Friday Eve

Today's Psalm - 39 which begins:

I said, "I will watch my ways
and keep my tongue from sin;
I will put a muzzle on my mouth
as long as the wicked are in my presence."

Timely and appropriate for some recent interpersonal dealings. I am starting each day with a Psalm. I read it outloud to the fuzzies. It's good bonding time and a good way to get my head in gear for the adventures of the day.

Last night's Alpha was neat. It was about why Jesus died. Lee played excerpts from The Passion. And then he gave a scripture and pointed out a verse which added to my continuing clarification of just what the cross is really about. He quoted Hebrews 12:2...

2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

As soon as he read it, tears came to my eyes because I internalized what it is saying...The "joy set before him"...What got Jesus through to the end of all of His suffering was ME...Knowing that to endure would mean the joy of securing my freedom and reconciliation with God...Having me walk with Him is a joy worth suffering and dying for. That is how much He loves each and every person. As Tim taught - There isn't a person I lock eyes with that Jesus didn't die for. His death and resurrection also ended the sacrificial system in general. No more lambs and birds and goats need die for the wrongs of people. It was the beginning of the end so to speak. Now we live in the in between time where God needs all of His children who are willing to help find and bring lost kids home to him....So that when it's time to restore things to how He intended, He'd have all of us with Him to bask in His glory, enjoy His company and all that He created for us. 35 years knowing God loves me and that Jesus was the way, but just now truly understanding what it's all about.

Talk about a big Dan "Wow"!!

H.

The dailies

Since I am living a day at a time now, I want to try to keep up with some sort of daily wrap up...or at least weekly...Or monthly...or something...You know how these things go.

It was indeed God's voice that whispered to me when I was running errands a couple of weeks ago. I was worried about finding a job and thinking that while I really desired my job with the county back I believed it was time for me to realize that at least for this year, that would not be a possibility. Then I heard/sensed/felt the words (dunno if it's really audible, but God does communicate with me in words).."You don't think that I would answer you when you told that mountain to move?" (earlier in the summer I acted on Jesus' mustard seed promise - that with just faith that small you can tell a mountain to move and it will - and I stood at the mountain of "the county powers that be" and told it "Move"). I wasn't sure if what I heard was really Him or if it was just my own wishful thinking. I'm still learning to distinguish between the two. So I tucked it away and kept it close. Last week I got a call from CBS temp service for a 3 week position in the mail room (woohoo!) at the Health Alliance. F/T. $9/hr. I took it happily and started last Monday. Then I got a call that Wednesday from Sandy. They needed a sub in Angela's room because the chick that got my job was taking family leave. Oh, the timing! I started to fret and stew but Denny reminded me I was living ODAAT and that I should just ask Earl - the mailroom manager - if I could go to P/T...And guess what! He said that would work. It meant not being able to take the continued temp position after October 6th that I had been offered, but he understood that I was going back to my previous position and making twice the $$.

So, as it stands I am working half a day at Whitaker and half in the mailroom. Earl assured me I was not burning bridges with them. He and the others on staff like me and the fact that I actually work...Apparently they have trouble finding people who do so... ???...They are off the hook in that place. It has been fun.

It's just awesome that prayers have been answered...So many people have been praying specifically for this...And even if just for a minute, God said "Yes, my child.".... :) :) :) And looking back, the way none of the other jobs worked out, it's just like a whole string of God's hand at work...And all I had to do was trust Him that whatever happened, it would be OK. It's amazing to live this way!

Thank you, Jesus!

H.

Barlow Girl and World Vision Night

On Friday I volunteered with World Vision at the Barlow Girl/Matthew West/Down Here concert. I wasn't really up for going since I had to be up early to head up to Cleveland to the Yankee Peddler Fest (which was a groovin' time! Thanks, Shari and fam!). I decided to go since I missed BG last time they were here. Volunteers needed to be there an hour before the show to get our bearings. The Underground is a big standing-room only club. All the merchandise tables and the World Vision tables are stationed around the perimeter of the audience area. were were standing outside the WV booth with Erin, the volunteer coordinator (who is married to the drummer in Down Here) and a guy came over and stood next to me. He said "Are these our World Vision volunteers?" Erin said "Yes"...The guy said "You guys are awesome for doing this" then he turned to me and extended his hand and said "I'm Matthew West". Trying to hide being caught off guard (I had only heard Matthew West's voice prior to that moment) I smiled, shook his hand and introduced myself. He went around and shook hands with all the other people and then thanked us again. Later he and the Barlow Girls and Down Here were milling around in front of Down Here's merchandise table so I went over and asked if I could get a picture. They were all happy to do that. One of the girls even said 'Hey! It's our first group shot from our tour!" It turns out that the show Friday was the kick off to their "Don't Conform" tour - Barlow Girl's first headlining tour. Woohoo. :) The rest of the night was fabulous. I met some other really cool folks. Me and another lady, Kim, hit it off right away talking about God's fabulousness and our World Vision kids. She goes to Crossroads. They travel all the way from Batavia to go there.

Just before the concert started there was a screen above the stage that had text messages coming in...You could send a text message to a number they gave and it would show up. I sent 2 - one said "Give God the Glory - We are never alone" and the other said "Support World Vision - Kim and Helen"...What topped it all was when one of the other volunteers said he couldn't think of anything to text but then he sent one that said "Jennifer (random name he picked) - GOD wants you to sponsor a World Vision child!"...We joked that at intermission we'd have a wave of Jennifers feeling convicted and wanting to sponsor kids.

The concert was awesome. Down Here is really good. I was not that familiar with them. They started off with "We will rock you"...And the lead singer actually does sound like Freddy Mercury. And he sorta looks like him too...But I think he looks more like Donny Osmond.
Matthew West was fabulous and so was Barlow Girl. At intermission 3 of us got to go onstage to hand out sponsorship packets to the folks in the front who didn't want to leave their prime spots by the stage. We were trying to get through the crowd but they were packed in like sardines so I asked Vince Barlow (manager and dad to the girls) if we could go up on stage to hand them out. He told us that would be fine. The packets we gave out were not individual kids, but a new campaign that Barlow Girl supports called PREY. It is aimed at rescuing kids in Cambodia from the sex trade and other abusive situations. They have a place they can go to find love, be introduced to God, get support, education, and if possible, be reunited with their families.

The night ended with NEVER ALONE and one other song. woohoo! It was a gorgeous night out so they had their Meet-n-Greet outside. I didn't stay around long because I had a long day ahead of me, but I did find gasoline for $1.99 a gallon! YAY!!!!!!!!!

Today only...

the addictions training class that we went through for the Growth and Healing ministry we are launching at VWS was a great experience. Linda had us work through some of the steps to give is a taste of what recovering addicts go through on their healing journies. Reading through the AA "Big Book" and working through first 4 steps revealed to me that Gerald Mann was right when he said "Alcoholics Anonymous" is the Gospel in Drag. It totally is...The precepts and principals are identical to Jesus' teachings on right living...Putting God and others first, giving God our junk, serving others, and living one day at a time...It's all there. It also taught me that I was on the right track when I was a teetotaler between the ages 15 and 33...Not that I believe drinking is bad, but because when I look at the traits and family history of the typical alcoholic, I see a lot of similarities in myself. In a lot of ways, before I became healthier and stable with meds, I manifested traits common to active alcoholics or "dry drunks" (people who quit drinking but have not taken the steps necessary to improve their relationship with God and become helathy). So, while I recently began allowing myself to have a glass of wine or shot of jager, I have decided to go back to my teetotaler days. Frankly it's just not worth finding out if I am right or wrong in my assessment here. Ya know what I mean? :)

I am looking forward to being part of the development of the Growth and Healing ministry! It will be an exciting journey! God rocks!