Mighty To Save

What's yours?

We have a tradition that on the day after Thanksgiving we pile into the car and drive over to Reynolds Farm Equipment in Fishers and check out the Christmas lights.  We stopped for some Starbucks (Kids Cocoa for Cam and apple juice box for Caleb) and then slowly made our way through the lights.   Of course we all had to wear our PJ's, which Caleb and Camden thought was hilarious!

There was a new addition this year that was our favorite:

Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions your family likes to do?  Holli and I are really trying to be intentional about setting some traditions that are kids will look back on some day.

 

I'm declaring bankruptcy today.    Blog reader bankruptcy that is.     I use Google Reader to keep track of blogs I follow and I love it.    However the last 2 months have been insanely busy at work, so I haven't had much time to keep up on my blog reading.    I have 466 unread blog posts.   I'm declaring bankruptcy on them today.     Marking all as "Read".     I'll try to be more diligent going forward.   I finally feel like I'm starting to come up for some air.

If you're in the Indy area and you've ever thought about serving at Brookside, I've got a perfect opportunity for you.   Join us this Sunday Nov 23rd to help prepare and serve a Thanksgiving dinner.    It truely is a great experience and good for kids of all ages.   We'll be there with Camden and Caleb (5 and 2 years old).    They love to help out and help serve. 

Here are some details: 

Dinner is being served immediately following the morning service.  We expect to start serving around 11:45.  Obviously, dinner for such a large group is going to take a lot of preparation.  We will be arriving at Brookside around 8am.  We WELCOME any of you who are willing to come down at that time to help us begin setting up the gymnasium for the meal.  If you can't make it at 8am, just come when you can.

For lunch we'll be serving turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberries, and either cake or pie (we're still working out that detail).  We are going to need assistance in the following areas:

1. Setting up

2. Preparing food

3. Serving food

4. Clearing tables

5. Cleanup

6. Preparing drinks

7. Cutting/serving desserts

We would like to prepare and serve many of these dishes from either crock pots or roasting pans.  If you have either of these that you're willing to lend for the afternoon, we'd really appreciate it.  It will be helpful to keep things warm while they're on the serving line. 

For those of you who have never been to Brookside before, the church is located at 1035 N. Olney St.  There is a parking lot directly across from the church as well as street parking.  If you have any questions or concerns that morning, you can reach me at 513-7070.

Leave me a comment below if you think you want to come, so we can help in planning volunteers and tasks.    It truely is a blessing to serve at Brookside and I really encourage you to come.   It will be a great time. 

I got this email forwarded to me.  I don't know these people, but I thought it was something that should be promoted.  Regardless of your world views, I think this is something that should concern most people.

Here's the text:

This  is a  request for prayer for YWAM (Youth With A Mission) missionaries and  their churches in Orissa,  India.  The  request came from Mable Hurst, an associate of HCJB Global.  Please read and make  this a matter  of urgent prayer.

Dear beloved sponsors and friends of Good News  India.We have never seen anything  like this.  We knew that Orissa was the most resistant and hostile State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned.  And we brushed off the continuous threats and harassment we faced as  we went about His work. But none of  our staff imagined that they would see this kind of carnage.... And it seems  to be totally under the  radar of the Western Media ....

Let me  explain.... A  militant Hindu priest and 4 of his attendants, who were  zealously going  around the villages of Orissa and 'reconverting' people back  to Hinduism, were  gunned down by unknown assailants in Central Orissa  last weekend. Immediately  the Christians  were blamed.. The cry rose up...'Kill the Christians!'  And the  horror began.... In the past 4 days, we have first hand witness to hundreds of  churches being blown up or burned and many, many dozens of Christian  tribals have been slaughtered. For no other reason than they bear the name of  Christ.

Night and day I have been  in touch with our Good News India  Directors spread across 14 Dream Centers in  Orissa... they are right in the middle of all this chaos.  In Tihidi,  just after the police came to offer protection, a  group of 70 blood-thirsty  militants came to kill our staff and destroy the  home.  They were  not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage to our  Dream Center  by throwing rocks and  bricks and smashing our gate, etc.  They  have promised to come  back and 'finish the job.'Our kids and staff are locked  inside and have  stayed that way with doors and windows shut for the past 3  days. It has been a time  of desperately calling on the Lord in prayer.  More  police have come to  offer protection.  In Kalahandi, the police and some local  sympathizers got  to our dream center and gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice  to vacate. No one had time to even grab a change of clothes or any  personal belonging. As they fled,  the blood thirsty mob came to kill   everyone in the building. We would have had a mass funeral there, but for  His grace.

In Phulbani, the mob came looking for Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our neighbors turned them away  by saying that there were no  Christians in this area.  So they  left..  We had favor.The same thing  happened in Balasore.  All our  dream centers are under lock down with the kids and  staff huddled inside and police  outside. The fanatics are circling outside  waiting for a chance to  kill. Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby  Catholic orphanage, the mob  allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a  computer  teacher in house and burned them to death. Many believers have been  killed  and hacked into pieces and left on the road.... even women and   children.

At another orphanage run by another organization, when this began, the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled,  leaving all  the children and staff behind. Every one of our GNI  directors that I have  spoken to said: 'We stay with our kids.... we live together or die together, but  we will never abandon what God has called us to  do.' More than 5000 Christian  families have had their homes burned or  destroyed. They have fled into the  jungles and are living in great fear  waiting  for the authorities to bring about  peace. But so far, no peace is  foreseen. This will continue for another 10  days.... supposedly  the 14 day  mourning period for the slain Hindu priest.  Many more  Christians will die and their houses destroyed. Many more churches  will  be smashed down. The Federal government is trying to restore order and   perhaps things will calm down.

We ask for your prayers. Only the Hand  of God can calm this storm. None of us know the meaning of persecution.  But now our  kids and staff know what that means. So many of our kids  coming from Hindu  backgrounds are confused and totally bewildered at what  is happening around them.  So many of their guardians have fled into  the jungles and are unable to come  and get them during these trying  times.

Through all this, I am more  determined than ever to  continue with our goal: the transformation of a community by  transforming  its children. Orissa will be saved...that is our heart's cry. If  we  can take these thousands of throw-away children and help them to become   disciples of Jesus, they will transform an entire region. It is  a long term  goal, but it is strategic thinking in  terms of the Great Commission.

What can you do?  First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer. Second, pass this e-mail on  to as many friends as you can. We must get the word out and  increase  our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at its most basic meaning.  We are literally fighting the devil in order to live for His Kingdom.   The next 10 days are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across  Orissa.

Thank you for taking the timeread this. Please pass  it on and help  us to get as many people to partner with us on this  cutting edge effort to fulfill His mandate: Go and make disciples of all  nations....

Blessings, Chip  & Sandy Wanner    Col 2:2 MBI  (Team  Facilitators to YWAM frontlines)

 

Thought these were great:

Part 01

Who wants to eat only rice and beans for 7 days straight?   I don’t want to, but I’m choosing to do it.   Holli is going to do it too.  Anyone want to join us?

As part of the Life on Loan campaign, Northview’s West Lafayette campus is doing a 7 day fast where everyone is eating just beans and rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner.   One cup per meal. 

Holli's mom and step-dad attend the West Lafayette campus and were telling us about it.  As I understand it, the idea is two-fold:

1.       Be more externally focused this week as you pray to think about others that are not as fortunate as you.  Many people only get a small amount of beans or rice to live on each day.   Think about this as you eat your meager meals each day.

2.       Take the money you would have spent buying other food and save it to give it away at the end of the week to a hunger-focused mission. 

If there is anything else I’m missing, someone chime in on the comments section below. 

I thought this was a great idea and a great way to sacrifice.   I think it’s going to be hard, but what a way to re-train and re-focus how you think for a week.   

I didn’t hear this publicized too much at the NVCL Carmel campus (maybe I missed it), but I think it’s something very worthwhile.  Come on, who else out there wants to join us in this?  Live Freaky.

 

Holli and I got to go to a pre-screening of Fireproof before it was officially released.     We both thought it was a great movie.  Definitely recommend you go see it now that it's out.

Also, if you're in Indy, check out http://www.fireproofindy.com/. This is a site my company Cylliance donated in conjunction with http://www.marriageministries.net/.  It's all about what's going on around Indy related to Fireproof.  We did all of the design and programming.

Also, if you're in another city and want a Fireproof site branded for your city to promote events, etc, let me know.  We built the site with a structure that would allow us to put any other cities on top of it.  Think FireproofLA.com or FireproofChicago.com, etc....

 

On October 11, Manny Ohonme, founder of Samaritan's Feet, will begin his walk from Charlotte to Atlanta. He will walk these 300-miles barefoot so the 300 million children who face each day without shoes will soon have a chance for something much greater. Donate to support Manny's mission.   Learn More > What is Samaritan's Feet? Donate Now Join a Walk

For about the past month or so I've been thinking a lot about what photo sharing site to use to post family pictures.   I've considered flickr, snapfish, shutterfly and some others, but I finally settled on using the photo application in Facebook.  We have a ton of pictures I need to do something with.

I guess Facebook's photo app is pretty basic, but it's easy to use and I love how it integrates into my Facebook account.

I added a couple photo albums and I'll be adding more in the future.

Here's the catch though -->  You have to be my "friend" to see the photos.   I didn't want the world looking at our photos.  so...want to be my friend?   It's easy to sign up, you can view my profile here and register for free and add me as a friend.   If I don't see your friend request come through, then I know you're not interested in seeing pictures of our marvelous boys :)

Bill's Facebook profile

Sue & Steve's Wedding Album

Our day at the Indiana State Fair Album

As I add more photos, I'll update the blog to keep you posted.

What about you?  What photo sharing site are you using?   Any better recommendations?