Those of us who are most familiar with the Spirit's promises are in the greatest danger. ... familiarity may not breed contempt, but it takes the edge off awe ... promises that drop the jaws or widen the eyes of newcomers but provoke no more than a raised eyebrow in the old-timers who have ceased to dream.
-- Jim McGuiggan

It's About The Cross ... Includes Scenes From "The Nativity Story"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyR0lwO-nXc&feature=related

"The Nativity Story" will be shown at Hillcrest Baptist Church on Sunday, December 2nd at 6:00 p.m. Come experience the nativity!

http://home.swbell.net/rwpassmo/cross.htm

These are some amazing pictures of the cross and bronze statues located on the Texas highway. Take some time to enjoy the pictures and reflect on the meaning of the cross for us as believers in Christ.

It's called Christmas with a capitol C ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAckfn8yiAQ

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. - Phillipians 4:11-13

I'm reminded over & over just how dangerous the Bible is when interpreted IN context. Taken OUT of context it is down right lethal. When the text becomes bendable to our whims & fancies it is then that we have created "truth" (ie- a lie) in our own image. There is too much to lose and nothing to gain by employing a lazy hermeneutic to our Bible reading, study, & teaching. Yes, it is a lot more work to get it right but in light of the alternitive...do we really have a choice?

http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/posters.htm

Check out this site for some humor at the expense of the "Emergent Church"

http://www.paulaldrich.com/audio/Kum_Ba_Yah_3.mp3


Go to this site .. it is hilarious! And have a Kum Ba Yah day!

Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone. -- Psalm 71:9

We live in an age where those who are older are often shoved aside. This is true in the professional world with employees. This is also true in churches which often find themselves pandering to those who are younger or more financially powerful, while forgetting the aging and powerless. Let's remember that God cares what happens to each one of us, no matter status or stature or age.

Well, it's Thanksgiving Day as I write this and when I stop to think how thankful I am for all the different prayer requests that God has honored over the past year it is enough to bring me to tears. I remember sitting in the living room of my house on the day I decided to return to school and devote my life to serving Christ. I was feeling overwhelmed and wondered how in the world I would get everything done. I had to keep the business running, plus I had the prayer group, the chamber and Rotary. Well, it turns out that I should have been wondering "how in heaven" will I get everything done. If you get nothing else from reading this blog, please get this: God is not going to ask you to do anything that he does not equip you to do.

Why has every prayer I've offered up been answered? Trust me, it is not because I'm super-spiritual. I am not the super-saved and I have no extra-ordinary abilities or even extra doses of faith. The simple fact is that God has answered my prayers because He is equipping me to do the work that He as asked me to do.

I want to thank you for reading this and for your continued prayer. I know that I will be successful and fruitful in my ministry as long as you continue to lift me up in prayer.

Blessings,
Barbara

A candle that burns at both ends
does not last the night,
But, oh my friends, while it burns
it gives a beautiful light ...

To You who has given so much to me, give me one more thing - a grateful heart!

For the Christian, nothing less than the presence of the Spirit is enough to explain the marvelous changes worked in human lives. Call it grace; call it providence; call it the result of Bible study ... just so we understand that in and behind any or all the instruments is the presence and work of the Spirit who seeks and finds and transforms. -- Jim McGuiggan

Malignant ... it's a scary word. When you hear the word cancer what do you think?

What is it that scares us about death?

I am suffering ... Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
-- 2 Timothy 1:12

The road to success is always under construction!

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. -- Philippians 1:20

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

50 Years

I am approaching my 50th birthday. The momentous event makes me realize I am not where I thought I would be nor have I accomplished the things I hoped I would by this point in my life.

I've discovered you cannot escape the advancing years. Youth stays long enough only to strengthen our shoulders for the burdens ahead. Life leads inevitably to the evening time. But the best things are the oldest things—things that have endured and stood the test of time. Even God Himself—though not bound by time—is called the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9).

So remind me of the blessings I've enjoyed thus far. For if I had not lived this life, I might not have met you and experienced the friendship God intended me to enjoy.

"Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Isaiah 46:4