Walk For Water

3.7 miles or 6 kilometers. 3.7 miles hauling 44-55 pounds, just to fulfill the simple daily need of water. Somthing that is within our reach at the great and unbearable task of turning a faucet. This trip is the average daily task for so many women and children who often make this trip multiple times a day in order to do other simple daily tasks like washing, cooking and drinking. But, we can change that ... You can change that!

This September 19th, at the Parker's Crossroads Battlefield Walking Trail is our annual Walk for Water event, and is open to all who wish to participate in this awesome mission to provide clean water to those in need. You can participate by going and making the walk that morning in a beautiful sight with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and you can also participate with a donation towards the mission if you are unable to attend the walkk in person! Either way you choose to join, you will be working together in an effort that is so greatly needed and so greatly appreciated.

A Bouncy House

The July birthday celebration after services Sunday night I thought was great. Except there was no bouncy house. LOL. That might have been one of the biggest pieces of birthday cake I have ever had. LOL. The room was overflowing to the point I had to sit in the gym, and it was full of activity. I am looking forward to all of these celebrations that the Lord gives us. It was a great opportunity for young and old to fellowship.

Fellowship is such a vital part of a congregation's health. We need to be together so we can laugh together and cry together (Romans 12:15). We need to be together to help bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2). How are we going to do these things unless we are together? Learning about one another and fellowship is a great way to do that. Sometimes I am afraid some in the church are more interested in fellowshipping the world than their brothers and sisters in Christ and then wonder why they feel more connected to the world than the church. I understand we need to be in the world to influence the world for Christ, but some spend most of their time in the world being influenced by it.

I think another important aspect of fellowship involves getting out of our comfort zones and fellowshipping with some we do not know. We need to have a good relationship with some we do not know. We need to have a good relationship with those we like, but we need to reach out to those we might not know. That can be awkward at first, but you never know when you might meet a great friend. That reaching out to others needs to be intergenerational as well. Building those relationships can help us cary out what Titus is talking about in chapter two. How can the older christians help the younger christians if they do not know each other? We tend to want to put ourselves in an echo chamber of our peers. There is great value int he wisdom of those who have lived through life (Proverbs 16:21).

The Greatest Battlefield

When you think of the greatest battlefields our world has ever known, you might think of places like Waterloo, Gettysburg, Normandy, or, close to home, Shiloh. I read a quote by Casey Treat that said, “The greatest battles are fought in the mind.” The more I think about that, I think it is true. Why? Because so often what I think comes out in my life. If I think about food, I usually go get something to eat. If I think about a task I need to do, I try to go do it.

I think this may be what Jesus is discussing in Matthew 5:21-31. Where does murder usually come from? Anger. Where does adultery usually come from? Lust. Those start in the mind. It is not enough to just not do the act, but you must deal with the thoughts. Fight the sin war in your mind before those thoughts become your actions. We need a godly filter in our minds. Just like an oil filter cleans the bad out of the oil, a scripture filter can clean the bad thoughts out of our mind. I have a thought, and I ask myself, “Is this in accordance with the word of God?” If it is, fine, but if not, I need to throw that thought out. I think that is what Philippians 4:8 is discussing. If anything is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

So often our problem comes in our filter. We have a filter not trained by the word of God but by the world. This thought is ok because that is what I want or that is what everyone else is doing. Be careful what you watch, listen to, and who you hang around with because those things can get into your thinking and in turn into your life (Proverbs 4:23). It is like the boat. For it to be successful, it must be in the water but not let the water in it. If we want to glorify God, we must live in the world but not let the world in us.