Prepare The Way

I have always admired, and been intrigued with Mission Aviation Fellowship, or MAF. They are a ministry that supports missionaries in some of the most remote areas of the world.

In 2005 their fleet of 54 aircraft flew 36,761 flights, logged 3,461,427 miles, transported 111,666 passengers, and delivered 10.8 million pounds of cargo. In only a 12 month period MAF planes saved Christian and humanitarian workers 71,684 days of travel. That translates into 296 years redeemed for productive Kingdom work!

The grabber is all this is accomplished through skilled pilots flying in and out on extremely primitive and rough airstrips. Had these airstrips not been prepared beforehand, the message of Jesus would not be reaching some of the worlds most needy people.

This Sunday I will be sharing these facts as I preach on the need for us to prepare the way for Jesus.

We read in Isaiah 40:3-5 the prophesy of John the Baptist. John traveled about, calling on people to prepare the way for the coming ministry of Jesus. This year as we enter the Christmas season, and begin our holiday preparations, may we not just celebrate His coming to this world, but may we be reminded to prepare the way, not just for the coming of the Christ child, but for what Jesus wants to do in and through our lives.

As MAF has prepared the way for their pilots to come and go, so that the glory of God is seen, and experienced, by so many, so ought we prepare our hearts for the work God desires to do through our lives. May we too be agents of spreading the Kingdom of God, by preparing the way for Him to have His way in our lives. In doing so we also prepare the way for Jesus to be glorified in the lives of many others.

Weather

We're getting out first snow right now! As I sit here looking out my window the flakes are flying. Beautiful! It's always fun to get snow, but especially welcomed now due to the fact that we have had record breaking rainfall this month.

With 11.61 inches of rain this month we have broke the all time rainfall amount for November. Crazy! The previous record was in 1942 with 11.57 inches. I say, bring on the snow!

Here's how the rest of our week is shaping up.

Winter is on it's way baby!

How We Dress

The Chicago Sun-Times recently ran an interesting story on how people dress for worship. See the story here and the pictures here. I thought it an interesting read in light of my recent post ...."How You Lookin'?"

Thoughts?

HT: Tony Myles

Change In Plans

Our Thanksgiving plans were to drive over the mountain to Sisters, Oregon to spend the holiday with Robin's brother and family. You know..."over the hills and through the woods..." Well God had other plans. Here is what the road to Sisters looks like right now.


Up to two feet of snow is expected just over night. Not my kind of driving!

We are disappointed, but will have a good Thanksgiving none the less. Our friend Vicki has now invited us over to join their family. What a blessing! This year we are thanking God for good friends.

Hope your Thanksgiving is a blessed one.

Say Hello

One of my favorite things about blogging is meeting new people. Since I began blogging a little over a year ago, I have met many very cool people from all around the US and even the globe. It has been great networking with people of like interests, particularly youth ministry.

Over the last few months I have noticed on my sitemeter that I have quite a few regular readers from many varied locations, and I am wondering who you all are. I regularly have visits to my blog from, California, Washington, Kansas, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Canada, Australia, and of course Oregon. I would love to know who you are!

I have installed a GuestMap on my blog and I invite you to sign it. You will find it near the bottom of the sidebar on the right hand side of the blog. Stick a pin in the map and say hello.

I look forward to meeting more of you.

Turkey 'N Thanks

To night was our annual Middle School Turkey 'N Thanks, or TNT as we like to call it. It is one of our best traditions and to night was a good one!

How often can you get a group of middle school students to dress their best and enjoy a formal sit down meal together? For us, it's once a year. It was a great time including amazing food (full on Thanksgiving meal), fun fellowship, good worship, and discussions on thankfulness.

See the pictures here.

Bombs Away

Who says being baptized is not supposed to be fun?

Rich

When you think of rich people who comes to mind? Perhaps Hollywood celebrities, rock stars, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Donald Trump? Do you ever think...me...as in you? I have been thinking a great deal lately about how we as American's have been so blessed. I often ask myself, why? Why do we have so much and yet a majority of the world has so little? I have concluded one thing. We have been blessed so that we can in return be a blessing to others.

This Sunday we will be considering these things with our students, as we focus on Thanksgiving. It is so easy to sit back this time of year and list off all that we are thankful for. That is good. I believe we must take it a step further than that. We must also be asking ourselves, how can I use what I am so thankful for, to be a blessing to others, and bring about a thankful heart within them.

As we consider and discuss these things on Sunday, we will be viewing the NOOMA video, Rich. Rob Bell does a great job of communicating these very concepts. Here is a clip.



There are so many ways that we can respond to the needs around us. In the Links section of this blog several are listed. The question is are we?

I was struck recently by Proverbs 14:31. It says, "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." May we be a people committed to honoring our Maker by being kind to those in need of our help. In doing so, we truly will be rich.

Blogging

Oh the things we blog about. Do people really care? At least I know my mom does.



What's the craziest thing you have blogged about, or read about on a blog?

HT to Marko

Ready for Season 6

Last winter Robin and I got hooked on 24. I mean how can you not like watching one guy save the nation from certain doom all in a 24 hour period. Let me just say... Jack is the man.

Having only watched season 5 we knew we had to get caught up before the beginning of season 6 this January. So we set out to watch season's 1 through 4 this fall. To night ended our quest. Thank you blockbuster.com.

We are now officially ready for this.

The Power of Giving

Found this in Relevant Magazine.

If Christians had given the traditional 10 percent tithe of their income to their churches in 2004, instead of the 2.56 percent that they actually gave, there would have been an additional $164 billion available, according to a report released in October called "The State of Church Giving through 2004." If the churches chose to funnel just $70-$80 billion of that additional income to missions and humanitarian works, the basic needs of every person on the globe would be provided.

Think On This

Art is a reflection of God's creativity, an evidence that we are made in the image of God.

- Francis Schaeffer

Breakfast With Jesus

I'm not sure this is what Jesus meant when He said we are to worship Him in spirit and in truth. This takes breakfast....err worship, to a whole new level!

Get your Jesus Pan now and start enjoying those heavenly hotcakes.


Two for only $29.99. Get 'em while there um... hot.

HT: Tony Myles