"Well Done" - Pabama Theme Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu1VwK0fY9g

Election season . . .

Election season, the press coverage, the conversations, the heated debates, the passionate views, the time spent, the money spent . . . .

I was reading the Heidelberg Catechism this AM ...

Q. 104. What does God require in the fifth commandment?
A. That I show all honour, love and fidelity, to my father and mother, and all in authority over me, and submit myself to their good instruction and correction, with due obedience;(a) and also patiently bear with their

DIE to LIVE

^{Simple truth from God's word...
LUKE 9:23-24
23} Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

So... I guess God is in control...

So... I guess God IS in control....

Look at the picture above and you can see where this driver broke through the guard-rail on the right side of the culvert, where the people are standing on the road, pointing.  The pick-up was travelling about 75 mph

Numbed

The way to render a man happy, is to engage him with an object that will make him forget his private troubles. - Pascal

Don't be fooled by the apparent innocence of the object you've chosen as an idol; what is the function of it? Most of our idols also have a perfectly legitimate place in our lives. That's their cover, that's how we get away with our infidelity. The prophet Isaiah gives an example of this when he marvels at a man who cuts down a tree in the forest, and then puts it to two very different uses:

Half of the wood he burns in the fire;

Great night! Great Knights!

I will let the picture do most of the talking.  But our high school group did some Pabamaing to a single mom in town that needed to see God's love in action.  God is good!

Loud and Clear - Goddogs!

Did anyone else hear Pastor Bruce yelling today?  During the sermon, he made the point that the Grand Haven area has not changed in the past 10 years.  In 2000, 35% of people in the area are part of a church family, and in 2010, it remained 35%.  When I heard that, I felt like he was shouting "More Pabama!"
 Ok, God, you have my attention.

On our GoddoG outing a few weekends ago, I really felt like we were doing the right thing - giving away food to a group of people that really need to feel God's love, even if we did not verbalize it. So I am pumped up for round 2.

Who is in?

Walk Your Faith

Please lift up the teens of Pabama Jr..  OK, they might not all know what Pabama is, but they are going to be practicing it.  Tonight is the first "Walk Your Faith" night for our high school youth group, called "The Walk". Once a month, we are going to gather on a Sunday evening, such as tonight, have some devotions time, relative to serving, and hit the streets, Pabama-style!  I am not sure what tonight's activities are, but ideas included a grocery ding-dong-ditch, helping people move, getting things for Love Inc, etc.  This kind of stuff sound familiar?

Sprinkled into the group are some of our very own knights (DJ Dusty, Black Thunder, and Koosh).  I have challenged them to really be the leaders of this.  So pray for them specifically, as well as the whole group, that the feeling of showing God's love through serving others will energize them in ways that they don't experience elsewhere.

To hell with the devil and to God be the GLORY!  Pabama!

Pabama Adventure - June 2013 - Part 4

On Track!

What if every driver decided to ignore the center yellow lines? Smash-ups would rival apocalyptic visions. Those colored splotches in the roadway keep us on track. They keep us safe.

In our spiritual journey, praise and thanksgiving are like a yellow line, keeping our hearts on track. But it doesn’t take much to veer off course, does it? Think about the Levites. They were set apart to offer thanks and praise to God every morning and every night, day in and day out, in a never-ending cycle (see 1 Chronicles 23:30). It was their job. Forced “thank yous.” Praise, praise, praise.

Imagine the temptations inherent in this routine. Did easy-to-repeat prayers take the place of petitions motivated by full hearts and genuine gratitude? Did their minds wander as the words bubbled out? “Hear me, O God. Here we go again.”

We’ve all heard of the doctor who’s in terrible physical condition or the plumber whose house has leaky pipes. When you do something for a living, as these people do, it’s sometimes hard to stay motivated to keep your own life in order. This is what it may have been like for the Levites as well.

Praise and thanks are key ingredients in a healthy relationship with God. We need them as much as we need fresh air. Praise isn’t just an outward gesture; it reveals what’s inside us—the attitude we have toward God. When we offer meaningful thanks, we acknowledge that God’s goodness deserves our recognition and awe. Every gift comes from his hand. Nothing we’ve done grants us the sun’s bright rising or peaceful slumber at night—it all comes from God’s good hand.

How do we make our delight in God genuine and true every day? Unlike the Levites, God doesn’t demand that we follow certain daily requirements. Maybe that makes the routine more difficult. We are responsible for taking the time to bow before him and offer our praise and thanks.

When we skip this routine, we become like those drivers who disregard the center line—a potential accident waiting to happen. But when we take the time to regularly focus on and praise the God who loves us, he helps us to stay on track.

Too Busy?.... Part 2

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.

In his opening address he said,

"We can't keep Christians from going to church."
"We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth."
"We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their savior."

"Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken."
"So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.."

"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:

Pabama! Adventure - June 2013 - Part 3

'You underestimate yourself'
'A simple choice, really, get busy living, or get busy dying.'





Our Greatest Fear —Marianne Williamson

St. Augustine

"We offer to him, on the altar of the heart, the sacrifice of humility & praise, and the flame on the altar is the burning fire of charity."

   - From "City of God" by Saint Augustine

Report - September Pabama! run

Everyone:

The September Pabama! run recap:
- A woman, E, very recently recognized a need to turn her life around.  Wonderfully, she was able to move into a local 'shelter' just before our run.
- Drop:  Since 9 men coming to a woman's shelter at night did not seem appropriate, we gathered the loot* and gave it to Herm.  Herm & Rodney dropped it off the next day, were able to meet some ladies, and learned that E had a great lead on a job, one of the things we prayed for.
- *Loot = Harbor Transit cards, gift cards, vase w/

Are you too busy for God..

I read this after I got home from the last kid pickup from activities at 9:05PM and realized that my family spends little to no time together anymore. When we do everyone has an ipod,ipad,computer,television or pile of homework that they are rushing to get done before bedtime... What am I teaching them? How about you?

How often do you ask someone "How have you been?" and get the reply, "Oh, I've been so busy"? I hear it all the time.

Recently I began watching what people are being kept busy with. Our children are being raised by TV and video games and the internet, involved in a deluge of sports and classes of every kind, or hanging around in the malls or on the street. Adults are away from home, working to pay for all of the necessities and luxuries we

To believe is easy . . .

Posted on behalf of Noonan.

It is only as we submit our spiritual practices, religious rituals, and dogmatic affirmations to the flames of fearless interrogation that we come into contact with the reality that Christianity is in the business of transforming our world rather than offering a way of interpreting or escaping it. Belief in the Resurrection means but one thing: Participation in an Insurrection.

To believe is easy. You can fill stadiums with people wanting to believe, either to solidify what they already think or to grasp hold of something because they feel cast adrift and lost at sea.

To doubt, to interrogate your fear, to really question what you believe, that’s difficult. It’s difficult because

Honduras #2 - "La Union"

Well, it has been a little while since I last posted on the first part of the Honduras trip - mainly because I lost the flash drive where I have my pictures.  Luckily, I have some on Facebook that I can still use.

After the 4 1/2 hour bus ride, we arrived at the beautiful compound in the middle of La Union.  However, it was dark, so we could not see much.  That made the next morning quite glorious.  What a great way to wake up!

Basketball / soccer courts in the compound were kept busy by both our kids and many kids from the village.  For the record, Hondurans are VERY good at soccer.  About 6 10-15 year olds whipped our high schoolers 12-0 in about 10 minutes.


A very nice, green area in the mountains.  You can see the dorms where the kids slept to the right in this picture.  Very accommodating!




  Loved the scenery.  God's creation is unbelievable!





Right outside the compound, however, life was a little different.   The roads were not the quality we enjoy in the U.S.  The brown building in the picture was a little store, where we bought the best Coca-Colas ever.  We did avoid the hanging chickens, however.

Our kids did a great job of bonding with the children of the village.  They had a Bible school going on in the compound, and our kids had some crafts that we had brought along for the children.  Just like seagulls at the beach, the children flocked around our kids when they opened their bags.  Great memories.

The first house that I installed a water filter in (in the middle of the picture).  Others took pictures of the people too, but I didn't get many, unfortunately.  However, I did write down their stories, and will always remember fondly the tearful reactions to our kindness.  To God be the glory!

A view from the second house we put a filter in.  Incredible.  No words can describe the view.  We also spent some time moving dirt at the private Vida Abundante school.  They are adding on a classroom for their 11th graders.  I took this picture to show my 6th grade students how lucky they are.  I have a feeling it will not impact them the same way it did me.
Anyone recognize these 2?  Pabama Knights worldwide.
The 2 guys on the ground in Honduras.  They are actually paid employees who will continue to run the day-to-day operations of the water filters in La Union.  Ellan, on the right, was the go-to guy I got to know quite well.  And, by the miracle of Facebook, has let me know that things continue to go well down there.  They have installed nearly 150 filters, and are loving it.

I will update again on the trip to Tegucigalpa, where radical relationships were formed.  But for now, I will leave you with a challenge:  Honduras August 2013.  Pray about it!

Who said it?

"You and I can choose to continue with business as usual in the Christian life and in the church as a whole, enjoying success based in the standards defined by the culture around us.  Or we can take an honest look at the Jesus of the Bible and dare to ask what the consequences might be if we really believed Him and obeyed Him."

Tears: True Holy Water

“Oye: Agua santa can come from our eyes.” (“Listen: Holy water can come from our eyes.”) This line that comes from a poem called, “Llantos de la Llarona,” by the American poet Pat Mora, struck me as a theological wisdom when I read it.

Science has discovered that the chemical make-up of tears is different, depending on the reasons behind them. In other words, tears are not just salty water coming from our eyes in various positive, or negative emotional moments. The tears of anger have a different chemical make-up from those of joy, or those of sorrow.

I wrote about laughter a few days ago and it strikes me that writing about tears is an appropriate follow-up

Hedging Our Bets

So long as we imagine it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart. But it is the other way about-He is looking for us. - Simon Tugwell

Can it possibly get any more uncertain than this? We so long for life to be better than it is. We wish the beauty and love and adventure would stay and that someone strong and kind would show us how to make the Arrows go away. We hope that God will be our hero. Of all the people in the universe, he could stop the Arrows and arrange for just a little more blessing in our lives. He can spin the earth, change the weather,

Pabama Adventure - June 2013 - Part 2

This is for Walker, who thinks a little guy 'who runs next to the pier' can't handle the next Pabama Adventure.

Faith is More Than Believing: Take the Next Step

Faith is More Than Believing: Take the Next Step
by Rick Warren


“And Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.” (Mark 10:52 NASB)
 I don’t know what step you need to take next, but I do know that you need to take it. For some of you, the next step is to accept Jesus Christ into your life. For others, it may be to be baptized. Maybe you need to join a church, get into a small group, tithe, find a ministry, go on a mission trip, or invite a friend to church. I don’t know what your next step is, but I do know this: You have one. God will never be finished taking you deeper in faith. There is always a next step.
 If you don’t take the next step, you’re going to get stuck in a rut — and the only difference between a grave

Get ready baby! - June 2013

Just a little something to get you excited:
- I understand that the next Pabama Adventure is not a race, but a challenge.
- I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time.
- I do not whine - kids whine.
- I help my fellow Knights complete the course!
- I OVERCOME ALL FEARS (Even mud, Clausing)

Pabama!!!!

a private "fig tree" life....

Oswald Chambers was powerful to me today.. So I can't help but share..
What does your personal relationship of worshipping God look like?
I know that mine has been weak. "No time for prayer or bible study"... Whatever!!
Time to get some nuts!

When you were under the fig tree, I saw you —John 1:48

Jesus Says Seize the Moment

This spoke to me today.... How about you?

Jesus Says Seize the Moment

by Rick Warren

“Jesus said, ‘No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God's kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.’” (Luke 9:62 MSG)

In Mark 10, a huge crowd was following Jesus as he left Jericho. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
When Bartimaeus got up that morning, he had no idea that Jesus Christ was going to be passing by him that day. He thought it was just another ordinary day: same place, same cry for help, same miserable, lonely, pitiful lifestyle. He had no time to prepare for Jesus; it was just an opportunity that was dropped in his lap. He had to seize the moment.

Sheep among wolves...

Kenny Luck, Founder, Every Man Ministries-

The whole time the disciples traveled with Jesus they were learning the art of war, how to advance the Kingdom amidst hostile men of all persuasions—religious, political, cultural, and Satanic. He was showing them how a compassionate God-man fights during his time on earth: teaching, preaching, healing, feeling compassion, and boldly liberating those who were held captive and controlled by the god of this world and sin. But now their residency was coming to an end. The season of selection, association, and demonstration was giving way to the next phase: delegation and supervision. He looked at them and said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out more workers into his harvest field,” (Matthew 9:37 NIV).
Their “mission briefing” called by the Master Instructor went exactly like this: He called his disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. “As you go preach this message: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those

Toby Mac - Lose Myself

Take all of the good and all of the bad
'Cause all of it's on me
Take all of my ways, the things that I chase
The things that control me

And all that I hide, could you bring me to light?
Could you open my eyes and show me?

An Adventure with God

We would like to picture goodness as being synonymous with safety. When we think of God being good, we perhaps picture someone like Al on the popular TV program Home Improvement. He is someone who carefully plans out each task ahead of time and has all the proper tools and safety equipment in place; someone who has thought out every possible danger ahead of time and made allowances to ensure our safety as his workmate; someone who goes to bed early, gets plenty of rest, and wears flannel shirts as a mark of his reliability.

Being in partnership with God, though, often feels much more like being Mel Gibson's sidekick in the movie Lethal Weapon. In his determination to deal
with the bad guy, he leaps from seventh-story balconies into swimming pools, surprised that we would have any hesitation in following after him.

Like Indiana Jones's love interests in the movies, we find ourselves caught up in an adventure of heroic proportions with a God who both seduces us with his boldness and energy and repels us with his willingness to place us in mortal danger, suspended over pits of snakes.


John Eldrege - The Sacred Romance
(I had this 'bookmarked' before the GoddoG talks .... man, I love God so much, he rules.)