Staying Close

Some of our dearest friends came down for a visit the last weekend of September. We always love the time we spend with them (of course we did not get out the camera until the last 20 minutes or so)!






can you tell I discovered where my black and white and my sepia lenses were?!!? Such fun to discover those attachments on your digital camera when you thought your camera did not have them!!!!

PRAY. GIVE. SEND. GO.

OBEY.

This video gets me every time! The need is great whether in Asia (where this video focuses) or in our own backyard. So, what can we do? Here are two ideas...

1)This is one of many groups online that help those less fortunate...not just by GIVING them their fish, but also teaching HOW to fish. WORLD VISION is one of those groups intent on helping to the nth degree in the name of our Lord and Savior. Visit their website and you will find some wonderful Christmas gift ideas---especially for the person who already has it all: WORLD VISION.

2)In our town, the homeless population is rising. There are many of us who have had experiences where we have come into contact with the homeless and have had nothing to give, so we leave them, both groups feeling brokenhearted and disappointed. So...one couple in our church (and their small group) have begun a ministry called B.A.G.S. (Being A Good Samaritan). I thought that this was a great idea. Many essential things (i.e crackers, peanuts, water, soap, toothpaste, Bible, etc...) are put in a bag which you keep in your vehicle. Now, whenever one sees someone in need, they are ready to fill that need and add God's blessings to their lives. I thought that you might like seeing this and some of you might even like to try it for yourselves. It is a marvelous opportunity to share God's love in a very real way:

All The Way

Around the 7th of September, my maternal grandmother started feeling badly. She was taken from the nursing home to the hospital where they discovered she had pneumonia and treated her. She went back to the nursing home, but very soon after she got back, her condition worsened. At this second trip to the hospital it was discovered that she not only had pneumonia, but stage 4 lung cancer. Within a few days, her children gathered around her to spend as much time with her as they could. Grandma loved it, and though it was hard for her 6 children, they loved every last moment with her. In saying goodbye to her kids, she told one, "I love you...ALL the way."

All the way. I cannot fully comprehend a greater love than that. Yet, there IS one. It is the very love that boggles my mind and stills my heart. It causes me to stand in complete wonder and awe and it lifts my heart and soul up to great joy and peace. What a great thing to love those around you "all the way" and an even greater thing to rest in the love that goes further than that!!

Oh!! How God loves us!!!!

Thanks, Grandma! Thanks for showing us a great love so that we can accept and experience an even greater one.

photo to the left: Grandma's six children (from l to r): Jeff, Connie, Anita, Kathy, Jo (mom), and Marc
Photo to the right: Mandy, Mom and Keri