Saturday, February 28, 2004

As many of you know I am the youth pastor at Wynne Chapel in Cochise, Arizona. Last night we began the "30 Hour Famine" for World Vision. It is a national event that raises money to help children all over the world. World Vision is presently involved in helping children in Iraq.

We had 32 kids show up (last year 23) to go without food for 30 hours, sing praises to God, engage in Bible studies, etc. They have raised $555 so far! There is hope for the future of this country!

Today they will go into 2 different widows homes to help them with whatever they need done. This is true religion at work.

Pray for them today.

Thursday, February 26, 2004

The Passion of the Christ...I saw this movie last night. Being from the "TV" generation, I am very visually oriented. This movie brought Isaiah's words from 700 years Earlier to life:

...But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him - our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole...And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him. He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word....
Isaiah 53:5-7 (Eugene Peterson's "The Message")

It was also made very real to me, through the graphic depiction of Christ's torture, that we are to strip ourselves of living according to the flesh. Christ's flesh was ripped off by the scourging He received. But in the end, HE WON, HE ROSE to live eternally. We too, can "strip off the flesh" as laid out in Galatians 5:19-21,

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, (NLT)

If we strip ourselves of this "flesh" we will enjoy the rewards of living a spirit-filled life.

Monday, February 23, 2004

It's been a good week!

* We visited my mother-in-law in Yuma, AZ.
* While we were there one of our supporters, Cathy, took us out to dinner.
* An article about one of the nursing homes we minister at, Casa de Esperanza, appeared in our paper last week and thanked us for our years of service.
* In the same paper another article appeared thanking us for our involvement over the last 3 years with the Old Pearce Holiday Festival.
* Last night after our Youth service the leader of the band, Marcos, handed me a copy of their newly released CD "The Story of a Man." I felt like a proud papa after working with them over the last couple of years.

It's nice to see the fruit of our labor. Sometimes we don't and that's when we have to really trust God. After all, we just plant the seed. He does all the rest.

Thank you for praying for our ministry. Keep our March 15-20 trip in your prayers as we take down several high school seniors to Navojoa, Mexico and the surrounding villages.