If you are a college kid or young professional, you gotta come out this Friday night to Late Nite Live!! We are gonna kick off with some great games, lots of free food and super fun times. Then we’ll head into an awesome time of worship… this is Late Nite to the MAX!
We better see all of you there! If you can help volunteer, show up at 6pm or stay late for clean-up!
Sunday night at our Young Marrieds life group, we talked a little about how woman was created from man’s rib. There were some cool points brought up: That Adam was asleep, so he had no input at all in the whole woman creating process. That woman was created from man, not from the earth like Adam. That God created woman after all the animals, birds and fish. And that God created woman only after Adam realized his need for her… interesting stuff.
Today I ran across a cool quote on my friend’s myspace page. “Woman came out of a man’s rib… not from his feet to be walked on, not from his head to be superior… but from the side to be equal, under the arm to be protected, and next to the heart to be loved.”
I am so happy to be Chris’ rib.
So, I am a little bit of an above average equal rights for the races kinda girl… I think if I had lived in the 60s and 70s during the civil rights movement, I would have been that crazy white girl on the front lines. That is why I was so happy to stumble upon this article today about a man brought to justice for killing two black teens over 40 years ago. Read about it here.
We are still in 40 days of prayer for the children… don’t forget to log on and join in the online prayer gathering. Prayer is the tool that God allows us to use to change the world!! Amazing things have happened since last year’s time of prayer- and I can’t wait to see what comes from this!!!
We had another great weekend at HPC… Mike brought an awesome Word at the 8am service I got to sit in (and of course Pastor brought it at 10 & 12). Sunday night we had an amazing Women’s Ministry Vision Night and Delynn challenged all of us to grow up and be the women of God He is calling us to be! It was so powerful… I really believe it’s one of those messages that I will look back over for years to come. I wanted to give you some of her points… maybe it will speak to you, too. And no, it’s not just for girls- it applies to all of us.
*God always uses the faithful:
-Christ is searching for the faithful, not the skillful.
-Faithfulness produces fruitfulness.
-It’s not about the position itself, but being faithful to whatever position He has you in.
* God always uses the available:
-Everyday has to be a good day to be available… there’s no “perfect time”.
*God always uses those who are loyal to Him:
-Loyalty is the fuel of courage and builds the Kingdom of God in the local church.
-It’s a non-negotiable.
*God always uses the passionate:
-We must fight passion stealers every minute of every day: selfishness, doubt, misguided priorities, and disconnection.
Ok, now add all of Delynn’s charm, beauty, and wit… and you might start to get a taste of how awesome the night was!!
Yesterday in that most slammin’ staff meeting ever, two things really hit home for me.
Br. Jim Rentz said, “Don’t try to operate in a gift you don’t have.” I get so frustrated when I look around and someone I work with is so good at something that I stink at. But when I sit back and meditate about it, I really think it must be so insulting to God to not appreciate what He has placed inside me. He has gifted me hugely in many areas… so what if I am not the best preacher, or the best counselor, or the most creative one? That’s not what God gave me…but that doesn’t make my gifts any less relevant. It’s a nice revelation.
The other thing was something Br. Dave Ohlerking said. I have such enormous respect for that man. He is truly a legend in missions work, especially in Africa. When Pastor Dino asked him what he wanted people to say about him when he’s gone, he simpled stated, “That he served Jesus.” Wow!! His number one concern in his entire life has just been to serve Him and that’s it. Convicting, much?
Check out a transcript of the entire meeting at danohlerking.com. It’s so worth the read.
1. I have the most amazing sense of smell now. I know that pregnant women’s senses are heightened because of something to do with the crazy amount of blood that we are pumping throughout the day. However, the smell of things I used to love make me want to vomit now. Things such as tuna, DeAngelo’s, eggs, bacon, and other delicious foods. Bummer.
2. We had one of the most holy, perfect, amazing staff meetings this morning. Check out the details at Mike’s blog. What an honor and privilege it is to get to do ministry here. The fact that God has chosen me… wow. It blows my mind.
I wanted to fill you in on how he is doing after surgery. As you may know, Oliver was diagnosed with spina bifida while he was still in the womb. Lacey and Trey made the difficult decision to wait to operate until after he was born. Oliver was born on Sunday afternoon and has been in the NICU ever since. This morning he went into surgery to have his spine put back into his body where it belongs. Everything went well and a drain/catheter type thing was put in his head to drain the fluids.
Right now our main prayer for this beautiful baby is that his nerves will regenerate in his spine so he can have feeling in his legs. If the device they put in his head works, they won’t have to operate again on Friday as planned. Also, they have asked that no one visits today as they just want to spend time alone with their baby and get some rest. Let’s keep this family in our prayers… and let’s pray for this baby like it’s our own child.
Check out Oliver’s website http://oliversmiracle.blogspot.com for future updates!
We spent Friday night and Saturday in New Orleans at an amazing Student Ministry Leaders Retreat. You know how sometimes when you are overseeing something you feel like you don’t get as much out of it as someone who is just there as a participant because you are so tied up in the details? Well that did not happen this time! I got rolled up Friday night at the altars- God spoke to me in a huge way and used Mike to speak a Word over me. I have been feeling spiritually empty- going through the motions- and He gave me such a breakthrough that night. It was incredible! Then Johnny delivered a strong Word on Saturday about the condition of our heart.
Yesterday was our first doctor’s appointment, and it was quite the event. We were in the office for two hours! My official due date is April 6 and everything is looking good! Keep praying for a healthy, whole baby in Jesus name!
Also, please be in prayer for Winston Domingue. He is traveling today to Tennessee to have some surgery to get the remains of a tumor out of his hip. We are praying that they get everything out and it all goes smoothly. The Domingue family has had a challenging few months with Winston’s first surgery, then Bella’s eye surgery, and now him having to return to have surgery again. They are incredible people of God and such a blessing to us, HPC & the community. Let’s continue to lift them up in prayer for healing, protection and favor!
Maybe you are getting tired of hearing of all the miracles that God is doing in preparation for our missions trip… if so, stop reading!
A wonderful lady in the church (whom I have never met) just called me to tell me she’s sending us some money for Italy!! God put Chris and me on her heart and made it very obvious to her that she should give to our trip. She has been selling some jewelry she made and hadn’t done anything with the profits when God gave her an unusual number. She realized that it’s the jewelry money and it’s for us! Wow!! We had a great conversation and she totally made my day! Praise God for all these obedient people!
And to all those people who don’t understand the blog world, I’m sorry. God used our blog in this situation and in others to lay us on people’s hearts. He is GOOD!
