Bullriding, A Hurricane, Honduras & New things!

I saw something on TV that I haven't seen before. Last night, as I was watching highlights of a Bull Fight. The bull was acting a little crazy and it ran right toward a wall and jumped over it and into the people. The audience suddenly became part of the action. Imagine watching a bull fight and then suddenly having the bull right next to you. In 1938 a man bought a barometer and he was upset because it wasn't working. The next morning he looked at it and it still was stuck down pointing toward Hurricane. He wrote a letter to the company and put it in the mail on the way to work. That day the Great New England Hurricane came and did incredible damage!
Facts of the 1938 Hurricane(Francis, 1998)
Peak Steady Winds - 121 mph
Peak Gust - 186 mph at Blue Hill Observatory, MA.
Lowest Pressure - 27.94 in (946.2 mb) at Bellport, NY
Peak Storm Surge - 17 ft. above normal high tide (RI)
Peak Wave Heights - 50 ft. at Gloucester, MA
Deaths - 700 (600 in New England)
Homeless - 63,000
Homes, Buildings Destroyed - 8,900
Boats Lost - 3,300
Trees Destroyed - 2 Billion (approx.)
Cost - $6.2 million (1938), $15 billion (1998 adjusted)

We have to expect that new things will happen in life. So why not be active with doing new things and not just react when bad things happen. Bad things will happen. They seem to happen unexpectedly. I think good things usually happen when we are active in pursuing them.

New things can be tragic or terrifying! Yet I think that we are wired to experience new things! Psalm 149:1 says to "Sing A New Song to the Lord". The new things that we should experience might be little terrifying like going to another country on a missions trip. We met the team of 5 men who just came back from Honduras on Sunday night. They were beaming with joy. They were so tired yet exhilarilated, because of the things that they experienced on their trip! Their time and effort paid off tremenously. Sunday morning we started a new service which is our third on Sunday mornings. We were hesitant yet excited about it. We still aren't sure how we're going to pull it off, yet we know it will be worth it.
It's a great feeling even if you're real tired and it wasn't easy to do. The Lord wants us to experience GREAT NEW THINGS and Satan wants us to experience things that are terrifying or life threatening. Even worse than that Satan wants us to expericnece Apathy!. Let's trust the Lord and do something new for the Lord that will help others and give us more faith and confidence in Him!

Walking Right!

WinterXtreme up at Timber Christian Center was AWESOME as usual! Even without the snow it was a ton of fun! There was plenty of ice for toboganning and broom ball! We dominated once again and got beat 1-0. (Oh well!) It is always cool for me to live life alongside youth and see how God touches their lives. KC and the Glowworms were great fun and we got to "drive the bus". Greg Speck challenged us to Walk with Jesus and walk with each other in the right way in our lives. I thank God for times away to focus more fully on God! I'm excited to "walk" through life with the people that God has placed around me!

Speak a Good Word Into Someone

I've been reading a book that has really spoken into my life lately. It has pumped me up spiritually and I know that God has blessed me and wants blessings for my life!
I've also thought about how powerful certain people's words have been in my life over the years when a good word was spoken at just the right time. Telling me not to give up or you can do it. I think that we all need to speak words of life to people. It takes time and energy, but other people need it. We all need to have someone on your side encouraging you to be the best you can be for the Lord! We all need to do speak into someone's life soon. We can and do make a difference!
"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones" Proverbs 16:24.

New Year's Resolutions

Each New Year I think about a New Year's Resolution. Some years I actually made a New Year's Resolutioin or two. I don't think that I ever completely achieved any of those Resolutions for the long term. Losing weight, getting in shape, growing spiritually in some way etc.... I have taken the approach of things starting over again and I've tried to include some habit that would help me in some way. On the news they were talking about New Years Resolutions and the newswoman said that even if you just make some progress on your goals that it's good! Well I don't officially make those resolutions any more, but I do try to better my life each year at this time. If I make some progress that's what matters. So this year I'm going to try to build a good habit or two in my life that will help me spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally. I want to encourage you to pick at least one habit that would good for you in your life too so that this year can be one of the best ever for you!