I am interested in sharing with your church, group, or event. I believe that the Lord has given me a heart to share His Word with this generation.
My heart is to share His Word, His Love, and His Grace with those who would invite me to do so. I would ask that if you have not already done so, begin praying about whether the Lord would have me come and share with your group.
Teaching God’s Word
I teach God’s Word at Calvary Cross Church which is in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. We are at the crossroads of Wisconsin, an hour from Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay / Appleton.
I am honored to be entrusted with God’s Word. I consistently teach and engage this generation in the application of His Word to our lives.
Sharing His Word with Other Churches
I am honored when I am invited to share God’s Word at another church. It’s an honor to meet and minister with other pastors and their staff, treating the body of Jesus as He would.
I am blessed to be invited into your ministry that the Lord has given to you and I honor that. When I share at a church as a visitor, I am encouraged to be able to point people back to the Lord. I love laboring alongside of others in the ministry.
Sharing at Conferences and Events
I love to speak at conferences and events. There is such an opportunity to impact someone’s life for the Lord in a single moment. I love to take a topic or verse that may be assigned and to see what God puts on my heart for that group, for that moment.
I can also be flexible to the Holy Spirit’s leading and just share what He gives to me for that particular event.
These are topics that I have been known to speak on:
- Sexual Purity
- God’s Grace
- God’s Love
- Christian Disciplines
In my experience, I have also spoken at Youth and Men’s Conferences in the past. I was a youth pastor in my past and the passion for impacting the youth for Christ has never left me. God has given me a heart for the youth which I am very comfortable in sharing with.
I am very comfortable engaging most types of groups.
What to expect when working with Me
- A quick response when someone contacts me. There are exceptions, but that is a general rule.
- A review of the details of the engagement as early as possible to pray over and to review my schedule
- I check in for updates as the engagement gets closer. Good communication is key to successfully working together.
- An announcement of your event on my blog and social media outlets
- A prayerfully sought message directly prepared for your engagement and audience.
- A custom resource page, created just for your audience. It will include any slides, resources, links, and anything else that I might feel will be helpful.
- A follow up communication to review how things went and to talk about what God has done.
A quick Bio about me
I have been speaking and sharing God’s Word for 20 years. I am comfortable and have experience speaking in front of thousands, hundreds, or small groups. God has had me sharing in many different types of situations.
I have my experience in two arenas, Ministry and Information Technology. In Ministry, I have served as a Youth Pastor and as a Senior Pastor. In Information Technology as my tent making, I lead infrastructure and security technology teams for large organizations.
I am a:
- Sinner – Saved by God’s amazing grace through Christ Jesus. A testament to His amazing grace and saving power.
- Pastor – Chief servant at Calvary Cross Church of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The church is 1 year old and has An amazing body of believers who God has entrusted to my care.
- Husband – Happily Married and serving my wife, who is my first ministry as was Christ’s example to us.
- Father – I have four amazing kids who love the Lord that God has entrusted me to lead by example.
How to Engage Me to Share
Thank you for prayerfully considering me to speak at your church or event. To engage with me and to see if there is availability and to have me prayerfully consider your invitation, please check my availability.


Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. - John 1:16
Hi Kimberly, would you consider reviewing this song for playlist consideration? Our church just released it...https://open.spotify.com/track/0BbJLvX5T9Z37gYBU94i3c?si=MUwUpaffR3qnSM004ph-LwThank you!
Hey there you,
Yeah, you! 😁
Welcome - we're glad you joined the Spotify Community!
While you here, let's have a fun game…


Marriage supper of the lamb
Discover Pinterest’s 10 best ideas and inspiration for Marriage supper of the lamb. Get inspired and try out new things.
IT IS TIME! THE BEST IS YET TO COME! 😍 #Revelation 19:7-9 (KJV) Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God…
Maranatha Quotes saved to Maranatha


Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: The Game of Life (09/11/08)
- TITLE: Thoughts From The Peanut Gallery
By Marilyn Schnepp
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If you've been around a few years like I have, I'm sure this isn't any breaking Front Page news for you; but guess what? Nowadays they're coming up with a new myth about life, referring to Life as a game. Can you believe it? A game!
I hate to burst their bubble, but Life Is Not a game. It is a gift!
Who in their right mind believes that God would take the time and effort to create a beautiful paradise on a small planet called Earth, and then turn that perfect work of art into a Monopoly game or Chess Board, using Man, whom He created in His own image, as pawns? For what purpose? Heavenly entertainment? Spectator sports for the Universe?
Sorry, folks, I don't buy that!
No dice was thrown to see how many steps Jesus had to take to struggle up that hill to Calvary. No card was drawn to see which Roman Guard would win the raffle of His clothes. Nobody threw the dice to see how many nails they needed to nail Him to the cross? And which player threw the lucky number to pierce His side?
No, my friend, Life is not a Monopoly, Chess or Scrabble game...God breathes the breath of Life into every man, woman and childs' nostrils and we become a living, breathing soul.
That is the whole reason why Jesus, the Son of God, traded Heaven for all these earthly things down here - because He loved us so much He died for us. Otherwise God would not have let Him go. No, Life is not just a game - it's a gift!
In the game of Chess it takes strategy; Monopoly, financial know-how; Scrabble, dictionary smarts; and Poker is just luck.. And IF there were such thing as a Game of Life - it would take only a smidgeon of faith the size of a mustard seed to win.
In the game of Monopoly, there is a card that says "Go Directly To Jail. Do not Pass Go. Do not collect $200." However, Jesus tells us in the Holy Scriptures to "Love me and Keep My Commandments, and You Will Inherit Eternal Life."....and that, my friend, is not a game - but a promise and a wonderful Gift from God.
I rest my case.
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Doris Jean (Myers) Oliver
September 28, 1933 ~ September 30, 2023 (age 90) 90 Years Old
Doris Jean Oliver, 90 departed this life on Saturday, September 30th, 2023, at Georgetown Community Hospital. She was the late daughter of the late Marion Warren Scott and the late Raymond Myers. Doris grew up in Paris and was a faithful worker and member of St. Paul United Methodist Church. She was also a member of Charles Young Post #165. Doris was also known for her cooking and her hospitality, it didn’t matter who called her and asked for help, she loved watching Lifetime and watching her westerns most of all. She believed in God, and she made sure that everyone knew that. She was a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother, sister and aunt, family meant everything to her. She always spoke her mind, sometimes stepping on toes but we all knew that was just her and in her final days she never complained, she would always say “I’m alright.”
She is survived by her two sons, Raymond (Ruth Tootie) Chenault and David Oliver; fifteen grandchildren, Raymond (Kristi) Chenault Jr., Doris (Dewayne) Davis, Eric Groves, Lisa Oliver, Sylivia Oliver, Marilyn Oliver, Johnna Gaines, Marion O’Brien, Lakisha Jonuta, Jawana Smithers, Charles (Breana) Oliver, David Oliver Jr., Wesley Oliver and Eddie (Shawna) Cosby; twenty-seven great-grandchildren, Tavis Chenault, Brayden Chenault, Kamren & Ray Smoot, Deon Renfro, Tara Davis, Jayme Owens, Te’Jiah Gains, Justin Oliver, Tristin and Courtney O’Brien, Eric Groves Jr., Hunter (Ashley) Akemon, Jazlyn Wright, Janiya Levart, Justice, Sean, Sincere Smithers, Aubre, Kylee, Mya, Braxton, Riah, Sagen, Alexa and Elijah Oliver; four great-great Grandchildren Laila and Terrance Pate, Ender Akemon, Isabelle Renfro and a host of nieces, nephews and special friends.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by three sons, Eddie, John and James Oliver; one daughter; Sylvia Groves, a grandson Brian Groves; four sisters; Gladys White, Anna Fomas, Mary Francis McKee, Flora Mae Fields; one brother, Eddie Myers.
Funeral Services will be conducted at 12:00 PM Friday, October 6, 2023, at St. Paul United Methodist Church, 1113 High Street, Paris, KY by Rev. Connie Mitchell, Rev. Dr. Morgan Gilkey and Pastor Rosalind Bryant. Burial will be at Evergreen Memory Gardens.
Visitation will be from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Friday, October 6, 2023, at the church.
Pallbearers will be David Oliver Jr., Charles Oliver, Eric Groves, Sr., James Clark, Jr., Jamaun Clark and Kamren Smoot.
Honorary pallbearers will be Clarence Ayers, Lindrell Blackwell, James Clark, Sr., Lance Penney, Marcus Hall, Darnell Hall, Phillip Garrett, Ray Smoot, Brayden Chenault, Tavis Chenault and Deon Renfro.
The funeral arrangements were entrusted to the Lusk-McFarland Funeral Home, 1120 Main St., Paris, KY.


Humanae Vitae and US Health Policy
The Catholic hierarchy has also used the political clout they wield to influence US reproductive health policy by preventing access to affordable, comprehensive choices for family planning despite American women’s nearly universal use of modern contraceptives.
The Catholic bishops demanded a broad exemption to the contraceptive benefit requirement for any faith-based organization, such as Catholic hospitals and universities, which objected to providing contraceptives to their employees, staff and students.
In 2011, the Obama administration announced a plan to require that all health insurance plans sold in the United States include no-cost contraceptive coverage as part of a slate of essential women’s preventive health services that would be covered at no cost. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the lobbying arm of the Catholic hierarchy in the United States, was apoplectic. In an effort to allay the concerns expressed by the Catholic bishops, the Obama administration gave churches and houses of worship a narrow exemption when they announced the proposed regulation for the contraceptive benefit. Two state supreme court cases in New York and California had upheld a similar exemption. But the bishops were not satisfied. Faced with overwhelming public opinion in support of the contraceptive benefit, they changed tactics.
In September 2011, the USCCB announced the formation of an Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty to answer several “threats” to religious liberty they perceived on the horizon, linking the contraceptive benefit to a number of other policies, including the push to recognize same-sex marriage, which the Catholic hierarchy also forbids. Under the guise of this “religious liberty” fight, the bishops claimed that the government was forcing Catholics, and Catholic institutions, to violate their consciences with the contraceptive benefit and the recognition of same-sex marriage.[i] Over the next few years, the committee became a platform for the USCCB to stake its positions on these issues, despite not having the backing of the majority of voters, Catholic or otherwise.
The Catholic bishops did have some allies in this fight, however. Groups associated with the Christian right, such as the National Association of Evangelicals and evangelical universities such as Colorado Christian University, took up the mantle of “religious liberty” to argue that they too should be allowed to deny contraceptive coverage, even though no Protestant faith has a ban on contraceptive use. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the closest thing evangelicals have to a Vatican-like teaching authority, noted how influential Humanae Vitae had become in evangelicals’ growing hostility to contraception. He urged conservative Protestant evangelicals to reject a “contraceptive mentality” and said they should “look closely at the Catholic moral argument found in Humanae Vitae” in assessing whether contraceptive use was moral.[ii] As the Christian right became more radicalized on contraception, the Republican Party in 2011 tried, unsuccessfully, to defund the Title X family planning program, which provides family planning services to some 4 million clients annually.[iii] Ultraconservatives also sought to limit reproductive care through attempts to defund Planned Parenthood across 15 states.
The USCCB became a key player in the fight to roll back the contraceptive benefit. The Catholic bishops demanded a broad exemption to the contraceptive benefit requirement for any faith-based organization, such as Catholic hospitals and universities, which objected to providing contraceptives to their employees, staff and students. With Catholic hospitals alone employing more than 750,000 people, many of whom are not Catholic, such a broad exemption was clearly a ploy to impose Humanae Vitae and its ban on contraception on the population at large.[iv] Again, the Obama administration attempted to appease the Catholic bishops by proposing an accommodation that offered a workaround to allow a broader range of religiously affiliated nonprofits to bypass direct provision of the benefit with a simple declaration of their objections. Still the Catholic bishops balked.
Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh, under direct orders from the USCCB, led several Catholic entities to sue the federal government because the workaround was not good enough—claiming that filing a form or another declaration indicating their objection to the contraceptive coverage was a violation of their religious freedom. In short, the goal was a complete exemption for every nonprofit organization even loosely affiliated with religious bodies, imposing one set of religious views on millions of employees and essentially codifying Humanae Vitae into public law. The cases eventually were consolidated under the Zubik v. Burwell case, which made its way to the US Supreme Court in 2016.
Meanwhile, for-profit-companies took a page from the Catholic bishops to claim that their consciences as employers would be violated if they provided birth control coverage for their employees. The owners of Hobby Lobby, a chain of craft stores, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a cabinet manufacturer, argued in the courts that providing insurance coverage for contraception to their employees violated their beliefs that certain kinds of contraceptives were immoral. In June 2014, this argument was upheld by the US Supreme Court in the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby decision, which found that closely held private companies had a right to deny contraception to their employees.
The USCCB not only wielded influence in the courts, but in the private sector too. They began a crackdown on the provision of contraception by healthcare providers affiliated with the Catholic church. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provided incentives for hospitals to buy up physicians’ practices and integrate them into healthcare systems to restrain costs. The breadth of Catholic hospitals across the country meant that many secular physicians’ practices have become integrated into Catholic healthcare systems. When these doctors’ practices are merged with Catholic hospitals, their care falls under the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (the Directives)—a set of guidelines written and enforced by Catholic bishops that ban the provision of certain types of healthcare, including contraception. The Directives serve as a policy manual for implementing Humanae Vitae in US healthcare provision.
As a result of these mergers, the number of Catholic hospitals increased by 22 percent between 2001 and 2016.[v] Today, one in six hospital beds in America is Catholic-owned or -affiliated.[vi]
In 2018, Ascension Health, a Catholic system, announced plans to purchase Providence St. Joseph Health in a merger that would create the single largest health system in the United States, encompassing 200 hospitals in 27 states and numerous ancillary services like doctors’ offices.
As a result of these mergers, increasingly more Americans are denied family planning services banned by Humanae Vitae. For instance, a woman named Angela Valavanis in Evanston, Illinois, was told by her OB/GYN that she could no longer prescribe contraception after she sold her practice to Presence Health, a large regional Catholic hospital system that owns dozens of doctors’ offices. Valavanis was shocked when her doctor gave her the news that Catholic doctrine was affecting her reproductive health choices, calling the doctrine “medieval.” A short time later, her husband was denied a vasectomy by a doctor affiliated with the same system.[vii]
With the inauguration of President Trump, the USCCB and Catholic-owned hospitals, schools and social service agencies, found the president’s ultraconservative religious appointees to be powerful allies in implementing their agenda on religious refusals and contraception. On October 2017, the Trump administration issued an executive order that allows any employer—for-profit or nonprofit, faith-based or not—to opt out of the ACA contraceptive benefit due to religious or vaguely defined “moral” objections. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists called the rollback of a benefit that had helped an estimated 55 million women access no-cost contraceptives “damaging” to “public health and women’s health.”[viii]
Through court battles, executive orders and private mergers, we continue to see how the Catholic hierarchy in the United States has imposed its ban on contraception on non-Catholics and Catholics alike, despite public opinion on these issues. Humanae Vitae may be 50 years old, but its consequences seem to be more widespread and consequential than ever before.
[i] Laurie Goodstein, “Bishops Open ‘Religious Liberty’ Drive,” New York Times, November 14, 2011.
[ii] Albert Mohler, “Can Christians Use Birth Control?” AlbertMohler.com, May 8, 2006.
[iii] Title X Family Planning Annual Report 2016 Summary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, https://www.hhs.gov/opa/title-x-family-planning/fp-annual-report/fpar-2016/index.html.
[iv] “U.S. Catholic Health Care” fact sheet, Catholic Health Association of the United States, 2018, https://www.chausa.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/cha_2018_miniprofile7aa087f4dff26ff58685ff00005b1bf3.pdf?sfvrsn=2
[v] Lois Uttley and Christine Khaikin, Growth of Catholic Hospital Systems, New York, MergerWatch, 2016.
[vi] Is Your Healthcare Compromised? How the Catholic Directives Make for Unhealthy Choices. Catholics for Choice. 2017. http://issuu.com/catholicsforchoice/docs/2017_catholic_healthcare_report?e=31036955/53427854.
[vii] Patricia Miller, “When the Catholic Church Owns Your Doctor,” Salon, May 11, 2015.
[viii] Brianna Ehley, “Trump Rolls Back Obamacare Birth Control Mandate,” Politico, October 6, 2017.


About this Course
Are you growing in your love of God? Perhaps you are Christian but don’t feel the love of God or feel loving toward God? Are there obstacles to loving God? Come and be encouraged as we explore and learn together about loving God. This Course will be taught by Bill Schreyer, elder.
Date, Time & Location
Sundays • July 9 – July 30, 2017 • 11am • Auditorium
No registration is required. You are welcome to join for one Sunday or every week!


(2nd Week of Easter – Monday)
A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to John 3:1-8
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?” Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
—The Gospel of the Lord.


Switch to calm
A Christian Science perspective on daily life
A friend of mine loves scary movies – that is, sometimes. She has a tactic she uses when they become too scary. She pushes the mute button, maintaining that if she can't hear the suspenseful music, the spell of fright is broken. Then she can regain her composure and get back into the movie to see what happens without being afraid.
But the fodder of scary movies – the fear of the unknown – is now prevalent in everyday life. In airports, in major "target cities," even in our public schools, the possibility that unseen, lurking evil could strike innocent people at any moment for no apparent reason has many of us on edge. Do we have control over this sort of fear?
Recent terrorist plots in London alert us to be unrelenting in our prayers for a truly civilized civilization, a world where reason, rather than reaction, reigns. The ability to establish calm and extinguish fear that would immobilize wise action is essential. And it is available right now to each of us.
The Bible feeds my prayers on this topic. It repeatedly counsels, "Fear not." In fact, I've just counted well over 100 times that the Bible instructs the reader not to be afraid. It's been helpful to regard these short, explicit statements as commands, rather than recommendations. It gives me something to obey, to do. We are not helpless.
The most peaceful and fearless man to have ever lived, Christ Jesus, made a statement, then gave an instruction to his followers: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).
The "let not" gives us an active part in ridding ourselves of fear. It requires some discipline by implying that each of us has dominion to be used through not allowing our hearts to be troubled or afraid. We don't have to play out the fears that come our way. We can exercise spiritual authority and poise. This not only helps us. It helps everyone we encounter. We contribute to the mental atmosphere with our thoughts. As we are prayerfully proceeding in our lives, others perceive our fearlessness. Jesus told his disciples to "freely give" (Matt. 10:8). One of the things we might consider giving today is a steady sense of dominion over fear.
A book I read to further understand spiritual dominion is "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, who established this newspaper in 1908. She, too, when addressing readers, attributes to them great dominion. She wrote, in what could be considered a correlative statement to the passage in John, cited above, "Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious – as Life eternally is – can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not" (p. 495).
One time, when reading that sentence in a fairly unsettled frame of mind, I realized the author was giving me instruction and was simultaneously telling me something quite wonderful and new. By using the phrase "your clear sense and calm trust," she was attributing to the reader these qualities.
I didn't have to get this clear sense or calm trust; they are established possessions. This gave me new confidence to claim the spiritual identity that belongs to all God's children, and this conquered the fear. God made man and gave him "dominion," as stated in chapter one of Genesis.
And what do we do with this God-instilled calm? We live it. We can go about our lives knowing our dominion over fear because God's love is right where fear appears to be. We can expect good and encourage others to be spiritually courageous.
Nothing breaks the hold of fear like deeply settled calm based on God's goodness and presence. It is natural to feel this. We don't have to stay riveted to a mental screen of fright. We can switch to our dominion and our fearless being.


Deuteronomy 6-34 | May 16-22
Moses knew he wouldn’t be around much longer, so he gathered his people to teach them. He reminded them to love the Lord their God. Moses didn’t want the people to forget all of the great things the Lord had done for them. They had been freed from slavery, saved from the Egyptians, fed manna in the wilderness, and they had seen many other miracles. Moses told the people to teach all these things to their children and never forget to love the Lord with all their hearts.
Many of the things Moses had taught and written were quoted by Jesus Christ when He was on the earth. Some of these scriptures helped the Savior when he was being tempted by Satan. The teachings of Moses and other prophets can help and inspire us today.
Read and Discuss
“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
- How can we show love for God with all our souls, hearts, might, minds, and strength?
- Why is it so important to love God?
- How do we learn the words of God?
- What are some things we’ve learned from Moses?
“The words of the prophets are like manna to our souls. When we partake, we are blessed, protected, and preserved both temporally and spiritually. When we feast upon their words, we learn how to come unto Christ and live.” Carol F. McConkieGET THE FULL LESSON >
View past lessons & resources on our website.
Let family members decorate these inspiring quotes and then post them on your refrigerator, wall, or bulletin board.
These delicious treats are heart shaped to remind your family to love God with all your hearts.
Stand for the Right, Children’s Songbook page 159


The theme of this Year of Mercy is "Merciful like the Father," and no one has shown us how to emulate the Father's Mercy better than the "image of the invisible God" himself, the one who identified himself to St. Faustina Kowalska as "Mercy Incarnate."
There are many ways to live out the Year of Mercy, but I think perhaps the most fruitful is to ponder and imitate Jesus' own merciful example. The theme of this Year of Mercy is "Merciful like the Father," and no one has shown us how to emulate the Father's Mercy better than the "image of the invisible God" himself, the one who identified himself to St. Faustina Kowalska as "Mercy Incarnate."
All of Jesus' life is a manifestation of God's loving mercy, but when we look at the demonstrations of that merciful love in the Gospel, we see that they fall into five general categories. In Greek, the evangelists introduce them all by the same verb, splanchnizomai, which in English is normally translated as Jesus' "heart was moved with pity." Since splanchna, however, means "viscera" or "guts," a more literal translation would be that Jesus was "sick to his stomach" with compassion as he saw people in need.
Jesus did five different things in response to these intense cramps of compassion, things that the Church continues to do and every Christian is called to do with particular focus during this Year of Mercy.
The first was to teach. St. Mark tells us, "When he saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity or them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things" (Mk 6:34). We need the truth! "Teach me your ways, O Lord," we pray in the Psalms, "so that I may walk in your truth" (Ps 86). Jesus -- who identified himself as the Truth and said he had come had come to "witness to the truth" and to "proclaim the Gospel to the poor" -- hrough his preaching and teaching sought mercifully to cure us of our spiritual cluelessness. The Church has always carried out the spiritual work of mercy of "instructing the ignorant," through the teaching of the magisterium, through schools, universities, catechetical programs, daily and Sunday homilies and more. This ministry of the truth is not adequately appreciated in a relativistic age, but Jesus wants us to receive the mercy of his astonishing, amazing and authoritative teaching and learn it well enough so that we can mercifully pass it on.
The second thing was to heal. The evangelists tell us often that Jesus' heart was moved with pity for the multitudes and he "cured their sick" one-by-one (Mk 14:14; Mk 9:27; Mt 20:34; Mk 1:41; Lk 7:13). He healed lepers, cripples, the blind, the deaf, hemorrhaging women, the possessed, even raising the dead. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the term splanchnizomai is used to describe why the Samaritan drew near the dying man. The Church continues this work of mercy, caring for the sick, founding hospitals, clinics and nursing homes, ministering to the inform with parishes and so many other ways. In this Jubilee Year, we're all called to a similar compassion, recognizing that in every ill man or woman, Jesus is saying, "I was sick and you cared for me."
The third was to feed. "My heart is moved with pity for the crowd," Jesus said at the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish (Mt 15:32; Mk 8:2). God always responds to our prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread" and Jesus wanted us to continue that ministry of feeding, commanding us to to invite beggars, the blind, and the crippled to our dinner parties and to see him in the hungry. The Church continues that mission of mercy in soup kitchens, pantries, St. Vincent de Paul Conference work, Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services and more. During this Year of Mercy, Jesus is hoping that we will be sick to our stomachs that so many go to bed with empty stomachs.
Fourth, Jesus forgave. In Jesus' famous parable, the verb splanchnizomai is used to describe how the Father, "filled with compassion," forgave his Prodigal Son. Filled with that compassion, Jesus forgave the paralyzed man, the sinful woman who with tears washed his feet, the tax collector Zacchaeus, the Samaritan Woman, the woman caught in adultery, St. Peter, the Good Thief and many others. The Lamb of God, who had come to take away the sins of the world, was denigrated as a "friend of tax collectors and sinners," and proved his love by dying for them, begging the Father's pardon from the Cross. The Church continues this work of God's mercy, reconciling sinners through the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, and helping people to learn how to forgive those who have wronged them. This work of forgiveness, receiving it from God and giving it toward others, is the most important and the foundation of all the works of mercy.
The last act of mercy is not as conspicuous as the others. When Jesus' heart was moved with pity for the crowds because they were "mangled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd," he told his disciples, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so pray the Master of the Harvest to send out laborers for his harvest" (Mt 9:36). Then Jesus immediately called from among those same praying disciples twelve whom he would send out as apostles. Praying for vocations to continue Jesus' saving mission, and then responding to Jesus when he calls us, is an essential work of mercy. God wants, and the suffering world needs, "laborers" of mercy, hard-workers who, sick to their stomach over the needs of others, will carry out together with Jesus his continued work of teaching, healing, feeding, forgiving, praying and calling. During this Holy Year, Jesus is calling us to see that we're the response to the prayers of the saints and sinners across the centuries until the present day.
This Jubilee Year is a time when Jesus wants us, with him, to observe how many are lost and instruct them how to follow Him who is the Way; to see how many are suffering physically, psychologically and spiritually and become nurses of the Divine Physician; to notice the crowds starving physically or spiritually and give them the nourishment God provides; to spot the multitudes carrying the wounds of unexpiated guilt or severed relationships and bring them to receive and extend God's mercy; and in all of this, to become laborers of mercy and to pray insistently that others join us in becoming the compassionate "upset stomach" of the Mystical Body of Christ.
Father Roger J. Landry is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, who works for the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations.
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A Day of CompassionJaymie Stuart Wolfe
When the child Jesus and the three kings brought ChristmasHosffman Ospino
In support of our priests in good standingKevin and Tricia Muldoon
We need an educated laityAldona Lingertat
What Do We Do?Scott Hahn


This article has shown that the Gen 3:15 Edenic covenant began in the Garden with the woman. It was then initially fulfilled with Deborah and Jael in Judg 4 and 5. Indeed, the Jael story actualizes the Gen 3:15 promise.
Cleansing the Bible of counter-cultural female roles not only masculinizes history, it also deprives women of a broader picture of how God has and might use women and their gifts in church, home, and society.
Most people read a translated Bible, a domesticated Bible that by means of translators’ mediation has crossed time, space, language, and culture. Bible translators strive to provide people with access to this ancient text.
First Corinthians 14 contains the only passage in the Bible that at face value silences women or restricts their ministry in the churches. It is important for all who believe Scripture to understand the truth about this passage.
This paper argues that a close reading of Deborah's story and song reveals an ’eshet hayil, a “woman of valor” (cf. Ruth 3:11, Prov 12:4, 31:10). This is evident not only in the direct references to her, but also in the narratives regarding her associates Barak and Jael.
The occasion for writing the following article is this: at a recent summer convention [probably 1893] a young lady missionary had been appointed to give an account of her work at one of the public sessions. The scruples of certain of the delegates against a woman’s addressing a mixed assembly were found to be so strong, however, that the lady was withdrawn from the programme, and further public participation in the conference confined to its male constituency.


Faithful and TrueWhat experiences have shaped your understanding of what it means to be faithful?
Top Christian Music Videos
Homeless Man Under Pressure
Watch this inspirational performance to encourage us to not forget those men, women and children living on streets. They are people too. Do you know them?


ASTON – While Americans were gearing up for Independence Day last week, the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia quietly signed an agreement that will change the future of Neumann University, as well as enhance the lives of countless students, now and in the years to come. The Sisters of St. Francis and Neumann University signed an official purchase agreement to formalize the sale of several historic properties and contiguous land to the university.
Under the agreement, signed on June 30, Neumann University will acquire the Our Lady of Angels Motherhouse Convent, now owned by the Sisters of St. Francis. Both parties describe the purchase price as fair market value. The convent, built in late 1800s, is considered one of the most recognized, historic, and beloved buildings in the Aston area.
The transaction also includes the purchase of St. Elizabeth House, a two-story residential facility and office building, two residential homes, and nearly 63 acres of land. The land acquisition includes sacred spaces, most notably, Our Lady of Angels Cemetery and many iconic statues and symbols throughout the properties. The university has vowed to preserve these spaces, statues, and symbols in keeping with its longtime commitment to the Catholic, Franciscan intellectual tradition and Neumann’s ongoing partnership with the Sisters of St. Francis.
The sale positions Neumann to nearly double its campus footprint to accommodate future growth and enhance all aspects of its mission.
The university’s ambitious new master plan calls for the transformation of its campus over a 15-year period. Highlights of the buildout will include a welcoming entryway and lively pedestrian-only zone at the heart of campus. Plans also call for a new student center, new ice rink, an events center, and new student residences.
As many as 60 students are expected to move into one wing of the convent during the upcoming 2021-22 academic year, with the total reaching 120 within three years.
“This acquisition works on so many levels,” said Neumann President Chris Domes. “This is a great win-win, and the sisters feel the same way. It positions us to strengthen the residential experience for our students and supports our desire for expanded extracurricular programs and athletics.”
“Equally important,” Domes noted, “it preserves and extends the university’s commitment to a faith-based Catholic, Franciscan education and our ongoing partnership with the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. The motherhouse, which includes Our Lady of Angels Chapel, and the sacred spaces are integral to our mission and identity.”
The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia is a congregation of Catholic women who commit their lives to God and in service to others. According to a press release about the sale, the Sisters see the sale as an opportunity to continue their mission to serve “the needs of others, especially the economically poor, the marginal, and the oppressed,” without the burden of maintaining properties and land.
At their height in 1958, the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia numbered 1,600 sisters working in grade schools and high schools, hospitals and centers of nursing, and in social services. The congregation now includes about 360 sisters in 19 states, Ireland, and Africa, with a median age of 82.
Approximately 35 sisters expect to maintain residence in the convent.
“Though bittersweet in many ways, this transaction allows us to focus solely on our mission and ministries,” said Sr. Kathryn Dougherty, OSF, outgoing congregational minister for the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. “Frankly, we’ve reached a point at which we no longer needed, or could justify owning, these facilities and this land.”
“Our sisters,” she added, “did not join this community because of a building or a parcel of land. They came to serve. Moving forward, we wanted to make sure that we could sustain our mission and support the ministries we have established over the years.”
The closing on the transaction is expected to be as soon as Aug. 30.
As part of the agreement, the acquisition of property will take place incrementally over time. The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia will lease space in the convent for resident Sisters and offices through at least 2030. The Sisters of St. Francis will maintain ownership of Assisi House, Red Hill Farm, Clare House, and the Hermitages.
The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia founded Neumann University, then called Our Lady of Angels College, in 1965, with a total enrollment of 115 female students. Today, Neumann educates 2,500 male and female students annually, engages over 14,900 alumni, and is one of the largest employers in Aston.
“Neumann University is the perfect fit to carry our legacy forward,” Dougherty stated. “We are thrilled about that. It’s a true blessing.”


Maryland High School Soccer - Tri-State Christian can't get by DickinsonMarch 29, 2019: Elkton, MD 21921
In Friday's non-league battle, the visiting Dickinson Rams soccer squad scored a close 1-0 win over the Tri-State Christian Crusaders.
The Rams (1-0) will now prepare for their battle against Brandywine (Wilmington, DE). The Bulldogs go into the non-league battle with a 1-0 record.
The Crusaders (1-1) will now prepare for their battle against Granite Baptist School (Glen Burnie, MD). The go into the non-league battle with a 0-1 record. In their last battle, Granite Baptist School was nudged by Harford Christian (Darlington, MD), 1-0, in a league battle.


blusdrmr wrote on my BWWSOT Introduction the following: (My comments will be in Red)
X> I guess most people have asked"what on EARTH am I to do with all these 'tools'?"
B> I guess, hypocrite, you want to "support" all of the Diamonds that you proclaim to not want to give your money to. (sarcasm implied) Hypocrite seems to be this person’s favorite word, though I am doubtful of his knowledge of the definition. I looked up hypocrite in my handy dictionary and it means, “A person given to hypocrisy”. How wonderful, now I have to look up hypocrisy, “The professing of beliefs or virtues one does not possess.” I would be a hypocrite if I wrote all this material about BWW and was an active participant in the program. I would also be a hypocrite if I did not live by the Christian principles I write about on this site, but I do hold to them.
X> "Here is a creative idea: Listen to them and then post excerpts and comments!"
B> How about this creative idea?: Crawl back in your hole. Wonderful…I will be sure to crawl into the hole so as to not spread my negativity…the problem is that there would be too many people looking for me because they love my attitude and outlook on life.
X> "(Warning, ONLY do this if you are SUFFICIENTLY deprogrammed so you don't catch the dream; you know, similar to a cold, but a lot more dangerous)."
B> Really?!?!?!?!? That is just wonderful! Well, hypocrite, I guess you might want to find it in your re-written version of the Bible that God does NOT want us to have dreams and goals. First of all, let us look at how BWW is a cult and thus deprogramming is needed to overcome it. Look at a cult experts testimony here: http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/a/amway/
Next, if you haven't noticed, all my biblical quotes are from the NASB, which is a very good and reliable translation. The bible is very clear: The Gospel is the dream and the goal. It is OK to succeed in life, but it is not OK to make money on other people’s losses, which Quixtar has proven to do when used in conjunction with BWW and other MO’s. Matthew 10:38, Matthew 16:24-26, and 1 Thessalonians 3:1-3 are a few of many verses about self denial, not self-fulfillment. When you walk in the glory of God, you will receive blessing, but when you walk to fulfill your hearts desires, you may fulfill your heart, but you are compromising the Gospel. This is a very difficult concept to grasp, and I apologize that I don’t have the time to fully develop it.
On the other hand, the BWW system has appeared to produce a who lot of people who are driven to gather money, people have been hurt, scandals have been uncovered, and all sorts of other things. Have a read through this verse: 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Sounds a lot like BWW people.
X> "Or, you can just look at mine!"
B> OH! What a great idea! We can all look at you wonderful blog of how much you hate something and how much you hate a certain group of people for succeeding in life. So, do you hate Sam Walton or Bill Gates, too? Might want to read the REAL Bible and see if that applies to your hypocritical views. If I hated these people, I certainly would not spend the time to do all this. There is nothing wrong with Bill Gates or Sam Walton. They provided a service that people bought. They may have hurt some people along the way, I do not know. BWW, however, requires to be fed by hard earned money for nothing more than a motivational business that promises everyone can make it. It uses a mind control system to keep people involved and thus sucks people dry until they have to refinance homes, lose jobs, and a whole host of other problems.
I would like to take this time to point out a small portion of his quote, “at you wonderful blog”. On many of his other comments, this person results to attacking me over a few spelling mistakes. I don’t make a big deal about them, and I think it is wrong to do so, I just wanted to pull this one out since he is so keen to tell me that my spelling is off about 4 times or so…hypocrite? Maybe.
X> "My goal here is to post a tape a week. Why a week? Standing order comes once a week, so this blog will too!"
B> Well, at least you learned ONE thing...to have goals. Too bad those goals are to try to hurt other people and crush their dreams and goals. What a wonderful Christian you are! You make me want to vomit. You are the very type of person who made me LEAVE the church and turn away from God. THANK GOD for him leading me to this team and getting my life back in order and being able to help hold my marriage together and have three wonderful boys to spend time with. What has your negative mind gotten you? Really, hurting people? Hrmm…Crushing their dreams? Well, if your dream is to abandon your God-ordained call to work, promote a Mind Control System that sucks out 50-100 times per year than the average annual income of a Quixtar IBO, than yes, I want to ‘steal your dream’ as it were. I stand true to the call of God, to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, however, when MLM is involved, you lose track of which gospel to share.
This person says that I am the type of Christian that made him leave the church. Why did you leave the church because of people? Do you not know that it is God that you are bound to? When I leave the Mind Control Cult of BWW, I am a negative low self-esteem person, but when he leaves the church, it is the people that were bad. I think this person may need to reconsider. I do not know him, but I have seen this situation many times. It goes like this: a person is living in sin, the church takes it’s responsibility and tells him about his sin (1 Corinthians 5:12), he gets mad and leaves. He wants to follow his own path. Later, this person finds a group of people that are following their own desires and tells him that he can have God and his pleasures, he takes it. This is the heart of the passage 2 Timothy 4:3-4. I CAN NOT SAY THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM. It is also possible that he was simply in an unregenerate church where people talked about what honors God, but they were truly hypocrites. If that is the case, and you are reading this, I am not one such person. I do not live in unrighteous behavior to the best of my ability. I, like every other Christian, will still sin, but when I do, I deal with it appropriately.
Again, it is funny how he assumes that I am a negative person. This person does not even know me. It is curious for him to make such an assertion. As I mentioned earlier, I have a lot of people who enjoy my spirit and outlook. To answer your question (I will alter it to ask, “What have you done since you left Quixtar?), Ministry related, I have:
1. Mentored 2 boys from less-than-ideal backgrounds
2. Taught Children’s Church once a month
3. Taught 3rd graders every week for a while
4. Have the reputation across several churches as a great children and youth worker
5. Have been asked several times to join committees for children’s organizations because the director of one such organization was baffled about why I have kids following me around like the pied piper
6. Brought people back to God after they have strayed down the dark path of MLM
7. Been asked to take over a youth group in a different church to allow the regular teachers time to study with a group of people instead of constantly outputting
8. Counseled children’s camps and received high praises for my great attitude, fortitude, wisdom, and ability.
9. Have coached a boys club once a week and earned the reputation as a friend to most of the kids there.
1. Have the reputation as the most approachable person in the lab
2. Have been given the honor of teaching a student independently
3. Have counseled many people at work through many serious issues B> You are a hypocrite.


"The finest Christian poet alive today is the Welsh poet R. S. Thomas. Our century has produced some magnificent Christian poetry, but R. S. Thomas has written the most convincing.” So commented poet Mark Jarman in a 1998 interview from the Writer’s Chronicle. We can no longer claim Thomas as a major living poet: he died on September 25 at the age of 87.
After 30 years of teaching Christian ethics, I decided that I needed to express myself in something besides words. I wanted a fresh start and a fresh form, something that would go beyond nostalgia, some new symbolic form that would be congruent with my deepest convictions and aspirations. I decided to build a communion table.
The participants at the church retreat had been talking about their families, new grandkids, vacations and pending retirements. The facilitator had asked us to share something personal. I’d shared personal stuff in church groups before. But this time my heart sank and my shoulders slumped. I could feel a shroud of fear and disgrace coming over me. Share something personal? Why? How?
Forty years after Harvest of Shame, Edward R. Murrrow’s great documentary on the exploitation of migrant workers, the shame endures. Now overwhelmingly Spanish-speaking, the nation’s estimated 1.5 million farmworkers, are the most vulnerable laborers in the U.S.
In the late 1980s, Barbara Brown Zikmund lamented the failure of churches prior to the 1960s to understand and help working women, women who had first moved into the workplace during World War II. The indices of the Century during the ’40s and ’50s demonstrate how little attention mainline religion gave to women’s issues during those years.


« PreviousContinue »
Canst thou thy face forever hide,
Rejoice to see me sunk so low.
Before my death conclude my grief; e. If thou withhold thy heav'nly light,
I sleep in everlasting night. 5.How will the pow'rs of darkness boast,
If but one praying soul be lost? o But I have trusted in thy grace,
And shall again behold thy face.
Thou art my hope, my joy, my rest:
My cheerful voice to songs of praise.
By Nature all Men are Sinners.
“That all religion's vain;
“Or minds th' affairs of men.”
Corrupt discourse proceeds;
Look'd down on things below,
Or did his justice know.
Their practice all the same:
There's none who loves his Name.
5 Their tongues are used to speak deceit,
Their slanders never cease;
Nor know the paths of peace.
In ev'ry heart are found; Nor can they bear diviner fruit,
'Till grace refine the ground. Plymouth. PSALM 15. L. M. Leeds. Oporto. [*]
Duties to God and Man; or, the CARISTIAN. ei WHO shall ascend thy heavenly place,
-The man who minds religion now,
And humbly walks with God below.
Sweet charity attends his door.]
those who curse him to his face: And does to all men still the same
That he would hope or wish from them, 7 Yet when his holiest works are done,
His soul depends on grace alone: o This is the man thy face shall see,
And dwell for ever, Lord, with thee.
Good works profit Men, not Gon.
For succour to thy throne I flee;
But have no merits there to plead;
Nor add new glories to thy Name:
Some profit by the good we do;
Courage in Death, and Hope of the Resurrection.
THEN God is nigh, my faith is strong,
2. Though in the dust I lay my head;
Nor lose thy children in the grave.
Shake off the dust, and rise on high;
V. 1-3.-Support and Counsel from God.
But my delightful lot is cast,
Where the true God is known.
He fills my daily cup;
But more rejoice in hope.
5 God is my portion and my joy;
His counsels are my light;
And gentle hints by night.
To his all-seeing eye;
While such a Friend is nigh.
The Death and Resurrection of CARIST. p5 :
ESUS, whom ev'ry saint adores, o Behold, the tomb its prey restores!
Behold, he lives again! -6 When shall my feet arise and stand
On heav'n's eiernal hills; o There sits the Son at God's right hand,
And there the Father smiles.
PSALM 17. S. M. Peckham. [*]
And make the wicked flee;
To drive thy saints to thee. р
2 Behold, the sinner dies,
His haughty words are vain;
And all beyond is pain.
And boast of all his store;
My soul can wish no more..
Of my forgiving God;
Wash'd in my Saviour's blood. s 5 There's a new heaven begun,
When I awake from death Drest in the likeness of thy Son,
And draw immortal breath.
L. M. Islington. [*]
Lord, 'tis enough that thou art mine: o I shall behold thy blissful face,
And stand complete in righteousness. p 4 This life's a dream, an empty show; But the bright world to which I go
Hath joys substantial and sincere;
I shall be near, and like my God!
The sacred pleasures of the soul.
And in my Saviour's image rise. PSALM 18. L. M. First Part. Green's. (*)
Verse 1-6, 15—18. Deliverance from Despair: or, Temptations overcone. 1
My, rock, my tow'r, my high defence;
Stood round me with their dismal shade,
And made my sinking soul afraid. e 3 I saw the op’ning gates of hell,
With endless pains and sorrows there;
When I could scarce believe him mine;
The blast of his almighty breath;


There’s a varied arsenal of Bible truths that I reach for on harder days. Each one of them has their place in doing battle on despairing thoughts and on the suffering in the lives of those we know and love.
Today feels like one of those days. Sad news from friends we love and their losses and, here, another UTI after the last one had just cleared up (and I’d been doing all the things I’m meant to do including drinking cranberry juice by the litre!). Not a big thing in one sense, but in the category of ‘one thing too many’
The range of truths I reach for on these days includes: ‘God provides one day at a time’; ‘it’s okay to grieve’; ‘the Psalms encourage honesty with God’; ‘it’s okay to rest; you’re not indispensible’; ‘God took His own medicine and knows what suffering is like’; ‘God is present even when He seems most absent’
Sometimes the truth I reach for is ‘eternity puts suffering in perspective‘.
So, I’m offering the extract below from Philip Yancey not as the one knock-down thing we need to hear in suffering, as if ‘well, eternity will make things alright’ is the only thing we say to ourselves and others when another of God’s waves breaks over us. It’s not the only thing we need to hear or say. Certainly it’s not the only thing God says to us in the Bible. But it is one of the things. And a really important one.
I think Yancey puts it well:
“Who would complain if God allowed one hour of suffering in an entire lifetime of comfort? …[our] lifetime is a mere hour of eternity.
In the Christian scheme of things, this world and the time spent here are not all there is…remember: less than one-millionth of the evidence has been presented, and that is being worked out under a rebel flag. God is not deaf. God is as grieved by the world’s trauma as you are. His only son died here. But God has promised to set things right.
Let history finish. Let the orchestra scratch out its last mournful warm-up note of discord before it bursts into the symphony.
As Paul said, “In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us. The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own…(Rom 8:18, Phillips Translation)
(Yancey, The Gift of Pain, in ‘Be Still, My Soul’, p.29)
I find that line about one-millionth of the evidence striking. Our perspective on God is limited and based entirely on a tiny fraction of time lived in a fallen world. Like a beached whale basing its understanding of its existence entirely on the dry shores on which it is trapped rather than on the freedom of the Pacific ocean to which it may still return. We can’t imagine a sinless suffering-free world, but one day we’ll be able to judge things from there. Don’t mishear that: the Bible never diminishes our real suffering. But God does want to give us reasons for hope.
As Yancey says, ‘Let history finish’.
That helps for today.


Daniel 4:33 – “Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.”
Of all the kings in Scripture, no one is as fascinating to study as much as Nebuchadnezzar. He is a living and breathing evidence of the extreme measures God takes in order to bring glory to himself and to pursue his people for their good.
Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan king who God sovereignly used to administer judgment to his people. While in exile, God pursued Nebuchadnezzar and spoke to him in dreams and visions. The pride in Nebuchadnezzar was entrenched deeply in his heart and was a vice that God was adamantly on mission to break down. After God rescued Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace that Nebuchadnezzar threw them in, it appeared briefly that Nebuchadnezzar was committed to Yahweh. At the end of chapter 3, a decree was given that forbid any person from speaking against Yahweh. Even as king of the most powerful nation, Nebuchadnezzar could declare in 4:3, “How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.” Nebuchadnezzar was a changed king! Or was he?
In chapter 4, God gave the Babylonian king a dream that foretold how he would be humiliated in an absolutely incredible way. Because of Nebuchadnezzar’s pride, the dream was fulfilled. Standing on the rooftop of his palace, Nebuchadnezzar admired his work by saying, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” It says immediately after that, while he was speaking these words, God judged Nebuchadnezzar and turned him into an animal who ate grass like an ox, had hair all over his body as long as an eagle’s feather, and had nails like birds’ claws. God disciplined Nebuchadnezzar for God’s glory and for his own good. He learned his lesson. After a while, it says that once again, he boldly admitted that God is the King of all kings who is worthy to be praised.
Talk about extreme measures! God turned a man into an animal to convince him that he isn’t God! There is a spiraling effect that takes place when it comes to discipline. For those that love God and seek to be faithful to him, he will discipline in a greater and greater way to cause them to wake up! Though Christ was ultimately judged by God in our place, to this day, we will experience the discipline of the Lord. God cares too much for our lives and our hearts and for his glory to let us live in rebellion against him. He will discipline in order to wake us up. He will use extreme measures in order to show us what is most important. If we continue to rebel and continue to deny his sovereignty and worth in our lives, then either we are hardened against God and don’t really know him in the first place, or the power of indwelling sin in us is blinding our eyes. If we are his, he will not let us go. He will continue to pursue us, and his pursuit might be extreme! But if we are not his; if we do not believe he is Lord and we have not repented from our sin, he might abandon us to our own sin. Both measures are extreme. The judgment is just and right, and the discipline is mercy and grace.


Mom it has been 1 year since you left us and Dad it has been over 20 years. You were the pillars of our lives. You toiled hard and gave us the best. We remember your guiding words, your smiles, your laughs, your touch and treasure them dearly. It has been really hard but as you always told us to turn to God, we have and he has been faithful. He has given us comfort and strength. He has been our guide through it all and we thank him for blessing us with you two as our parents.
We know it was not goodbye since you just changed your earthly address to your permanent residency in heaven. God’s wonderful promise of eternal life fills our hearts with joy. May God bless your souls. May God bless all those who stood with us during that difficult time.
Dearly missed and remembered by your children grandchildren, relatives & friends.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”~ Matthew 5:8


What is God’s will for your life? The Lord has told us some amazing things: He wills our happiness. He wills our salvation. He wills eternal life for us. He wills to bring us back to the Father’s house. He wills to open the gates of paradise for us. He wills to help us get there. He gives us clear indications of how we can conduct ourselves on our way before we’re there, where there’s still suffering, pain, mistakes, failure, sin, confusion, opposition, hostility, challenges, and tests.
Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. For life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing” (Lk 12:22-24). Then He talks about how God cares so deeply about human life and for things of much less significance than human life. Jesus continues, “If God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith!” (Lk 12:28)
The Lord wants us to have faith in his care for us. He says, do not seek what you are to eat or drink—don’t make it the center of your life—nor be of anxious mind (Lk 12:29). “For all the nations of the world always seek these things; and your Father knows that you need them” (Lk 12:30). God knows what we need in this life to fulfill the purpose for which He created us and to bring us home for salvation. “Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well” (Lk 12:31). There is a condition here: Put the first things first. Seek first the kingdom of God and these other things that you need for life—not just the physical needs but the spiritual needs, including everything we need to persevere on the way to salvation—will be provided by God the Father. The next passage says, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Lk 12:32). The Lord wants to give us the kingdom. The Lord is going to give us everything we need to pass the necessary tests and trials of life.
Let’s look at another important text from Philippians 4:4-7: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance”—your trust, your patience, your faith. “The Lord is at hand”—He’s very near to us. “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” This is a clear command: Rejoice. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. The peace of God will keep you in Christ Jesus. You’ll have peace of heart and clarity of mind.
Notice how Saint Paul says to make all your needs known to God with prayer and supplications, and how he connects this with not having any anxiety. How do we not have any anxiety? We bring our needs to the Lord. We remember that He cares about us and only lets those things happen in our lives that He has a plan to bring good out of. This is not just about big events in the world or church; this is about our own lives. It’s normal for anxiety to rise up in our hearts at different times, but the Lord gives us clear direction about what to do about it: Bring it to Him with thanksgiving.
This is important: We not only have needs that we bring to the Lord; we have an amazing number of things for which to be thankful. Thank You, God, for creating me. Thank You for holy baptism. Thank You for making me your son or daughter. Thank You that I belong to you—that I’m not an orphan, that I’m not lost, that You’ve found me and I belong to You. Thank You for caring for me amid the pain, challenge, test, illness, sadness, or disappointment. We have so much to be grateful for right now. We are temples of the Holy Spirit. God is dwelling in us right now. We are being changed a little bit at a time, getting ready to see the Lord face-to-face.
First Thessalonians 4:3 contains another clear statement about God’s will for us:
“This is the will of God, your sanctification.” God wills your holiness and purification. The verse continues, “Abstain from immorality.” It’s particularly talking about sexual immorality—about chastity. The battle for chastity can be a struggle, but it’s clear that in this area, God wills our holiness and chastity according to our state of life. He’s going to give us the grace to accomplish whatever He wills for us. If you’re fighting a battle with purity, don’t give up. Get the help you need. Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out . . . if your right hand causes to sin, cut it off” (Mt 5:29-30). Jesus is not asking us to literally do those things, but He’s saying to do whatever it takes to get free from serious sin: join a twelve-step group, go to confession, get an accountability partner, stop drinking, avoid hanging out with certain people, put filters on your computer, or cancel certain channels. St. Augustine got free of serious sin through a long struggle, and he is interceding for us. This is God’s will, and we know He’s going to give us the grace for our sanctification and holiness, little by little over the course of a lifetime, in all areas of our lives.
Finally, regardless of what we are praying about—medical treatments, how to talk to our children, fasting, almsgiving, or finances—there is something important to remember. First Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” That’s really clear! Whatever happens regarding those secondary issues we are praying about, this is what we should be doing in the meantime. This is how we keep our heads clear and our hearts at peace amid not knowing certain things right now but trusting that God will help us to know when we need to know. It’s really important that this is what we do in the meantime and that this is what we do all the time: Rejoice! How can we rejoice? We have been saved. We are loved. We are being little-by-little changed into the image of Christ. We are being made ready to see the Lord face to face! Rejoice, because we have been given the gift of eternal life!
Paul tells us to pray always. To pray always, we must pray sometimes. If you don’t have a daily time for personal prayer and meditation on God’s Word, start making one. I sit in my home office and look at an icon of Jesus, and every day I read my Magnificat, just the readings from the daily Mass. Often, the Lord speaks to me through Sacred Scripture and simply by the fact that I am in his presence. All day, we need to remember the Lord. All day, we need to remember He’s at our side. St. Teresa of Avila said Jesus is at our side, and all we have to do is pay attention to Him.
“Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thes 5:16-18). This is hard sometimes—what if you have a bad circumstance? All of us have bad circumstances from time to time—give thanks because you’re not alone; give thanks because for those who love God even as imperfectly as we all do, everything works for the good. Even the pain, the suffering, the disappointment, the injustice, the rejection, and the illness—He’s working all that for our good. He’s getting us ready for an eternal weight of glory, and that’s why Scripture says the sorrows and suffering of the present age are not worth comparing to what’s coming to us when Christ Jesus appears.
This is God’s will for you! You may be wondering about any number of things. You may have questions about what to do, but in the meantime, “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thes 5:16-18).
This article is condensed from a YouTube video by Ralph Martin called What is God’s Will for You? It can be viewed here. The article originally appeared in the Renewal Ministries’ February 2023 newsletter.


Title New Every Morning Promise Journal
Book Condition Used - Good
Publisher Ellie Claire February 2011
160936127X / 9781609361273
Seller ID 436465
Designed to encourage women in their prayer lives, this Promise Journal features longer passages to inspire writing on the facing lined pages. New Every Morning will allow you to slow down, reflect, and draw closer to Him. Take time to hear His voice, sense His nearness, and know that He is intimately present with you. God's nearness is as close as a prayer. And this journal provides a lovely setting to commune with Him. Find encouraging prayers and Scriptures at the turn of each page. On the other side, lines are waiting to be filled with your prayers, praises, and answers to prayer.


Jesus modeled a deployed lifestyle. He left heaven—that’s really leaving home base—to live among people. He talked with, prayed for, cried with, and touched countless individuals. Jesus showed up in all kinds of places—from synagogues to water wells to private homes to fishing boats. Jesus attended weddings, funerals, dinner parties, and other gatherings of family and friends. He taught people how to become His disciples as a natural part of daily interactions with them. How can you be more like Jesus in this regard? After three decades of practicing, plus watching others do this effectively, here are some practical keys to having a more intentional gospel awareness of people around you. Do these things if you want to develop a deployed mind-set as a believer on a mission.
Be engaged. When you are with people, are you really with them? Or, are people around you part of the wallpaper? Do you even notice them? Are you distracted by other tasks or priorities? If so, make the choice to turn off your cell phone and declutter your calendar so you can focus on genuinely connecting with people.
One man heard me teach on reaching friends with the gospel and was particularly intrigued by our family’s outreach through youth sports. While our children were growing up, all three played multiple sports. We were always on the way to or from some practice or game year-round. Young athletes tend to play multiple sports with the same other youngsters so we were frequently with the same parents at practices, games, team parties, and fund-raisers. We didn’t need a visitation program to spend our evenings with lost people; we were with them multiple nights every week. Over the years, we were intentional about engaging these friends with the gospel. Several of them have become Christians—by far the most rewarding part of our family’s sports lifestyle.
Inspired by our story, this fellow told me, “That really works for you. I’m also heavily involved in youth sports but don’t seem to have the same opportunities to share the gospel you do.” We talked about his situation, but I had no real solutions for him. A few weeks later, however, we happened to be at a game where our children were playing against each other. During the game, I talked with various parents/friends—catching up on their families, talking about problems at work, laughing at the funny things happening on the field, and following up on past conversations (like updates on sick parents, etc.). My friend spent the entire game on his cell phone. He made call after call, no doubt doing something more important than engaging the people watching the game. His problem was simple: he was at the game, but not really at the game. His thoughts, focus, and energy were someplace else.
Jeff Iorg, Unscripted: Sharing the Gospel as Life Happens (Ashland, OH: New Hope Publishers, 2014).
Check out our Bible Study on the book by Jeff Iorg, Unscripted: Sharing the Gospel as Life Happens.
These lessons are available on Amazon, as well as a part of Good Questions Have Groups Talking Subscription Service. Like Netflix for Bible Lessons, one low subscription gives you access to all our lessons–thousands of them. For a medium-sized church, lessons are as little as $10 per teacher per year.


Who has the power to change your life? Sunday February 11th
Who has the power to change your life for the better? Who has the power to help you face the tough times of life? Today, our culture will tell us that only you have the power, and the right, to change your life. That the strength you need for the hard times is inside you. But the Gospel says something different - it says the power we all need to change our lives doesn't come from inside us - it comes from one who was himself changed, who himself suffered.
This Sunday, in our Morning Service we will be looking at the transfiguration of Jesus in Matthew's Gospel: Mountains, Valleys and the Transforming Power of God
In our Evening Service we'll be looking at 1 Peter 3 and how Jesus gives us the strength we need when we suffer.
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March 1, 2019Coming Home... and Change of Venue! Sunday March 3rd


Plans of The Diligent is the third of six messages on Gods plan for financial prosperity. How to move from worry to good planning with your finance. Money coming
to you needs to be coming into a plan. Find out how and move into God’s blessing of peace in your finances.
- Matthew 6:25 - 31
- Proverbs 3:9 - 10
- Proverbs 21:5


France: Pax Christi France leader to present at conference on media and peace
France, Pax Christi France, Catherine Billet
On Saturday, 25 February, Catherine Billet, a national representative of Pax Christi France, will be one of the featured speakers at the Diocesan Day of Communication in Nimes. The event is held to educate the media and on media issues, and more specifically to discuss: “Communication in the service of an authentic culture of encounters; do the media have a calling to be peace-makers?”
To participate and register, or for more information, contact the Diocesan Service of Communication at firstname.lastname@example.org or by calling the +33 6 07 12 28 73.


Next week, hundreds of current and aspiring church leaders will assemble in Birmingham, Alabama, for an exciting new event. Sponsored by Acts 29 in partnership with Beeson Divinity School and The Gospel Coalition, Engage the South is a one-day gathering that advocates for the kind of churches we need in today's American South.
Matt Chandler, David Platt, Ray Ortlund, Kevin Smith, and Bryan Loritts will lead us in a series of sessions designed to teach, inspire, and train. There's still time for you to register.
We asked Loritts, who will deliver a message titled "Churches That Plant Churches," about the greatest challenge facing churches in the American South today.
You'll understand if I'm initially hesitant to answer questions laced with superlatives like "greatest." I'm no expert. However, I've grown up in the South and had the joy of serving as lead pastor of Fellowship Memphis since its inception 10 years ago. So I have a few ideas on the challenges facing the church in the South.
Not all Southern cities have been created equally. There are actually two types of Southern cities: (1) Old South, where most of the people who live in the city are natives (Memphis is still an Old South city, but that's slowly changing in part to FedEx being a hub here); and (2) New South, where most of the people are immigrants. Cities like Atlanta, Dallas, and Charlotte come to mind when talking about New South cities.
One of the major differences between Old and New South cities is that one has a higher concentration of "older brother" religious people while the other is increasingly growing in their "younger brother" secular population (though still for the most part considered to be the Bible Belt). If you pastor in the South—especially an Old South city like Memphis—you have to be able to preach the gospel to the older brother of Luke 15. You're not in New York where you must contextualize the gospel primarily to the skeptic. You're in the South where churches are still welcomed in public schools and praying before games isn't a big deal in many contexts. Thanks to flannel boards, Awana programs, and sword-drill competitions, knowledgeable heads high in Bible IQ fill our seats, inches removed from cold and (in many cases) unregenerate hearts. If you don't know how to preach to the older brother, you won't be effective below the Mason-Dixon.
I know you asked me for "the greatest challenge," but as a preacher I have the right to add just one more point. I believe we have an unprecedented opportunity to reverse the trajectory of the church backward to her first-century, multi-ethnic roots. I continue to remain indebted to Dr. King and to all who marched and endured persecution so that I can sit anywhere I'd like on the bus. But the civil-rights movement was limited in that while it changed laws, it could never change hearts. The legacy of racism that has become so entrenched in our country over the past centuries, particularly in the South, wasn't eradicated with the stroke of a pen when the Civil Rights Act was signed. In place of long marches and monumental speeches we need sanctuaries and dinner tables filled with the sons and daughters of Confederate soldiers embracing and doing life with the descendants of slaves.
The Trayvon Martin case reminded me of this need. What if George Zimmerman and Martin had attended the same multi-ethnic church, having sat around dinner tables and done life with one another? Martin would still be alive, because instead of seeing a suspicious young black man, Zimmerman would've had a relational context to guide his actions that evening.
Matt Smethurst serves as associate editor for The Gospel Coalition. He and his wife Maghan have two children and live in Louisville, Kentucky, where they belong to Third Avenue Baptist Church. You can follow him on Twitter.


Vicky Shields believes the best way to bring children up in the faith is by parents getting involved and bringing the kids along. That could explain why she applied to attend the World Meeting of Families congress this week in Philadelphia with three of her eight children: Christopher, Kathleen and James.
The family was not disappointed with the week’s events. The younger Shields especially enjoyed the emphasis on helping the poor, as well as the music at the congress, Vicky said.
On Sept. 22, the opening day of the congress, Shields listened to keynote speaker, Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles, of the famed documentary film series “Catholicism.”
“I was thrilled to hear what [Bishop Barron] had to say,” she said. “He talked about not keeping our faith to ourselves. He encouraged me to be bolder in the secular world.”
Shields has years of experience sharing faith with kids. She trained to become a youth minister in the Diocese of Camden and first served at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Haddon Heights. Today, the Shields family belongs to the Parish of St. Gabriel the Archangel in Carneys Point where her work with children has focused on running kids’ clubs for boys and girls ranging in age from kindergarten to the pre-teen years.
She is also a busy homeschooling mom, with over 20 years of experience teaching at home. For Vicky, working with kids is a labor of love.
“I have a real heart for ministry, and I love having an opportunity to share with kids,” she said.
The key to keeping the children and youth engaged, according to Shields, is getting them to take on greater roles as they mature.
“The crucial part of faith formation is to invite them into leadership. It solidifies their faith,” she said.
The Shields will take their experiences from the World Meeting of Families back home with them to St. Gabriel’s, where two of her adult children will be teaching CCD this year. Christopher and Kathleen will help her start two new faith groups for elementary-aged children.
“Everything I heard I will use in ministry,” Shields said. “I was taking it all in and will be able to use that with the children in the clubs. … I want to be able to instill in other children in the parish what I’ve done for my own kids.”Back to Family Profiles


Romans 8:1-2 - There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Dear God, how I wish more Christians could exemplify the very grace that You are so full of and freely give! If they could only exemplify that grace, NO person with special needs, child or adult, would ever be excluded from any activity in any church because they would be fully embraced as You fully embrace them. You cover them with Your grace. You set them free from the law of sin and death. You do not condemn them. Thank You for Your presence, Your grace, Your love, Your righteousness, and just You. In Jesus' Name, Amen!


“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”Matthew 1:20-21
This Christmas season, we remember the faithfulness of St. Joseph, the servant-leader of the Holy Family. It is his model that we emulate at COLFS, as we seek to always do the will of the Father.
This continues to be a challenging time because of increased expenses and diminished revenue. The pandemic has hurt our fundraising, but the need of women, preborn babies, and families in crisis for our help has increased. With all the uncertainty and weakening of support systems, women in crisis are feeling increasing pressure from Planned Parenthood and other proponents of abortion. Now, more than ever, these women need us to help them confidently choose life.
COLFS Medical Clinics are open full time with easy access for patients and clients. We continue to provide pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and prenatal medical support regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. Your generosity makes all this possible.
Our programs bring hope and healing — spiritual, emotional, and physical — to those in need. These are difficult times for many; our mission of hope is more critical than ever before.
Help Us Continue to Reach and Serve More Clients.
COLFS has made significant investments to better serve the community. We have:
- Kept our doors open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Expanded telehealth access for patients and clients.
- Expanded ministry operations into the adjacent office suite in Escondido.
- Hired a new full-time lead physician, Dr. David Medway.
- Expanded hours in our Escondido clinic.
- Opened our Activity Road satellite office (near Miramar Road and the I-15).
- Continued aggressive marketing efforts to reach more pregnancy patients.
- Expanded our Mission Medical financial assistance for families in need.
The Challenge: Sustaining Our Programs
Every pregnancy patient we serve receives life-affirming comprehensive care. We continue to save more lives and reach more mothers thanks to your support. COLFS depends on you, our partners in ministry.
Every family whom we help through financial assistance reflects our commitment to serve those who are disadvantaged. Our help is critical to their physical and spiritual well-being.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I wish you a very joyful Christmas and God’s magnificent blessings for the New Year. Join us in imitation of St. Joseph as we serve our Lord in bringing light to a world of darkness. You are bright LIGHTS in the lives of all the babies and families who will have the opportunity to celebrate LIFE this Christmas, thanks to your generosity.
May God bless you and your family abundantly,
George Delgado, MD
Medical Director, COLFS
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT AND PRAYERS!
Tax Exempt Org 501(c)3 - EIN #91-2169315 FED - STATE #2365724 Charitable Organization


there was verse memorization, imaginative play, crafting, church, sportiness, games and teaching.
there was also family, friends, farewells, food and fun.
yet another busy blessed weekend.
September 4, 2012 at 7:32 PM
I love that yellow stripey scarf.
I love comments!
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In today’s world fear and worry are always being brought to forefront. You just have to turn on the news and you hear about all that is wrong in the world. It is so easy to believe that we are doomed and forget that God is in control even when we think He isn’t paying attention.
Even 25 years ago, before converting to Catholicism, I always had a sense of God’s presence but never really understood it. I still struggle at times to grasp the fact that He really does care and He is taking care of things even when it doesn’t look like He is.
I am participating in the CWBN blog hop and the topic is “How my faith helps me worry less.” What a tough one! I would like to say I have mastered worrying less. But I can honestly say, I haven’t. I still worry. But I find that I worry more when I refuse to give control over to God. When I play tug a war. Ok, God here it is….wait I want it back. I can do it. Really, I can. No, God I want you to take it. And so it goes back and forth. Right now, at this very moment, I am struggling with handing over something financially to God and let Him take care of it. I know I haven’t handed it over, because I am still full of worry about how to get it taken care of. In fact, there are a couple of situations in my life at this time that are a battle on my part.
So, I think where I am at on my journey is that I do recognize that God does not want me to spend time worrying about things. He wants me to trust Him enough to let Him take care of whatever situation I have asked Him to. But, I struggle with letting things go completely and trusting.
There are so many places in the bible that tell us not to worry. Here are a few:
“Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.” John 14:27
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
. “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.” Psalm 55:22
Anytime I go through a tough time, a time requiring me to trust God and my failing to trust completely, I can look back and see how He worked it for the good.
In the big scheme of things I do think I worry less because of my faith. It’s always in the back of my mind in any situation that God knows what I need in order to grow and become more holy. Even if that means that something doesn’t work out the way I want it to. There is a reason to each and everything that happens. Even as recently as my job search and how badly I wanted the job I now have. I remember the night after my final interview and knowing there were two other candidates and praying that their interviews went well so that His will be done. And I meant it. Was I worried that I might not get the job. Oh yeah, I sure was. But I always knew that even if I was disappointed and didn’t get the job that it was up to God and it didn’t matter how well I did or didn’t do on the interview. I knew I had done my best but that God has a plan and I needed trust in that. Now, I have to fight the urge to ask God, “Are you sure I was the right person?” when I am feeling overwhelmed, or noticing my shortcomings and the battle heats up and I have to fight my way back to trusting in God and not worrying about the things that I really have no control over.
My faith helps me to remember that I am not in this alone. That the one who made me knows what is best for me. It helps me not give up when I think I am not going to make it. Holy week was a very busy week at work, being at a Catholic church and all. My assistant was on vacation. I am only a month into the job. I don’t know the parishioners well because I have only lived here since last July and I do not attend this parish. I was feeling alone and lost. It was Holy Thursday and no one had shown up to cover up everything for Good Friday. I couldn’t do it on my own. I didn’t even know where anything was. On my way to work on Friday in the car with tears in my eyes I said “God you put me here in this job, but I can’t believe you expect me to do this on my own. I need help! Please bring me the people who can help us to prepare for Good Friday.” I was at work not even an hour when I got a call from one of the parishioners asking if I had found the items he was looking for. But he then said, “I am going to take some time off work and come by see how I can help”. I got off the phone and said “Thank you, Lord” Once this gentleman showed up another parishioner showed up together we got things covered. on the way home from work I made sure to thank our Lord again for providing the help I needed. Looking at it today, I can see where God made me wait until I asked for His help. He is teaching me all the time. I need to learn to ask before I spend so much time worrying and trust that He will provide whatever help I need.
While I am still working on worrying less, I know that I am turning more to God on time of need. I may be delayed in remembering that He is only waiting for me to ask and he will provide what I need but I am learning. My faith grows every day through the trials that I face. My hope is to continue to grow in that faith and to worry less. I pray that you trust God and spend no time worrying in your daily walk with our Lord. God Bless!


January 12, 2023 | by Admin
Human Relations Day is a denomination wide Special Sunday designed to celebrate and raise awareness to further the development of better human relations by involving congregations in community and youth outreach. A special offering taken the Sunday before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Gifts received for the offering build King’s vision of “the beloved community” through programs such as Community Developers and United Methodist Voluntary Services and Youth Offender Rehabilitation Programs. Churches are encouraged to donate through their local churches or give online.
Click here for a Human Relations Day FAQ.
Click here for pastor and lay leader resources.
In California-Nevada, we strive to make the ideals remembered on these calendared days a life long practice. We are particularly mindful of Dr. King's life and legacy, and work to carry on this legacy through liberating justice work that recognizes all human beings as whole persons, siblings and children of God.
This year, step up your commitment and get involved in your community, in your conference and join in the living legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


Growing a Life Of Faith Podcast featuring speaker
You Are Here
The storms of life are unavoidable, but they are not unconquerable. The word of God helps to prepare us for the difficulties of fiery trials, and develops us by stimulating growth in our faith.
Out of Order
When our lives are out of order, we create an environment of chaos. It is God's desire for us to live in harmony with His will. Unlock the power of prioritizing based on what is important to the Lord.
So often this world system distorts and corrupts that which is good. Love is no exception. This series is a discussion about identifying what #LoveReallyIs


SHREVE – Alma R. Sampson of Shreve died Friday Feb. 15, 2008 at her home.
Funeral services will be held 1:00 P.M. Tuesday Feb. 19, 2008 in the Ripley Church of Christ 12298 County Rd. 330 Big Prairie with Rev. Jim Platner officiating. Burial will follow in Ripley cemetery. The family will receive friends at the church Monday Feb. 18, 2008 from 6-9 P.M. with an Eastern Star service beginning at 5:30 P.M. McIntire, Davis & Greene Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.
She was born in Cameron West Virginia the daughter of George and Mary Smutko Haws. In March of 1971 she married Walter Sampson who survives.
Alma retired from Rubbermaid in 1983 after 31 years of service. She was a graduate of Perrysville High School, where she was a star player for the girls basketball team. She was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star in Shreve where she had served as Worthy Matron 3 times. She was a member of the Ripley Church of Christ and a member of the Women of the Word Bible study. Alma enjoyed swimming and was a member of the Wooster YMCA.
Along with her husband Alma is survived by 4 children: Larry (Marilyn) McElroy of Shreve, Harry (Chris) McElroy of wooster, Nancy (Gary) McComas of Wooster, and Sharon (Lester) Sigler of Big Prairie. 12 grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren and 14 great great grandchildren. a half sister Elda of Massillon. She was preceded in death by a daughter: Connie Etzwiler, 2 grandchildren, 2 brothers and 4 sisters.
In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Greater Wayne County 2525 Back Orrville Rd. wooster Ohio 44691 in her memory.
Hospice and Palliative Care of Greater Wayne County
1:00 P.M. Tues. Feb. 19, 2008 @ Ripley Church of Christ
Monday Feb. 18 from 6-9 with a Eastern Star service at 5:30


|New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
||New International Version (NIV)
29 I will make his family line continue forever. His kingdom will last as long as the heavens.
29 I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure.
|Holy Bible, New International Reader's Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Reader's Version Bible Online)
||Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online)


Wednesday, January 23, 2019
The Feast of St. Marianne Cope
Also known as St. Marianne of Moloka’i, St. Marianne Cope entered religious life in Syracuse, NY, where she served as teacher and principal of several schools before establishing two hospitals in the area. When a call asking Catholic sisters to provide health care in Hawaii, specifically with the mission of caring for victims of leprosy, her community was the only one of fifty to say yes. Her sisters are still at work on the island of Moloka’i today, and just as St. Marianne told her sisters that they would not contract the disease, none ever have. Pope Benedict, at her canonization in 2005, said, “she is a shining and energetic example of the best of the tradition of Catholic nursing sisters…”.
6:00amET: The Son Rise Morning Show with Anna Mitchell & Matt Swaim
- Marcel LeJeune shares how to evangelize fallen away Catholics.
- Helen Alvare (al-VAH-ray) discusses The New York Times’ editorial board’s special opinion section on “A Woman’s Rights”.
7:00amET: Morning Glory with Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, Gloria Purvis & Fr. Vincent DeRosa
- Recent attacks on religious freedom
9:00amET: Catholic Connection with Teresa Tomeo 1-877-573-7825
- Discussion continues surrounding the Covington Catholic Student controversy.
- Joan Lewis with Vatican news.
11:00amET: Women of Grace with Johnnette Williams 1-833-288-EWTN (3986)
- Johnnette has a special program for women—and all who want to know women’s spirituality better.
1:00pmET: The Doctor Is In with Dr. Ray Guarendi
- Dr. Ray Guarendi answers your questions about family, marriage & relationships.
2:00pmET: Called to Communion with Dr. David Anders 1-833-288-EWTN (3986)
Encores Tonight at 11:00pmET
- David answers calls from non-Catholics and fallen away Catholics.
3:00pmET: EWTN Open Line Wednesday with Fr. Mitch Pacwa 1-833-288-EWTN (3986)
Encores Tonight at 10:00pmET
- Fr. Mitch Pacwa takes your calls on Church Teachings.
4:00pmET: Kresta in the Afternoon with Al Kresta 1-877-573-7825
- George Schwartz speaks on morally responsible investing.
6:00pmET: Catholic Answers Live 1-888-318-7884
- Fr. Hugh Barbour – The Chaplain is In
- Why Are You Pro-Choice? – Stephanie Gray
8:00pm ET: EWTN Live with Fr. Mitch Pacwa on EWTN Radio & TV
- Fr. Mitch Pacwa sits down with Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk (s’va-TIS-lahv shev-CHUCK) the Ukrainian Catholic Church for a special interview from the 2018 Knights of Columbus Convention.
9:00pmET: EWTN News Nightly with Lauren Ashburn on EWTN Television & Radio
- Get the Catholic news perspective on top stories and daily reports from around the world.