LISTEN TO KENDRA’S TESTIMONY:

http://growrichgodsway.com/CityChurch_MMB_KendraTodd.mp3

May 14, 2010. City Church Marketplace Ministries Banquet – Seattle, WA.

Featured speaker, Kendra Todd, shares her intimate and personal testimony of God’s grace and provision and encourages other entrepreneurs to discover their workplace calling in a powerful message titled:  “Exiting the Wilderness.”

Her passion for financial success through biblical principles will inspire, motivate and challenge you to prosper for God’s kingdom!

Listen to more audios, watch videos and get info about future events at The City Church.

Kendra Todd with OBI President Bill Horan at the fish farm

Most of us have heard the Chinese Proverb “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” That’s most definitely Operation Blessing’s motto. We started the second day with a tour of one of OBI’s most groundbreaking livelihood projects: the largest fish farm in the entire Caribbean, operated by Dr. Valentin Abe, one of Time Magazine’s 2010 Top 100 Most Influential People in the World.

The fish hatchery was incredible! Each one of the barrels contains 30,000 fish – a special crossbreed of Egyptian and Israeli tilapia that grow fast and are resistant to salt water. I’ve never seen so many fish in my life! OBI President Bill Horan showed me where they’ll be installing a solar panel powered water filtration system that will help DOUBLE the hatchery’s fish production from 1.5 million fish to 3 million per year!

Meet Prophet, one of the villagers earning a living from the fish project to provide for his family

The fish farm project sets up Haitian fishermen with Tilapia cages. OBI started with 20 and now have 110 families in the program! The project creates profitable businesses and steady income that has already helped many families improve their living conditions.

I visited one of the villages in the fishing project, bordering Haiti’s largest lake a few miles outside Port-au-Prince. These are the poorest of the poor in Haiti. Many of the children suffer from malnutrition. Some of them ran around naked because they have no clothes. The nearest water source is an hour’s walk in 95 degree heat, and the water they’re getting is not drinkable. With no other option, they drink it anyway.

Prophet with Kendra, purifying water in his Lifesaver jerrycan

One of the villagers, Prophet, made a huge impression on me. He lives in a little hut by the lake with his 8 children. As a result of the fishing project, Prophet has been able to improve the sides and roof of his house, and earn a living to feed his family. OBI also supplied Prophet and the other villagers with Lifesaver purifying jerrycans to remove contaminates from the water they walk so far to get, and make it safe to drink.

I also met some young men in the village who were busy hand-weaving fishing nets. I was totally amazed by the speed at which they were able to create such beautiful and intricate patterns!

My absolute favorite moment was when Bill Horan, David Darg and I walked up to the top of the hill overlooking the

Young men hand-weaving their fishing nets

village and the lake to the straw tent that serves as the village church. The view was spectacular and profound: poverty in paradise.

The children followed us into the church and started playing music and dancing for us. It was a moment of joy that I’ll think of often and fondly for the rest of my years.

Right now, Haiti imports between $8-10 million of fish each year. OBI and Dr. Abe’s goal is to replenish the lakes, educate the fishermen, and effectively jump start the nation’s fishing industry in order to keep that money circulating in the country to grow the Haitian economy. So far, they are off to an incredible start. I’m incredibly grateful to see Haiti’s most at-risk people smiling with joy, gratitude and hope for a future.

There’s so much more to share! Stay tuned for Day 2 Part 2!

God Bless,

If you would like to learn more about Operation Blessing’s Haiti Relief and Worldwide Efforts, or to donate, please visit www.ob.org

Port-au-Prince: the damage after the earthquake

“The poorest of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety.” ~ Isaiah 14:30a

Its the end of day #1 in Haiti on a trip as Goodwill Ambassador for Operation Blessing (http://www.ob.org). It has been long, eventful and emotional, to say the least. I still haven’t quite processed everything I saw and experienced today…but will try my best to paint a visual of what its like here.

The flight down from JFK airport to Port-au-Prince was packed with a combination of U.S. based Haitians, doctors, nurses and amazing volunteers with huge servant hearts coming down to roll up their sleeves and do whatever is needed of them for a week, or maybe a month.

On the airplane, I sat across from a woman named Natalie – an attorney from Salt Lake City, Utah – who was bubbling with emotion and excitement. She’s here in Haiti to visit an orphanage and meet the child she will be adopting for the very first time! As we touched down, she got teary-eyed and said “I can’t believe I”m actually here and this is actually happening.” It was an incredible moment, and one I’m glad I got to share with her.

We snapped a photo before going our separate ways, and I asked Natalie if she would share her amazing story on my blog of how God lead her to this moment and this adoption, once she’s back home in Utah.

My new friend Natalie, on her way to the orphanage to meet her baby

You’ll be hearing more of Natalie’s journey in weeks to come.

Bill Horan, President of Operation Blessing, along with his incredible Haitian Relief Team, met me at the airport and our journey began. As they drove me down the streets of Port-au-Prince, I was left absolutely speechless by the debri and devastation. The roads are cleared by now, but giant stacks of concrete building rubble line the sidewalk of the

downtown corridor. We stopped for a moment at Haiti’s equivalent of the White House, which was destroyed beyond recognition. Seeing a symbol of man’s opulence in total ruins was a powerful moment.

There are refugee-like tent cities all over Port-au-Prince. Some of them are miles and miles long. There are people absolutely everywhere. People ARE back to business though, selling their  goods and wares on makeshift shop tables and trying to eek out a $2 a day wage.

As Bill said, “Its business as usual here in Haiti, just with more congestion and confusion than before the earthquake.” This is not my first trip to Haiti, so I know from first-hand experience that Haiti was bad-off to begin with. It was already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Cripple it with the world’s most devastating natural disaster, and the result is what I witnessed today: utter chaos.

Helping patients at Haiti's National Hospital

Our first stop was Haiti’s largest hospital where Operation Blessing has joined forces with Partners in Health to solve the hospital’s clean water issue. Pre-earthquake the hospital housed 700 beds. Today it’s home to countless sick and injured. There are so many people here that tents have been set up outside the hospital for various wards, like post-orthopedic, ureology, pediatrics. The former pediatric building is on the verge of collapse, so mothers and their newborn infants are forced to take shelter in a tent only yards from the hospital’s sewage facility.

The staff is amazing. Most of the doctors I met today with Partners in Health are Harvard educated and wicked smart. There is arguably better medical talent at this hospital than at many hospitals home in the States. The challenge is that these incredible doctors are forced to work without the most basic of necessities – clean water, sterilizing kits, medicine. That’s where Operation Blessing swoops in as a behind-the-scenes hero, working to solve these and other logistical problems so the doctors can do what they do best: save lives.

Next we visited Camp Dadadou, a tent city where Operation Blessing has installed and operates a purified water system for 3,000 people AND started a school for 500 children right on the camp site. Here I met Rosalyn, a mother of 5 who, after losing 2 of her children in the earthquake, gave birth in the tent city to a brand-new baby only 12 days after the disaster. Despite all the tragedy she’s experienced recently, Rosalyn has a joy and peace about her, and served as one of the day’s many inspirations to me that “God is Greater Than Any Problem I Have”, as the license plate of the OB truck amply and truthfully states.

Operation Blessing provides clean water for Camp Dadadou

Much of the day was consumed  a wild-goose chase for a 40 foot freezer needed to replace a unit that had broken in the worst of places…the cadaver lab. Without getting into too much graphic detail, I will just say it would have been a bad scene if Operation Blessing’s heroes hadn’t saved the day by pulling off a MacGyver-worthy save and landing the needed freezer by the day’s end. No small feat, considering today is Haiti’s Labor Day, and virtually all businesses were closed.

We ended the day visiting Zanmi Beni (Haitian Creole for “Blessed Friend”), Operation Blessing’s newest project and a joint effort with Farmer’s Zanmi Lasante (Partners in Health). Its a home and school for approximately 50 handicapped orphans and abandoned children. There’s more to come tomorrow upon my return to Zanmi Beni.

These are the kinds of things that Operation Blessing does. Bill Horan put it perfectly when he told me, “Operation Blessing doesn’t come onto the scene and start telling our partners what to do. We ask what they need, and we simply go do it. We approach every day and every situation with a servant attitude. We are here to serve.”

More to come tomorrow….God Bless and Good Night.

If you would like to learn more about Operation Blessing’s Haiti Relief and Worldwide Efforts, or to donate, please visit www.ob.org

Photo: Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

As many as 3 million Haitians were affected by the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake. Many have lost their homes and loved ones.  It is heart-wrenching to see tragedy strike those who are already struggling and impoverished.

In 2008, I traveled to Haiti on a mission trip that really impacted my life, and it holds a very special place in my heart. My eyes tear just thinking about the overwhelming fear, confusion and sense of loss the people of Haiti are feeling right now. But in the midst of this tragedy, according to The New York Times, thousands of Haitians gathered today for church, raised their arms in the air and asked God to ease their grief, to bring them His peace that surpasses all understanding. (See the entire NYT slideshow “Haitians Pray for Relief”)

There are 3 important ways we can help the victims of this earthquake:

#1. PRAY

More than anything they need our prayers: for the trapped to be rescued from beneath the rubble, for the injured to be healed, families that have been separated to be united, for food, water and medical supplies to reach those in need, for the protection of emergency relief workers from around the world descending upon Haiti to lend help, for hope to be lifted out of despair as He builds a new Haiti from the rubble. 

#2. CIRCULATE THIS BLOG TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!

There is a “Share” link at the bottom of this posting. Please forward the link, repost,  facebook, tweet…spread the word to your friends and family.

#3. GIVE

Here are a few charities that I am personally involved with, that are providing both short-term emergency relief and long-term rebuilding support to the Haitian communities. Some are faith-based charities, others are not. Some are large and others run by only a few. All are touching lives. I pray that one of these will appeal to you. Please join me in helping those less fortunate in their greatest time of need!

CARING HOUSE PROJECT FOUNDATION

To donate: http://www.frank-mckinney.com/donate.aspx

The Caring House Project Foundation was founded in 1998 and has provided the world’s most desperately poor and homeless from around the world with the most basic of human needs – shelter. CHPF builds villages in Haiti based upon a self-sufficient existence where the poor and homeless will no longer have to rely on government or charities to improve their lives.

This week, Frank McKinney and a team of doctors, paramedics, firefighters and other team members specifically trained in search, rescue and extraction techniques in natural disaster were the first American Emergency Relief Team to arrive.

Frank & the Team's Arrival in Haiti Jan 14

A short report on their amazing efforts :  The team has been able to rescue a woman named  “Izabelle” who had been trapped for 72 hours under her house (took 5 hours for the team to get her out). Yesterday they  saved another woman who was trapped under her house, and a man who had been buried for 90 hours.

Click Here To Donate
Or use the call center: 1-800-730-2537

Operation Blessing International (OBI) provides hunger relief, clean water, medical aid, disaster relief and more. OBI is recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of “America’s most efficient charities” and was awarded the top four-star rating by Charity Navigator, America’s leading charity evaluator.

In Haiti, OBI works in partnership with Dr. Paul Farmer and his Haitian NGO “Partners in Health” (PIH). PIH runs 10 hospitals in Haiti and treats over 1 million patients a year for free. PIH has hundreds of employees and medical staff in Haiti and OBI is now coordinating with PIH to best provide maximum strategic relief. OBI needs your donation to help bring emergency food, water and medicine to Haiti’s quake victims.

Update from the field:

Our emergency paramedic team arrived yesterday morning from Israel. We immediately equipped them with medicines and transported them into the heart of the quake zone and to the National hospital, the same hospital where we were working on the day the quake struck. Since that moment the hospital has been inundated with patients, with too few doctors to keep up with the influx of emergency cases. The halls are filled with the groans of the untreated, the screams of those undergoing treatment, and the stench of those who didn’t make it.

LIVING HOPE MINISTRIES IN HAITI

Click Here to Donate To Emergency Relief Aid

Living Hope Ministries was founded in 1994 and is located in Grande Saline, Haiti. The ministry includes a church, a primary school for pre-school through 6th grade, a trade school that offers training in six different trades, and community projects. Their mission is to train a generation of young men and women to change their families, communities, and nation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Word and action. 

Financial contributions are being accepted for earthquake relief and will be used for purchasing food and supplies in Haiti for bot the mission and the local community. Contributions will also be used for building repairs.

An Update from LHM:

Mary Jane and Andris (the LHM missionaries) are unharmed.  LHM buildings sustained very minor damage, however the surrounding community was hit hard.  Carrefour where LHM is located was only a few miles from the epicenter of the earthquake.  LHM has opened up its buildings and classrooms to the community for the homeless earthquake victims to stay in and LOTS of people are now using our newly built 4 toilets, 2 showers and sinks!  The latrine withstood the earthquake and now hundreds of people are using it!  God is so good to prepare the way!  I never would have thought our latrine would be so widely used.  The showers, sink and toilet are providing relief and comfort to very shaken, distraught Haitians.  It is amazing that God preserved LHM to be a place of refuge for the entire community and prepare LHM to take on many “guests”.

Haiti Relief Effort Donations: http://worldvision.org

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision provides impoverished children and their communities with access to clean water, nutritious food, education, health care and economic opportunities.

WV on Haiti Disaster Response:

World Vision now has more than 800 staff on the ground, as well as a dozen international disaster response experts responding throughout affected areas. Our plans are to distribute food, water, and medical supplies to meet families’ urgent needs, and airlift more provisions. Our commitment to Haiti extends beyond our immediate response to this disaster.

May we and our fellow brothers and sisters in Haiti remember that “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.” – Psalm 18:2a

GOD BLESS!

Light of the Universe

By Mark Alexander 

“The Hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.” –George Washington

When our children were young, Ann and I would help them comprehend how great God has always been and always will be, the Alpha and Omega, by using metaphors with tangible examples that they could grasp.

We wanted our children to understand that it is only the rare occasion, given the immensity of His universal plan, which affords us a perfectly clear view of God’s plan for each of us. But we also assured them of the Truth we had learned: that through faith, we always know that He will use our circumstances, however corrupted by our own free will, to guide us to where He wants us to be.

As our kids have grown older, each has demonstrated a substantial interest and aptitude for science. Thus, I was captivated recently when I came across this elucidation of God’s infinite domain from Dr. William Blair, an astrophysicist and research professor at Johns Hopkins University.

Blair wrote: “Today we know that galaxies are as common as blades of grass in a meadow. The Hubble Space Telescope recently completed a particularly deep (faint) census of a tiny ‘pencil beam’ extending far out into the Universe. This survey, called the ‘Hubble Deep Field,’ was targeted on a region of the sky that was nearly devoid of known objects, so as to be (hopefully) representative of conditions in the distant Universe. The resulting images are truly amazing. Strewn across this tiny piece of the sky are perhaps 1500 or more galaxies of all shapes, sizes, and colors! Because this survey pertains to such a small piece of the sky, the implications are staggering: if the region of sky demarked by the bowl of the Big Dipper were surveyed to the same depth, it would contain about 32 million galaxies! And the estimate for the entire visible Universe is that there are upwards of 40 BILLION galaxies, each containing tens to hundreds of billions of stars!”

To put the vastness of creation into perspective, Blair uses a sheet of paper: “Imagine that the distance from the earth to the sun (93 million miles, or about 8 light minutes) is compressed to the thickness of a typical sheet of paper. On this scale, the nearest star (4.3 light years) is at a distance of 71 feet. The diameter of the Milky Way (100,000 light years) would require a 310 mile high stack of paper, while the distance to the Andromeda galaxy (at 2 million light years one of the most distant objects visible to the naked eye) would require a stack of paper more than 6000 miles high! On this scale, the ‘edge’ of the Universe, defined as the most distant known quasars some 10 billion light years hence, is not reached until the stack of paper is 31 million miles high — a third of the way to the sun on the real scale of things!”

Pondering this vastness is a humbling experience indeed.

Knowing quite a few professional physicists who are men and women of faith, I wrote Dr. Blair and asked him, “Are you a person of faith in God as our creator?” and, “If so, what does your analogy reveal about the creator of our universe?”

As to the first question, he answered, “Yes, I am.”

As to the second, he replied, “In short, ‘God created the heavens and the earth.’ Understanding more about the ‘heavens’ and the scale of the Universe only magnifies my personal impression of what it is that God has created. Having a personal connection to that same God is a defining aspect of my faith.”

According to Blair, who heads a NASA project looking into deep space, “Some people can look at the spirals of our galaxy and not see the hand of God, but I beg to differ.”

Of course, my children, like all of us who haven’t obscured knowledge of our Creator by the idolatry of self or materialism, strive for a more personal understanding of God. But how do we grasp such knowledge when the object of our desire is so far beyond mortal understanding — how do we find our way to Him?

The answer is obvious to all who have opened their eyes — just follow the Light.

And it is the dawn of the Truth and Light that we celebrate at Christmas, the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. It is no coincidence that as the story of His birth is recounted, it is a star that guided wise men to his side.

In the Gospel of John (1:5), it is written, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

Now, a physicist will tell you that darkness doesn’t exist except for the absence of light, which isn’t to say that we can’t live in darkness: Given the degraded state of our nation, many among our countrymen have chosen to reside in moral darkness, or worse, have been abandoned there.

But Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Thus, if we want to see our Creator, we have only to turn toward the Truth and Light, and, as implicit in our motto: Veritas vos Liberabit — the Truth will set you Free (John 8:32).

As for my family and me, Dr. Blair and his family, and hundreds of millions of our brothers and sisters around the world, Jesus Christ is the Light, our personal connection to our Creator. And he is that for anyone and everyone who will just turn toward Him.

The Gospels, which attest to the life of Jesus, reveal what we most need to know about God as our Creator, and His purpose for us.

We live in a world today that is no different from yesterday or tomorrow, in the sense that we have and will always have a deep desire to understand our Creator. Unfortunately, we tend to complicate the fulfillment of that desire by satiating it with all manner of false gods.

I am no stranger to false gods, which, ironically, helped me to distinguish between those idols and my authentic Creator, who endowed me with “certain unalienable rights.”

Our Founding Fathers understood that “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” could not be sustained in the absence of Light, that our Creator endows these rights, not men.

According to George Washington, “Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

John Adams wrote: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. … Statesmen may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a greater Measure than they have it now, They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty.”

Benjamin Rush proclaimed, “[T]he only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.”

Likewise, Gouverneur Morris wrote, “Religion is the only solid basis of good morals and Morals are the only possible Support of free governments. Therefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man towards God.”

Samuel Adams added, “Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness. … Religion in a Family is at once its brightest Ornament and its best Security.”

Perhaps John Jay said it best: “The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.”

But as Benjamin Franklin noted, “How many observe Christ’s birth-day! How few, his precepts! O! ’tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments.”

Franklin’s observation is as true today as it was at the dawn of our great nation.

Fellow Patriots, during these dark days it is my fervent prayer that we, individually and as a nation, turn to the Light by, first and foremost, following God’s Commandments, by acknowledging that we are endowed by our Creator alone with life and liberty, and by restoring these rights for ourselves and for our posterity in accordance with His will.

On behalf of our staff and National Advisory Committee, may God bless and keep each of you.

Merry Christmas.

To read more of Mark Alexander’s essays visit The Patriot Post

I am delighted that Carolyn has agreed to be a guest blogger for us! She’s an amazing woman of God who has written several books and ministered to countless women on the subjects of Faith & Finances, Investing and Time Management. Enjoy the first of her many fruitful articles. God Bless!

ONE BABY STEP TOWARD YOUR NEW FUTURE

By: Carolyn Castleberry

Let’s be honest. You’ve thought about it. Of course you have; who hasn’t? Whenever someone mentions the future an image pops into your mind unexpectedly. From starting your own family to starting your own business. Whatever your dream – the future dips and sways on the edge of your mind, exciting and energizing. Oh… but then reality sets in, the negative thoughts begin and before you know it, that dream of yours is once again stashed away in a tightly locked drawer of your heart.

For many years, I hosted a kids’ talk show in Virginia, and I had the opportunity to speak to lots of students both in and away from the studio. On the subject of deciding what they wanted to do with their lives, I always counseled them to do the thing that scared them. Don’t settle! Do the thing you’ve always wanted to do but were afraid to because it seemed too big for you.

Your First Step

It requires you first to take a step in that direction. Just one step. No matter how you feel or what your friends say can or can’t be accomplished – just one baby step.

Can you imagine how Moses felt when he encountered a talking, burning bush telling him to go and free God’s people in Egypt? Moses responded as most of us would, with doubt and incredulity.

But Moses said, “They won’t believe me! They won’t do what I tell them to. They’ll say, “Jehovah never appeared to you!”

“What do you have there in your hand?” The Lord asked him.

And he replied, “A shepherd’s rod.”

“Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him.

So he threw it down — and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it!

Then the Lord told him, “Grab it by the tail!” He did, and it became a rod in his hand again. (Exodus 4:1-4, tlb)

Okay, stop here. Sure, Moses continued on with his self doubt, saying he wasn’t a strong speaker. Sure, God was getting a bit impatient with Moses. But give the guy some credit! He grabbed the serpent by the tail! Moses could have kept running. He didn’t have to reach down his hand and obey. The thought of grabbing a serpent by the tail terrifies me, especially if a burning bush was telling me to do so. But Moses took that step. Then another step. And another. Before he knew it he was crossing the Red Sea in one of the most amazing miracles ever.

Your very first step will be the scariest, but then it begins to get easier. And once you take that first step, God will entrust you with more and more. I’ll never forget taking the first step to become a real estate investor. Okay, I know it’s no burning-bush snake-handling experience, but for me it was terrifying. I trembled while signing the first contract. In the car I prayed, “Oh Lord, what have I just done?” He replied, “Something.” I’d just done something — something that would eventually help buy my freedom from being a wage slave. It was the first step and it was the hardest, but it qualified and prepared me for more. Jesus says, “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much…” (Luke 16:10 NASB) That means one baby step on your part. Then another… then another… then another.

Step Toward Something You Love

Before long you’ll be running toward your goal and loving every moment of it.

Even God created His most cherished investment – us – one step at a time. There’s no one exactly like you anywhere on this earth. Never has been. You’re unique, extraordinary, and matchless in His eyes. David understood this well, and he acknowledged it to God:

You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well (Psalm 139:13-14, NIV).

God loved creating you on step at a time! He enjoyed being the first Artist and Architect. What kind of mind could possibly create and form such wonderful and complex animals, plants, and human beings! I get the feeling He savored every moment of those first six days played out in Genesis. When is the last time you created something, large or small, and when it was finished you said, “Now, that’s good!” When is the last time you poured passion into your work, crafting and caring about every detail? When is the last time you were completely spent because of the energy you expended in bringing something new into this world? Today is that new day, my friend, to remember what you love and take one baby step toward it.

Step Class Focus

Speaking of stepping, let’s talk about my step class for a moment. I love to do step classes at our local YMCA. It’s a cardiovascular class requiring much concentration, not to mention coordination, to follow the teacher’s routine. Here God is patient and persistent in showing me how easily distracted I can become. Worry sidelines me; and in the past, people have easily gotten me off track the moment I take my eyes off God

One day, another lady came into this class late and set up her step in front of me. I allowed myself to get totally distracted by her, and I ended up completely out of step. It took me several minutes to get back into the rhythm of the class.

In the class on another day, an older man came into the room and began shifting through the equipment looking for weights. My attention went from the teacher to the intruder, and once again I was totally distracted, off-beat, and off-balance. Thankfully, God’s message hit me instead of the floor: I suddenly realized God was even with me in step class, and He was trying to penetrate my thick skull by showing me how easily distractible I was. It wasn’t the other people’s fault; it was mine. With my attention off the teacher, I couldn’t do anything.

In my mind, I said, “Okay God, I think I get your point. The next person who comes in won’t throw me off balance, because I won’t take my eyes off the teacher and let my concentration be broken.”

Then another guy came into the room looking for weights. This time I kept my eyes ahead and my focus on the steps. By the grace of God, I wasn’t distracted, I stayed in step, and He and I silently rejoiced together.

What a significant analogy for life. I started noticing when people and my own fears and worries were throwing me out of step with God’s plan. It happened when I took my eyes off my supreme Teacher, God, and directed my focus elsewhere.

Take a Daily Step

Walking with God on a daily basis is another story. You’ll be tempted, tested, and frustrated, and there will be days when obedience to Him is the last thing on your mind. It takes a daily decision to commit our lives and our work to the Lord and to walk in His ways, but the benefits are incomparable:

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3 NASB)

Daily rewards for a daily decision!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Next, we must accept God’s answers and direction and breathe in His goodness and wisdom. Just as parents know what’s best for their children, God knows and does what’s best for us:

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:11 NASB)

Commit your work to the One who knows you and loves you more than anyone else. Don’t be afraid; you’re in strong and capable hands as you are walking toward your new future.

Remember the Heavenly Thank You Card

Nowhere does the Lord promise that we’ll all be millionaires; we will succeed only according to His will for our lives. That’s a sure thing. And when the day comes that you’re successful, when your life is cruising along beyond your loftiest expectations, don’t ever disregard God. Praise Him and don’t forget to thank Him — a failure which happens all too often:

While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed.

Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.

Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine — where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:11-18 NASB)

Can you believe it? Ten men healed of a horrible, skin-eating disease, and only one turned back to express gratitude. Don’t you just hate it when you take time to do something nice for someone and they don’t even say thanks? If we’re hurt by this, can you imagine how God feels as He reaches out His hands to us everyday and we forget to thank Him?

With thanksgiving, bring your requests before God, and then you’ll experience His peace. God loves a grateful heart. You might say it’s hard to be thankful when you have nothing, but for just a moment, think about everything you do have. Do you have a roof over your head? That’s more than some people. Do you have a mind full of creative ideas?

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude. (1 Timothy 4:4 NASB)

Learn to be that one-person-in-ten who thinks enough of God to look to Him and say, “Thank You!”

Many of us turn to God in hard times; but learn to be one of those few who also turn to Him in prosperity and success. God wants to know He can trust you with true riches, spiritual riches; so now is the time to take the first step. Start small to create something you love. Step through that fear and you will be on the way to the incredible future that God always intended for you. And, oh by the way, thank you Lord for the ability to keep taking just one baby step at a time.

This article is revised from Carolyn’s book, “Women, Take Charge of Your Money: A Biblical Path to Financial Security” Copyright 2006 Multnomah Publishers, Inc. Carolyn is also a Telly Award-winning co-host with the Christian Broadcasting Network. She hosted a national radio talk show for female executives on the Business Radio Network and holds a master of arts degree in government and two bachelor of science degrees in business and journalism. Carolyn lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with her husband, two daughters, and stepson. Watch for her next book, “Women, Get Answers About Your Money” (Multnomah Publishers) to be released December 15, 2006. Visit her website: www.carolyncastleberry.com

Kendra Chats with CBN’s Very Own Pat Robertson About Buying and Selling in Today’s Market.

Kendra Todd is considered to be one of the youngest and most diverse successful female entrepreneurs today. She is also one of the top producing investment-related real estate agents in the United States.

When it comes to buying and selling in today’s market, Kendra has a few key tips to share for those who want to consider jumping into the real estate pool. “For sellers, be realistic as to what you can really sell your house for,” she said. “Decide whether or not you really need to sell your home right now. If you do, you’re going to have to have a realistic expectation of what you’re going to get for your home.”

“Realizing that your home could be on the market for a much longer period of time, having a Plan B is important, too.” Kendra says it’s important to ask yourself these questions: What are you going to do if you need to move out of your house immediately and it doesn’t sell for six months? Will you be able to afford the move?

Kendra says that it’s important for buyers to be realistic to the fact that they just can’t offer anything. “They just can’t throw out low-ball offers. It’s far below market value; they’re not going to get the deal they think,” she said. “Homes are selling faster than they were a year ago – values are not increasing, but homes are selling, so there is competition out there. Values are down, but the market is moving.” Another thing buyers should keep in mind are the deals they can get with new construction. “The new home market is a great opportunity to get a great deal on a house,” she said. “It’s also important to understand first-time homebuyer tax credits and also the move up buyer tax incentive. I would recommend taking advantage of it buy seeing if you qualify for it.”

“Here’s a positive that people need to know about,” Kendra said. “I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who might be worried about what’s going to happen if they can’t make their monthly payments. If you’re potentially or might think you’re facing foreclosure, they recently implemented a policy that will allow people to become a tenant of their own home for up to 12 months – even if you go into foreclosure. People can stay in their homes after foreclosure and the banks are willing to lease the home back to you.”

If you’re experiencing financial trouble, Kendra wants you to know that God can handle all things. “I think it’s important for people to place their anxiety and fear in the Lord. Don’t let anxiety eat away at you every day. Focus your mind on the Lord. Pray for clarity and let Him guide you through any hard decisions you have to make.”

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow proudly displays HEB 12:1-2 on his eye black and embraces his mother, Pam, prior to his final home game against Florida State, Sat. Nov. 28, 2009

The sweet taste of victory belonged not to the Florida Gators, but to God.

I’m settling back into the swing of things here in Seattle after a great Thanksgiving trip to my hometown, Virginia Beach, VA. Reflecting back over the holiday, there’s a ton to appreciate: family, friends, food, health, God’s daily provision….and yes…college football Saturday!

There’s nothing like watching the final regular season football game of my Alma Mater, the Florida Gators. It’s a highly anticipated part of Thanksgiving weekend. The tradition is simple: Must be clad head to toe in orange and blue, armed with school spirit and my world-famous Thanksgiving leftovers creation: turkey, stuffing and cranberry sandwich!

This year, the sweet taste of victory belonged not to the Gators, but to God. The greatest moment was not a touchdown, but how Tim Tebow allowed the Lord to use him for His Glory through the game of football.

Tim Tebow’s eye black scores press for Jesus.

On game day, Tim Tebow typically displays a verse of scripture on his eye black, proudly broadcast on national television for college football enthusiasts everywhere to see. For example during the 2009 BCS championship game, he painted John 3:16 lettering beneath his eyes. This past Saturday, for his final home game in the Swamp as a graduating senior, Tim chose Hebrews 12:1-2

1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

It is worth noting that the CBS sports commentator read this scripture on national television, and as of 10 pm Saturday night, “Hebrews 12:1-2″ was the number one most-searched term on Google. Hallelujah!

Do you work as for the Lord?

Whether on the field or in his life for Christ, Tim Tebow scores. You see, Tim has invited God into his situation, and therefore God is able to work through him. In every single newspaper and TV interview, Tim starts by thanking God and ends with “God Bless.” He is a wonderful illustration of the principle of working as for the Lord.

Because Tim is usable to the Lord, He was able to broadcast the Good News to millions of people using ESPN SportsCenter! Jesus does love football. Robert Fraser, in his book Marketplace Christianity, says of the Tim Tebows: “By their faith and because they carry with them the aroma of the presence of God, they greatly impact those around them, acting as a sturdy bridge to bring the Gospel to those in the marketplace.”

Have you invited God into your work?  What opportunities do you have throughout your workday that God can use to broadcast Himself? Remember, there is no audience too small for the Lord. He would have laid down His life even if the world were a population of one.  And there is no task that is too small for His use, either. God wants to be an engineer through you. He desires to be a schoolteacher through you. He is glorified when you run the length of a football field with endurance for HIM.

Tim Tebow exemplifies how Christians in the marketplace should use every opportunity of a captive audience (whether an audience of 1 or 1 million) to break from the spirit of self-promotion and point the glory to God.

Have you invited God into your workplace and allowed Him to go to work through you?

God Bless!

I find it extremely encouraging and empowering to visualize that I am wearing not a suit or a uniform as I prepare for each day of work, but rather the full armor of God. I encourage you to focus on this powerful scripture as you prepare yourself mentally and spiritually each day as a minister in the marketplace.

Ephesians 6:10-18:

“Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints….”
GOD BLESS YOU!

What If Jesus Meant All That Stuff?

This radical Christian’s ministry for the poor, The Simple Way, has gotten him in some trouble with his fellow Evangelicals. We asked him to address those who don’t believe.

By Shane Claiborne

Forgive us. Forgive us for the embarrassing things we have done in the name of God.

The other night I headed into downtown Philly for a stroll with some friends from out of town. We walked down to Penn’s Landing along the river, where there are street performers, artists, musicians. We passed a great magician who did some pretty sweet tricks like pour change out of his iPhone, and then there was a preacher. He wasn’t quite as captivating as the magician. He stood on a box, yelling into a microphone, and beside him was a coffin with a fake dead body inside. He talked about how we are all going to die and go to hell if we don’t know Jesus.

Some folks snickered. Some told him to shut the hell up. A couple of teenagers tried to steal the dead body in the coffin. All I could do was think to myself, I want to jump up on a box beside him and yell at the top of my lungs, “God is not a monster.” Maybe next time I will.

The more I have read the Bible and studied the life of Jesus, the more I have become convinced that Christianity spreads best not through force but through fascination. But over the past few decades our Christianity, at least here in the United States, has become less and less fascinating. We have given the atheists less and less to disbelieve. And the sort of Christianity many of us have seen on TV and heard on the radio looks less and less like Jesus.

At one point Gandhi was asked if he was a Christian, and he said, essentially, “I sure love Jesus, but the Christians seem so unlike their Christ.” A recent study showed that the top three perceptions of Christians in the U. S. among young non-Christians are that Christians are 1) antigay, 2) judgmental, and 3) hypocritical. So what we have here is a bit of an image crisis, and much of that reputation is well deserved. That’s the ugly stuff. And that’s why I begin by saying that I’m sorry.

Now for the good news.

I want to invite you to consider that maybe the televangelists and street preachers are wrong — and that God really is love. Maybe the fruits of the Spirit really are beautiful things like peace, patience, kindness, joy, love, goodness, and not the ugly things that have come to characterize religion, or politics, for that matter. (If there is anything I have learned from liberals and conservatives, it’s that you can have great answers and still be mean… and that just as important as being right is being nice.)

The Bible that I read says that God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but to save it… it was because “God so loved the world.” That is the God I know, and I long for others to know. I did not choose to devote my life to Jesus because I was scared to death of hell or because I wanted crowns in heaven… but because he is good. For those of you who are on a sincere spiritual journey, I hope that you do not reject Christ because of Christians. We have always been a messed-up bunch, and somehow God has survived the embarrassing things we do in His name. At the core of our “Gospel” is the message that Jesus came “not [for] the healthy… but the sick.” And if you choose Jesus, may it not be simply because of a fear of hell or hope for mansions in heaven.

Don’t get me wrong, I still believe in the afterlife, but too often all the church has done is promise the world that there is life after death and use it as a ticket to ignore the hells around us. I am convinced that the Christian Gospel has as much to do with this life as the next, and that the message of that Gospel is not just about going up when we die but about bringing God’s Kingdom down. It was Jesus who taught us to pray that God’s will be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” On earth.

One of Jesus’ most scandalous stories is the story of the Good Samaritan. As sentimental as we may have made it, the original story was about a man who gets beat up and left on the side of the road. A priest passes by. A Levite, the quintessential religious guy, also passes by on the other side (perhaps late for a meeting at church). And then comes the Samaritan… you can almost imagine a snicker in the Jewish crowd. Jews did not talk to Samaritans, or even walk through Samaria. But the Samaritan stops and takes care of the guy in the ditch and is lifted up as the hero of the story. I’m sure some of the listeners were ticked. According to the religious elite, Samaritans did not keep the right rules, and they did not have sound doctrine… but Jesus shows that true faith has to work itself out in a way that is Good News to the most bruised and broken person lying in the ditch.

It is so simple, but the pious forget this lesson constantly. God may indeed be evident in a priest, but God is just as likely to be at work through a Samaritan or a prostitute. In fact the Scripture is brimful of God using folks like a lying prostitute named Rahab, an adulterous king named David… at one point God even speaks to a guy named Balaam through his donkey. Some say God spoke to Balaam through his ass and has been speaking through asses ever since. So if God should choose to use us, then we should be grateful but not think too highly of ourselves. And if upon meeting someone we think God could never use, we should think again.

After all, Jesus says to the religious elite who looked down on everybody else: “The tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom ahead of you.” And we wonder what got him killed?

I have a friend in the UK who talks about “dirty theology” — that we have a God who is always using dirt to bring life and healing and redemption, a God who shows up in the most unlikely and scandalous ways. After all, the whole story begins with God reaching down from heaven, picking up some dirt, and breathing life into it. At one point, Jesus takes some mud, spits in it, and wipes it on a blind man’s eyes to heal him. (The priests and producers of anointing oil were not happy that day.)

In fact, the entire story of Jesus is about a God who did not just want to stay “out there” but who moves into the neighborhood, a neighborhood where folks said, “Nothing good could come.” It is this Jesus who was accused of being a glutton and drunkard and rabble-rouser for hanging out with all of society’s rejects, and who died on the imperial cross of Rome reserved for bandits and failed messiahs. This is why the triumph over the cross was a triumph over everything ugly we do to ourselves and to others. It is the final promise that love wins.

It is this Jesus who was born in a stank manger in the middle of a genocide. That is the God that we are just as likely to find in the streets as in the sanctuary, who can redeem revolutionaries and tax collectors, the oppressed and the oppressors… a God who is saving some of us from the ghettos of poverty, and some of us from the ghettos of wealth.

In closing, to those who have closed the door on religion — I was recently asked by a non-Christian friend if I thought he was going to hell. I said, “I hope not. It will be hard to enjoy heaven without you.” If those of us who believe in God do not believe God’s grace is big enough to save the whole world… well, we should at least pray that it is.

Your brother,

Shane