As we approach this fall there is a new round of studies but the study last spring is still in my heart and mind…

Giant-Sized Obstacles: Esther and Her People

 Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Esther 4:14

 In the introduction of the book Thirteen Days, former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara wrote of the pressure felt inside the White House during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. He called it “a period of the most intense strain I have ever operated under.”

 Queen Esther could have said the same during the royal crisis that jeopardized her life and the lives of Jewish people everywhere during the days of the Persian Empire. Out of nowhere, a giant crisis emerged that put her under the most intense strain she had ever operated under. Her one assurance, relayed to her by Mordecai, was that God had anticipated this giant in advance; and, in His providence, had placed her on the throne to deal with it.

 Sometimes we find ourselves in a period of intense strain. It’s important to remember that God has anticipated it, and He has prepared us “for such a time as this.” He will give strength for the strain and wisdom for the crisis.

 When God can do what He will with a man, the man may do what he will with the world.
George MacDonald

 Recommended Reading: Esther 4:13-17

* This came from Turning Point Magazine – David Jeremiah

I saw this on Anderson Cooper 360 – the waving goat.  It is great!  Another animal video – gotta love those animal videos!

The last month our church has taken part in What if the Church and the whole concept started last year when three churches in the KC area got  together and thenn this year more than 10 churches got together had sermons/messages on loving mercy,  act justly, and walking humbly with your God and we then had a serve day which I could not take part in due to exhaustion and being sick the day of the event.  Tonight was the final event and it was the Worship Night where the different churches led us in worship, prayer, and communion.  It was fantastic…one of the people from Westside  toke a picture of the crowd….

Here it is….

LORD, MAKE US ONE! MAY GOD DO GREATER THINGS IN KC AND  LET THE CHURCH BECOME ONE IN MISSION – to reach the hurting, to reach the poor, to reach the single mom, to reach the drug addict, to reach those who don’t have a relationship with him.  Let us love mercy, act justly, and walk humbly with our God.

WHAT IF?  what if 12 churches mutiplies by 4 next year again -48 local churches?  What if we had a serve day and thousands came out?  A dream yes but God can do more than we can ask or imagine….

I was thinking about what I would do if I had a million dollars handed to me…

Here is what I would do and it is in the order that I would do it…

• 250,000 to my local church
• 200,000 to buy a nice home
• 25,000 to buy a car (my Ford Escape my dream car)

That is 475,000. 525,000 left

• 25,000 for an emergency fund
• 200,000 invest

That is $700,000…now what…I still have 300,000.

• I would give some money to single moms who are having a hard time getting started ($25,000)
• I would give some money to our mission partners around the globe ($25,000)
• I would start a college ministry that would train college students to do ministry and rock their world! I have no idea how much I would put towards this since this age is near and dear to my heart! ($50,000 maybe)

Wow, I still have plenty of money…$200,000 left

• Okay, so I would have some fun with the money – travel to Florida, travel to Washington DC, travel to California, travel to the Grand Camyans again, go on some cruises ($20,000)
• I would suprise my family and help them with paying off their houses and cars (that would be the rest of it).

What would you do if you got handed $1,000,000?  I invite comments!

Great pet trick!  Love it

WOW!

In all the years that I have gone to Easter service  I think this will be one that I remember for a long time.  The first thing is going at 6:30 on Saturday and it being crowded was amazing – the worship was amazing – the choir who helped us get into the presence of the RISEN one was amazing.  Dan Southerland, our lead teaching pastor, gave a great simple message but one that challenged me a ton.  He talked about following Jesus and he said that sometimes God shouts but most of the time he whispers and asks him to follow him even when we don’t understand where we are headed!  I am more in love with Jesus than I have been in a long time and the joy I have in Christ is amazing!

I got this video at work.  Enjoy the dry retriever….

This is a song that has really captured my heart lately…

Every Man by Casting Crowns:

I’m the man with all I’ve ever wanted
All the toys and playing games
I am the one who pours your coffee, corner booth each Saturday
I am your daughter’s favorite teacher
I am the leader of the band
I sit behind you in the bleachers
I am every man

Is there hope for every man
A solid place where we can stand
In this dry and weary land
Is there hope for every man
Is there love that never dies
Is there peace in troubled times

Someone help me understand
Is there hope for every man

There is hope for every man
A solid place where we can stand
In this dry and weary land
There is hope for every man
There is Love that never dies
There is peace in troubled times
Will we help them understand?
Jesus is hope for every man

Where do you find your hope?

Just a little funny…

I lost a much loved grandma to this disease and I found out:

In 2008, over 38,000 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and nearly 34,000 will die. The 5 year survival rate is less than 5 percent and has remained largely unchanged in the last thirty years. Despite the sobering statistics, less than 2 percent of the National Cancer Institute’s federal research funding is currently allocated to pancreatic cancer.

This caused me alarm and I want to change this and we have a chance – there is a bill in congress that will allow more of our tax money to go to this research which is crucial knowing that having this cancer is a death sentence.

This bill has been introduced in the house (this is off pancan.org):

EXCITING NEWS: First ever substantive pancreatic cancer legislation (H.R. 7045) introduced!
U.S. Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) introduced H.R. 7045, the National Plan to Advance Pancreatic Cancer Research Act, on September 24, 2008. While Congress has passed legislation recognizing our awareness efforts for many years (otherwise known as the Proclamation – read more below), this is the first time that substantive legislation has been introduced to address the problems faced by our scientific research community. To read the text of this bill, please visit www.congress.gov and type in “HR 7045″, or click here to see a summary of the bill.

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network has been working with Reps. Eshoo and Brown-Waite to draft this bill, which is based on the National Plan to Advance Pancreatic Cancer Research. The National Plan was developed by our Scientific Advisory Board and launched to Congress with Dr. Randy Pausch in January 2008. Please click here to sign our online petition voicing your support for this historic legislation and your appreciation for the efforts of Reps. Eshoo and Brown-Waite.

While the introduction of this bill is an important step, we still have a lot of work to do to get this legislation passed and signed into law. There is not enough time to get this legislation passed this session, so we will be re-introducing it when the new Congress convenes in January 2009. Our work then will be to generate “co-sponsors” (supporters) for the bill among the U.S. House of Representatives. To get started today, please click here to visit our Take Action page and complete our Action Alert which informs members of Congress of this new piece of legislation, encourages them to become familiar with it over the break, and to co-sponsor the bill once it has been introduced in the 2009 session of Congress.s To see the press release that we issued on the bill introduction, click here.

Supplemental funding to the National Cancer Institute
Building on our successful efforts earlier this year to secure an additional $20 million for the National Cancer Institute, we have once again joined our colleagues in the cancer community to advocate that Congress add additional funds for cancer research to the current fiscal year budget – a much needed effort as the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute have been flat-funded for the past several years and the $20 million, while needed, was far from sufficient to meet the needs of the cancer research community. Congress is currently considering an economic stimulus package that would provide an additional $1.9 billion to the National Institutes of Health, part of which would go towards the National Cancer Institute. Both chambers will likely reconvene after the November elections for a “lame duck” session and will discuss the stimulus package. Please visit our Take Action Now page to see how you can encourage Congress to pass this package.