The Cactus Cuties: Baylee, Blaire, Andi and Madeline

The other day my mom emailed me with a video link and said, "You’ve got to see these girls sing. They are incredible." What timing. She was talking about the Cactus Cuties. Just a few days previous, I had arranged to do a story on them and put them on the cover. My mom was pleasantly shocked when I wrote back and told her this. I was glad it happened, though, because it just confirmed to me how much these little darlings are capturing the hearts of heartland America. We actually came into contact with the Cactus Cuties and their manager because of Abby (our daughter with Leukemia). Somebody told somebody who told them about her, and we saw a comment from them on our blog. We replied and introduced ourselves, and here we are. I don’t know about you, but I long for more wholesome and endearing things to return to our country. Even the previously innocent Disney channel teaches our kids to be catty, pop culture addicted, and self absorbed. What some of our culture labels "corny," we embrace as the true spirit of our country and it’s original foundations: goodness, sweetness, patriotism, family and God. That pretty much sums up The Cactus Cuties: Baylee Barrett (14), Blaire Elbert (12), Andi Kitten (12) and Madeline Powell (9). If you haven’t seen them before, take a minute to watch this video: I called the girls the other day and had a fun, informal chat with them, and they just stole my heart. "Hi, girls…" I greeted them. "Hi, Mr. Riggs," they chimed in, their talking voices almost in harmony like their singing. "Girls, I wanted to tell you first how ... | read the rest of this story online

About the Cactus Cuties:

By Cami Caldwell In 1994, my parents, Don and Terri Caldwell, opened The Cactus Theater here in Lubbock, Texas. The theater was created as a venue to give opportunities to entertainers/musicians in and around West Texas and to generate local support for entertainment within the community. My mother, Terri Caldwell, created Terri Caldwell Music, a mentorship/coaching program to encourage, support, and direct students toward reaching their full vocal potential while promoting positive self-esteem and an even greater love for singing. The Cactus Theater houses Terri Caldwell Music vocal recitals and concerts throughout the year providing students with a professional performance environment to gain stage experience. After graduating from high school in 2000, I attended Belmont University in Nashville, TN (Mike Curb School of Music Business), after the first semester, I knew my heart was with my family in Lubbock, so I transferred to Texas Tech University and began performing at the theater and teaching voice at Terri Caldwell Music. My mother had created a kids’ performance group called The Cactus Kids, and after I got involved in 2001, she suggested I select a younger group of kids and call them The Cactus Cuties. So, in 2001 I selected seven talented kids between the ages of four and seven, and formed The Cactus Cuties. None of the existing four Cuties were in that original group. The Cactus Cuties began performing for civic and private events around the area, and as they gained exposure, more kids began auditioning and were added to the group. At one time, there were as many as nineteen Cactus Cuties, but through the years for various reasons, the group has ... | read the rest of this story online

One Pound Miracle

My wife, Aimee was balled up in a fetal position in her hospital bed. She couldn’t move, could hardly talk, and let out an occasional groan as the pain in her chest was stabbing her like a dull knife piercing her skin. I could hardly stand to see her in so much agony as the nurses and doctors attended to her needs to ease the pain. Aimee was rushed to labor and delivery with blood pressure off the charts that showed us nothing other than the signs of severe preeclampsia. Aimee’s condition could easily send her into a seizure that would be so intense that it could take her life. Just 48 hours before, our angel doctor administered a Betamethazone steroid to help Kayleigh grow a little quicker and develop her lungs at a faster pace to breathe our air. This is all after growing an amazing 200 grams in the past week to reach a state of viability. We had been praying to reach a size where the doctors could have a chance to save her life with tubes small enough to fit down her throat to help her breathe. That kind of growth is unheard of in such a short period of time with a baby who is already so growth restricted inside the uterus. Everyone was in complete awe after hearing how much she grew in such a short time. Aimee was on the operating table filled with pain medication and a spinal that blocks all the pain from her chest down. Just minutes before, I was pacing back and forth in the next room praying the spinal would work or I would not have been allowed to be by Aimee’s side. The doctor and at least 10 others, including a neonantologist, respiratory therapists, anesthesiologists, and surgical assistants, were frantically rushing around, preparing for what could be an outcome of life ... | read the rest of this story online

Adam & Aimee’s Story

We met in April of 2004, a week before I was leaving Charlotte to start my life over in Virginia Beach. I rushed out the door of my work to get her number, not knowing why I was filled with this urge to know this beautiful woman. She had this presence about her that was so strong and powerful. I was compelled to spend the last of my days with this amazing person who pulled on my heart strings just by sight. Charlotte was a place that put a bitter taste in my mouth, and I had to get out as quickly as I could. I really don’t know what was causing me to feel this way, but I felt like I needed to be cleansed from something. Was it because I was not living my life to its fullest and I was depressed because my college baseball career ended due to a devastating shoulder injury? Was it because of the long relationship, 10 months prior, that drastically ended just a few weeks short of my wedding day due to a cheating fiancé? Was it the crowd I was running around with that had my life spiraling out of control with sinful acts? What was I running from and why couldn’t I face it on my own? Was I not strong enough or was God trying to lead me down a different path? Aimee struggled with a strained marriage that was also missing so many important factors that keeps a marriage strong. Shortly after they were married, they had the first of their two children. Allyson, a beautiful young lady, strong willed and independent, was born in April of 1999. Brandon, an intelligent, hilarious, and determined young man came two years later in April of 2001. Both, Mike and Aimee grew a beautiful family, but lacked the growth that a husband and wife need together. God was not leading their lives, and they were faced to raise two small ... | read the rest of this story online

An Interview with Adam Freeman:

Adam, it seems that you and Aimee have created a popular blog that shares Kayleigh’s journey with the world. Tell us about it, and don’t be bashful... Our blog has touched the lives of so many people. God has certainly taught us that no matter how tough something is in our life, we can take that negative and turn it into something positive. People have built or strengthened their faith because of our of how we share what Kayleigh is going through and the strength God gives us when dealing with life’s troubles through this journey. Since you have laid your whole life out there for people to follow, what are some of the wonderful things your blog followers have done to support you through this? Brent, we are the luckiest people in the world to have the support we have been given by so many people. The comments about people coming to have a relationship with Christ are the most overwhelming comments because we feel like we are doing God’s will by sharing Kayleigh’s story. Aimee and I work as Realtors for RE/MAX Executive in Charlotte, NC. Since the real estate market is down and we spend a lot of time with Kayleigh at the hospital, we are facing foreclosure and will lose the beautiful pink room we made just for Kayleigh to come home to. We are also close to losing our car and risking losing insurance because we have to pay a huge monthly insurance premium for the whole family since we are self- employed. Over Christmas, people donated to help us hold on to our house so we could have a miracle Christmas with our family. It was such a blessing that our children ... | read the rest of this story online

Living Faith: Bruce Hess

Bruce Hess is my friend (me being "Brent", you know, the Editor of this thing you’re reading.) He is also one of my Shepherds. And a phenomenal Bible teacher. Bruce is, in my opinion, one of the most endearing gentlemen you will ever meet: transparent, engagine, sincere but never superficial. It was my honor that he accepted an invitation to be highlighted in our "Living Faith" series. His busy schedule necessitated that he respond in writing to our questions rather than the usual face-to-face interview. So without further delay, step with me into the living faith of Mr. Bruce Hess: Tell us a little bit about how you grew up… family life, who influenced you, your spiritual background. I was born in Montgomery, Alabama, although both of my parents were from Pennsylvania. I grew up in a family where my dad was a traveling sales manager, thus we lived many places. Before coming to Oklahoma (my wife and I have been here 29 ½ years) when people would ask me where I was from, I would reply…from around. Our family (I am the oldest of three, two younger sisters) attended church nominally until we moved to the Kansas City area. We began attending a new church that had started meeting in my elementary school. It was the first place that emphasized talking about the Gospel message of salvation. Most of my family came to faith in Christ around the same time. I responded to the gospel at the age of 11 in my bedroom after having attended a special Gospel presentation at my church given by Willard and Margaret Grant. The Grants were child evangelists who used some ... | read the rest of this story online

Running the Race

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 On a hot summer night, in August 1982, Jim and I professed our love for, and commitment to, each other. We were young and in love, with each other, and with the Lord. We knew this verse in Jeremiah, and we were glad that the Lord had a plan for our lives. Yet, at the same time, we had our own plans, which we hoped would also turn out to be the Lord’s plans. Our plans were, actually, quite simple. We planned to have six children and we planned to "live happily ever after". All of our friends, of course, told us that we would certainly change our plans, once we had children; because, we obviously didn’t know how difficult parenting really was. Now, we just laugh and say, "Yes, the Lord changed our plans. We didn’t stop at only six." I’m glad that the Lord didn’t reveal his whole plan to us all at once. At age twenty it might have been a bit overwhelming to hear that the Lord planned to make me a mother of thirteen children. Yes, I loved children; and I definitely wanted a "large family". But, I don’t think I had ever met a family with more than 4 or 5 children. Less than a year after our wedding, with our vivid dreams of a large family still fully intact, we were given devastating news. I had severe endometriosis, and was told to have an immediate hysterectomy. What about our plans? I quickly made an appointment with a new doctor. The diagnosis was the same; yet this doctor told me that he would hold off on doing the surgery for a short time, so that we could pray about the situation. He did, however, tell me ... | read the rest of this story online

ONE MILLION or BUST!

The magazine is just exploding in readers, content, people contributing, subscriptions and excitement. Most of all, I hope that is bursting with exposure for the ministries, agencies and organizations we give free advertising to all throughout the publication. Of course we certainly hope to turn this magazine into a profitable effort... that way we can continue month after month to give you a great magazine and help them get the word out to more and more people. It was our plan to start actively seeking paying advertisers with the 4th or 5th issue, so here we are, right on plan. We had over 700,000 page views last month, and we are poised to realistically exceed ONE MILLION with this issue. We are now at a level of traffic that makes advertising in Serious.Life a great investment, ESPECIALLY given the low rates. We are NOT going for premium rates, just ad rates that can support the effort and allow us to continue the balance between ministry (giving away most of our ads to charitable groups) and business (making a living). If you have an online business, website, blog, product, publication, service, event or anything else that would benefit from a national Internet savvy audience, be sure to check out the new advertising information on the next page. ONE MILLION page views or bust!... | read the rest of this story online

Dear Brent...

To answer your question, people say "I know she’s looking down on you" because it is a nice sounding sentiment. We hear it constantly in movies and TV. It is often attributed to the Bible like "cleanliness is next to Godliness" simply because people have said it for so long without question. Biblically, it’s probably not accurate. The Bible tells us there is a "great gulf fixed" between us and Heaven (Luke 16:26) , which probably doesn’t refer to distance, but that heaven is another dimension. That is why angels (or Jesus when He was on the earth) can appear and disappear because God has allowed them the ability and permission to, at times, cross over one dimension to another. People sometimes use Hebrews 12:1-3 as a supporting verse that we are being "watched" but this verse is NOT talking about a celestial stadium full of people watching "the earth games" as you often hear taught today. This is a POOR translation and understanding of the passage. In context, "witnesses" are those who GIVE TESTIMONY to God’s faithfulness (like a witness in court who testifies to the facts). It’s not people "witnessing", as in watching something occur. It is those who have gone on before us proclaiming and testifying to the TRUTH of what God has said. "Cloud of witnesses" refers to the sheer number of people giving testimony, not a "stadium gathering". However, you can rest assured that your Mom is waiting for you, and my personal opinion is that the Lord probably allows "news" to reach our loved ones in heaven. It makes sense… they would naturally long to know about us, and I see no Biblical reason why your Mom cannot ask the Lord about you. God may even allow angels to convey news about us (but we ... | read the rest of this story online

One Morning at Dante General

luorescent lights and a sing-songey "good morning" disintegrates my hoursof exhaustion-induced sleep with the same traumatic effect of banging metal pots and a bullhorn. "Good morning, folks", I hear a second time, room lights at full nuclear glare now. I’m in one torture rack (code: hospital bed); Michelle and Abby are on another. I sit up on an elbow, "um, yeah, hey, she didn’t fall asleep until about 5.30am... so if we could not wake her...." That didn’t phase him for a quantum split second as he rang out, "I understand you want the surgery team to look at her feeding tube site?" Normally we don’t hear from anyone resembling a doctor until late morning, but here’s this guy invading what little sleep we had promptly at oh-dark-thirty. Michelle has not even blinked. When she is this tired, you could drive a beer truck with snow chains over her, and she wouldn’t even roll over. "Yeah, that’s right... her port entry has a bad infection", I groaned, one eye opened, retina burning, not sure if the Tribulation had begun and the "Mid/Post" folks were right. "Well, let’s take a look," Mr Cheery Young Doctor says and proceeds to lifting Abby’s shirt... with Mom still in a slumber coma about 2 ft away. I cringed as he fiddled around with Abby’s feeding tube thinking any minute she would plunge once again into shrieks of pain. Mercifully, she didn’t wake up. An hour of sleep and enough pain killers to sedate an elephant will do that to a four year old. "Okay, well, I’ll let’em know..." he announces and walks out. "I’ll let’em know????" Let who know what? Didn’t ... | read the rest of this story online

Money: The Good, Bad & Ugly

Here’s a bullet point summary for a series on personal finance I wrote called "Money: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly" that outlines Biblical financial principles. The entire series is included in my book "Life Without Debt". The Ugly: No amount of money will ever make an unhappy person happy or a discontented person content. If you are discontent right this moment, you are a discontented person, period. The pursuit of money never brings satisfaction and can consume your life. The writer of Ecclesiastes declares this to be a waste of time and a very sad tragedy. Wealth does not bring security. Wealth doesn’t secure you from injustice, pestilence, wars, disease or adversaries. "Things" don’t give you security. Being in God’s will does. Wealth never brings peace of mind. The more you have, the harder it is to ever relax from the endless needs to maintain, organize, insure, protect, maintain and care for it all. The more you have, the more people will be trying to get you to give it up to them. Someone or something will always be trying to relieve you of your wealth. Prosperity never decreases need. The more money you have, the more needs there will be, the more hands that will be held out for it; the more someone will be trying to take it from you. It seems to be completely contrary to logic, but it’s almost universally true. The more you have, the more you need to take care of what you have and the cycle just keeps feeding on itself. The richest ... | read the rest of this story online

Did The Big Bang Create the Universe Billions Of Years Ago?

Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from "Old Earth? Why Not!" by James Nienhuis. Be sure to visit his blog: www.dancingfromgenesis.com. ~BR ld earthers are usually old universe adherents because they believe the earth and cosmos were formed billions of years ago. They say that since stars are multiple trillions of miles away, billions of years are needed for the starlight to reach us (so we can see the star); therefore, the distant stars and galaxies must be billions of years old. (The forthcoming explanation of a model that superiorly incorporates astronomical observations is gleaned from Dr. Russell Humphrey’s book Starlight and Time. Please consult it for more details.) The usual old universe logic is seriously flawed because it assumes the universe was "formed" from a cosmic explosion, a "Big Bang" that caused matter to expand outward. However, to say "expand outward" necessitates that there is an inward, a center if you will. Therefore, as matter expanded (or is expanding) outward, there remains the center, and therefore, obviously, the edge of the outward expanded (or possibly still expanding) matter, also. Old universers derive this "Big Bang" conclusion from the assumption that the universe is boundless, a direct contradiction of the just stated necessity of a center, and thus, the necessity of an edge of the matter (an edge of the universe), and so, a bounded universe, not boundless. The Big Bang adherents must use their presupposition of a difficult to imagine (and contradictory), boundless universe, because if they said there is an outward edge of matter (a bounded universe), then they are admitting there is a center. If there is center, there is then the possibility ... | read the rest of this story online

Humor

Perks Of Being Over The Hill A There is nothing left anymore to learn the hard way. Things that you buy now won’t wear out. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to a manageable size. You no longer think of the speed limit as a challenge. Your investment in health insurance is finally paying off. You can quit trying to hold in your stomach no matter who walks into the room. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can’t remember them anyway. You can sing along with elevator music. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the guy on the television. Your eyes won’t get too much worse. Kidnappers are not very interested in you. People call you at 9 p.m. and ask, "Did I wake you???? " You can get into a heated argument about pension plans. You can eat dinner at 4:00 in the afternoon. In a hostage situation you are the most likely to be released first. No one expects you to run -- anywhere. You are no longer viewed as a hypochondriac. You are no longer viewed as a hypochondriac. Funny Insurance Claim Comments Car Accidents... I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way. As I approached an intersection a sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had ever appeared ... | read the rest of this story online

Reader Recipes

The following recipes were taken from the "Adoption Cookbook". The pics are from the cookbok. If you would like to purchase it, go here. Chinese Raindrop Soup Ingredients: 6 Water Chestnuts 2 Scallions 1 tbsp. Sherry 3 c Chicken Stock 6 oz. diced cooked Chicken Salt and Pepper to taste Directions: Slice the water chestnuts and slice the spring onions (scallions) finely. Put these in a saucepan with the chicken stock and the chicken. Bring to the boil and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Add the sherry and season to taste. Submitted by Karen, mother of Kaitlyn, China Queso Dip Ingredients: (16 ounce) container sour cream 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix 2 cups shredded Pepper Jack cheese 1 cup salsa 1 teaspoon dried, crushed Mexican oregano salt and pepper to taste Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, blend sour cream and cream cheese until smooth. Mix in taco seasoning mix. Stir in salsa, Mexican oregano, salt and pepper. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with Pepper Jack cheese. Bake in the preheated oven 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Submitted by Rosemary, friend of Emily, Guatemala Cranberry Salsa <p ... | read the rest of this story online

Hold On a Sec... Responding to Our Children

By Brittany Claire [Brittany is Mom to six kids and wife, according to her, to a smokin’ hottie. Their blog is fresh, creative and fun. Brit is going to write something for our younger (or young at heart) families! Hope you enjoy. ~ BR] "Yeah, okay honey, hold on a sec!" I don’t know if anyone else around here has noticed, but I am saying that phrase a little… er… a lot too much lately. I am pretty sure I’m sending the wrong message. With four wild boys, infant twins, a husband, a dog, a cat, a revolving kitchen door, a never ending pile of laundry and everything in between, it’s no surprise that I feel pulled in 10, 20, and sometimes 30 different directions all at the same time. It’s one of the glorious perks of having a large family, although I’m sure whether your family is big or small, most of you can relate. Unfortunately, I think I’ve gone a bit too far. The words "hold on a sec" slip from my lips a little too easy lately. It has become my first reaction to almost any question, comment or plead from the little loves in my life. It’s a fact that my moments of simply sitting around and being completely able to just do whatever I am being asked are few and far between. Are the dishes really more important than my little one asking to be picked up or the boys asking me to read a book to them? With those four little words I am telling my children that what I am doing is more important than them, that it’s okay to not quickly respond to someone asking for your help, urgent or not, and so much more. Now don’t get me wrong... I am there for my children. Most of the time when I say "hold on," I am there within a minute or two but it’s the ... | read the rest of this story online

Experiencing Spiritual Reality

We need to pray for reality in the spiritual lives of those in our family. So often we don’t know where to start, and even more—how to pray for them. This chapter (from The Joy of a Word Filled Family by John Barnett) examines elements that measure the depth of spiritual life and make Christ’s life real in them. As we saw in the last chapter, the people who were closest to Jesus Christ—those who knew His heart and priorities from watching Him minister as they ate, slept, walked, and talked with Him for 3-plus years—adopted as their first and chief method of ministry the giving of themselves continually to prayer. They understood that God wants to do something great in and through each of us. He wants to do something we can’t plan, program, or calculate so that He gets all the honor and the glory. Those closest to Jesus understood that prayer catapults us to the frontiers of whatever God is doing around the world. Here is a modern day testimony of a real-life drama and subsequent incredible answer to prayer. It came to me from one of our deacons at Tulsa Bible Church in an e-mail from 2002. Do you remember the news in late May of 2001? Reports that two American missionaries in the Philippines were abducted and being held for ransom sent shock waves around the world. Countless numbers of God’s people prayed faithfully for Martin and Gracia Burnham during their tortuous 377-day ordeal in the jungle. As it turned out, Martin was brutally murdered shortly before his wife was freed. At Martin’s memorial service in Rose Hill, Kansas, a dear saint from Tulsa Bible Church, Marilyn Sargent, discovered how our Savior ... | read the rest of this story online

Submission Is Not A Four-Letter Word!

By Jennifer McKinney Prince Charming and I don’t have a perfect marriage. But the thing is, until rather recently, we had a much less than perfect marriage. (C’mon. I can get really vulnerable and real with you guys, right? I feel safe enough and bold enough to do it tonight, so, before I change my mind, I’ll plow ahead. Plus, in a way similar to Not Me! Mondays, I think great good can come from being willing to be open and honest with others about what life is really like on the inside.) And our marriage was definitely less than perfect. But that, my friends, was then. Now, we have a perfecting marriage. Get it? It’s a verb. We are being made perfect. By God, of course. And, while we will never see this perfecting come to complete fruition on this side of eternity (In normal people speak: We are human and are never going to be perfect until we die and go to Heaven.), we are reaping grand rewards here on earth for making choices to view our marriage relationship through the lens we believe God intended us to use. It’s been a long road so far and it’s mind blowing to think that, in the grand scheme of things, we are still just in the beginning legs of our marriage journey. Oh, but back to God. He is performing a miracle in our marriage. It is not about us; we could never have willed for this to happen. It’s all God. This summer, when we learned that Stellan, as yet unborn, was gravely ill and I was hospitalized for nearly 3 weeks while we alternated between waiting for Stellan to die and waiting for God to reach down and do the impossible, our marital relationship was stretched to say the least. I ... | read the rest of this story online

The Funny Things Our Kids Say

Each month we go back and find some of the comments and feedback from our blogs that we think you wil enjoy reading. We never cease to be amazed at the good stuff readers respond with. The following are excerpts from "Funny Things Our Kids Say." JILL SAID... Several of our children are from Guatemala - 5 to be exact. Well, a few words have stayed with them - one is "bo bo" you know for going #2. Well, our 2 yr. old Noah loves to say this all of the time. We know he gets it - but says it for everything. When someone behind gets close he sniffs them and says "BO BO" very loud! Our family can’t help but fall down laughing. I homeschool the children in our kitchen and Noah usually sits in his high chair with things to do. My back is to him most of the time. Well, one day while writing on the board, I got close enough for him to put his head right on my behind -immediately he screams, "Mommy BO BO!" The children and I could barely contain ourselves. He, of course, was laughing so hard too. He really just wants to hug you and in no way is trying to say you stink - but who knows that! He has done this to a few of us in public too - LOUDLY! Our sweetest one is Dear Heavenly Fodder. AMY SAID... I still think one of my favorite was when Aleigha was little. She adored her blue ‘over-alls’ but couldn’t remember the name of them for anything. So she would ask me on a daily basis- "Mommy, can I wear my elbows today". Me- "Um, yes honey, I sure hope you do!" REBECCA ... | read the rest of this story online

Good For Evil

Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (NKJV) Picture that person in your mind that you find if most difficult to offer forgiveness. It might be someone that did something terrible to your family. Maybe a family member who has caused extreme pain. Maybe it’s an unfaithful spouse or a co-worker who lied about you and cost you the promotion you deserved. It could be the person at church who is gossiping about you (does that really happen??). Maybe a criminal who caused you great harm or some adversary who seemed to particularly enjoy ruining you. If your heart beats, most likely you can immediately picture that person in your life you find it most difficult to forgive; that person you consider your worst enemy. If you don’t have any person that you find difficult to forgive, you are either extremely blessed, or in denial, or you have already learned and put to practice the Biblical model of forgiveness. Most people, including me, still struggle with it. Picture that person. Got the picture? Here’s what Jesus said you and I must do about that person: Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, (NKJV) Do you love that person or feel bitterness towards them? Do you bless them with kind words asking God to deal mercifully with them? Or do you curse them and long for their misfortune? Do you pray for them? Or do you never miss a chance to tell everyone how bad that person is? Do you offer intercession to ... | read the rest of this story online

Kick This Habit Up A Notch

By Bob Walters How’s this for great advice? Read the Gospels. Recently I heard a sermon about another topic entirely, but the pastor made the corollary point, "If you haven’t read them lately, read the Gospels." What a capital idea. Over the remaining five weeks of Lent, which started last week with Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25, and ends with Easter, April 12, why not take the time (daily if you can) to grab a Bible, sit down and read – or re-read – the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? Read one book a week – 28 chapters of Matthew, 16 chapters of Mark, 24 chapters of Luke and 21 chapters of John. That’s what I’m going to do, and write about them weekly. I’m "in" the Gospels all the time, but I haven’t read them end-to-end in five years. If you’re not now a regular Bible reader, they say habits form over a period of 21 days. I don’t know of a better habit than daily time spent with God’s word, reading the Bible. We make lots of attempts to break bad habits at the start of each New Year. Why not resolve to create one new good habit at the start of this season of renewed life? This is a "habit" we – Christians or anyone who’s interested in Christ – could work on together, even though many Christian churches don’t implore their congregations to read the Bible, and many other Christian churches do not celebrate Lent. The good news is … well, the Good News is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But for the purposes of this particular plea, the good news is that all Christian churches celebrate the resurrection of Christ. It’s what we call common ground, and that’s ... | read the rest of this story online

Living Hope: Worship Our God of Hope

The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I hope in Him! Lamentations 3:24 Lamentations was written by Jeremiah. As he sat down and looked over the smoldering ruins of his beloved Jerusalem, his voice rose to the wail of sorrow, a lament. That is why the book is called Lamentations, which was a funeral dirge over the City of God. Inspired by the Spirit of God, this serves as a message of encouragement that the next time things crash and burn in your life and your whole world is falling apart—family, health, finances, emotions—look to God as the God of hope! Lamentations is a beautiful master-crafted poem with five stanzas. Chapters 1–2 and 4– 5 each start with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet (twenty-two in all). This form of poetry, called an acrostic, is lovely in form and powerful in communication. Chapter 3, the poem’s centerpiece, has three acrostics, or a total of sixty-six verses. The theme of Lamentations and this middle chapter agree: "Great is Your faithfulness, almighty God!" The Lord taught Jeremiah that no matter how the world was falling apart, personally or nationally, he could still hope in God. And that is why we can find living hope for the end of days! For an even clearer picture, let’s go back to where we started in Lamentations. Meet Jeremiah. With his life in shambles—his friends all dead, and the smoke and stench of destruction all around everything he had ever held dear—Jeremiah wrote the poem that explains the pathway of hope. The Pathway of Hope: Have you ever felt that life was too painful to even go on? Jeremiah did, and without the benefits and blessings we have in this church age. He persevered with living hope in the midst of that pain. ... | read the rest of this story online

Atheist to Evangelist

Family Background [Note: I’ve left the writing in the words of Pervaz rather than trying to make the verbiage sound completely "American". This gives you more of a feel as if you are hearing directly from Pervaz. BR] My name is Evangelist Pervaz Rehmat Masih. I was born in September 02, 1965 in Lahore, Pakistan. I belong to a noble family. My family is religious family and our parents were very careful for our religious aspect. In childhood, we all three brothers and one sister go to church regularly and attend Sunday school, youth meetings, etc. Till grade 10 my personal fellowship with God was very good. After going through 10th grade I went to attend college. In college my friends were not religious and so my fellowships with Lord continue to become weak and weakest. In this way I started to be away from God day by day and did not go to church regularly or even worship meetings held at home. I was at stage that when I come to know that today there will be meeting at home, I ran away till meeting is over. In few years I was Atheist and did not even like to listen the name of God and never went to church. This was making me crazy and hyper. Rather few times with friends went to attend summer camps but it was also useless. There was no change in my inner. We friends go to such camps just for enjoyment and outing. We use to sit in last row and continued to talk and talk on. On the last day we got happy that we will go home tomorrow and wait for any other next camp. Conversion in Christ: Summer Camps <p ... | read the rest of this story online

Home Sweet Home

John Howard Payne (9 June 1791 – 10 April 1852) was an American actor, playwright, author and statesman. He is today most remembered as the creator of "Home Sweet Home", a song he wrote in 1822. In 1842, John Payne was appointed by President Tyler to be the American consul at Tunis in Africa. Payne died in Tunis in 1852. He was buried in St. George’s Protestant Cemetery in Tunis. Due to his love for his country, in 1883, his remains were disinterred, brought to the U.S., and reburied in Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown section of northwest Washington D.C. The most famous words he probably ever wrote were: "Mid pleasures and palaces, though oft I may roam; be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home." The dearest place on earth and the nearest place to heaven ought to be the home. But it is increasingly true in another way that there is no place like home. For the home, as we know it, and the home as God meant it to be is becoming more and more like a war zone or an endangered species. A few years ago, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported that: 100,000 of America’s children are in prison. (Teenagers and under) 4 out of 10 children in America live in a broken home, and 7 to 14 million of these children will become alcoholics. 55 out of every 1000 children between the ages of 7 and 11 have received some form of psychiatric help. 1 million girls between the ages of 12 and 17 will get pregnant this year. 1 in 5 girls between 12 and 17 use drugs at least twice a week. 10 million minors are infected with ... | read the rest of this story online