The Ride

Have you ever been traveling in a car with someone and you didn’t really care about where you were going? All you really cared about was being with that person. It could be your spouse, or maybe if not now, do you remember how it was when you first got together? And maybe you didn’t want to go home, you just wanted to drive around and spend time with that person.

It might not even have to be a spouse…maybe it’s a friend that you just really enjoy being with. I remember, several years ago, God had laid someone upon my heart. I barely knew her, but the Holy Spirit had consumed me with praying for her. My friend Cathy Wood and I flew out to LA to see her. I remember being in her car and driving on Mulholland Drive. That was one of those times for me. I remember that I didn’t really care where we were at, or where we were going, I just cared about the person I was with, and I was glad to be there.

I say all that to say, that’s been my conversation with God this evening. There are some things up in the air regarding my life right now…some things that are in question. As I was driving to church tonight I felt God’s presence immensely, and I was thinking about all that He has going on in my life right now. And what I found myself saying to him was this, “I don’t really know, God, how all this will end up, I don’t know all the ins and outs of where we’re going on this ride through life, all I know is it sure feels good being with you…

I’m glad Jesus is in the driver’s seat. I’m thoroughly enjoying riding around with him. Sometimes there’s unexpected twists and turns. Sometime’s we drive on mountaintops, sometimes through valley’s, sometimes we talk a lot, other times there’s silence. Sometime’s I get uncomfortable in the seat, sometimes I’m totally relaxed. But all the time, I’m thankful to be with him.

Jesus, words can’t express how thankful I am for the relationship that I have with you. I’m thankful that I never have to leave your presence. May those who read this know that friendship too. It sure feels good being with you.

Melissa Moore on American Idolatry

In recent days I've been saddened by all the news about Britney shaving her head, and all the chaos surrounding the life and death of Anna Nicole. As well as other issues with entertainers. What's weird is, I haven't felt judgmental as I probably normally would, I've just felt sad for them, and have felt the need to pray over their situations.

Today, I happened upon a devotion written by Melissa Moore, the daughter of Beth Moore...Oh my...it's a must read. Click here and soak up what Melissa has to say...(she's just like her Mama)

She Speaks Conference...

Amy, who is one of my spiritual mentors, will often ask me, "what's God doing in your life?" My normal response is, "Amy, I feel like I'm just along for the ride..." and then I'll go into what He has going on in my life.

Three times in the Bible, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:23, it is recorded that Jesus says, "you're not in the driver's seat...I am." (MSG) And boy, when it comes to being obedient to God, often times I totally feel like I'm just along for the ride. Many of the things He calls me to do are not things that I would do on my own without Him saying "I want you to do this." You can read, "my life is not my own" on the devotion page of my website to see one particular instance of this. Another time I felt like "I was just along for the ride", was last year, when I felt like God was urging me to go to the Proverbs 31 Ministries "She Speaks" Conference which is a conference for speakers and writers.

I was in the process of signing up for a worship leading conference, when my friend Kathy, asked me to go to "she speaks" with her. I wanted to tell her "no" right away. I didn't think of myself as a speaker or a writer, I'm a worship leader...but because Kathy said that God had impressed upon her to ask me, AND I trust her ability to hear from God, I knew that I couldn't just say "no" without praying about it. In my prayer time, God definitely answered that I should attend this conference with Kathy, so we went. We had a blast hanging out together, and we learned a lot from the conference, and met a lot of great Christian women, one being my friend Marybeth who has been an awesome encourager to me. You can click on her blog on my side bar. I'm so glad God introduced us!

Anyway, through "She Speaks", God taught me much about my calling, and steered me in some new directions as to what He was wanting me to do. I'm thankful that I attended, and it looks like we're going back again. SO, if you're reading this, and you feel called to speak or write, or are in charge of women's ministry in your church (this year they've added a track for women's ministry) then you might want to prayerfully consider this conference as well. You can check it out at www.proverbs31.org.

They also have an online daily devotion that you can sign up for while you're there! I was super excited when they used my "Duty Calls" devotion a couple of weeks ago! My biggest excitement came from the fact that I had felt God calling me to write that specific devo for the purpose of submitting it to P31...so I did, and they used it! Pretty cool!

If you're interested and have questions regarding this event give Kathy or I a SHOUT! Kathy's blog is also on my sidebar.

Gettin' back in balance!

I feel SOOOOOOOOOO much better!!! I finally feel back to normal. The turnaround started Tuesday. It's been a really long time since I've been that sick. It gave me an appreciation for my health!

My life had been out of balance for a while. For the past several weeks I've been in the studio working on our new praise team CD. For a couple of those weeks I was there two nights a week. When you throw in Wednesday night church service, that means I was gone three nights a week. Since I work outside the home that means on the studio nights I was gone from home 7:30am to 11pm each of those days. On church night I'd get home about 7:30 or 8p, so not quite as bad, but it still made for a very long day.

The exciting thing is, if the recording sounds as good on CD as it does in the studio, then I'll be very pleased! It's a "live" recording. Most churches, when they do live recordings, go into the studio afterward and "touch" up everything. Alot of the churches will take their vocalists in and redo all of the vocals, as well as touching up any instrumental errors. Believe me, if we had the money, I'd do that too! But we don't, so what we have is the actual live recording...raw. And I'm amazed at how good it sounds. I believe I have one more night left to finish the mix down process, and then we'll get it "mastered", and send it off for duplication. Woo Hoo! I'll be so glad to have my nights back!

I decided a long time ago that if I was going to work outside the home, that I needed to "protect" my evenings so they could be spent with my family. That's why I very seldom attend jewelry parties, candle parties, and various other things that I sometimes get invited to. I even prayerfully weigh various ministry things that I get called to do. All that to say, I obviously felt like this CD was something I was called to do, but I'll be glad to get things back in balance!

Psalm 119:169-176

I love to read Psalm 119 from The Message...LOVE it! Just thought I'd share a passage from that with you today... may this scripture, this prayer become personal to you. Blessings...

Psalm 119:169-176 (The Message)

Let my cry come right into your presence, God; provide me with the insight that comes only from your Word. Give my request your personal attention, rescue me on the terms of your promise. Let praise cascade off my lips; after all, you've taught me the truth about life! And let your promises ring from my tongue; every order you've given is right. Put your hand out and steady me since I've chosen to live by your counsel. I'm homesick, God, for your salvation; I love it when you show yourself! Invigorate my soul so I can praise you well, use your decrees to put iron in my soul. And should I wander off like a lost sheep—seek me! I'll recognize the sound of your voice.

Lovey...

Hip Hip Hooray!!! My Lovey started a blog! I added it to my links...check it out! Click "Denny's Blog"..

Achy and Ugly with Friends

Well...I'm still sick. I finally went to the Doc today and got some drugs...I hope they're good ones. I came home early from work, and went straight to bed. I couldn't wait to get to bed...in fact, while I was waiting at the doctors office, all I could think was, "I just want to go home, and go to sleep"...I was SOOOO tired!

I feel a little better this evening. We went out and ate pizza for supper because I didn't want to make anything, or clean any mess up. As we were walking out the door our friend Jennifer called...so they ate with us. After we ate, the kids wanted to play together, so, Tim and Jen came out to our house. As a matter of fact, they're here right now. It's quite hilarious actually. We've decided that we've reached a new level of friendship...we're not really talking. We each have our laptops out, and we're all on the web doing our own thing...every once in a while we break to talk!! :-)

Alright...I'm signing off now...

Sunday 2/18 Service

Here's our lineup for church Sunday...

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Matchless

WELCOME

In The Sanctuary
LifeSong
Better Is One Day

Elders Meditation/Communion
Offering...
MESSAGE
Invitation/Business With God

Offering
Seek Ye First
Your Beloved

CLOSING WORDS

LifeSong (chorus only)

Achy and Ugly

At work today, there was one common phrase that I heard more than any other...I hope you're not offended by my language, but the phrase most spoken to me today was this..."Whoa, you look like crap today..." That's what most of my co-workers said. However, when my boss, Jim, saw me, he literally stepped back, and said this, "wow, some people look bad when they're sick, and then some people look bad." It's a good thing I'm not easily offended! :-)

I've been sick since Friday. Denny and I both have. We've got really bad colds. Saturday, I was so achy that I could barely stand up straight. I felt better Sunday morning, so I went to church, but of course I struggled singing. (no comments please, like "how's that different than normal?"). Anyway, thank God for Sherri and Amanda who did a great job of covering me.

Because I have a cold I haven't slept very well. I've been up a couple of hours each night. When I wake up, I watch TV. I've learned alot about Anna Nicole Smith. :-) If any of you have questions regarding her life, I'm pretty sure I can answer them. :-)

The good news about being sick is, I'd been looking for a good excuse to just lay around the house, and that's pretty much what I did ALL weekend excluding church.

All that to say, all prayers for a speedy recovery would be appreciated!

Blessed

well, I should be getting ready for church right now, but instead, here I am on my blog.

I'm feeling so blessed this morning, and this is my outlet to share my thoughts. It started (the blessed feeling) when I reached in the cabinet and grabbed a coffee mug. I picked one that had Valentine hearts all over it, and was reminded that someone had left that on my doorstep a couple of years ago, filled with candy. I know that we weren't the only house "hit" with the valentine mug, but still...I was blessed.

Then I thought about a couple of Sunday's ago. As I walked into church I was met by my friend Stephanie. She handed me a gift. Let me explain....when I was growing up, I LOVED Barbara Mandrell. Even after Denny and I were married, we would still go see Barbara in concert about once a year. Barbara retired about 10 years ago, and when she retired she meant it. You pretty much didn't see anything out of her anymore. Well, this fall, her peers did a tribute album to her, so there were many shows, probably about five hours worth, that Barbara was on this fall. I had mentioned to Stephanie that I had tried to tape those, and failed. Well, the gift Steph gave me was a DVD. She sought out when those shows were gonna be replayed, and she recorded them for me. I almost cried when she gave me the DVD, not because it was of Barbara....but because of the loving kindness that Steph showed in doing that for me. She had made both a jewel case label and CD label that had pictures of Barbara on it...I've designed CD labels before, and it takes time, and Steph's looked SO professionally done. Her loving kindness touched me that morning...it still does.

Then my thoughts went to Mariann. Again, a couple of Sunday's ago, she approached me after church. She said something to the effect of, "I'm supposed to ask you how I can pray for you." I gave her kind of a questioning look, and she said, "during 3rd service, I was in the prayer room, and God kept bringing you up, so how can I pray for you..." This time, I did start crying, because there was something weighing very heavy on me, and I INDEED needed someone to come alongside a pray for me. It meant so much to me that God knew my struggle, and had sent Mariann to assist. I thanked her for her obedience in approaching me. Today as I type this, I'm still thankful for her obedience.

If I were to write all the ways I've been blessed in the past two weeks, this blog would go on forever. So, I'm going to get ready for church now...Thanks, friends, for being Jesus to me, and thanks Father for blessing me through your people.

All About Will...

We recently started letting our oldest son play a game on-line. Several of his friends have been playing the game for about three years, and we had “held out” not being sure of how safe things were. I must say, it was pretty cool to me last night as Will was playing this game with my friend Beth Rudy’s boys out in Pennsylvania. It was so much fun for me to listen to him interact with them. I just met Beth this past year. Her link is in my side bar. She writes a daily devotion called “Prayer Pal”.

I have been able to maintain relationships with people over the web/e-mail, as I’m sure you all probably do. It’s been funny to me this year, because as I’ve spoken in our home about some of these people that I communicate with via e-mail, my son always says, “Who are you talking about, one of your imaginary friends?” So last night, I had a good time saying, “who are you playing games with, Will, your imaginary friends?!”

Last night, I started feeling a little sick. I woke up at 3am coughing my head off, so I went downstairs to get a drink, and ended up staying down there on the couch. At about 5am, I heard footsteps, I STILL was not back to sleep. Anyway, it was Will. He started rummaging through the movies. As he was looking, he said to me, “the Valentine dance is tonight.” To which I replied, “would you like to go?” He said, “yeah, I think so.” He grabbed a movie and headed back to his room. I asked, “what movie did you get?” His answer was, “Hitch”. I kind of laughed under my breath, and thought…hmmm, is he learning how to pick up “chicks”, or getting the dance instruction that Will Smith gave in the movie…

However, as I type this, he’s sitting right here beside his Momma…he opted to stay home with us…I like that :-)

Home Today...

Hey...I'm home today with two of my kids who aren't feeling their best. They picked a good day since it's snowed about three inches and is only 10 degrees outside! We've enjoyed watching movies, and watching the birds out the back door. Here's a couple of pic's. I tried to get one that showed the temp...

The Super Bowl

There I stood watching the Bears run the opening kickoff back for a touchdown. While every other Colts fan in our house was having a fit, I was thinking "oh my gosh...someone just won a new car!" Our station was airing the super bowl, and we were giving away a variety of prizes based upon what happened in the game. For instance, for every fumble, we gave away a prize. For every interception, we gave away a prize. Most of the prizes were $100 gift certificates to a local retail outlet, but the big prize was, if someone ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, then we would give away a new car! We met today at 3pm with some of the sponsors of the event, and we drew the name for the lucky winner! It was cool to hear Brian Dorsett, owner of Dorsett Mitsubishi, and a Colts fan himself, tell about his reaction to the run back.

He said that while it was happening he started jumping up and down, saying "go!" "go!". He said his daughter looked at him like he was crazy and asked,"why are you cheering for him?!?" Then Brian of course explained that if he ran it back for a touchdown, someone was going to win a new Mitsubishi!

So that was some excitement that I had last night and today at work. It was REALLY neat to be there and hear my boss's conversation as he called to tell the winner that they had just won a new car!

Just another little tid bit of information...this Super Bowl ranks as the 3rd most watched program in television history, behind the Mash finale and Super Bowl XXX.

Teach Me To Pray

I added a devotion to the devotion page of my website. It's titled "Teach Me To Pray". It's a real life story about how God changed this girl's prayer life.

www.melissamilbourn.com

Sunday Service

Here's what our church service looks like tomorrow. Father God may you be in every part of this service, and if there's any place you desire for us to switch stuff up, then help us to roll with your flow...be glorified. In Jesus Name, Amen.

If there's anyone out there who would like information on any of these songs holler at me. You can e-mail me through the "contact me" tab on my website.

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Jesus Is All The World To Me

WELCOME

Fields Of Grace
My Redeemer Lives
How Great Is Our God/
How Great Thou Art

Elders Meditation/Communion
Offering...
MESSAGE
Invitation/Business With God

I’d Rather Have Jesus
You Are
Because Of Who You Are

CLOSING WORDS

My Redeemer Lives

Current Book and Study

Current book I'm reading..."Communicating for a Change" by Andy Stanley, and Lane ? Sorry, I don't remember Lane's last name right now. This book has been extrememly enlightening regarding how to prepare a message. It was recommended to me by Timothy Wood (thanks Tim).

Right now in both our Sunday School class, and the Ladies Bible Study that we do, we're watching the "nooma" videos, by Rob Bell. These are awesome, thought provoking videos, I'm thoroughly enjoying them. These would be great for any small group. Each video is only about 15 minutes in length, and comes with discussion questions. Find out more at www.nooma.com Again recommended by Tim AND Jennifer Wood.

If you're interested in coming to our Sunday School Class or Bible Study, drop me a line and I'll give you more info. Just Fyi, the ladies study is in Terre Haute, and the SS class is during 3rd service.

A Funny...

My friend Debbie sent me this, it cracked me up so I decided I'd post it. However, before you read it, you must say a prayer for Debbie and her husband as they are starting a new church in the Ft. Wayne, Indiana area. Their first service is Sunday, April 1st. So say a prayer and then read a funny...(#2 is my personal favorite!:-)

FIVE BEST THINGS TO SAY IF YOU GET CAUGHT SLEEPING AT YOUR DESK:

5. "They told me at the Blood Bank this might happen."

4. "This is just a 15 minute power nap they raved about in the time
management course you sent me to."

3. "Whew! Guess I left the top off the Whiteout. You probably got here
just in time."

2. "Did you ever notice sound coming out of these keyboards when you
put your ear down real close?"

And the NUMBER ONE best thing to say if you get caught sleeping at your
desk...

1 . Raise your head slowly and say, "...in Jesus' name, Amen."