Before Marriage Begins...

I recently posted the 10 BEST DECISIONS OF OUR MARRIED LIFE.  This is a 10 post series.

Today I read an article which I saw linked on Facebook.  Steven Crowder shares his opinion about the best way to prepare for the wedding night.  He got married recently.

I recommend his blog post, "Waiting till the wedding night - getting married the right way."
You'll find the article on September 14, 2012 by Steven Crowder.  Apparently I can't include the link with the title of this article but you can find it at www.foxnews.com/opinion/.

This article is a wonderful predecessor to the 10 Best Decisions... which I have shared in the past few weeks.

Some may call Steven Crowder old-fashioned, crazy, unrealistic but I call him godly, wise and a man worthy of an awesome woman who shares his values.  I think you'll enjoy his report.

10 Tips to Help Yourself Stay Safe...

Received this by email today and think it's worth sharing here: Even if you have seen this before, it is a good reminder. Written by a Cop for Our Own Safety 1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do : The elbow is the strongest point on your body.  If you are close enough to use it, do!                                 2.. Learned this from a tourist guide. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM.  Toss it away from you.... Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION! 3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out  the hole and start waving like crazy.. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. 4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc. DON'T DO THIS!) The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR , LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE.. If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, Repeat: DO NOT DRIVE OFF! Instead gun the engine and speed into anything,   wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it. As soon as the car crashes bail out and run.  This has saved lives. It is better than having them find your body  in a remote location. 5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage: A.) Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor , and in the back seat. B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the  women are attempting to get into their cars. C.) Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side.. If a male is sitting  alone in the seat nearest your car,  you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO  BE SAFE THAN SORRY.  (And better paranoid than dead.) 6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!) 7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you   (a running target) 4 in 100 times; and even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN, Preferably in a zig -zag pattern! 8. As women are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer,   was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked 'for help'   into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim. 9. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night  before last, and she called the police   because it was late and she thought  it was weird.. The police told her 'Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door..' The lady then said that it sounded like  the baby had crawled near a window,   and she was worried that  it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said,  'We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.' He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking  that someone dropped off a baby..  He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women  saying that they hear baby's cries   outside their doors when they're home alone at night. 10. Water scam! If you wake up in the middle of the night to hear all your taps outside  running or what you think is a burst pipe,  DO NOT GO OUT TO INVESTIGATE!  These people turn on all your outside taps full blast so that you will  go out to investigate and then attack. Stay alert, keep safe, and look out for  your neighbors! A candle is not dimmed by lighting  another candle..

Moldova 2011 Memory Part 3...

An acquaintance who has been a missionary in Russia since 1994, shared a statistic today that is both convicting and heart breaking.  She sent an update of progress on the work she does in Russia this morning and included the following information.

"America is far from God!  How did it get this way?  One big reason is that many believers have not been laboring in the “harvest fields”!  Many are not being “salt and light” (living out the Gospel  values) and  have not been sharing the Gospel (explaining the Gospel truths), which is the responsibility and calling of every believer!  II Cor. 5: 15,19-20  The Apostle Paul gives clear instruction in Eph. 4: 10, 11 that those who have the gift of evangelism are to be equipping  the rest of the “Body of Christ” to do evangelism!

"When I was in Germany at our ReachGlobal Missions Conference in August,  I learned a terrible thing!

"In our evangelical churches in America, it takes an average of 165 believers to bring 1 person to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ!  I could not believe it!  I knew it was bad when I left America 16 years ago, because I had been on a National Board that did research... Back then the statistics showed that it took  approximately 100 people to lead one person to Christ.

"In contrast to that, the students who were trained in evangelism in... Kursk and who were committed to obeying God’s Word,  have been leading 1- 3 people to Christ a year! And don’t think it is easier there (in Russia) than here (in the United States)! You have no idea how much more difficult it is to share your faith there!!!!" 

 I share these comments with you because it underscores my own admission in my previous blog.  A relationship with Christ is the answer to all needs in this world.  Why are we - why am I - so reluctant to share this good news with those who don't know this truth?  Why are we reluctant to ask God to use us in his harvest field?  And why are western evangelicals spending so much of their money on their own church needs when there is such GREAT disparity around the world in giving/spending/going.  Just one statistic from World Mission Statistics shows that the following is true for American churches concerning how they allocate the use of their giving:

• 99.9% of Christian income on themselves
• 0.09% on the Evangelized Non-Christian World
• 0.01% on the Unevangelized World

I am grieved to read and contemplate these statistics. But I am also ready to be a person more committed to not being part of these statistics but instead to pray for the courage and focus to be more concerned about the lost world than these statistics indicate is the case in America.

And the story of my experience in Moldova this past August will continue in another post.

Sharing Another's Story...

The Perfect Mistake (don't know who wrote this, but it is great!!)

My mother's father worked as a carpenter.  On this particular day, he was building some crates for the clothes his church was sending to orphanages in China .  On his way home, he reached into his shirt pocket to find his glasses, but they were gone.  When he mentally replayed his earlier actions, he realized what had happened; the glasses had slipped out of his pocket unnoticed and fallen into one of the crates, which he had nailed shut.  His brand new glasses were heading for China !

The Great Depression was at its height and Grandpa had six children.  He had spent $20 for those glasses that very morning. He was upset by the thought of having to buy another pair.  'It's not fair,' he told God as he drove home in frustration.  'I've been very faithful in giving of my time and money to your work, and now this.'

Months later, the director of the orphanage was on furlough in the United States .  He wanted to visit all the churches that supported him in China , so he came to speak one Sunday at my grandfather's small church in Chicago .  The missionary began by thanking the people for their faithfulness in supporting the orphanage.  'But most of all,' he said, 'I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year.  You see, the Communists had just swept through the orphanage, destroying everything, including my glasses.  I was desperate.  Even if I had the money, there was simply no way of replacing those glasses.  Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day, so my coworkers and I were much in prayer about this.  Then your crates arrived.  When my staff removed the covers, they found a pair of glasses lying on top.  The missionary paused long enough to let his words sink in.  Then, still gripped with the wonder of it all, he continued:
'Folks, when I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been custom made just for me! I want to thank you for being a part of that.'

The people listened, happy for the miraculous glasses.  But the missionary surely must have confused their church with another, they thought.  There were no glasses on their list of items to be sent overseas.  But sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, an ordinary carpenter realized the Master Carpenter had used him in an extraordinary way.  There are times we want to blame God instead of thanking him!  I have to remember this in these times of trial with my own family.

May GOD bless your week. Look for the perfect mistakes.

'People are like tea bags- - you have to put them in hot water before you know how strong they are.'

Now 'ain't' that just like God to do something like that???????? 

Peace is not the absence of trouble. Peace is the presence of God.