Andrew, the average apostle

The apostle Andrew was the son of Joanna and Jonah, he was the first apostle to follow Jesus, first being the disciple of John the Baptist. Andrew was also the brother to Simon Peter, imagine having to follow in those footsteps, after all didn't Peter walk on water? Andrew was the first missionary to the Jews and the Gentiles(gentiles were anyone who wasn't a Jew).Andrew would die a martyr's death. Having converted Maximilea, a kings wife, the king was so mad at Andrew that he told him he would crucify him. Andrew would not go on the cross as our Lord Jesus did but would lie on the cross in the form of an X. It actually took Andrew 2 days to die on that cross and all the while preaching the message to all who would listen, thus saving many, many souls on his death cross.

What Can We Learn From Andrew?
1-The Blessing of Quiet Obedience. How do you feel when you first hear that alarm ringing? You want to go right back to sleep right? But instead, what do we do, we switch on the coffee pot, go to the bathroom and then open our bibles. Do we feel like doing that? Would we like to get a few extra winks in? Seeking the Lord first thing in the morning, is Quiet Obedience.
Showing up to work on time is quiet obedience. Ever find money in a wallet, the wallet has a name in it, so we could very well find out who owns it and return it, do we always do that? If so, then we are doing the right thing, and that too, is Quiet obedience. Ever get "over paid"? Letting payroll know about that is also Quiet obedience.
Quiet forgiving, ever extend grace to someone who has hurt you? Standing out brightly in a dark, dark world.
2-The Blessing of serving silently. Everyone goes to the pastor to tell him what a great sermon he has just completed and he has but have you ever thought of thanking the cleaning crew that cleaned the sanctuary or the nursery workers who care for the children so we can have a "cry" free room? How about the ushers who collect the tithes and offerings, or the sound people that make sure we can hear every word that pastor is preaching? These are our "silent servers". The intercessors, we hardly know they are around, yet they are petitioning God on our behalf a few times a week, at least if not more!
When we get the praise of people we are getting our reward here on earth, when you serve silently, we get our reward in heaven. Which would you rather have?
3-The Blessing of being number two. As stated above, Andrews name was only mentioned about nine times in the New Testament and always referred to as the brother of Simon Peter or Simon Peter's brother, he was always number two. Remember the sermon on the mount and the 5,000 people were hungry and Peter said how can we feed all these people? Andrew was the one who brought the "lad" with the 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread to Jesus, my pastor called it their "Happy Meal". I imagine Andrew thought that if Jesus change Simon to a Peter He can surely do something just as spectacular with this lads fish and bread!

St. Thomas Aquinas said this "Go to preach the Gospel and IF necessary say something".
What can we learn from Andrew, I think what is said above says it all.
Are we Andrews? Or do we have to be recognized for everything we do for God's kingdom? Andrew didn't have a problem being number two, do we?

What is Happening to America?

Bible References used: Jeremiah 5:30,31, 6:16, 8:11,12

The book of Jeremiah is the prophecy of a man divinely called in his youth. A heartbroken prophet with a heartbreaking message, Jeremiah labors for more than 40 years proclaiming a message of doom to the stiff necked people of Judah. Jeremiah bathes his harsh prophecies in tears of compassion. Through his sermons and signs he faithfully declares that surrender to God’s will is the only way to escape calamity.

In his sermon today Gene Mills uses Jeremiah and his time compared to today and our times. The people in Jeremiahs time couldn’t or wouldn’t believe his message because they were so prosperous and everything seemed to be going right without God, so why would they want to surrender what they knew for something unknown?

United States of America is 13 billion dollars in debt.

We are told that Islam is a peaceful religion, yet their people will strap bombs on themselves and use themselves as human bombs to blow America up, is that peaceful?

Lady GaGa is one of our teen idols that young girls emulate. We have a country that is hypersexed. Everywhere you look, commercials, TV, movies is all about how to use sex to sell things, to get a man/women. We are unwilling to shield our younger generation to this hype.

Our heavenly Father feels scorned when we turn to other things, other gods to take His place. He desires our love and attention. He needs to be first in our lives.

Things that are happening today have happened in the past and WE CAN TURN OUR WORLD AROUND to make it the country our founding fathers would be proud of. Yes, things that are happening here and now have happened in the past but not to the extent, the frequency or the intensity with which they are happening in this day and age!

Jeremiahs warning lasted 40 years, is our warning going to have to last 40 years as well. Do you think we are getting warnings now from God? Hurricanes, Tidal Waves, Sunamis, Earthquakes, Viruses just to name a few. Each year the flu season gets worse, the viruses get stronger, and more people die.

There are two governments in this world, God’s government which is love, joy peace, caring for others, thinking about others before yourself and helping others to name a few of the attributes. Then there is Satan’s government which consists of hate, fear, destruction, selfishness, killing and mayhem to name a few. Which government do you support? Satan is out to kill, steal and destroy you and your family. He does this is all manner of ways. Media, have you listened to the music your kids listen too? No, I mean really listen to it. Have you looked at the photos on their computers and Ipods and Iphones? Do you monitor their time on computers? Do you allow them to watch R-rated movies? These are all ways the devil gets to your kids. Kidsinmind.com will give you a great idea of exactly how much sexual action, F- words and other curse words are in the movie your child wants to see. I highly encourage you to monitor your child, don’t just go on blind trust. Remember you were a teenager at one time; remember the stuff you put over on your parents? Oh, well, my child would never do that, don’t fool yourself they will and they most likely already have. You just haven’t caught them yet. Children cry out for discipline, they cry out for their parents to listen to them and tell them what they can and can’t do.

Is there a difference between you and the world? Because, if you are a Christian, there had better be a big difference. Are you the church of Laodicea? Rev. 3:14-22 verse 15, I know your works, you are neither hot nor cold. I could wish you were cold or hot; so then since you are lukewarm, and neither cold or hot, I WILL VOMIT YOU OUT OF MY MOUTH. Because you say,” I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing-and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked”-

Do we have amnesia? Have we forgotten our first love? Did you know God a long time ago and forget Him. Did you get caught up with the cares of this world and say “I have no need of God”? Have we forgotten our purpose? What is that purpose you ask? God created us to have fellowship with Him. We are here for Him not for our selfish ambitions. We buy more and have less, we have bigger houses and smaller families. We are suppose to take care of each other, families taking care of families not the government taking care of our families.

We have left our first love.

We as Christians need to infiltrate the culture. We need to be the church of Philadelphia. Rev. 3:8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept my word, and have not denied my name”. Verse 10 “Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth”. Verse 11 “Behold, I come QUICKLY. Hold fast to what you have, that no one can take your crown”. Verse 13 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”.

There are three chairs we can sit in:

The chair of Astonishment, this chair is filled with fear, unsettled, things are unclear, bewilderment, there is no peace in this place A lot of us sit in this chair. Do you listen to the news? It may tell you facts but not truth. The good news is the bad news is not factual.

The next chair is the chair of Amnesia, we have forgotten our purpose and our first love, and there are a lot of us who are also sitting in this chair.

The third chair is the chair I want to be sitting in and that is the chair of Assignment! Every one of us has an assignment. Move into the assignment God has given us and do the work assigned to us. We are all accountable to God for the work we do. Have we told anyone about the grace of God lately? If not, why not? Let’s get busy, there is little time left. Jesus could return at any time. Are we ready? Is our family ready? Are we praying for our country?

Did you know that is 1963 one person, Madelyn Murray OHare, had prayer removed from our public school systems. Madelyn has come up missing, some think she is dead and did you know her son has accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior and has been preaching the gospel for many, many years! Halleluia If the voice of one can do that, imagine what the voices of many could do.

10 years later in 1973 Roe vs Wade was passed which allowed women to have freedom of choice whether to abort a baby or not. And this year a law was passed for women to have an ultrasound before the decision is made whether or not to abort, I think we will have a lot more women not going through with abortion, don’t you? Praise the Lord and more childless couples will be adopting those little babies! God has ways of turning things around to work for His good.

Time is short, we, as Christians must move fast and get souls saved for God’s kingdom, YES, it is our job. If a person is adamant that he or she wants nothing to do with “religion” and after you have explained relationship vs religion then the bible says “ And whoever will not receive you, nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from you feet”. (walk away)Matt. 10:14

More bible references:

John 5

Revelations 3

Jeremiah 5

Jeremiah 6

Jeremiah 7

Jeremiah 8

Most of this material was from what I interpreted from Gene Mills sermon, I added my own two cents as well.

The Journey Continues,,,,the arrival

Louisiana, we made it after 3 days of car riding and hotels and restaurant food, we arrived!!! Not complaining about any of this just stating a fact, one can take so much of restaurant food, don’t ya think?

Starting out on Saturday, June 26^th at about 2:30 PM, our first overnight stop was in Virginia, a Hampton Inn which turned out to be sweet! The rooms were spacious and the beds were comfortable. I had the pleasure of sharing a room with my daughter and granddaughter, there is a picture posted on Face Book of the princess Julia all snuggled up “queen like” in her bed.

Our next overnight stop was Alabama and another Hampton Inn, oh and both of these stops included a trip to the hotels pools, the first one had a hot tub, the second did not. But we all took a dip to get the travel tensions out and to cool off. I highly suggest Hampton Inns on your next travels, you won’t be sorry, oh and the towels smelled soooo good! They also include free breakfast in the price. The breakfast includes, scrambled eggs, waffles that you can make yourself, fresh hot coffee, several flavors for your taste, bagels, cream cheese and assorted muffins. All delicious and plentiful. The hostesses were pleasant and friendly, just like I remember, southern hospitality.

Our final overnight stop was in Baton Rouge, LA at a Holiday Inn. Granted it did have an indoor/outdoor pool and then another separate outdoor pool, which was nice and warm, that was enjoyable. The room was big and spacious but the bed was uncomfortable and so were the pillows but a decent night sleep was manageable. My choice would always be the Hampton Inns.

For the most part following PT was not hard, I think I managed to keep up well and didn’t beg for bathroom breaks, thankfully the children did that for me. There was one time that was a little hairy when we left the Louisiana Welcome Center, I tried to stay behind him but as we left a big oil rig got in front of me and before I knew it Tim had taken a right onto the ramp and I continued straight when I realized this I took the next right off the highway . I was communicating with Christina after this happened and when I saw an opening in the road(an illegal one I might add, the ones the cops use to pursue offenders)I passed the first one but fortunately and with God’s grace there was another opening and I took it. Josiah was crying at this point because he thought we were lost and would never be found and we would be wandering the highways of Louisiana forever . But that was not to be the case and I tried to ease his mind but as I was trying to watch the road and hook up with my crew he was texting his mom.

After 6 texts to his dad and about 12 to his mom, he was assured that Gramma had been on many road trips before and had gotten lost and always, always eventually hooked up with her traveling crew. That being said and the reassurance of his parents he once again gained trust in his gramma and all was well, especially when we hooked up, once again with his family.

Right from the beginning of the trip I always had one of the kids with me(I did this so Tim had to watch me, after all how could he ditch one of his own?) Haha Just kidding Tim, had to say it though to make the story a little funny. Seriously taking one of the kids with me made the ride go faster for me and the kids are always so entertaining.

Well, that is pretty much the story of the trip in and of itself. The rest is just trying to get settled and get things in the right places at the apartment that the Dz’s live in. I am living in the cabin still and I did post a picture of it. I’m right up the hill from the apartment and I do see the family daily. I get online at the apartment or I go to the MC office.

The church we attend has 3 campuses. We live on the Broussard campus and there are 3 services every weekend, Saturday at 6 PM, Sunday 8 and 11 AM. The Lafayette campus has 2 services each weekend 5 PM on Saturday and 10 AM on Sunday. Opelousas has one service at 10 AM on Sunday (this is the newest campus). The family and I attended the Saturday night service in Lafayette and the Dz’s are attending Lafayette service this morning while I am attending the 11 AM service at Broussard campus. Confusing I know, but if you were here it would all make sense.

The weather, well the day we arrived it was overcast and cloudy, and it began to rain. It continued to rain through Saturday. Today is beautiful and sunny, I believe the temperature will be in the 90’s. It’s 4^th of July and we have been invited to a picnic at a home of the family that Jessica babysits for(she went on a trip to Orlando FL with this family). I believe this will be the beginning of a great relationship with the folks in Lafayette and Broussard, LA.

So, this week Chrissy and Tim begin their new appointment and I begin looking for a job. I will keep everyone informed of what is taking place and will continue to update you all on facebook! If anyone out there has Skype, we can video talk and it’s free!!