But once again, I say "Amen" ...

Lately, it seems that the church both Ben & I attend, and where my husband is one of the Pastors, has been caught in the middle of a horrific storm that seems to have no end.

As Ben's Mom shared in the comment area of the "Thing Down" post, the past several months have been overwhelming, to say the least. And when I think of all we have gone through, other words come to mind to describe how we all must be feeling; words like, "shock" and "numb". I say "shock", because all of these incidents seemed to have come like unexpected tidal waves and have taken us all completely by surprise. The word "numb" reflects exactly how I know most of us are feeling; after having to face yet another heavy situation today...


What about you? Have you been here? Can you relate to any of these feelings? 


To give you a quick summary, our church has had to deal with several funerals within the past three months. Not to mention the scare when Ben and the other people in his vehicle were in a severe car accident and were blessed to have survived, and with such minor injuries. Before that, we had the incident where a soybean planter crashed into our church and destroyed a couple of our Sunday School classrooms. Even as I write and review these incidents, I find myself taking a slow, deep breath, in an attempt to de-stress and give it back to the Lord. This by no means is easy, but I have realized that it must be done and done often.

And today, we found out another member of our church had passed away, this time because they had been a severe car accident the previous day and suffered life-threatening injuries.

As I was attempting to function throughout my day and especially focus at my job, I found that the the song lyrics, which I posted below, kept coming to mind. I believe it was a blessing from God and something I wanted to share with all of you as a source of encouragement and comfort.

*Verse one really spoke to me, especially where it says, "But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining." The statement that I put in bold is reflective our current situations and yet, what I found the most compelling was the statement which preceded that, where it says ...

"But once again, I say "Amen"...

Powerful.

I will Praise You in this storm, Lord ... I will. 

I was sure by now

God You would have reached down

And wiped our tears away

Stepped in and saved the day

But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls

I barely hear Your whisper through the rain

"I'm with you"

And as Your mercy falls

I raise my hands and praise the God who gives

And takes away

[Chorus:]

And I'll praise You in this storm

And I will lift my hands

For You are who You are

No matter where I am

And every tear I've cried

You hold in Your hand

You never left my side

And though my heart is torn

I will praise You in this storm

I remember when

I stumbled in the wind

You heard my cry to you

And you raised me up again

My strength is almost gone

How can I carry on

If I can't find You

But as the thunder rolls

I barely hear You whisper through the rain

"I'm with you"

And as Your mercy falls

I raise my hands and praise the God who gives

And takes away

[Chorus]

I lift my eyes unto the hills

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord

The Maker of Heaven and Earth

[Chorus x2] 

Thing Down!

Hey folks, I currently don't have internet at my house right now... So, I'm working on that, and hoping to figure out a way to get internet on a regular basis (either at my house, or some other way) so that I can get back to posting on a regular basis.  So, bear with the technical difficulty.  And I'm sorry that I'm lame like that!  Thanks for visiting the site :)

Ben ><>

Guest Post: Larry Dentler (Wednesday's Word)

I'd like to share a devotional that I came across today on Facebook, which was shared by Larry Dentler. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Great lessons learned!

Bermudian Church of the Brethren

WEDNESDAY’s WORD – a midweek thought from Pastor Larry M. Dentler

to share a word of inspiration … encouragement … challenge … a smile … in the middle of your week

October 5, 2011 – #439

OUCH!

I have a “stumper” for you today! 

Why would anyone dump a cup of scalding hot water on their head?

That’s what I did yesterday.

No … not because I’ve finally gone off the deep end.

No … not because the stress was getting to me.

No … not because I was hungry for attention.

Give up? OK … let me explain how this bizarre moment happened. It was a beautiful sun shining morning! The sun felt so good. First day in a while with sun shining. It lifted my spirits! I had a full, busy day planned as I came to the office, but was looking forward to the work. A cup of hot tea sounded just perfect as I began my work. I heated the tea water. Bubbly … boiling hot. Placed the hot cup on my desk on my cup warmer. Put in the tea bag – a new licorice-spice flavor I was anxious to try. Three sugar cubes from the glass jar on my desk. Opps! Dropped one of the sugar cubes and it rolled under my desk. No problem … I got down on my hands and knees to retrieve the run away cube. I’m not sure exactly what happened next? Maybe I bumped the desk. Or maybe I rubbed against the cord of the cup warmer. But the cup of scalding hot water came off the desk and over my head. OUCH!

I knew right away I was burned and needed to cool the area so I got cold wet paper towels and began to try to cool my head and ear. As the moments went on I knew I had a serious burn. I couldn’t stop the burning. Since I was in the church alone I began considering my options. I finally decided I just better call 911 and ask the ambulance to come. When the ambulance crew came they wanted to take me to the hospital. They said I had second degree burn open areas on my ear and first degree burn on my scalp. I told them I didn’t really want to go to the hospital if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. They said if not to the hospital then I needed to be seen by my family doctor immediately. 

By this time Judy Jarvis & Barb Stern arrived at the church … gotta love those scanners! My Sisters took me to see my doctor who got me in right away. The ear was bandaged and antibiotic burn cream and a precautionary antibiotic were prescribed. Before too long I was back at the church and ready to FINALLY get to work. I never did get to try my new licorice-spice tea!

Later after all the days activities my “in-home” nurse took good care of me helping me clean up and re-bandage the ear. She found another open area of burn on my scalp. I slept fine, not in too much pain, and other than feeling REALLY DUMB, and looking a little silly with my Dumbo-like ear, I’m fine today!

How do you explain … simply … how this happened? “Oh, I just happened to dump a cup of hot tea water over my head!” 

But as I replay the events, it is easy to imagine a much more serious outcome. What if the boiling water had hit my face, my eyes, or gone into my ear? Perhaps an angel shielded me from a more serious burn. Thank You Lord, I know this little, dumb accident could have been much worse.

“For the Angel of the Lord guards and rescues all who reverence Him.” 

Psalm 34:7 LB

I wonder sometimes … if we are very unaware of a thousand interventions by our God on our behalf everyday? I’ve come to believe that there are very few coincidences in life. As you rush through your day today … pause … say a little “thank you” prayer for the way your Lord watches over you in so many ways each moment, each hour, each day – in many ways you may never fully know!

Burning for the Lord! Pastor Larry <>< 

STAND FIRM 2011

Lessons from the Refrigerator, Part II

Yesterday, in part one of learning a lesson from the fridge, I talked about how my food supply won't grow unless I actually take action to make that happen.  In the same way, we need to take action to grow in our faith.  

Today, I'm going to switch gears from stocking the fridge, to cleaning it.  Because, let's face it - My refrigerator is dirty and needs cleaned up a bit.  It's not as bad as the one pictured here, but my vegetable chill drawers are a bit icky, and there's some water that needs wiped up, and it really just needs a good cleansing.  

But... I hate my sink.  My sink only has one hole, and therefore, I can't fill up one side with soap, and have the other side to rinse.  (I plan on installing a different sink sometime!)  Therefore, when trying to wash something in the sink, I usually make a mess all over the counter.  Sometimes it seems like in the process of making something clean, I make a lot of other stuff messy.  And so, I struggle to find the motivation to clean the refrigerator, as silly as that sounds.  

I think the same is true when it comes to living our faith out for real.  If we start taking action in order to grow closer to God, in order for our faith to grow, in order to share the Gospel, sometimes we may encounter situations that aren't really easy.  We need to trust however that God can help us through these difficult tasks, and know that even though something might not be easy, it's still worth it if it's glorifying Him.  I think of Philippians 3:13-14 - "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."  Paul recognized that life may not always go smoothly - especially in living out a sold out life for Christ.  However, he knew that being a believer would take determination, and an attitude to press forward, toward the goal... And our goal?  Eternal life with Christ!  2 Corinthians 4:16-18 reminds us that our troubles on earth are LIGHT and MOMENTARY when compared with the eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So... whatever God's calling you to do might seem difficult - it may be hard for you to get the motivation to accomplish.  But... press on, knowing that God will guide you through it... and that a difficult task is well worth it in the end.  

-----------------------------------------------------------

... and here's some JACK!!!

"I bet the sparrow looks at the parrot and thinks, yes, you can talk, but listen to yourself!"

--Jack Handey, www.jackhandey.com

Posted by Ben ><>