the conflicts with the last carpenter.

If one visits Jerusalem, one will see the Greek, Roman, and Persian/Babylonian (Islamic) all influence there.

But the clue is in verse 21, about the last carpenter:

…..but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up [their] horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

Until there is a final casting out of all gentile horns who scatter Israel, the prophecy is not fulfilled yet.

Who would be the last carpenter to cast out all horns?

He cannot be a gentile. He must be Jewish.

It obviously cannot be one of the horns, because the last carpenter cannot be a destroyer, just a builder, and he would have re-gather Israel, not scatter it once again.

The empires mentioned above so far, are not qualified, since they have all scattered Israel.

So, Who is qualified to re-gather Israel into the land forever?

Who is qualified to conquer, cast out all scattering gentile horns, and then build something that will last forever?

Only the Lord God builds the ruined places:

Eze 36:36 Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined [places, and] plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken [it], and I will do [it].

Amo 9:11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:

Amo 9:14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit [them]; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

Who will heaven use for this building and restoration?

Who is the Lord God’s carpenter that we are all familiar with?

Does it not tell us in scripture who will be this last builder?

Mark 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?

 

Only Jesus can fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah and Amos. Only Jesus will be able to remove all horns of human power, and destruction, and scattering.

Only Jesus can bring unity to a hurting land, and suffering world.

Jesus is the last carpenter.

God has a way of speaking to us, if we only listen. I was driving home, and passed a small sign, posted to a tree. It said “Quality Carpenter Needed.” It immediately struck me, that there was only one carpenter I needed in my life.

This is where this post came from.

Listen, and he will speak to you.

Listen, and He will direct you.

Listen, and he will show you the way.

Trust him. He will remove the horns over your life, gather you back to Himself, and rebuild you.