Your Beloved

Thought I'd share this scripture and song taken from our FCC Night of praise a few months ago...
Isaiah 40/Your Beloved

The Fast

Well, I feel like I've been doing pretty well on this complaining fast. I've, of course, had many opportunities to complain, like the other day when it was REALLY windy, and I had worn a skirt that day, and the skirt literally blew up practically over my head...but I didn't complain :-)

Sunday afternoon I was a little cranky, but it wasn't a complaining cranky, it was a tired cranky. Instead of complaining, I took it out on Denny's hair....and sheared him. I'm sure I've had some "questionable" moments, but all in all I've done pretty well.

I've had a lot of fun at work this week. (I've been forced to since I can't complain :-) I've met alot of new people and seen alot of old friends, as the WTHI sales team has been doing marketing presentations all week long at the Holiday Inn. Today I had lunch with a gal that I just met yesterday...her name is Susan. We had an awesome conversation about Jesus. We pertnear had a hallelujah breakdown at the lunch table :-). I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. The waitress also heard our conversation, and she joined in. That was fun. I thought for a while that she was gonna just pull up a chair!

I can tell you one thing...I don't want to stop this complaining fast. What I've found is, when you can't complain, and you know you can't complain, you are forced to look and find the positive in a situation, instead of focusing on the negative. There's something about that that is extremely freeing.

Philippians 4:8 (The Message)

8-9Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

More On The Complaining Fast

Okay, I have received enough e-mails on the complaining post that I figure it warrants a little more time here. Let me give a little more information. What is a complaint? In my opinion, which you are certainly welcome to disagree with, complaining is not so much what you say as it is an attitude of the heart.

I have noticed a couple of times since I've started this fast, that my words could have possibly been taken as a complaint, but I REALLY, sincerely, didn't mean them that way. I know from some of your e-mails that some of you have already found that out too. The other thing I've noticed, is that you don't have to say anything at all and can still be complaining on the inside...know what I'm talkin' about? SO, that's why I say that it is primarily an attitude of the heart.

Also, some have expressed concern saying, "if I mess up do I really have to start over?" To me, that's between you and God. As for how I'm doing it, I'm doing a 21 day fast...period. Unless God dictates something different. If I mess up, I'll recognize it and ask forgiveness and keep going.

Mariann Schaefer sent me a devotion today that ties in nicely with this, so I've copy and pasted it below...the primary thing that spoke to me about it was the scripture it quotes from Deuteronomy...see below

(from Turning Point with David Jeremiah)
Serving with Joy
Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.Psalm 100:2

Recommended ReadingHebrews 1:8-9

Are you involved in service at your church? When we visit those who are in need of encouragement, it should be with joy. When we watch children in the nursery or minister to preschoolers, it should be with joy. When we sing in the choir, we should have a joyful expression on our face. When we wash the dishes at home or vacuum the living room, we should do it with joy, for even the simplest acts of life are done as unto the Lord.

Joy is to our daily Christian duties what blossoms are to a rose bush or what a flag is to a flagpole. We aren't to serve the Lord with weariness, drudgery, worry, or anger—we're to serve Him with joy.

This same truth—which is worded positively in Psalm 100—is stated in the negative in Deuteronomy 28:47-48: "Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you."

How terrible to serve the Lord with any other attitude than a continual source and supply of joy! Commit to serving with joy today.

Joy improves our personalities, increases our energy, transforms our worship, and bears us through difficulties. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory.Robert J. Morgan

Gretchen's Blog

To my fellow Marshallites who have missed the Beltz's like I have missed the Beltz's, you'll be glad to know that Gretchen has started a blog! I added the link to my sidebar. YAY!!!

Complaining Fast

I am so busy. Could they possibly give us anything else to sell? How do they expect us to take care of all of this? Everywhere you kids go you leave a mess behind. Hey...how 'bout someone help me with supper!?!

I'm complaining fast, because I'm getting ready to go on a "complaining fast". Yeah, a fast from complaining.

Last Wednesday, John, our head brethren (pastor), told us a story about a church that went on a 21 day "complaining fast"...and if at anytime during the fast, they complained, they had to start all over.

I felt convicted as John told the story, but decided to chalk it up as just that...a nice story. However, God keeps bringing it up. For instance, this morning I grabbed my devotion, it was titled "Quit Complaining". I griped about that and put it back down, and grabbed another devotion. It's key scripture was this Proverbs 21:23 "Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles."

A couple of days ago, I told my co-workers that I was thinking about doing this fast so they've already started holding me accountable. I did a trial run today...it didn't go very well. I already started trying to disguise my complaints as "concerning observations".

God tells us not to complain...I don't think that means that we can't express legitimate concerns. So, even though I was being silly in the above paragraph, I really am struggling with what registers as a complaint, and what doesn't. I know there have been many times in the past during conversations, when I've had opportunity to complain, and the Holy Spirit has prompted me to, "keep quiet". So I'm gonna do my best to listen to the Holy Spirit's promptings and NOT complain. The book of James tells us not to be just "hearers" of the Word, but to be "doers" of the Word. It supposedly takes 21 days to form a new habit, so we'll see!

After I go through the "complaining fast", my goal is to do a "worry fast", and then a "slander fast", and then an "argue fast". Several years ago the praise team ministered at Oregon Baptist Church in Terre Haute, and I remember that I talked about how "abundant" our life would be if we would just practice obedience in these areas...don't complain, don't argue, don't worry.

So would any of you like to go on this journey with me? You can pick your own start and end date. Whether you let me know, or do it on your own, I hope you accept the challenge.

Now I guess I'll go get started on this stupid, stinkin' fast. :-)

Monday Night!!

Hey!! The FCC Praise Team will be ministering Monday night at Emmanuel United Methodist Church. Emmanuel is located on Grand Turn Road, just off of Route 1, south of Marshall. Service starts at 7:00pm Illinois time.

I'm excited about what God has planned for this service! Come join us!

A Word

"Because You've always stood up for me, I'm free to run and play. I hold on to you for dear life, and you hold me steady as a post." Psalm 63:7,8 (MSG)

This is a passage of scripture that I have read every morning for the past two weeks. This morning as I was meditating on it, I felt the Lord telling me to share it with you. I don't know about you, but I need this scripture daily as a reminder that I don't have to be bogged down with the things of this life...though often I am. Even this week I have been. I think that's why God has kept placing this scripture before me, saying "read it." "Again." "Again." "Again". Almost like He's saying, "read it until the truth of it is completely woven through you."

"Because You've always stood up for me, I'm free to run and play. I hold on to you for dear life, and you hold me steady as a post."

This doesn't mean that I can blatently run around sinning and God's going to stand up for me. It means that as long as I'm doing my best to follow hard after Him, that I can be free to run and play, knowing that He will take care of things...all things. As long as I do my part of being obedient to Him, and clinging to Him, He'll take care of the rest.

And so I read it again, "because You've always stood up for me, I'm free to run and play. I hold on to you for dear life, and you hold me steady as a post."

Jesus interceded for me, and for you, when He died on the cross. And today, everyday, all day long, He's still interceding for us. (Romans 8:34)

"Father, help me to not get bogged down with the things of this life, but to hold on to you for dear life, and to fully know the abundant life that you, Jesus, came to give. Help me to extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy. As I hold up the shield of faith, His darts will bounce off instead of piercing me. (Eph 6:16) Continue Lord to weave this scripture through the depths of me, into my innermost being as I read it again...because You've always stood up for me, I'm free to run and play. I hold on to you for dear life, and you hold me steady as a post."

My Trip

Hey!! Thank you for those of you who e-mailed me and asked me how my trip went! And, sorry if I gave you a short response. My week has been crazy! The trip, however, was exceptional. All of our flights were on time, and travel was smooooth. I did have a new experience of having them de-ice the plane. That was cool to see, the planes lined up as they sprayed them all down with the de-icing matter. I probably would have normally been a little nervous about that, but that morning in my prayer time, God spoke clearly to me saying "Fear Not." So anytime I felt a little anxious, I just thought of His words, and knew that to fear would be disobedient, so I "feared not!"

My co-worker and I had dinner Wednesday evening with the news director from Albequerque, NM, and the news director from New Haven, Conneticut...and let me tell you, news directors are "in the know". and I'm not being sarcastic, I'm being very serious. It's their job to know what's going on in the world, so that made for some very interesting conversation. During the evening, Kirk, the News director from New Haven, told us of some video that his photogs had shot that day of two Golden Retrievers (I think) that had fallen through the ice, and the rescue team that was saving them. He said you'll probably be seeing the story. When I got back to the hotel room, I turned on CNN's Headline News, and sure enough, there was the story. Don't know if any of you caught that story, but it's neat to think that one of our stations shot the video.

I met a really sweet girl on the flight home. Wendy, if you read this, send me an e-mail, I'm interested in knowing how your presentation went!

That's all for now, I'm calling it a night...more later. (oh yeah, and I made it through a nap today without Denny taking a picture!)

Traveling

How do I follow up that last post? I dunno. If you read Denny's blog, which you can click on in my side bar, you'll find out that it's obviously not safe to sleep in our house! :-) These blogs, yours and ours, have brought him great joy! He has a list of blogs that he reads every evening.

He'll be missing my flowery pajamas come Wednesday. Wednesday I leave early to fly to Providence, Rhode Island. I'll be traveling with a co-worker to our corporate office for some high powered meetings :-). We get home late Thursday night. This is not business as usual. This is actually the first time that I've been called to travel with my job. WTHI is owned by LIN TV Corp. Lin also owns approx. 30 or so other television stations throughout the U.S. For a list of stations that they own click here.

I believe there will be representatives from each station at this meeting, so it will be fun to meet new people. Please pray for safety while we travel. Both for us and our families, and pray that if we're called upon, we'll say something intelligent :-)

Hard at Work!

Hey Everyone,

It's Denny here, typing on Missy's blog. If you haven't read her previous post from this morning then do so first and then come back to this one. OK, you're back?. I wanted to show you what Missy's idea of cleaning the house and cooking for me looks like! Its about 2 hrs later after her last blog entry.

I snapped this little gem without her knowing!! HA HA!!

Ok, gotta go, before she see's what I'm doing. She's awake now.

Been nice knowing you all!

Denny :)

Saturdays

I LOVE Saturdays!! It's the only day of the week that we get to sleep in. I especially love them when we have nothing to do! That's our day today...no plans...woo hoo!

I'll probably do some house cleaning a little later, and I'm in the mood to cook...that doesn't happen very often! Normally, when Denny wants a home cooked meal, I take him to Cracker Barrel. :-) Okay, I'm exaggerating, I'm not really that bad.

My daughter is begging me to take her shopping, though she spent the day at work with me yesterday, and I had to go to JC Penneys to look for a piece of "carry on" luggage to take on a trip so she got to do a little clothes shopping then. She scares me how much she likes to shop!

We got up this morning and did our normal bacon and eggs Saturday breakfast. Our kids LOVE breakfast foods. We normally have breakfast for supper at least once a week!

Alright...I'm off...to do whatever I want!

Being Goofy...

When I started my blog, my friend, Cathy Wood, told me that my purpose for this blog was to make her famous…which I assured her that because of the stories I’ve told about her, she was already famous with my friends! Cathy and I have worked together for, well, too long! I have probably laughed more with her than any other friend I have, mostly because she’s hilarious, and we’re together every day.

At work, we each have a “cubicle”. Ya know what I’m talking about? Every person has their own space with dividers to separate us from one another. Well, on “our” side of the building, we decided that we’d rather be united than divided. So, Steve, Cathy, and I, took down the inside dividers so that you can just walk from one person’s space to another. Our office area has since become known as “The Condo”.

Today, Cathy laughed so hard that she was crying. Why? You ask? We decided that we would greet every person that came into the condo, in the same manner that you would greet your dog. Not treat them like a dog, but greet them like a dog, you know, the same voice that you use to talk to your dog? And in the same manner? Here’s an example in that puppy dog voice.. “Ahhh Jim, wuzsha doin? Are you havin’ a good day today??? You’re such a goooood boss.”
The funny thing is that no one really laughed about that, except Cathy and I…and we were rollin’!

As I think back over our friendship, I wish that we literally had “the best of Cathy and Missy” video clips. Like on the sitcoms when they sometimes flash back and show various funny moments from the show…that’s what sometimes runs through my mind is the various funny moments that Cathy and I have shared…ohhh to have captured those on video. :-) Priceless!