Mother's Day

This is a view looking down the Pascagoula river bank. Quite serene and peaceful looking, isn't it!

We want to be sure and wish all mothers out there a blessed Mother's Day! Not a single one of us would be here without our mothers!

This morning we went to the church that is still meeting in the tent. They have the foundation ready for the construction of their temporary building to be built upon and hopefully they will be able to get this done soon as to get them out of the weather and the tent. It was quite warm in there this morning even though it was a bit cooler outside. The faithfulness of this congregation is inspiring! Pastor Hart had a really thought provoking message this morning. He asked us to think about why God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus. It wasn't because she was the prettiest girl or the most popular, He chose her because of her dedication to the Lord. She gave herself to God and He knew that. He knew she would raise this child in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. The world today needs women just like Mary, women with backbone who are dedicated to God and live for God! We are too prone to letting society poison us as women and thus spreading this to our children. Staying dedicated to the Lord may cause us to have to "rock the boat" sometimes. We need to stand up for what we believe! Today people are just too "wishy washy" and "church hop", ready to leave the church at most anything.

Character --- we all want it but do we really know what it is? Are we willing to be less concerned about our social status and more concerned with our moral status? This is character. Think of some of the most famous people in history, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King come to mind. We remember them for their character, they stood up for what they believed, no matter what the cost! Food for thought, isn't it!

Pastor also talked about how our character is what makes us stand out from the world. We stand out because we make a difference in this world! We are to let our light shine everywhere we are! If we are not allowed to let our light shine in the environment we are in we need to flee that unholy environment and move on! We are to let nothing stand in our way of what God has intended for us! Nothing and no one! The only way we can show this generation of people that there is a God is through them seeing Him in us! If that cannot happen because of where we are we are instructed to move on!

I would much rather see the label on my tombstone, "Here lies a woman of God" than a long list of things I have done in this world. I'm quite certain that you feel the same, if you know Jesus.

We would like to ask for special prayers for Pastor Hart and his family. As I have said before, they have been in the process, for the past 2 years, of adopting a little girl in Guatamala. She was a newborn when they started this and is now 2. Mrs. Hart is returning to try and finalize the process. The entire family is in need of your prayers and we thank you for them.

This message this morning gave me alot to think about. When God called Monty and I into this disaster relief mission we knew it was to involve much more than coming here and doing construction. That is the easy part. We felt His call, heard His call and knew we HAD to follow. In doing so we also knew there might be some who would not understand why we were doing this and would not understand the "true" call. It really is impossible to explain to someone who does not know God. But it is an awesome way to bring someone to know God. When we answered God's call we knew we would be going out as representatives of our Lord. We are always His representatives but going into this line of work means we have to "let our light shine" even brighter than usual. This is our heart! This is where we know we are meant to be! This is the work He has called us to do! When you are following God's call you just know it, clear through to your soul! For someone to not understand what we are doing and why we are doing it just means that they do not know the Lord! For those who do now know Him, we ask God to bring them to us, bring them to the churches and bring them to the people that they need to be brought to! Be careful if you pray for this as someone just might be brought to you! Be ready, be commited, forget about popularity and think about how Mary answered the call of the angel on her life! She answered with dedication, with commitment and with her heart full of the knowledge of the Lord.

Lord, I ask for that same dedication and commitment that Mary had. We ask that Your light shine through us as we answer the calling you have placed on our lives. Thank you for calling us, thank You for Your promises which lead us daily in this calling!

May God bless each and every one of you. May this message make you take a minute and think, think about Mary and think about God. If you don't know Him, ask Him to come into your heart --- take that first step. He'll guide you the rest of the way and you'll be glad He did!

If you would like to invest more of yourself in our calling you can send your tax deductible gifts to our home church, Vineyard Community Church at PO Box 3277 in Bloomington, Indiana 47402. Thank you because without your support we would not be able to fulfill our calling.

If you think that this blog really didn't say much about what we did today you're so wrong! Go back and read it again and if you still don't get it, read it again. THIS is what we do every day!!! And praise God for it!

Until tomorrow....Happy Mother's Day! Susan and Monty