Check out this program. I caught a part of it this morning and I loved the part about the guy that lived on the street for 5 mos. just to see what it was like and how he could "do" Christianity better. I heard it first on Focus on the Family. He wrote a book called "Under the Overpass". The whole show is here:http://www.listenuptv.com/programs/060205city.shtml
Later in the same show there was a lady who started praying for businesses in her community. Something I've started to do too. Some great ideas here for our community.

Check it Out!

Don't Look Down!

I was thinking about this as I was falling asleep last night. I figured that if I still remembered it by morning, I would write about it, so here I am.

You know how when you're climbing up the side of a cliff and you're doing pretty well close to the ground and as you get higher, people tell you, "don't look down"? Because what happens when you look down? You get scared and you panic and you don't want to go any higher because you've seen how far you have to fall. Some people give up right there and just fall off the side of the cliff, right back to the beginning. Other people get stuck, frozen in place, not wanting to fall, but not wanting to climb either. Other people look down and say "cool, I can see my house from up here, look how far I've come" and continue climbing" (for the record, these people annoy me :) only because I wish I was like that more).
I've found that I've failed many times as I've climbed up the side of the cliff. Sometimes I don't even try, other times I don't get very high before I give up. A few times I've clung to the side, afraid to go further but not wanting to give up the ground I'd won. And once or twice, I've admired the view for a few moments and then I looked down, and I was struck with fear and I started to fall, again. It kind of makes me want to not try anymore. It makes me think that maybe climbing to the top just isn't for me, it's for those people that aren't afraid to fall. It doesn't mean that they won't fall, it just means that they aren't afraid. They're tireless in getting back up and climbing again. Oh to have that courage. That's what I pray for.

Prayer Walk

I've started exercising again. I rejuggled my schedule and started walking after the kids get home after school.
In the past I would use this time to focus on something in my life, good or bad. But this time I passed a house. I knew the family that lived there and the trials they've gone through, so as I passed I prayed for them. Then I thought about the rest of the homes on that street and I prayed for them too. I walked through the "downtown" area and prayed for the businesses. I walked past my teenage hangout (closed again) and thought it would be a great place for teens to hang out again, an outreach of some sort. They need to hang out somewhere anyway. I prayed about that too.
I take a different route everyday now and pray for the homes and businesses I pass. I really enjoy the sense of community I feel without even talking to anyone but God.
I'm starting to really like this little town that I used to hate and want to escape.
Maybe you can take a prayer walk through your town or just down your street or as you walk through the stores or restaurants that you regularly go to.

My Birthday Present

My birthday is a week and a bit away. I was just telling my husband how I usually get a wonderful birthday present from God every year...a taste of spring.
I just checked the long range forcast on the weather network. Guess what? That's right, a taste of spring, double digits. Thanks God! He loves me soooo much!

"If Satan can place a thought in your mind-and he can, it isn't much more of a trick for him to make you think it's your idea. If you knew it was Satan, you'd reject the thought, wouldn't you? But when he disgiuses his suggestion as your idea, you are more likely to accept it. That is his primary deception." "Victory Over the Darkness" by Niel T. Anderson

This blew me away and made me start thinking about the thoughts that pop into my head more carefully. I would usually start to get upset or depressed about some of the things that I was thinking about. Last week I was thinking that nobody really liked me and that everything I said was dumb. But when I really looked underneath and questioned if that really was the way that I felt, I realized that it was all a lie, just a thought planted in my mind to defeat me. Once I recognized it, it went away.

I think it's so cool that it could be that simple. Just replace it with the truth, like Jesus did.