Soul Care

Recently Keegan wrote his doctoral dissertation on soul care. Sounds simple, doesn't it? I learned so much reading his paper and now I am going back to read some of the books that he read in preparation for writing his paper. Soul care seems to be counter cultural to the US lifestyle because you have to actually stop, look, listen (sounds like crossing the street, doesn't it?) to God. Since most of us here in this country drive rapidly every where and rarely walk to our destinations (and live our lives in like speed), we seldom walk across streets and may have forgotten those three basic rules. It's true in our spiritual lives as well. Let me share some thought provoking quotes about soul care:

The meaning of earthly existence is not, as we have grown used to thinking, in prosperity, but in the development of the soul. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

...the great malady of this time in Western history is the "loss of soul." Without soul, we base our lives on doing, getting, achieving, and performing. When soul is neglected, it doesn't just go away; it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence and loss of meaning. Thomas Moore

Forfeiting the soul looks from the inside like lingering emptiness, purposelessness, and futility. Looking at these prospects, we need to ask, "What am I losing by all of the gaining I am doing?" Soul care integrates all of a person, beginning with the inner being. Only God can peer into a soul to see perfectly what we cannot see. He says, " I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind" (Jer. 17:10a). Deep inside are desires, passions, longings, regrets, motives, and intuitions about God, family, work and other dimensions of life. All is revealed to him. Stephen W. Smith

Keegan would love to take his doctoral work and put feet to the work. He developed a conference on soul care as part of the paper and that is his passion. I pray God will provide the opportunity for him. All of us could benefit by learning more of soul care.

Breathing Grace

I saw this prayer today in a blog written by Peacemakers. The author is TaraBarthel. I thought it was a great way to start my day and I wanted to share it with you:

"Peacemakers are people who breathe grace," Ken reminds us. The peace of God transcends all understanding and it fills their hearts like fountains bubbling over with mercy, kindness, genuine care, and abiding love. They are so filled with God's grace that they splash it onto everyone around them. They could no more stop breathing grace than a person could stop breathing air-because grace is the air that they breathe. Their prayers sound something like this:
• Breathing grace in: The one true holy God sent his Son to die for me? I am saved from hell, from my sin; justified before this holy God; forgiven and adopted? What wondrous love is this! Thank you, God. Thank you for forgiving me all my sins and making the way for me to be at peace with you. I worship You!
• Breathing grace out: And now, dear Lord, as I head into my day-let the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ be the heartbeat of my life. Please, God, let every word I say, every action I take, the attitude of my heart, my desires and inclinations-let my life be used by You, for Your glory and the furtherance of Your Kingdom. Please help me to treat others not as they deserve-but as You treat me. May I be your image-bearer, your representative, your ambassador. Thank You, Lord.

Blessings

Yes, I know it's been quite a while since I last updated. There are no real excuses that would cover such a lengthy absence, and I won't bore you with any attempts. Even today I must be brief, but I want to share how good God has been lately.

Keegan did so well on his defense of his doctoral thesis, and I am so proud of him. He worked so hard on those 258 pages! Now we have to make all the formatting and content corrections and get the final copy returned by the 17th of November. That happening as it should, Keegan would officially graduate in December but wouldn't walk in a ceremony until June in Boston. Now Keegan is waiting on the Lord to show him just how He wants Keegan to use what's been given to him. We have many ideas and dreams, but we want only His dreams and ideas for us.

Bethany and Phillip sold their home here in Dallas in 10 days in September! To help them save money for this next year of internships and moving to three places, they are living with us. God gave us this big house to use and we are thrilled that we have the room and the physical set up to make it a good situation having them with us. Phillip continues to excel in school and loves practicing what he learns on us.

Erin got a new job at a large church in the area and loves it like no other! It employs all her talents and gifts and is teaching her so much. She works with a wonderful group of people who are strong Christians. Bryce also was blessed that he was not included in the large group of layoffs there at Time Warner this last month. He continues to do well in his manager's job there and is set to get some extra training this early spring that will enhance his abilities.

Holly and Greg continue to chase the 4 active little ones. Kylee and Ashlynn are now walking and there's no stopping them! Even Connor and Alyssa can't seem to keep up with them. Alyssa got her first stitches last month when she took a face dive off her chest of drawers, but the wound has healed well. Holly and Greg have been working on remodeling their kitchen to make more eating room and the end is in sight. If you want to keep up with this bunch (or any of our kids) check out their personal blogs. You'll find them listed here on this site. Just click on them and it will take you right there.

I am waiting on the Lord for some new direction. It looks like He is giving me some, but I don't want to be premature sharing those yet. Watch the next posting for updates.

God HAS BEEN good to us in this last month, but then that's not new. He's always good to us. May you find the blessings in your life today and rejoice in Him who bestows them.

Just a Thought for Today

"To pray is to grasp heaven in one's arms, to embrace the Deity within one's soul and to feel one's body made a temple of the Holy Spirit."

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Tricia Rhodes writes, "The most profound privilege of a prayerful life is not in getting answers to prayer--as amazing as that can be--but through the intimacy we experience with the Lord of the universe, who delights to share the secrets of His heart with us".

We need to Intercede for the US as Moses did for Jerusalem

A Prayer of Daniel for God’s People

(Daniel 9:4-19 NLT)

O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and keep your commands. But we have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations. We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, who spoke your messages to our kings and princes and ancestors and to all the people of the land.

Lord, you are in the right; but our faces are covered with shame, just as you see us now. This is true of us all, including the people of Judah and Jerusalem and all Israel, scattered near and far, wherever you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you. O Lord, we and our kinds, princes and ancestors are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. We have not obeyed the Lord our God, for we have not followed the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has disobeyed your law and turned away, refusing to listen to your voice.

So now the solemn curses and judgments written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out against us because of our sin. You have done exactly what you warned you would do against us and our rulers. Never in all history has there been a disaster like the one that happened in Jerusalem. Every curse written against us in the law of Moses has come true. All the troubles he predicted have taken place. But we have refused to seek mercy from the Lord our God by turning from our sins and recognizing his truth. The Lord has brought against us the disaster he prepared, for we did not obey him, and the Lord our God is just in everything he does.

O Lord our God, you brought lasting honor to your name by rescuing your people from Egypt in a great display of power. But we have sinned and are full of wickedness. In view of all your faithful mercies, Lord, please turn your furious anger away from your city of Jerusalem, your holy mountain. All the neighboring nations mock Jerusalem and your people because of our sins and the sins of our ancestors.

O our God, hear your servant’s prayer! Listen as I plead. For your own sake, Lord, smile again on your desolate sanctuary.

O my God, listen to me and hear my request. Open your eyes and see our wretchedness. See how your city lies in ruins—for everyone knows that it is yours. We do not ask because we deserve help, but because you are so merciful.

O Lord, hear. O lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act! For your own sake, O my God do not delay, for your people and your city bear your name.

Praying for the November Elections

My niece forwarded this to me in an email and I thought it so good that I want to share it. I don't have the source or I would give credit to someone else. These are definitely turbulent and critical times in our nation and prayer will be our greatest strength. Below is a prayer guide to use each week until the election in November.

09/05 - 09/11 Psalm 125 - Pray that those who trust in the Lord will not be shaken. 09/12 - 09/18 Psalm 86:14-17 - Pray that the Lord would defeat those who have no regard for Him in this election. 09/19 - 09/252 Cor. 12:9 - Pray that the Lord would empower and enable his man in any area of weakness. 09/26 - 10/02 II Kings 13:16 - Pray that the Lord would put His hands on the man of His choice for president (and his team) and guide them in this election. 10/03 - 10/09 Proverbs 1:5-6 - Pray that God's man will listen with discernment, add to his knowledge, and receive wise counsel in this campaign. 10/10- 10/16 John 16:33 - Pray that the man of God's choice would be given wisdom and ability from the Lord to overcome any obstacle or difficulty during this campaign. 10/17- 10/23 Acts 17:30 - Pray for repentance for yourself and for our nation. 10/24-10/30 Luke 12:54-57 - Pray that God's man and our nation will be discerning and do what is right. 10/31- 11/06 Phil. 4:13 - Pray that the Lord's choice for President will have special strength and unusual ability from God. 11/07-11/11 Habakkuk 1:5 and 3:2 - Pray that the Lord would do something that would utterly amaze us and give His servant victory. During the days of Nov. 7 - 11, be encouraged to set aside a time of fasting during these days to commit this election to the Lord in whom we put our trust. Acts 14:23. Remember 2 Chronicle 7:14: 'If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.'

Meet Fritz

Meet Fritz. He joined our family on Tuesday August 25th. Many of you may remember we had to put our old friend Bubba to sleep last spring when he developed cancer. In the last two months or so we had started the search for a new friend to join us. We made some quick decisions: no puppy, have short hair that didn't need grooming, not a yapper, loves people and kids, and yet offers protection, and last, be smart. As you can see we weren't going to accept just any dog. Our first inclination was to rescue a dog from an agency. We narrowed our breeds down to a couple and then searched for local rescues for the breeds. Boy, did we have a lot to learn! One, we found out it was very expensive, and two, we found we wouldn't qualify because we wouldn't promise to keep the dog indoor all the time and not crated for more than 4 hours. Applications and home visits were a part of the process and there were even more requirements. We decided that was not the route for us after several weeks of trying to adopt.
Our next plan was visiting shelters in our area. Once again, we found out we had a lot to learn. There are good shelters and bad shelters. There is nothing you can really learn about the dogs in the shelters unless they were relinguished there by an owner, and most shelter dogs are just strays. I did a lot of looking and saw numerous dogs that made me cry, but none seemed to be the one. The next place to look was the paper and Craig's List. Let me just say, there are some crazy folks out there when it comes to pets! Again we looked and couldn't find what seemed the perfect match for us.
Well, I think God thought I was spending too much time and energy looking for a dog, and He stepped in and took care of the situation. On the fateful Tuesday morning of the 26th, I was driving to work and praying about the family when I looked ahead and saw what looked like a beautiful brown dog standing by the road which runs by the railroad track close to our house. I blinked and he was gone. When I pulled up to the stop sign I peered out the passenger side window and saw the most beautiful head with the saddest brown eyes starring at me. I opened the side door and motioned the dog to get in. I figured he was hurt and I wanted to see how badly. Well, after a moment or two the is sad dog unfolded some very long legs and painfully crawled into the car.

He curled up in a tight ball and just sighed. He had road burns from being hit and his hips seemed very tender. I took him home and looked him over and he just stared at me with those sad eyes. I don't know why, but I decided there and then that this mangy, hurt dog was home. We have since taken Fritz to the vet and gotten him started on cures for all that ails him. No broken bones were found and now he's fully mobile. He's being dipped for the mange and the worms were treated. He is growing more beautiful every day!

You may wonder why the name Fritz. It seems my found companion is full breed German short hair pointer, with docked tail and webbed feet. He's considered liver colored, not chocolate like a lab. He fits almost all of our requirements that we had wanted in a dog, but we're still waiting to see if some will still show up. He had a microchip that showed he originally came from California, but the owner never registered it and there's no way to trace it. He's ours, and we are his already. I'll post more pictures later when his coat has returned to it's healthy state.

If you know anything about this breed or just love dogs, drop us an email. We'd love to hear from you.

Envious

I have to be honest with you this morning. I am envious, if not even jealous (yes, I know it's a sin and and I am working on it.). Let me tell you why and then you will understand. Keegan's brother in law Jim just got back from a medical mission trip to Ghana. He leads a team there every six months and also leads teams to Mexico. Every time he comes back and shares what God did on the trip, I just wish I could have been a part of it. The pictures of the people, well and ill, and the testimonies of what God did makes my nursing heart wish I could have been there and have been used by God in such a way. I am so thrilled for Jim and how God uses him in this endeavor. He gives so sacrificially to serve God in this way using his talents, gifts, time, and money. God is blessing this ministry by providing so many materials for them to take each time and sending more team members on each trip. It is so exciting to see God work, and although I don't get to go, I do get to be a part of the team by praying.

Jim and Pat

The other thing that makes me feel envious this morning, is that Keegan's sister Pat just got back from a trip to Israel. She and a team are putting together a house in Jerusalem for interactive prayer. Pat and the team have become very active in creating interactive rooms for prayer in their church and other sites. They came to the attention of the International Mission Board who asked them to turn this old house that the IMB has had for years into a sanctuary for prayer. Pat and the team have made several trips there to get the house ready to open. This trip finished most of the indoor project and although she has only been home 48 hours, she has gotten reports of people from all walks and faiths entering there to find sanctuary. WOW! My heart just trembles with excitement to think what God will do with such a place in His holy city that is so war torn and so lost. Like Jim, Pat give so sacrificially to be used by God in this endeavor. I wish I had her pictures here to show you so you could see the transformation and the work that has gone into this transformation. Again, I had to remind myself that I was a part of that ministry-I had the privilege to pray for them.

Having both Pat and Jim over last night really raised my "green" level as they shared how God has led them to serve and what He is doing through their ministries. It caused me to go God again this morning, and ask forgiveness for the green, but to also be reminded that He has a plan for my life and my ministry. I am at a point of change and transition and I am waiting for His leading. It's not easy for me to wait and I think that's why my green level rose so high so quickly. Please pray for Pat and Jim and their respective ministries as they will both be returning to Israel and Ghana again. Pray for me as I wait to see what is my Ghana and Israel, and that I would be patient for the Lord.

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going to work and walking around life--place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you and quickly respond to it. "

Romans 12: 1-2 The Message

Family Vacation

Gigi, Alyssa, Pops, and Connor
Eight adults and four children 4 years and under. Twelve bunk beds in one room with the kitchen at one end and two bathrooms at the other. Early to bed and early risers competing with late to bed and late risers.

Alyssa and her look alike Kendra
Introverts and extroverts. Noisy and very loud, and babies trying to sleep. Sandwiches and quick meals, and always the snacks in between.

Erin and Bethany chilling by the river
Schlitterbahn Water Park days and lazy river float days. Some who love the water and some who don't like it at all. Some love the river and some are afraid of snakes and gush muddy river bottoms. Hot sun and heat outside and cool air conditioning inside (too cool for some).

The Girls--Bethany, Terry, Holly, and Erin
Shopping at the outlet malls nearby and shopping at the outlet malls. Runs to Walmart for the forgotten items and for more food. Laughter, talk, laughter, and more talk. Photos, photos, photos.

The Family
That pretty much describes our family's vacation this year to New Braunsfel, Texas. It was wonderful! We are truly blessed because we love to be together and share such times like this vacation.

Just Have to Share These

Holly's friend Teri Cepecia has done it again. Below are pictures she took of Connor and Alyssa and they as soooooooo good that I just have to share them. Teri is not a professional photographer, but a very gifted hobbyist. Usually Holly uses Penney's Photo Studio, but they have never captured the children in the camera lens like Teri has in these photos. Enjoy.

Connor

Isn't this just a great picture? It's taken outdoors in Teri's yard.

Miss Alyssa Grace