A Note From Tom: June 29th, 2012
Hey everyone!!
Wow! This is going to be an awesome day to praise the Lord! Especially if you love to think of new reasons to be thankful! Here's one…
Without doing anything, you're gonna break a record! 102's predicted, busting the old one from 1936! Way to go, guys!
Here's another reason to be thankful…The "heat index" indicates how it will feel to you when you go outside…It will "feel like" 113 or something like that. But, thankfully, it'll only be about 102! So, remember…it's not as hot as it feels!
Altho, down here in Oliver Springs, it is hot!!
Yesterday, the robins in our yard were pulling worms out of the ground using hot pad holders!
There are special challenges in this summer heat to our OS farming life!
Tina had to feed ice chips to our chickens so they wouldn't lay hard boiled eggs!
Dickey's cow were giving evaporated milk!
My neighbor's pigs were sweating like humans!
One nice thing was that if you had any potatoes ready to harvest from the garden, you could just put butter and salt and pepper on 'em right as you dig 'em out 'cause they were fully cooked already!
Well, that's enough of weather (maybe a little more than enough!) so let's turn to the financial page for reasons to praise! One thing you can be thankful for on this toasty Friday, is that you don't have money invested in Facebook stock (unless you do)! The price of a share is at 31 bucks and a nickel today. That's a little up from it's low of $25 but way down from the starting price when it went public of $38 something. So anyone who invested in Facebook at the beginning has just lost money…
One reason that investing experts say it hasn't been strong is that there is a fear that people talking about their own lives and what they are doing might eventually become monotonous.
They say it's good to think long-term about your investments. And the longer, the better!
F'r instance…
When you give to Triple C to support our church's work, 27% of our budget goes to support folks who have been living in countries and places far away. We help make it possible for them to reach others with the message of Jesus in ways and/or languages that we never could! And many, many people will be in Heaven for ever and ever, in part because you helped make it happen financially! That is an unbelievably long-term wise investment!
And here are just a few returns on your investments…
Anderson County Young Life-YL staff Devo and Erin, and Jordan and Virginia (along with all our volunteers…Zach, Taylor, Amanda, Jessica, Mary, Savannah, Alan, Sam, Cory, Michael and more who are getting ready to go) are working so hard at different YL camps right now and kids are coming to know Jesus there by the hundreds! Just this week at Crooked Creek, there are 23 kids from Houston…Their YL director was having trouble getting kids to come at all. Then he got sick. On a Monday, he was diagnosed with leukemia. Three days later, he died and was with the Lord. Because of his life and example, 23 kids decided to come. So did his parents and family, who knew nothing about YL. They all heard to Good News of Jesus last night!
Pontcharra, France…in a town where almost nobody knew anything about Jesus and life in Him, a new church is born! Paul and Karen Davis tell us that they even had a Gospel choir concert in the city hall!! Hallelluyah!!
In Milan Italy, Sam and Joan Fiore tell us that tons of young people have accepted Jesus, but in the last few months, they've seen six OLD people accept Jesus! That is truly amazing! One 70 year old accepted Jesus over pizza two weeks after the funeral of her 92 year old sister in law from the Fiores' church. After hearing about Jesus for a couple of hours, she just cried out to Him in her own words and with tear stained eyes, asked, "Are we really still in this pizzeria?"
Jim McNamee has become the regional director of Young Life for West Europe and they're bringing kids from Spain to Sharp Top Cove GA to hear about Jesus next month!
Melissa Weideman's back in Tanzania helping kids grow from starving orphans to beautiful young men and women of God…
Tom and Juanita Matthews are in Africa so people who an have NEVER seen the Scriptures in their own language…EVER!… can read about the love of Jesus…for THEM!
What an investment you're making!!
Bill and Maria in Missouri…taking tons of kids to YL camp when none went in the past few years!
Our very own Matt King…with All our friends in Mission USA…preaching the Message of Him in the Cook County jail…one of the darkest places in America!! Wow!!!
Emily and Graham Murray...Wilmington YL...Graham taking kids from private school to YL camp in Virginia where they opened their hearts to our Lord! Emily reaching out to high school moms...not moms of high schoolers, but high schoolers with babies...Ten every week! Reaching the privileged and not!! What a family of missionaries we have! Especially me!!
Victor Nanadigam in India…taking the message to villages where our Lord's Name has never been spoken…and preaching It!!! Last year Victor and his guys visited some villages to share Jesus. How many? 1548! And they stopped to share Him in homes and huts of interested people…How many? 89,689! Some people accepted Jesus…How many? 9,359! Some churches were started…85!
What an investment you're making!
In Luke 16, Jesus said that if you invest your money in reaching people for Him, you are also making "heavenly friends" who will be waiting for you to get there!!
I don't know if you have stock in Facebook, or how many Facebook friends you have, but when we all get to heaven, because of your investment in the Book of Life, you'll have more friends than you could count!
Some may be "friending" you today!
Click!