Saturday, September 26, 2009

This one is the Lord's


Rev. George F. Borghardt III, wrote to me and we want to share with others the thoughts and hope that are found in that email. May those suffering as we are, find comfort that our sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, as much as they have been baptized, are also the Lord's.

That is God's guarantee that goes beyond here.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Pause

I have not been posting lately. Something happened to my family that I am still processing until now. I cannot foresee myself posting for a while. Consider, for the time being, that I am having "dead air".

My children are young parents themselves, so far they have given us grandsons, the oldest is 4 years old. Last month, my oldest daughter gave birth to a premature baby boy. A few weeks ago, they did a brain scan and the doctors met us for a discussion and a meeting. Doctors say he has severe brain damage and we are looking at cerebral palsy. Needless to say this has brought despair to my daughter.

I feel like I have been hit by a baseball bat, right in the head. I am still down on the floor, perhaps never wishing to get up.

Why is it that doctors are very sure of what bad things can go wrong, yet they are never sure of good things that can possibly go right? Nowadays, they seem to have the last say and usually the final say about what goes on.

I would appreciate your prayers for Phoenix and his mom. They both need God's help.

I am going to make what I belive to be a fair statement; whether God heals my grandson or not, my Bible says, there is only one person here who has the last say in anything, God, the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, no one else.

Don't you hate it when people, knowingly or unknowingly, usurp the position of God? I do. My very being rebels against it.

Thank you for your prayers.


LPC





Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Target Market

Many moons ago, in my wanderings I attended an AOG pastor's meeting in my area.

It was lunch, and a young pastor sat beside me. At that time, my congregation was getting bigger and had a few outreaches. The pastor relayed to me how he was getting tired of evangelizing an elderly Greek lady in his church neighborhood. Hearing that we were growing, he asked me if we had any young people. I said "yes, we have some". It was like an "aha" moment for him, when he said "That is it, I better concentrate my efforts to work on them" and stood to get some sweets. I choked on my food as I looked at him finish our conversation. Didn't that elderly Greek lady need the Gospel?

Well, targetting the youth does make sense. The young are strong, they can do lots of manual work in church. You do not need to pick them up and bring them to church. They are abled bodies they can drive themselves to the meetings. They can do follow ups, and no need for much visitation, they are filled with energy. Our utilitarian needs are well served by them, not like these old ones who live off coins from their pension. So in many respects, the young people are the best market to attract. They are low maintenance.

I love it when I am being facetious.