Veterans Day

To all of our veterans and those men and women who are currently serving in our armed forces...thank you.

Things...

This past week, many in the youth ministry were shocked to learn that Marko was fired from his position of president at Youth Specialties. It came out in a press release from Zondervan which now owns YS. It's a weird time, many are rallying behind Marko including me, telling him that we are praying for him and waiting to see where he lands. Some have cast Zondervan in the role of the evil empire who's only goal is to make money and it doesn't matter how they do it. Although I'm sad to hear about it and am praying for Marko, I have no doubt that he'll be okay in all of this.

This morning I went on my first field trip with the kids and their classes. We went to a dairy farm just outside of town. Very interesting, especially the five legged cow.

Rain, rain and more rain...

So.....we went for several months with little or no rain. Lake Waco dropped many feet it seemed like, water holes were drying up, lawns were dying unless watered daily. If we did I am not aware that we approached the level where water rationing would occur, but it felt like we should have.

Now...the rain has come and has kept coming for weeks! We've had lots and lots of rain over the past month and a half. It's raining today as a matter of fact (although I must admit there were several days of blue skies and sunshine in advance of today. You know it's rained a lot when there are spots on the golf course that went from brown because they were dry to green because they got rain and then back to brown because water stood on them for too long...it's nuts!

I can't say that I'm not thankful for the rain. After this summer we definitely need it, but we've gotten a lot over a short period of time.

I thought things would slow down after the summer was over...silly me. I don't know that I'm as busy as I was in June, July and August but it sure feels like it! We have Trunk or Treat coming up next Wednesday then a big Family Night on the 31st. Then I've got to finish getting ready for our retreat coming up the first weekend in December. In between that I have "normal" activities going on as well. I love this job!

I'm looking forward to NCYM in January. It will be my second time to attend and will take place in St. Louis. Too bad it's not during baseball season. Speaking of baseball, I'm barely keeping track of the playoffs any more since the Card's and Red Sox went down in defeat. I wouldn't mind seeing Joe Torre get another ring, I would probably watch the World Series if The Dodgers somehow get there to take on the Yankees. I'm not seeing that happen right now though.

I'm preaching this Sunday. Ernie (our preacher) is taking his wife out of town for her birthday. People always know when I'm preaching on a Sunday morning...why? Because it's just about the only time I wear a tie. Wait'll they see my tie this Sunday!

Sacrifice...

Some things are just not allowed when soldiers are standing in formation. One of them is 4-year-old girls.

However, there was no soldier stern enough to pry Paige Bennethum of Laureldale, Pa. from her father as he prepared to leave last July for a year-long deployment in Iraq.

Abby Bennethum captured her daughter's emotions in a photograph that she passed along to the Reading Eagle, the newspaper in Berks County, Pa. The image immediately captured many other people's emotions.

Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Brett Bennethum was preparing to depart from Fort Dix, N.J., for Iraq, leaving behind his pregnant wife and two little girls. His family was there to see him off. His commanding officer didn't have the heart to tell Paige she had to let go of her daddy.
"I didn't want to let go of him," she told NBC Philadelphia.

Sgt. Bennethum, 30, is scheduled to return home next July. Until then, he's transporting supplies across the Iraqi border. He serves with the 733rd Transportation Company based in Reading, Pa.

Abby Bennethum said she got pregnant right before her husband left for Iraq. "I've heard of deployment babies, but I never thought I'd be having one," she told the Reading Eagle. The couple's other daughter, Lena, is just 10 months old.

Staff Sgt. Bennethum got a four-day pass so he could spend some quality time with his family and they could make the two-hour trip to Fort Dix to see him off. Almost immediately upon arrival, his commanding officer ordered the soldiers to fall in.

"Gotta go," he told his family. But Paige walked up behind him in formation, grabbed his right hand and would not let go.

"I called her a couple of times, but she wouldn't budge," her mother said. She still wishes she was holding her father's hand.

"I just miss my dad right now," Paige told NBC.

This picture started showing up in a couple of places yesterday. I'm sure it's been out there for a while. I'll be honest with you, when I first saw it I really tried to avoid reading the story, but after the third time I gave up and read it. If this doesn't grab your heart nothing will.

To all of our soldiers, thank you for your service no matter where you are deployed.

To all of our soldiers families, thank you for your sacrifice as your sons, daughters, husbands, wives, mommies, daddies, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins help protect our nation.

To all those who have lost loved ones, may we as a nation never forget their sacrifice.

God bless.

Faith of a child...

What follows is a recent conversation that took place in our van early one morning after we dropped Kim off at work…Hannah – “Daddy, why is Mommy carrying so much stuff?” Me – “Well, she’s a teacher and sometimes teachers have a lot to carry.” Brenden – “That’s why I want to be a dentist.” Hannah – “Well, I want to be a mermaid!” Brenden – “You can’t be a mermaid!” Hannah – “Yes I can!” Brenden – “No you can’t! You don’t have fins!” Hannah – “Well I can grow some!” Brenden – “Well, we don’t live near the ocean so you can’t swim!” Hannah – “I could swim in Lake Waco and the dolphins would come and see me!”

By this time, I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to have to pull over!

Kids are funny! They can keep us entertained with their logic and their beliefs. Most children have no limits to their imaginations. At some point during our development, we lose that innocent belief in the ability to do anything we dream of. Little girls forget about being mermaids and swimming with the dolphins. Little boys forget about being superheroes or transformers. At some point they learn about a thing called reality which shatters those dreams.

Another thing that seems to change during the transition from childhood into later years is our faith. Many go from believing that God can do anything simply because he says he can to questioning whether or not God will ever make something happen.

Kids are also great teachers. Jesus knew this. In Mark 10:14-15 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. It tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

If a child trusts an adult, they will believe them. They don’t have to understand all the little things that go along with that to have faith. We need to be the same way with God. Face it; there are some things in this world, in this universe that we will never understand. We don’t need to. Jesus said that we need to have a childlike faith. Understand that God loves us; trust him to do what’s best for us. That’s childlike faith. Yes, it’s that simple.

See if you can put it into practice this week. Stop trying so hard to figure everything out and trust God. Believe that because he loves you he will take care of you. Who knows, you might even grow fins or be a superhero!

Have a great week,
Dale

The Marshmallow Test...

http://vimeo.com/5239013


Enjoy! It made me laugh!

Curious?

Kids are curious by nature. They want to know how something works, so they take it apart. That’s not always a bad thing, unless it’s the VCR or DVD player! They want to know why certain things happen in nature, they may ask questions like “Why is the sky blue?” or “Where does the sun go?” So many questions, so little time, usually it’s innocent and it’s the way they learn. But, what about curiosity that causes people to ask questions about God or Jesus?

Curiosity about your life may cause someone to ask you about your faith and open a door for you to share the gospel with them. Think about it for a minute, In Matthew 3:4-6 we see John the Baptist who had people from Jerusalem and Judea coming out to see him and hear what he was saying. Some of them had to be coming out of curiosity. Here was this man who wore clothing made from camel hide, ate locusts and honey and lived in the wilderness. Once they saw him, it seems many were drawn in by his message about the Messiah and repented of their sins. John took advantage of people’s curiosity.

Or in John 4:39, Jesus has a conversation with a Samaritan woman and because of his words she runs back into town telling anyone she can find about this stranger she met at the well. Despite her reputation many people come out to meet Jesus and many believe in him. They saw a change in her and it made them curious.

Curiosity about our lifestyle and our values which are different from the world’s can make people curious. It can cause them to wonder what makes us so different. Some of them may have the courage to ask you. That’s when you can share with them how God has made a difference in your life. That’s when you can share the gospel with them. Some will reject it, some will be more curious, and some will allow him to change them as well.

Don’t be afraid of curiosity. Live a life that makes people wonder about you. I dare you.

Change...

On August 24th of this year, the class of 2023 started Kindergarten. (I don’t know about you but that makes me feel old!) Included in that class were six of our kindergartners who attend China Spring. All six of them are in two of the eight kindergarten classes. To the best of my knowledge these six have settled right in with only a few “bumps” along the way. It’s funny to watch my two run into school excited about seeing their friends and teachers, hearing Hannah and her “Whoo!” as she gets out of the van. I’m glad they're liking it, they have at least thirteen years of it ahead of them!

From time to time we all have to try new things. For some, that’s no problem at all. For others, it can be a situation that creates havoc in their lives! The smallest change can cause them a great deal of stress and anxiety. Others seem to just be able to “go with the flow.” Sometimes change is a choice and others it’s forced on us. Change happens.

How do you handle change? How did the people we read about in the Bible handle change? They thought they were doing really well with the Law of Moses and then along comes this man teaching a new way. He narrowed all the laws down into two; Love God and love others. What chaos this man created! He cleared out the temple with a whip! Said he was sent by God, claimed to be God! Then, to top it all off, he said that he was going to die for the sins of the world on a cross, be buried and then come back from the dead three days later! Madness! But, look at the lives that Jesus changed, twelve guys that we know as apostles, a man who was possessed by a large number of demons, a little girl who was dead, a man who had been dead for four days, a woman that no one cared about who only wanted to wash his feet with her tears, a man bent on destroying the followers of this person they called Jesus who after a face to face chat on the road to Damascus became a devoted follower (talk about change!) Me. You?

Jesus can bring great change to the life of anyone, if he’s allowed. It can cause chaos in your life, without a doubt. You may have to change the way you think, speak, and act. You may have to change the people you call friends for those you can call brothers and sisters. He can change you, if you let him.

Allow Jesus to change you.