March 8th, 2013

Hey, everyone, 

Hope you having an awesome day after an awesome night of rest! It's so amazing to know that,  "while you were sleeping" (isn't there a movie named that?) God was not, and He was watching over you and protecting you all night! Check this…

"He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep!" (Ps 121)

So sweet to know! While we're on the subject…

The other morning I read a verse that filled me with…well, questions. 

I'm going thru Leviticus and the Gospel of Mark in the morning, and I got to Leviticus 24. Before I show you the verse, remember that in the Old Testament, there was a special tent that had a life-size diarama inside that showed how to get to God. One of the awesome things inside was a candlestick with seven branches of gold that used special precious oil for the flames. The high priest, Aaron (Moses' big brother) had several jobs and one had to do with this candle lamp and is mentioned in Leviticus 24…

"The Lord said to Moses,  “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually…Aaron is to tend the lamps before the Lord from evening till morning, continually…"

How'd he did that?! If I'm reading this right, Aaron had to stay up all night, every night! "Evening till morning", right? He must have been one sleepy dude! Once a year, he had to go in the special room, the Holy of Holies, for a special assignment on the Day of Atonement. What if he fell asleep in there 'cause he'd been up all night? It woulda been a disaster! 

I guess Aaron's job lots of times was supposed to "act out" what Jesus actually does for us. Like watch over us day and night. And the point would be that no one could ever really do well what only Jesus can! We're too weak and sleepy to do what Jesus does for us!

Maybe you've read something in the Scriptures that you really are confused about. Or maybe you were wondering, "What does the Bible say about…?" Maybe there's a question you've always wanted to know about…"Does the Bible ever talk about this?" Or, "What does the Bible really teach us about that?" 

After Easter, we're gonna have a "Four Wednesdays" (four Wednesday evenings in a row from 7:00-8:00pm) on the subject, "I've Gotta a Question!" (we were gonna call it "Stump the Chumps" but decided this was a little more dignified!) You can write in (anonymously or not) ANY question about the Bible and what it says about ANYTHING and we'll see if someone has the answer for you!

We've done this once before and it was super fun! Someone asked one of the most amazing questions I've ever heard!! And it led to the most interesting discussions of all time! The question was simply, "Why do the…

WE INTERRUPT THIS CCC EMAIL WITH THIS IMPORTANT NEWS BULLETIN! THIS SATURDAY BEFORE YOU GO TO SLEEP, TURN YOUR CLOCKS AHEAD ONE HOUR-WE REPEAT, ONE HOUR- BECAUSE THIS WEEKEND IS THE BEGINNING OF DAY LIGHT SAVINGS TIME! AGAIN, THIS SATURDAY NIGHT BEFORE GOING TO BED, YOUR CLOCK GOES AHEAD ONE HOUR! WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED EMAIL…

…and she said, "Are you kidding me?! I've never heard that in my entire life!! That is totally amazing! I'll never be the same!"

It was awesome! So remember…Four Wednesdays…"I've Gotta a Question"…Coming soon!

March 1st, 2013

Hey, everyone! 

Hope you're having a joy-filled day of praise! No matter what! Because even if something goes whacky in your day and you don't know why, you can always know this: 

1) It could have been worse

2) We deserve worse than we'll ever get! We're forgiven in Jesus!

3) The God Who loves you knows what He's doing

4)He is making whatever happened work out and fit into a beautiful plan for your day and life

5) It'll all be over soon and in Heaven you won't even think about it again!

Speaking of having an awesome day, I was having one 'til I stated working of this. Then something happened. Or, it didn't happen…

I had something I wanted to share with you for my Friday CCC email to lighten your load and brighten your day and…

I forgot it!

I lost my thought! 

I forgot what I was so excited about sharing with y'all! 

Forgetting stuff…Isn't it crazy when that happens? And to me, it's happening more and more!

I'm not talking about forgetting the names of all the Presidents in order. (Anyone know who came before and after Millard Fillmore?) And I don't mean forgetting where molybdenum comes in the periodic table…

The things that make me nuts when I forget, are stuff like…

"Oh crud! What's the person's name? I KNOW I know it! I've heard it a kabillion times!…"Hey! How's it going? Good to see you, uh…er…Mr. B…b…b…Barnes!" 

"No. It's Mr Farmer." 

"Sorry."  

("I knew it was a farm name.")

I struggle, memory-wise, not when I can't remember the capital of Nova Scotia. What bothers me is when…

I can't remember where I left the keys…

Or, "Why did I just come in this room?"…

And, "Rats! Where did I put my glasses?" 

How 'bout, "What was I just saying?" 

Or, "What did I want you to remind me to do?" 

And "I was gonna say something but I lost my train of thought. And it was a good thought, too!"

I was reading this study that said that one of the reasons you forget simple stuff as you get older is that after thirty, your brain shrinks 0.5% per year. My brain is almost 15% smaller than it used to be! I thought I heard some rattling around up there the other day! If I forget someone's name, please forgive me! You might have just gotten squeezed out! 

Names are the first things you forget because they're often not associated with anything you have a mental image of. It's easy to remember words like "milking stool" or "rain drop" because you see it in your mind. But "Bert", "Madeleine", or "Alfred" by themselves are just sounds that don't mean anything. So, the experts suggest that, to remember someone's name,  you associate that person's name with, say, where you met them. They say you can remember the name if you remember that "I met that person at the zoo", for example.  

I personally see problems with that system. If you met someone near the ape house…"Oh! Hello, Monkey! Uh…I mean, Monica…" "Well, Hey! there, Babboon! Opps…I mean, Bobby…"

My first memory is remembering when I learned left from right. My right index finger has a burn mark on it. I burned it on a hot steamer they used to use in "steam tents" when kids got bronchial congestion. I don't remember the momentI touched it 'cause I was about one year old, but I always remembered the burned place on my finger. My right index finger.  

I also have a scar on my left shin. I remember exactly when it happened and where…A Saturday afternoon. Pine Valley parking lot. 7th grade. Riding my 26" bike that I'd "chopped out" with a banana seat and high-rise Sting Ray handle bars. Couldn't reach the brakes anymore tho'. Ran into Ms. Knight(!), my teacher. Dented her car, snapped my frame. Seven stitches in my left shin. 

I bet if a person has a mark left by an injury, they never have trouble remembering when it happened. It leaves a scar on skin and memory.

In Psalm 25, there's kind of a "crazy" prayer. I love the Psalms for this! If they were thinking it, they'd go ahead and say it! If you feel it, tell it to God! He knows you're thinking it anyway! 

In the sixth verse, he prays, "Remember, O Lord, Your…steadfast love…"

"Remember, God, that You love me!"

How would God EVER forget that?! 

He doesn't forget the obvious, like we do! He doesn't forget where He left stuff or what He was getting ready to say or His kids' names! He would NEVER forget that He loves us! He think about you all the time! He LOVES your unforgettable name! He doesn't EVER forget where He's left you! 

In fact, in Isaiah, our Lord says that we might… on some difficult day... think this thought: "the Lord has forgotten me." But, He assures us…

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!"

He NEVER forgets you! Then He adds...

"See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands!" (Isaiah 49:14-15)

When Jesus found Thomas, after He was risen from the dead, He said, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe!” (John 20) 

Jesus, Risen and Glorious! Perfect in His victory over death and the grave…except for one thing…He still has His scars!

Scars. You never forget how you got them if you have them.

He got them in His love for you! And He kept them! Not so He wouldn't forget how much He loves you, because He never could or would forget that!

He kept them so you wouldn't forget!

…how much He loves you! 

Oh! I just remembered what I wanted to share with you this morning! 

Oh well,,,guess I'll just save it for next time…

A Note From Tom: February 21st, 2013

Hey, everyone! 

Hope you're having an awesome day! I hope you're finding that God is meeting all your needs and that you know in your heart that He watches you…that He thinks about you…that He knows when you need stuff…

just like I know that the Carolina chickadees and the tufted titmouses...

and the white-breasted nuthatches, and the northern cardinals...

and the white-throated swallows and the house sparrows... 

and the red-bellied and downy woodpeckers... 

and the yellow-bellied sapsuckers…

…that eat the bird food I put in this bird feeder in the dogwood outside our window, need stuff. I can't help thinking about them. It's kinda weird. 

I'm not really sure how it happened or how I started caring about these little feathery guys. Somehow, one day, for some reason, I bought this little square green cage and hung it in this dogwood. Then you buy these squares of stuff. Suet.   It comes in different flavors. Hot pepper. Berry. Peanut Butter. The squares fit perfectly in the green thing. I didn't know this but suet is basically cow fat. It's actually grosser than it looks when you buy it. But…

…when it's cold in winter and there aren't bugs or worms to be had "fer love nor money", birds go kooky for it!  

Sparrows and most other wild birds have to eat loads of calories! They eat their weight in food everyday! People eat about three pounds worth daily. If you were a bird, you'd have to eat whatever you weigh in food! If you're 178 lbs, then that's your number! Try to eat 178 lbs of food! Then try to fly after that! Try to walk! Or sleep! It's amazing birds get anything done!

We buy C&S Peanut Delight. Made in Sioux City and sold at Home Depot. Our birds love it! And they love me, I believe!

I'm learning more than I've ever known about birds. The white-throated sparrow flies south from the Yukon or Newfoundland and stays in Rocky Top from October to mid-May. They don't even weigh an ounce and their call sounds like somebody with a real chirpy voice saying "Oh Sweet Canada Canada Canada" or maybe "Old Sam Peabody Peabody Peabody". At least that's what the books say. (I can't quite make out those words myself. But I've tried)

I love birds now! I am kinda confessing to y'all that I never was especially crazy about them before. I mean, I liked them or whatever, but it wasn't like this. It wasn't like now. Maybe it's because I started caring for them. Before ya know it, I was not only caring FOR them but caring ABOUT them! 

Maybe that's how it works. 

I don't think I HAVE to feed all those birds package after package of Peanut Delight. God has promised that He would feed them! Jesus said, " Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them..." (Matthew 6) He cares for them! Because He cares ABOUT them! But maybe…

…Maybe I feed them (and when the little green square starts to get almost peeked out, I can't NOT think about it)… maybe I care for them because He does! Maybe that's how He feeds them! Maybe He's using me! He promised to feed them so He put it in my heart to do it. Maybe a Scripture is being fulfilled in my yard! Maybe this is a bigger deal than I think! Maybe…

Maybe when you care for birds…or kids…or people who are lonely…or sick people...or old people…or someone in trouble…God is caring for them thru you! 

And maybe when, while caring FOR them, you start to care ABOUT them,  it's because God is caring about them too! He's caring about them thru you! 

Maybe it's HIS care, concern, love that YOU feel! And God's very promises from the Scripture come true…by using you!

Maybe that's how this works.

Cool!

A Note From Tom: February 14th, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

(Sniff…sniff…)

Hang on just a minute…

…one sec…

Ok. I'm good. Sorry.

I just got a little choked up there for a second. I was listening to WDVX, the bluegrass station on 89.9. Freddy Smith is this awesome guy who does the 6:00 to 9:00 am show and he always ends at about 8:55 with a few gospel songs to sign off his part of the day. Today he said, "I'd like to play this song about the love of Jesus on this Valentine's Day to kindly tune up your heart strings" (He always says that line!) Then without thinking, he said, "He's my true love." 

Wow. He is!

Then Freddy added, "So this is a Valentine's Day song…for me!"

It kinda got me. "I'm dedicating this love song from Jesus to…myself!"

Why not?!

The Apostle John called himself "the disciple that Jesus loved"!  Paul said Jesus was the One "Who loved me and gave Himself for me!" "He loved the world but He gave Himself for me!" 

"Isn't it a little arrogant to talk that way?" No way! Here's why…

1) Everybody who loves Jesus can say this about herself or himself!

2) It's only because of His amazing mercy and pity that He loves each of us like this! It's not like we deserve it!

3) His heart is so infinitely huge that He can love each one of us as if we were His "one true love"!

4) It's true whether we have the nerve to say it or not!  He does love us like this!

You ARE "the disciple Jesus loved"! Why not say it? He loved the world but He also "loved you and gave Himself for you!" Why not admit it and praise Him for it?

Why not say along with Freddy and me, "Happy Valentine's Day from Jesus…to me!"

And as Freddy always says, "Have a blessed day!"

A Note From Tom: February 8th, 2012

Hey, everyone!

Hope you’re having an awesome, joyous day! And how could you not? It's feelin' like spring! We already have daffodils blooming' down here in OS!  And supposably, it’s gonna be a beeeeautiful couple days! At least that’s what Todd the weatherman sa…

Opps. I just saw a mistake. 

“Supposably” isn’t a word. It’s really “supposedly”. I know this because I just read an article about 25 things people say that they shouldn’t…those things we say all the time that are not really grammatically correct. Y’know…things like “irregardless” when you mean “regardless”. “Irregardless” actually isn’t a word. 

Maybe you’re thinking, “Well, to tell the truth, I could care less.” 

Actually, that’s not right. 

When folks say, “I could care less”, they really should say, “I couldn’t care less”, because apparently the point is that you care so little about it, that your caring could go no lower than that. 

If you say you’re going to “try and do better” in your grammar, you have some homework to do! What you meant to say is “I’m going to try to do better”, not “try and”.  

I know someone might be thinking, “Well, who cares?”

Or is it, “whom cares?” (I think it’s “who”).

(If you say you’re trying to “hone in” on the right answer to that one, you meant to say, “home in”…it's "home", not "hone")

This stuff ‘s on my mind because I read something this morning that Peter said when he was sharing the message of Jesus with a highly interested person, and I thought, “Are you sure you wanted to say it like that?”

This Italian guy named Cornelius in Acts, chapter 10, had a feeling that Peter was coming to see him and share Jesus with him. Actually, he had a vision about it. When Peter arrived, Cornelius was waiting on him. 

“Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us,” he said.

So, Peter started in. “Let me tell you all about the One you need to know, Jesus of Nazareth!...how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil… They killed Him by hanging Him on a cross, but God raised Him from the dead on the third day…He was seen by us who ate and drank with him after He rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead…”

Whoa!!

Wait a sec, Pete! 

You sure you wanted to say that? Judge? Jesus? Didn’t you mean to tell this dude that Jesus is appointed to be the Savior? Didn’t you want to say that He has come to be our Good Shepherd? And the King of the world? Emmanuel-“God with us”? 

“Jesus the judge”? You’ve got one shot at sharing with this guy and you’re going with that? “Judge”?!

Jesus gave His life so we can be clean and new and His! Forgiven and free! In fact, Peter continues right on to say, “…everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name.”

Apparently, Cornelius got the point, because he opened his heart to Jesus, judge of the living and dead! Come to think of it, there could be no better judge to stand before!

There could be no one sweeter to measure my life! What could be better than to be evaluated by the One Who gave His blood so that ALL of my failings could be wiped off my record! What better One to stand before than the One Who took all my judgment for me! And Who now says of me, “And you are clean!” (John 13.10) What a beautiful experience to come before the Judge of all the earth Who informed us, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be judged…will not come into judgment… but has already crossed over from death to life!” (John 5.24)

Now that there is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8.1)…and since being declared already and freely righteous by faith, we have peace with God (Rom. 5.1)… well, all I really care about is how HE sees me! 

For some of us, it is suuuch a new, amazing feeling to think that for the first time in my life, I love folks, but I’m not worried about what they think of me. Or how some one might judge me. 

In fact, irregardless of what someone supposably might or might not think, I could care less! 

Jesus, the Judge of all, loves us! 

Let’s just try and remember that!!

I mean, "try to"

A Note From Tom: January 25th, 2013

Hey, everyone!

Wow! It's c-c-c-c-c--cold out there! And SLLLLLIIIIIICCCCCKK!!

There's ice on everything! So this is my prayer for you this morning…Psalm 199:113…"Keep steady our steps according to your promise!" I know you need it because I was walking out to crank up the car and almost fulfilled the Scripture from Psalm 73:2 "…But as for me, my feet had almost slipped!" 

I don't really want to find from personal experience if Proverbs 24:16 really works…"the righteous falls seven times and rises again!" I'm just gonna take it by faith!

It's all over the news! Usually they have the news, then weather, then sports. But today the weather IS the news and I bet they cancel all the sports tonite! 

We're thankful you take the time to read our CCC Friday email, and we want to make it worth your while, so if you haven't heard, here's your CCC forecast for today…

"We're getting reports from most East Tennessee counties that untreated roads are becoming very slick.

The freezing rain is expected to continue falling, and may intensify as the morning goes on…The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for most of the area, as well as a Freezing Rain Advisory starting Friday morning early ending Friday evening…Please be very cautious if you have to get out, and if you can stay home, please do so!"

(Actually that forecast comes from Todd the weather guy on wbir.com. I think he also does the weather for WIVK. He also gives the weather for Triple C. But I'm not sure he knows that…)

Y'know the weather has been the news a lot lately. Sometimes it seems a little "over the top" to me…

Whaddya think of these headlines?

"The upper Midwest is in the grip of winter cold and snow!!"

"The Northeast is bracing for snow and plunging temperatures as winter takes hold across the northern states!!!"

I mean, what d'ya expect? It IS winter! It's almost like saying, "After New Year's Day, January is expected to take over the calendar and hold it's grip for the entire month!"

It might be news if winter didn't ever come to Chicago, Wisconsin, and Greenland in January. "They're expected to have a bumper crop of watermelons by President's Day in the garden they planted in Boston Common on Christmas Day!"

Or if they were making snow-men and snow-forts and snow-creme in Puerto Rico in July, that might be something for the 'papers!

But cold 'n snow in Wisconsin right about now isn't really news. It's kinda,well…normal.

One thing I have loved for years about the Apostle Paul is that he knew how the report the news! When he wrote that he wasn't "ashamed of the Gospel"(Romans 3:16)…that he made it his "ambition to preach the Gospel" (Romans 15:20)…that he "HAD to the preach the Gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:16)…that he was "a servant of the Gospel" (Ephesians 3:7)…he used a word ("Gospel") that meant "good news!"

When he talked about the 'Gospel", Paul (who probably spoke at least four languages!) used the Greek word, "euangelion". It's really two words crunched together…"Eu" means "good"! And "angelion" means "message", "messenger" (do you see an "angel" in there? "Angel" means "messenger"), or "news". "News" is something that's happened that you wouldn't know unless someone told you or you read it in the newspaper. "Good News" is when what has happened is good!

That's what I love about the Message of Jesus! It's news! It's not advice…it's not principles for living a better life (Those are easy to find and most of them don't really work)…It's not counseling for how to solve your troubles…The Gospel is…

News!!!

Something has happened!

God has come to earth! That's news!

He became One of us! He showed us what He is like! We never would have known! That's news!

Jesus paid for all our wrong, mess and guilt! By giving His life for us! That's really good news!

He rose from His grave and He's alive today! That's news! Awesome news!

When  you trusted in Him, something happened in history! You were pronounced from that instant and forevermore, "Forgiven! Clean! Righteous! His own child!" You wouldn't have known unless you were told! That's why we call it "news"! In fact, it's "Good News!" The "Greatest News!"

The Apostle Paul writes about…

…the "Gospel (Good News) of Christ" (Philippians 1:17) Jesus has come to earth!

…the "Gospel (Good News) of God (1 Thessalonians 2:2) God the Father is just like Jesus! Awesome! I'm so glad I was told!

…the "Gospel (Good News) of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thessalonians 1:8) Jesus is Lord and is ruling over everything! Whew! That's REALLY good news!

…the "Gospel (Good News) of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24) It's all free! Glad to hear it!

…the "Gospel (Good News) of the glory of Christ" 2 Corinthians 4:4 We're going home to see Him in all His glory! We can't even imagine how awesome that news is!

News!! Awesome, amazing, incredible things have happened! They've happened to us! That's why there's one of Paul's "gospels", or "news-es" that almost stumps me a little…

In Ephesians 6:15, he says as you're get ready for your day and all that is ahead, makes sure you don't forget the "Gospel of peace"…

The Good News is that you can have peace in your heart all the time. You don't have to worry about a thing! No matter what happens, other things have already happened! The "Good News" is that God has come here! Jesus has died and risen! You're clean and whole! He rules your life! He's alive and is working out a plan! We're heading' home! It's gonna rock!

Since all those things have happened, the "Good News" is that you can have peace all day, everyday! 

That's the "Good News of peace"! Don't leave home without it!

But the "Good News of peace" almost seems to me like when the news is the weather! It almost seems like the "news" that it's February and there's snow in Vermont! Or the "news" that it's really chilly in Chicago or wintry in Wisconsin all week! Whadd'ya expect?!

Peace from Jesus…Peace in my heart…It doesn't really seem like news that it'd be there! With all the other awesome "News-es" of Jesus that have happened in history and happened to me…Peace. What d'ya expect? If you didn't have it, that'd be news! Like May snow in Miami! It wouldn't be right. It'd be news…. and not the good kind!

Peace at this season of the year…or anytime…From believing in Jesus…it's beautiful! The sweetest feeling ever!! More precious than all the money in the world could buy! But you could kinda think that it isn't really, technically  news! With all Jesus is and has done for us, it's kinda what you'd expect! 

A Note From Tom: January 18th, 2013

Hey, everyone!

Wow! Hope you're having a week full of joy! 

Even on this week!

Even tho' it's been a week of sad news. This week, a person we have all known for years from her advice column in the papers, died at 94. Only thing…for me it was a little unsad because I thought "Dear Abby" had already been dead for years! So it was nice to know she hadn't been, even tho' now she is. Same thing happened when Red Skelton died. I was sad because I always loved that guy, but not as sad as I would have been if I had not believed that he had already been dead years before! Which he hadn't been!

And it's really been a week of happy news! There was this person that we all thought was dead and it turns out, she isn't dead! She didn't die of her disease! It's almost like a miracle! Except, the reason she didn't die is that she didn't exist!! 

Here's the skinny…This football player for Notre Dame had a girl friend. Except they weren't really friends because they had never actually met. Their relationship was just thru social media. Which goes to show that when you "friend" someone on Facebook, they may or may not actually be your friend…because they may or may not actually be at all! 

Anyhooo…

He may or may not have known that she wasn't real, but he did seem sad when she died of leukemia (which she didn't actually do because she didn't exist)  He didn't attend her funeral, which seemed a little weird if they were so tight, but it would have been weirder if he had gone because they didn't actually have one…because she didn't actually die…because she didn't actually exist.

It does turn out that he did continue to talk about her inspiration both to him and his whole team even after folks (including him) confirmed that it was all made up. This was probably because the love story of someone who cared and died was giving his team courage to face what was ahead.

Her inspiration was real. It's just that she wasn't.

I guess believing stories about people that aren't true do inspire people some. I think scholars agree that the story about li'l George Washington not fibbing about chopping down the cherry tree was made up. But it did inspire us to not lie about vandalism.

But I wonder…

Millions through the ages have been motivated, inspired, encouraged by the Story of stories…of Someone Who loved them and died. They have faced stonings, lions, and prison because they were told of His love and death for them. This story changed them…and us! So…

What if we find out it was just made up? What if we've "friended" Jesus and found He wasn't ever there? 

Some say that even if it wasn't true…even if He'd never lived and they just believed He had, they'd be glad to believe in Him anyway. They say it inspired them to be different. 

But St. Paul didn't feel that way! He said if it isn't true, he wouldn't be Saint Paul! If he believed and lived and died for something that isn't true, he'd be an idiot! 

He said, "If Jesus isn't really risen from the dead…and if we believe He has…we're of all men most "pitiable". It's a word that means "pitifull"…"miserable". It'd be dumb! If He isn't risen, "where two or three are gathered in His name," they'd be "dumb and dumber"!

But…! 

We DON'T believe things that haven't happened! Peter wrote, "We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty!" 

"We saw Him!"

And not just His Facebook profile pic! They saw His face!

When they were arrested and dragged before the authorities for saying Jesus is alive, they said, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, but we cannot help speaking of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4.20)

Authorities tried in tons of ways to stop them from saying it but all the officials would have had to do was go to the tomb and drag out the body. But they couldn't! Because they knew it wasn't there! 

Paul said 500 people saw Jesus risen from the dead! And he said some were still alive! "Ask 'em if you want!"

Paul told Herod that Jesus rose and lives and added, "These things weren't done in a corner!" (Acts 26)

And it isn't just believing inspiring stories that has changed us! Jesus is alive today! He's the One who is changing us!

Halleluyah!

By the way, apparently inspiration from stories that may or may not be true, only goes so far.

Notre Dame -14

'Bama-42

A Note From Tom: January 11th, 2013

Hey, everyone!

Hope you're having an awesome day, filled with praise and thanks! And, by the way, thanks for stopping by and reading this CCC Friday email! We want to make it worth your while and our hope here at Triple C is that you'll be encouraged and maybe even learn a thing or two…So, with that in mind, did you know…

...that there are only 68 more days 'til spring? 

Here's something else you might not know…

On this date in 1908, Theodore Roosevelt declared the Grand Canyon to be a national monument…That was a better deal than the Washington Monument! It's a lot bigger and the cost tons less! In fact, it cost zero! It was just there! 

Also on this date in 1973, the American League adopted the designated hitter rule, thus dividing America's baseball world in two…"fer it or agin' it"…Where do you stand?

Here's something I learned yesterday! The system that measures in millimeters and centimeters (is it "millimetres"?) is the metrics system. The one that measures in inches, feet, and yards is called (do you know?)...the imperial system! How did I not know that 'til yesterday? 

Come to think of it, during the fourth grade, I was pretty distracted. 

Here's another thing I learned yesterday. Your keyboard on your computer has 400 times more bacteria than your toilet!

Isn't it cool to learn stuff? Aren't you glad you're reading this!?

More fun facts for January…

Since it's resolution season, what's resolution Numero Uno in America? It's  "lose weight"! "Quit smoking", "save money", and "be an overall better person" all tied for third.  59% of Americans under 45 years old made New Years resolutions, while only 28% of those over 45 made any. 

I guess as people get older, they realize quitting stuff is hard. I was looking for articles on the best ways to break bad habits and found one by the American Association of Dental Health on how to quit chewing tobacco. Apparently, it's super tough to stop. (Probably also super tough to start!) Their advice?

"1) Make up your mind to quit." 

 "2)Pick a date you're going to quit…(and it has to be in this decade!")

"3) List your reasons"... Such as…

    "…To avoid oral health problems"

    "…I have sores or white spots in my mouth"

    "…To set a good example for my kids"

    "…To save money"

    "…Dipping tobacco is discussing"…(duh!)

    "…My girlfriend hates it"

    "…My wife hates it"…

Wow. Those last two reasons were weird! If his girlfriend AND his wife hate it, seems to me there's something he needs to quit even more than dippin'!

Quitting stuff… What and how… 

As I was telling y'all last week, I've been reading again the seventy resolutions that the happy Puritan, Jonathan Edwards lived by. He wrote over time seventy things that he had determined to keep all his life long. He started when he was nineteen and added to them and reviewed them every week 'til death. Some of them are beautifully straight-forward. 

Like #13…"Resolved, to be endeavoring to find out fit objects of charity and liberality"…What should I give to and care for?

And #15…"Resolved, never to suffer the least motions of anger to irrational beings"…When you're upset, don't kick the dog.

#20's pretty obvious…"Resolved, to maintain the strictest temperance in eating and drinking" 

But often, he had one (several, really!) that were just, well, amazing! Like #25…(Read this slowly and carefully…)

"Resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it." 

Wow! 

He's saying...

Is there anything in my life that causes me to doubt that God loves me constantly, infinitely, eternally, uniquely, personally, always and in amazing ways? If I could believe this, I would be the healthiest, happiest Me! He says He loves me like this over and over in the Scriptures! 

Why do I ever doubt His love for me?

Or better, what makes me doubt it? 

If I'm looking for things in my life that make me doubt His love for me, those are the things I need to quit! As Jonathan would say, if anything causes you to "doubt in the least the love of God for you", quit it! Better yet, "direct all your forces against it"! 

Does watching the news fill your heart with anxiety and fear, even tho' God loves you?  Nothing wrong with watching the news, but it isn't good for you! Quit watching it!

Does checking the financial report daily bring worry about the future into your heart when that heart should be filled with thoughts of His loving care for you? Quit checking it!

Do you have  a "friend" who always talks about you, snips at you, or cuts you down and makes you feel terrible about yourself, even tho' your Lord is crazy about you? Get a different friend! 

Does Facebook make you doubt and wonder why your life, or your kids aren't as "exciting" or "amazing" as someone's latest post, or why someone had the "greatest time last night" with their "four BFFs" when you thought you were one of those? Then quit it! Quit FB today! 

If "whatever" is making you doubt God's unbelievable, amazing love for you, quit it! Direct all your forces against it! Be the healthiest, happiest You because you don't let anything cause you to doubt His love for you! 

If you have a nagging habit that infuses you with secret shame or guilt, even tho' by His blood and in His love you are clean and pure in His eyes…

It's causing you to doubt His love for you! 

It isn't worth it! 

Quit it!

If it's something' as stupid as dipping tobacco that gives you that shame or McGuilt that makes you doubt God's love…

Quit it!

Kick the can!

A Note From Tom: January 4th, 2013

Hey everyone!

Now that your tree's down and your left-overs are just "overs", I really hope you're having a "First-Week-of-the-New-Year" filled with praise and thanks! In fact, you should just really resolve as your News Year's Resolution Numero Uno to have a 2013 daily filled with…

Whoa. Maybe that's not such a good idea. 

I mean, praise and thankfulness are like the most important components of your heart's health, but apparently resolutions aren't the steps to getting there! 

Seems that when folks resolve that "first of all, from now on, I'm going to never…" or, "secondly, from now on, I'm  always going to…", it actually ups the chances that you "will" the first (instead of "won't" it), and "won't" the second (instead of "will" it)!

When determined hearts resolve, and make resolutions that "from now on", they're going to stop doing something bad that've always done, or start doing something they should do but rarely have,  success rates are less than impressive. For a week, we do swell! 76% keep their resolutions that long. But six months down the Resolution Trail, 54 to 60 % have stumbled to the curb! 60% of all gym memberships are unused. After six months, 85% of those who resolve to be "ex-smokers", ain't. 

Even when you add accountability, the percentages stay constant. In fact, getting someone to help you can  actually make things worse! Sometimes, we just don't know how to say the right thing at the right time…One determined weight-watcher asked her husband if he could encourage her in her journey back down to her former weight. "I want my Coke bottle figure back," she told him. "Well, you look like the two-liter bottle!", he replied unhelpfully trying to be helpful. "I'm just trying to get in shape!" she answered. "Round's a shape!", said he! 

Not helpful!

Waaaaay back in the 1700's a kid started to make a list of his "resolutions" he wanted to follow all his life. He started his list when he was 19 and reviewed them every week until he died like 28 years later. By the end he had seventy resolutions! And he pretty much kept them all!

Because they weren't really "resolutions". They were really "reminders". 

The "70 Resolutions" of Jonathan Edwards weren't things he was trying to start (or stop) doing, but basics he didn't want to forget! F'r instance…

"Resolved, Never to do any thing, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life."

Remember that you don't want to die with regrets! Here's another like that one…

"Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour, before I should hear the last trump."

You don't want to forget that! Or this...

"I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again: Resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age."

How 'bout this? Number six may be my fav…

"Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live."

"Go for it! With all your heart!" That's amazingly easy to forget!

"Don't forget this stuff, Johnny!", he'd tell himself weekly

Most of the time, we have problems, not because we don't "resolve" well, but because we don't remember well. I have a few things I try to remember almost daily. If I get into trouble, I've usually forgotten one or two. They're the sayings painted over the exits on football locker rooms as you head on to the field. Notre Dame's says. "Play like a champion today!" (We'll see how that goes on Monday…)

Here are mine…

"My life is His"…Everything I have is His. He bought it with His blood. If I lose something, I'm not sad! It wasn't mine to start with!

"My home is Heaven"…Not here! Good cow! If we expect to "have it all" here, we'll be disappointed all the time! I'm just passing thru this world!! On my way home!

"My time is today"…This is the only day I have to think about! Most of my depression, worry,  and anxiety come from thinking about a day that's past or hasn't come!

"My job is to serve people"…If someone doesn't treat you right, who cares? I'm just a servant (The New Testament really says "slave"!) What does a servant expect?!

"My goal is to please God!" That's all I care about! I live for the smile of One! If I didn't please everybody in the whole world today, that's OK! I wasn't really trying to! If I pleased Him, it's been a great day!

"My fight is for joy"…I want joy in Jesus more than anything! An invisible enemy doesn't want me to have it. So, I'm ready to fight for it! Every day!!

"My strength is weakness"…If I know I can't do stuff or face things on my own…Hello!!! I wasn't made to! I'm poor, weak,  and needy! As he says in 2 Cor 12, "When I'm weak, I'm strong!" In Him!! My weaknesses…I love 'em! 

I don't have seventy. Just seven. 

I'm probably not going to resolve to start doing things I don't do this coming year. I'm just going to renew my resolve to remember things I already know!

A Note From Tom: December 28th, 2012

Hey, everyone!

Hope you're having the sweetest, chill-est after-Christmas week of all time! Whew! We made it! And I can't wait to tell you the most hiiiilarious story that happened at our house on Christmas!! But before I do, I just want to wish you a day full of…in fact, I want to wish you an entire after-Christmas week full of…in fact, I want to wish you an entire New Year's full of… JOY!!! And not just a New Year's Day of joy, but a joy-filled 2013! Joy the whole year thru!

Really! 

I really mean it! 

I realized the other day that I almost always started all the 2012 CCC emails out with those words…”Hope your day is filled with joy and praise!...”

But there’s NOTHING more important than days filled with…and hearts filled with…joy! I learned this from an unlikely teacher…especially if you’ve ever seen a picture of him! Remember Jonathan Edwards? Y’know…the ”Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” dude from high school Western Civ…If your text book had his picture, you wouldn’t forget it! Talk about grim! 

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but nobody smiled for pictures back then! Maybe it’s because it woulda been too tiring to keep the corners of your smile turned up for the fourteen hours it took to paint your face. Maybe dentists didn’t have it quite together yet. But pretty much everyone was sour-looking "back in the day".

Problem is…we grew up thinking Mr. Edwards’ heart was as dour as his face appeared to be. Not true!

Sure, he could preach a heated sermon now and then, but most of his talks were about the beauty of grace…and about love (you should read his sermon, “Heaven is a World of Love”! Wow!)…and tons of them were about joy!

You’d never know it, but that ol’ Puritan looooved chocolate! Once he wrote to a friend to remind him to not forget some on his trip to the Edwards home…” If you will bring what chocolate remains, you will much oblige your humble servant."

And he loved joy even more! It’s why he loved Jesus!

He said over and over that joy is the most essential heart ingredient for a healthy vital faith! 

"It would be worth the while to be a Christian, if it were only for the pleasantness of it! …It begets love and peace, good will one towards another…" Tons of pleasant stuff!

He first felt this “pleasantness” the day he opened his heart to Jesus. "My soul," he reminisced, "was led away in pleasant views and the contemplations of them. And my mind was greatly engaged, to spend my time in reading and meditating on Christ; and the beauty and excellency of his person, and the lovely way of salvation, by free grace in him."

He believed that knowing and loving Jesus was the most pleasurable thing the heart can do, and "our number one duty is to seek our highest pleasure”

 “The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here…”

Wow! How could a guy with a heart like that look so grumpy? Maybe the painter was the grumpy one! Maybe he just didn’t believe a person should be as happy as Jonathan!

The very Apostle Paul felt the same joyous way! He told the Corinthians that he was a “worker for their joy” Not “Lead Pastor”, or “Youth Pastor” or the “Small Groups Pastor”, but “Joy Pastor” was his job title!

He told the Philippians that his only reason for not going to Heaven immediately was so they could have more joy in Jesus! (Phil. 1.25)

His prayer was for joy (Rom 15.13)

The Kingdom is about joy (Rom 14.17)

The fruit of the Spirit is joy (Gal 5.22)

Joy! Apparently there’s nothing more important! 

So, as I was saying… I hope you have a joy-filled 2013! 

Oops! With all that, I don’t have time for my hilarious story…Oh, well. Probably wasn’t that funny. And these verses will give you more joy than a joke would, anyway!

A Note From Tom: December 20th, 2012

Hey, everyone! 

Hope you’re having an awesome, carol-singing, hall-decking, joy-to-the-world week of Christmasy-ness!! And with folks stressed and frazzled all around, it’s an awesome opportunity to show the love of Jesus and do something really Grinchy for someone, somewhere near you! 

Well, is almost time for us to… 

What?

Oh, sorry.  

“Doing something Grinchy” means doing something kind and helpful, for peace on earth, goodwill toward men.  

“But I thought the Grinch was the meanest, coldest, most hateful, most spiteful creature ever!” 

Yeah. But only at the beginning. Not in the end! 

In the end he wasn’t that way! He was different! He’d changed! His heart grew three sizes in one day! He brought Christmas back to Whoville, after risking his life on the top of Mt Crumpit! "And he, the Grinch, carved the roastbeast!"

I wish folks would remember him for what he became, not what he had been! 

That song still says, “You’re a mean one, Mr Grinch!” 

It should say, “You WERE a mean one”! 

Even worse, it goes on to say stuff like,…

“You’re a nasty wasty skunk

Your heart is full of unwashed socks,

Your soul is full of gunk

Mr. Grinch…"

"You’re a rotter Mr. Grinch

You’re the king of sinful sots

Your hearts a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots

Mr. Grinch…"

"The 3 words that best describe you, are as follows, and I quote

Stink, Stank, Stunk”

Maybe he WAS those things (“the king of sinful sots”…wow!), but not by the last page!

If you met him today, he’d be the sweetest creature you could ever know! To do something “Grinchy” is to do something loving with a heart full of Christmas! Because that’s who the Grinch is now! 

(Except that he doesn’t actually exist.)

It’s not about what you WERE! It’s about what God is making you now! The past is gone! It’s past! That’s why they call it that! You’re not who you were! You’re new! Our God doesn’t see the mess of before! He looks at us and sees saints! (Eph 1.1) Sons and daughters! (Rom. 8.14) Holy ones! Whole ones! His choice! Beloved! (Col 3.12) Beauties! (Song of Songs 1.15)

The new you…a Christmas miracle! It really DOES happen! 

And not just in stories! 

And all because of a story! 

The Christmas story! That story is different from the "How Grinch Stole Christmas" story. The Christmas story is a true story! It’s a “story” in the way they talk about a “news story” in the newspaper or on CNN…the story of something that really happened! 

In one of his letters, the apostle Paul talks about "speaking with the tongue of…angels" Apparently, angels have an amazing language all their own! Let's just call it "cherubimese"…or "seraphimian" But when one burst thru the clouds on the first Christmas, with a message he wanted the folks to hear, he spoke in one of the languages humans speak and know! In the Greek language, he said (or sang!)… 

“Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy!"

The words “I bring good tidings” translate one word from that language. It's "euangelizomai"…

"Euangelion" means "good news"…and “I euangelizomai you!”  means, “I tell you good news! NEWS!! News about something that has really happened!” 

It’s true! A savior has come! He really has! We’re not who we were! And a heart really CAN grow three sizes in one day! 

Makes you just wanna sing with all those Whos down in Whoville, the tall and the small…

“Fah who for-aze

Dah who dor-aze

Welcome Christmas

Christmas Day!

Welcome, welcome

Fah who rah-moose

Welcome,welcome

Dah who dah-moose

Welcome Christmas, fah who rah-moose

Welcome Christmas, dah who dah-moose

Christmas Day will always be

Just so long as we have He!

Welcome Christmas

Dah who dah-moose

Welcome Christmas

While we stand

Heart to heart

And hand in hand

Fah who for-aze

Dan who dor-aze

Welcome welcome 

Christmas, Christmas Day!

A Note From Tom: December 14th, 2012

Hey, everyone!  

Hope you’re having an awesome, “joy to the world” week! As the old carol says, “So why should men on earth be so sad, when our Redeemer has made us glad?”

Sadly, one of the sights that tells us “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” is that grumpy face with the grouchy expression you see everywhere.

“Who you talking ‘bout? All the hastled shoppers?”

Oh, no. I didn’t mean that! 

I was talking about the face of Ol’ Ebenezer Scrooge you see everywhere these days. You see that “grumpy gills” all over the place! The sad thing is that, even tho’ he was super mean for years…(Dickens described him as “…a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!”)… in the end of the book  he changed! Totally!  But people ALWAYS think of him the way he was at the beginning and not the way he was at the end!

At the end of the little classic, he “… became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world… and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!”

Wonder why they never show him that way?

Could you a imagine smiling, cheery, chuckling “Ol’Ebenezer”, giving a hand and a hug to a weary begger, or stopping to sled down the hill with the kids behind his house? I’m sure it happened! One of my favorite pictures of the end of the story is in a kids’ book that shows Scrooge and Tiny Tim sitting in the grass on a hill outside spring-time London, laughing together.

When a person really changes from what they shouldn’t have been to what, with God’s help, they could’ve been, I wonder why it’s easier to remember what they were than what they’ve become?

One time Theodore Geisel…ah, I mean, “Dr. Seuss”…got a letter in the mail asking him the change the name of the star of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, because “people always hastle us” about the book. The letter was signed, “David and Bob Grinch, Ridgefield, N.J.”

Bummer.

But Dr Seuss disagreed. “Can’t they understand that the Grinch in the end is the hero of the story? It’s not how you start out that counts, but what you are at the finish!”

Amen!

Here’s a good Christmas verse…”If anyone is in Christ, he (or she) is a new creation. Old things have past away; behold! All things have become new!”

That’s how God sees you! Not what you were! Not even what you are, really! But who you are in Jesus! Being outside of time, He already sees you as who you will be one day! Free! Faultless! Filled with overflowing love! All the time! The “You” you were always meant to be!

He sees you as the new “Scrooge”…the new “Grinch…that He always meant you to be when He put you in this world! 

It says in the last book of the Bible, that when we’re finally with Him in Heaven, “we’ll get a new name…” so people won’t remember you by the one you had when you weren’t fully the “You” you will be one day.

For all us “Scrooges” and Grinches”, that’s an awesome idea!

A Note From Tom: December 7th, 2012

Hey, everyone!

Wow! It's getting Christmas-ish everywhere! You could see it on the faces. You could feel it in the air. You could hear it in the horn-blowin’ holiday  traffic. There was a lotta Yuletide…grumpiness! 

You know how it is at Christmas…it’s the season of love, giving, “peace on earth, good-will towards men”. I praise God so much for every ounce of that! How we need it, now and all through the year! As Scrooge’s nephew, Fred put it, “… I have always thought of Christmas time, when it comes round…as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time…”

But with the shopping pressure, the baking pressure, the financial pressure, the time pressure, well, folks just get pressured!  There was so much pushing and shoving on Black Friday that they were calling one store “BrawlMart”! 

I guess Christmas stress and pressure has been around a long time...

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a Christmas story (before she finished “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”), where someone says, “Oh, dear! Christmas is coming in a fortnight, and I have to think up presents for everyone! Dear me, it’s so tedious! Everybody has already got everything that can be thought of…It’s impossible to decide what presents to get for people who have more than they know what to do with now…” She said that in the old days, a child would have been “perfectly delighted with a single piece of candy…Nowadays things are different. There are worlds wasted, at this time of year in getting things nobody wants, and nobody cares for after they are got!”

One ad in a Boston magazine in 1823 said..

“ ‘There is a time for giving’, says Solomon the king, and had that preacher lived in these days, he would have acknowledged that there is no time like the present and never a better assortment of gifts. If he could have just peeped into the Bookstore of Monroe & Francis, he would have found a book for each of his wives and for all of his concubines, and for each of their children!”

The Ghost of Christmas Presents has been haunting us a long time!

It would be awesome if the remembrance of the coming of the Prince of Peace was a time of peace…if during the whole season, and not just for one night, “all was calm, all was bright.” Thankfully, today there are support groups for alcoholics, workaholics, even choco-holics! But some folks get so compulsive at Christmastime, someone needs to start a group for Deck-the-hall-ics!!

What if we decided that this year would be the Christmas of Going Slower!...Singing More!…Spending Less!...Baking More!...Buying Less!  (Average American spends…$750 at Christmas! Each person! Wow! In some countries, that’s more than the average income per year!)

Sometimes, it makes my heart so sad that Christmas is not about the “retelling of the story”, but the “retail-ing of the stores”. 

I’m not trying to be a "Scrooge" about Christmas. But really Scrooge was the one who wouldn’t stop buying and dealing, in order to, as Bob Cratchit said, “remember upon Christmas Day, the One Who made lame men walk and blind men see”.  All Scrooge cared about was buying, deals, savings and profit… even on Christmas Eve! If you say, “I’m NOT going to get carried away with commercialism and materialism this Christmas!”, you’re not the Scrooge…  

In a world of Christmas Scrooges, you’re Bob Cratchit! 

“God bless us, everyone!”

A Note From Tom: November 30th, 2012

Hey, everyone!

And welcome to the Christmas season! As the song says, "It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas!" Those aren't exactly the right words, but it is true! 

When you have the Salvation Army bucket dude ringing beside the Christmas trees for sale, that's when Christmas smells are like Christmas bells! They're everywhere! (Except that one goes in your ear and the other up your nose!)

Scientists tell us that smells bring back memories of Christmases past quicker than the Grinch, Charlie Brown's tree, or a crooning' Bing Crosby…And it's kinda unexpected since Christmas sights arrive at the speed of light and Christmas carols at the speed of sound, but Christmas smells poke along at the speed of the breeze! 

But it turns out that when Christmas smells go up your nose (kinda like Santa up the chimney), they stick to the 20 million receptors in the olfactory epithelium, waiting about three inches up there in the dark. Blood hounds have 220 million! That's why their noses are so long! ( But they're uglier than we are so, it's a trade-off). 

Snuggled up in there, is your omygdala, which is the place in your brain where emotions live. In the neighborhood nearby is your hippocampus, which is basically "Memory Lane". As soon as a molecule of cheddar cheese, or Gouda cheese, or "Say-excuse-me-pleese"…or Cheese Puff, or cheese cake or Cheese Whiz "hits the spot", nasally speaking, the olfactory stands up and says, "Do we know you?" And the hippocampus asked, "Are we happy or sad about this? I'm trying to remember…" And in an instant you're crying over something' that happened in Miss Pippins second grade class and you don't know why!

Our dad used to get us boys to sneak down into the woods of the Green Belt and climb 20 feet up the pine trees, where we'd cut off the top seven feet of them and drag 'em home for our family Christmas tree. Apparently it's a federal crime. I didn't know it at the time, but I figured it was a covert operation and there was a reason why we were supposed to talk, chop, and saw…"quietly". So, the other day, I walked into the Young Life office. It was filled with garlands and wreaths and Christmas evergreen smells. For a minute, I wondered why I began to sweat, hyperventilate and feel a panic-attack comin' on! 

Ahhh! Christmas memories!  I can just smell 'em!

Nutmeg is apparently one of the strongest Christmas smells. It's in Christmas cookies, Christmas egg-nog and Granny's Santa Lucia Christmas Stollen braid. All kinds of wars were fought in history over the nutmeg trade. Apparently in the 1660's, the Dutch traded Manhattan to the British for one of the Spice Island that had tons of nutmeg! Seems that nutmeg has a property in it that produces "feelings of well-being". That's why it's in all the Christmas goodies…It's pretty cool that there's a spice that helps you gain 37 pounds in three weeks…and feel good about it! 

I love how the New Testament talks about smells! 

The Christmas story doesn't specifically mention them, but think about it…With the donkey, stalls, sheep, stinky shepherds, and frankincense, there must have been a lot of 'em! 

In one place, Paul says that we smell to our Father in Heaven, just like Jesus! You're a Christmas smell to Him!

"…through us He spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God…" (2 Corinthians 2:14 and 15)

This Christmas…

...when you give yourself in love to someone who needs His love…

…when your heart breaks for someone who is alone, hungry, or struggling…

…when you whisper a name to His throne, because someone isn't making it without Him…

…it smells like Jesus! 

It smells like Christmas!

We tied 157 cards to a Christmas tree in the Triple C lobby a couple of weeks ago…30 bucks each…"Buy an orphan who lives in Victor's home and goes to their school in India, his or her school clothes for a year. Or buy three widows their yearly dress. All for $30…"

I wondered…Or maybe I doubted…"Will we do this? Can we do this? Will Victor kids and widows have anything to wear?…"

Last Sunday afternoon, a UT student drove into OR. He listens to the C3 podcast and had heard about our tree. He wanted to pay for four cards…

and it just so happened that…folks were decorating for Christmas around 3:00 when he arrived!

And it just so happened that...there were only four cards left on the tree!

Because it just so happened that…y'all had already taken ALL THE REST!!!

AHHHH!!!!  Christmas!!!

I love how it smells!!

A Note From Tom: November 21st, 2012

Hey, everyone! 

Hope you're having a beautiful day of slicing, dicing, last-minute grocery shopping, last-minute onion chopping, braising and praising! And even tho' we're almost to the day so many have waited so long for, but I'm just kinda sad it's here!

"What?! Thanksgiving?! You'd have to gobble to be sad THAT day's arrived! What kind of a Scrooge-y pilgrim are you?"

No! I didn't mean Thanksgiving! I LOVE that day! It's the perfect holiday! Expectations are lower and pace is slower than the next big day on the holiday calendar…and I ain't talking' 'bout Christmas! I mean "Black Friday"…or "Black and Blue Friday"! 

Wow. After a whole day devoted to thanking the Living God for all we have when so many have so little, the next day is devoted to pushin', pulling', thrown' out elbows and tossing' down cards to get more stuff than anyone could need! Interestingly, apparently the name comes from the '60's in Philadelphia, the "City of Brotherly Shove"! 

I do have a holiday shopping tip for you though!

I know where you can get an entire new wardrobe for an entire year for $30! 

Unbelievable!!!!

But true!

As most of y'all know, there's a Christmas tree in the Triple C lobby. It has paper ornaments of red and green. Each one represents a gift of 30 bucks. By taking a paper ornament and giving this gift of $30, you are buying two school outfits and a school bag for one of 42 children who live in the orphanage that Victor Nandigam and his wife care for in India! All the clothes that child will need for school for a whole year! Or you could designate your $30 gift for three of the 360 widows Victor helps. With just thirty bucks he will buy three saris, or Indian dresses, that will be the entire wardrobe for THREE widows for a whole year!! 

Where else can you find deals like that?! 

Huh, Kohls? Huh, JCP? Can you beat that?!

I didn't think so!

Not only this, but our Lord Jesus said this…

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me!" (Matthew 25)

Did you catch that!? 

"I was naked and you clothed Me!"

If you buy clothes for widows or Victor's orphan kids…"for the least of these My brothers (and sisters)"…you're buying them for Jesus! 

Our Lord is "clothed in glory and majesty"! But somehow, you can still buy Him things…Like all His clothes for one whole year! For $30! 

What a deal!

And you don't have to be here at 4:00 am!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

We love y'all!

A Note From Tom: November 16th, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! 

Hope you have the most beautiful day ever! Hope your day is as stuffed with thanks and joy as your turkey will be stuffed with stuffing! And a big thanks goes out to Abe Lincoln! He's got a new movie comin' out today! We owe so much to him! Lincoln Logs, LMU, one country instead of two, and…Thanksgiving Day! He was the one who decided that we really needed a day for nothing but thanking God! 

Actually, it wasn’t his idea…

Sarah Josepha  Hale, editor (she liked to be called “editress”) of Godey’s Ladies Book (as well as the author of the epic poem, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”) thought that we reallllly needed a day to thank God for how much He has blessed us all. And she thought the idea needed to come from the top! So she wrote to President Zachary Taylor, saying, “Y’know, we really need a day to give thanks to God in America!” 

No answer.

She wait ‘til he was gone and wrote the next Chief Exec, Millard Fillmore. “We really should have a national thanksgiving day!”

He didn’t write back either.

So, she waited ‘til there was someone else in the White House. 

Franklin Pierce didn’t answer either.

Her next letter was to…

 “President James Buchanan

1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC 

(they didn’t have zips yet!)”

Nada.

It wasn’t until the 6’5” Kentuckian from Illinois was sitting in the Oval Office, that she got an answer back! As he leaned back in his chair at the desk and propped those huge boots on the desk (as he usually did) he sliced the envelope open, puffed into it, pulled the letter out and read…

“Philadelphia, Sept. 28th 1863.

Sir,

Permit me, as Editress of the "Lady's Book", to request a few minutes of your precious time, while laying before you a subject of deep interest to myself and -- as I trust -- even to the President of our Republic, of some importance. This subject is to have the day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival.

 For the last fifteen years I have set forth this idea before the Governors of all the States and Territories -- also I have sent these to our Ministers abroad, and our Missionaries to the heathen -- and commanders in the Navy…it has occurred to me that a proclamation from the President of the United States would be the best, surest and most fitting method of National appointment.

…Thus the great Union Festival of America would be … forever secured.

 Excuse the liberty I have taken.

With profound respect,

Yrs truly

Sarah Josepha Hale,”

So he did!

In his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation, he wrote..

“…It has seemed to me fit and proper that God’s blessings should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. … In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

A. Lincoln

But, it wasn’t really his idea. 

It was hers.

Actually it wasn’t her idea, either.

The Apostle wrote long before that…

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

“Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,  always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“I pray…that you will be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,  and giving joyful thanks to the Father…”

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

I think those Scripture say our Lord wants us thankful every second! Even tho’ I’m super thankful this coming Thursday is one of my favorite days of the year, maybe one Thanksgiving Day a year isn’t such an awesome idea after all!  Every day is supposed to be Thanksgiving Day! …(The menu can vary)

One wise person said,…

“If you’re so low that you only have one prayer, let it be a prayer of thanks. It is the easiest way to pray and often the most powerful…In some circumstances, thanksgiving, like forgiveness, is both the quickest and the only route to joy…Imagine yourself in a meadow gathering wildflowers-violets, let’s say. When you’re finished, do you have a fistful of stones or twigs? No, you have a bouquet of violets. If you’re looking for reasons to be grateful, you’ll find them! …Give God a standing ovation every day. It’s what He’s waiting for. It’s what you’re waiting for too…Years ago, realizing I needed to develop gratitude, I began the practice of saying thanks to God for five things before I went to bed. I still do this whenever I feel the least bit low.  Looking for reasons to be thankful, instead of focusing on worries or fears, is like putting on a new pair of glasses. Life looks better through the lens of thanks.”

Being thankful…It’s God’s idea!

It’s the best idea!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

(By the way, we’re super thankful for you!)

A Note From Tom: November 9th, 2012

Happy Holiday, everyone! 

"Huh?! Isn't it a little too early and a little too pc to be saying that?"

Wait! I don't mean "Happy Holiday" as in "Happy Holidays! We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!" I'm talking' about today! November 9, 2012! 

"Let's see…googling…googling…how do you spell 'wikipedia"? is it wik or wek?…Oh…Ok…hmmmm…There it is…November 9, 2012…umm...the 314th day of the year…the anniversary of the first foreign trip by a US pres, when Theodore Roosevelt left for Panama to check out progress on the canal…the anniversary of the release of 'Piano Man' by Billy Joel…I don't get it! What's so special about today!?"

Well, today is one of those holidays you read about in the Bible! If you want to read about Christmas, look up Luke, chapter 2. If you want to understand Easter better, turn to John 20. But if you want to understand why November 9, 2012 is such a special day, open up to Hebrews, chapter 4!

That book was written to folks who were having a lot less fun than they thought they would when they first believed in Jesus…They were stressed, distressed,  bestressed.

"Bestressed?" 

Well, you know what I mean. Anyway, the Book of Hebrews was written to tell them that their new life wasn't supposed to be like that! They weren't supposed to be hassled and frazzled. They had trusted Jesus at the beginning for forgiveness and Heaven. They were supposed to trust Him the rest of the way for peace in their hearts!  A heart with Jesus in it should be a joy-filled, peace-filled, praised-filled heart! Jesus rose from the dead and lives today so you wouldn't be distressed and bestessed!

"You said 'bestressed' again!"

Sorry. But you know what I'm saying. 

Peace in the heart…even when troubles come your way and problems multiply… is one of the benefits of the Good News! In fact, the author said that they knew the Good News but it didn't really benefit them as much as it shoulda because they didn't combine the Message with faith (Heb 4.2)! Jesus our Lord died to pay for all our wrong and He lives to rule over the whole world and every detail of my life and yours! He lives to help us and to work out a beautiful plan for all of us! He's alive and waiting to help you when you call to Him! If you truly believe that, you receive unbelievable benefits! Peace in the heart! Calm in the storm! A quiet joy when all heck breaks loose!

As the Christmas carol says, "So why should men on earth be so sad, when our Redeemer has made us glad?"

Well, probably the biggest reason is that we haven't really believed these things as much as we should have. Do you believe Jesus loves you individually, constantly, infinitely? Do you believe He rules over every moment and atom of your life? Do you believe that you have a Father in Heaven Who is weaving all of it into a perfect plan for you?  

"How do I know if I believe this stuff enough?" 

Peace. 

In your heart. 

That's how you know.

Or as Hebrews 4 says, "Rest…You enter His rest"…A restful heart and mind.

That's how you were meant to live. He didn't intend you to spend your days in tension or sleepless nights in anxiety. "For we who have believed enter that rest" (Hebrews 4.3)

"Well, what do I do? I DO worry about stuff all the time! My life isn't all that fun because I'm afraid and anxious and tense a bunch! I suspect I'm not easy to live with because I'm always so…well, as you say…bestressed!"

Well, "Happy Holiday", everyone!

"Holiday" is actually short for "holy day". "Holy" means "special"! Today is a special day! Today is the day when you could begin to enjoy your life! Have more fun! At least, have more peace! 

"C'mon! Tell me! What day is it?!"

Today is…"Today!" Check this…

...Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because they didn't have they faith they should…again he appoints a certain day, "Today,” saying through David so long afterward…,

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…(Hebrews 4.6-7)

If you've had tons of anxiety and worry…if you know you've lived in stress and been a stress to live with… you haven't blown it! You can start over! There's a holiday…a special day… to celebrate your new heart of peace! 

"What holiday you talking about? Thanksgiving that's coming? Christmas around the corner?"

Nope! You don't have to wait! The best day of the year is…Today!

Did you catch it?  

"…He appoints a certain day, 'Today!' "

You can trust Him today! You can praise Him today! You can grab a promise of Scripture and hold on tight! You can ask Him for peace today! "Let us therefore strive to enter that rest" (verse 11) You can decide that today will be a better day…a new day…a holiday! And when it's over, trusting in Him, tonite you can "sleep in heavenly peace!"

So…

Happy Holiday, everyone!

Happy Today!

A Note From Tom: November 2th, 2012

Hey, everyone!

Hope you're having an awesome…

"PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!

PRAISE HIM ALL CREATURES HERE BELOW!

PRAISE HIM ABOVE YE HEAVENLY HOST!

PRAISE FATHER,S ON, AND HOLY GHOST!

AAAAAAAAMEN!"

Wow! Where'd that come from?! 

I usually don't just spontaneously break into the doxology! Spontaneous doxologizing!

I guess it just comes from knowing that sweet little Josiah's doing fine on the other side of our world! Lots of y'all know that Christy's in China helping her sister, Patty and Patrick while they finalize their adoption of Jack, a precious Chinese orphan. Then fatigue and jet-lag turned into viruses, which turned into fevers, vomiting, and chills for their seven year old Josiah, which turned into seizures, brain swelling, real danger, and almost a tragic ending. By Tuesday morning at 6:00 when we received the news of the dire and frightening turn for the worst, a bunch of us were calling out to our Lord for the whole family! 

As the day dawned and the news spread, so many of you all were asking our Lord to not let this story end in the sad way… 

Pottsie, Lee, and I let a stinky, dank, roomful of dudes in oranges ill-fitting outfits in Unit Five of the Anderson County Detention Center know that we needed them and their help. "There's a little dude we need to lift up to God right now. He's sick and getting sicker. He can't get much sicker before it'll be too late. Would you guys help us call out to God for Josiah?"

And they sure did! Brothers behind bars helping their little brother under the stars on the world's other side. Guys in trouble, caring for a little guy in trouble. The Body of Christ being His Body. Most important thing to happen in that jail this week, I bet!

Guys in the Morgan County Penitentiary were saying Josiah's name as well on the next day! Wow! When you count up all the years some of the folks who cared about Josiah this week either HAD BEEN or WILL BE incarcerated, it's probably ten to twenty times the number of years he's been on earth! 

As Garth Brooks sang, Josiah's "got friends in low places"!

Tina was at the Norris Craft Guild on Tuesday, weaving on ancient looms with all her weaving buddies. It's an eclectic, mixed group of folks. All over the map, spiritually. As she shared her heart with tears for her desperately sick little friend, they all just decided to bow and pray together for Josiah. When they were done, one of Tina's friends turned to another and said, "I didn't know y'll Unitarians ever pray!" 

"Sometimes we do,:" said the other one.

Folks were calling out Josiah's name across America and even around the world! Our missionaries were praying and Lee's "flock" who follow his blog from the Philippines, to Scotland, to New Zealand were praying for their little brother they'd never met!

And our Lord did what only He can do!

By late in the evening of Tuesday, we received the text we hoped would come! "…Josiah's awake, stable…asking for Paba. Doing better! Praise the Lord!"

Yesterday we got this…"Just heard from Christy that Josiah was up playing with toys and that he just ate an apple and a hard boiled egg! PTL!…It's a beautiful day!"

Yes it is!!

You know, "doxology" comes from two Greek words. The "-logy" part comes from a word that means… well, words! and the "doxe" means "glory" or "something about God that you may not see always, but you always believe". Such as…

...We believe that God is always good. 

...We believe that He is Love! 

...We believes He's in control of everything! 

...We believe He always knows what's best! 

...We believe His plan is perfect!

And it helps to says these things about Him with words!

Sometimes, when He lets tears stain our face and pain fill our broken heart, as He has done to us in recent days…

Sometimes when in His infinite wisdom and love He says, "No, My precious child…" when we beg Him for things and for those we love more than words can say…

…there comes a day when it does help to say, "And yet, these are the things I believe about You…

…I believe You know best.

…I believe You are love.

…in my pain and with a broken heart I say these words about You...

...I believe You are always, and will always be, good."

These days will come to us all. If they haven't come to you yet, they will.

But there WILL be other days! 

For all of us! There will be other days so good and hopeful and full of joy and relief from heaven, that we can't help but sing…

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Praise Him all creatures here below!

Praise Him above ye heavenly host!

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!!

Amen!

A Note From Tom: October 26th, 2012

Hey, everyone!

Hope you’re having a day FULLLL of thanks, praise, and just…you know…a day that’s a happy one! “Cause we have a million reasons to be thankful all the time! If you just count all the stuff God has forgiven us for on a day-to-day basis, it comes out to an average of about a million reasons to be thankful per month! Plus, all day today, no matter where you go, in ways that go beyond our mind, according to the letter Paul wrote to the brothers and sisters who lived in Ephesus, you’re “seated already in heaven with Jesus”! I don’t fully understand what that means because it’s too awesome to comprehend! But I AM thankful to be sitting there! 

Everything looks better from up here!

For all the reasons Jesus gives us to be thankful, we oughta be dancing down the hall at school, cart-wheelin’ out the door to work, and jumping on the desk, doing the tarantella when we get there! It oughta keep us up at night like Christmas eve used to do! 

And yet, it takes amazingly little to put a gimp in that dance step. The other day I had this jagged-y toenail that somehow was digging into his neighbor. I could feel it when I was walking down the street. Like every step. You know how it is…

…Step…”mmm”…step….”hmmm”…step…”yikes!”…step…”uuhhhh, I need to fix that”…step…”owww! That kinda hurts!”…step…”wonder if it’s bleeding”…step…”That’s gonna drive me NUTS!!”...step…”DON’T THINK ABOUT IT!!”...step…”HOWAMISUPPOSEDTONOT THINKABOUTIT!??”...step…

Just takes a toenail to dominate your thankfulness. 

Last week, I was thinking about how little it takes to deflate my praise because I was reading some stuff by Joni Eareckson Tada., whose heart knows how to praise no matter what! Maybe you know who she is. You should. She is amazing! At seventeen, she broke her neck, diving into a too shallow Chesapeake Bay. She’s been a quadriplegic in a wheelchair since ’67. At the beginning, she didn’t know how…or, if…she could make it through each day. Her desperation prayer…”Lord, if I can’t die, help me to live!!” 

Wow! Has she ever!! She learned to paint with a brush between her teeth… she’s written 35 books (which rock!)…“Joni and Friends”, her international ministry to the disabled, has served thousands in hundreds of countries…and her radio program is heard on 1000 stations! She’s been on Presidential advisory boards and U. S. State Department commissions.

If a raggedy toenail messes with my thanks, what if you couldn’t use your whole body below your head? Joni decided to praise Jesus!...No matter what!

The other day, I was reading something that she wrote about the first moments she’ll spend in Heaven, suddenly enjoying a new, WORKING, glorious body. She was reflecting on the first things she’ll do… things she hasn’t been able to do from her wheelchair all these years. “Will I dance like I haven’t in forever? Will I jump up and down and then leap into my Savior’s arms? ”, she wondered. And then she mentioned a conference she attended. The speaker asked everyone at the end of his talk, to slip out of their chairs and quietly kneel on the floor in a few moments of worship. She said that as she looked over the room, the only one sitting upright in her chair she couldn’t abandon, she wept. Not for loneliness of being the only one excluded from adoration’s posture, but for the beauty of a room full of kneeling. 

“The first thing I’ll do when I have a body that is made new won’t be running, or jumping, or dancing. The first thing I’ll do when I see Him is…kneel.”

Me. too.

A Note From Tom: October 19th, 2012

Hey, everyone...

This has been a week of ups and downs.

Tina and I got to spend the beginning of the week in the shadows of the Colorado Rockies at an amazing conference for leaders of Young Life from around the world. But today we'll be at the cemetery. 

Just looking up at the Rockies on Monday and looking ahead at what later in the week had for us made me think of another day of serious ups and downs for us. We were driving through the Alps in Switzerland in 1992. When you drive from Italy to Germany through the Alps, you drive almost straight up for a long time and then you go down for a long time. So it was a day of ups and downs

It was a gorgeous, sunny day but one of the darkest we’ve ever gone through. The Alps in Switzerland are breath-taking.  And something was taking my breath, f’r sure. But it wasn’t the Alpine scenery. We were taking our older two kids, Mary and Charlie, 12 and 14, to missionary kids’ boarding school in Germany to live.  At 12 and 14! We felt led by God and all…and He had provided after tons of prayers…But it was just starting to slam into my mind what was going to be happening in the next two days. I remember when we arrived at this awesome, beautiful school in the Black Forest. We drove first to Mary’s dorm. One of the new “dorm parents” came out…”Hi, Mary! I’m going to be your new dad!” Shaking his hand, I thought, “Whoa, baby!! You couldn’t have thought for four seconds longer and come up with a better opener than that!? Didn’t you go to how-to-not-be-a-dufuss-of-a-new-dorm-parent.com? …where they teach you how to not say stupid stuff in front of sniffling, whimpering parents?!” 

On the way through the Alps that beautiful, sunny day, when the skies were bright and sunny but my heart’s forecast was “considerably cloudy and unstable,” a song came on the tape player (remember those?). It was by someone who had become my favorite musical encourager… Steven Curtis Chapman.  His songs in those days were getting me through all kinds of tough stuff! I was singing along and wasn’t really thinking about what the next song on the cassette was. But when it came on, his familiar words were like a singing prophecy from heaven directly addressed to my heart. It was a song he wrote called, “Higher Ways”

If I could only fly

I'd go up and look down from the sky

So I could see the bigger picture

And Lord if I could sit with You

At Your feet for an hour or two

I'm sure I'd ask too many questions

'Cause there's so much going on down here

That I must confess I just don't understand

But I have prayed

And at your feet my whole life has been laid

So I wont worry I wont be afraid

'Cause my soul is resting on Your higher ways

Let the road ahead become unclear 

I am Yours so what have I to fear

If my soul is resting on Your higher ways

Your higher ways teach me to trust You

Your higher ways are not like mine

Your higher ways are the ways of the Father

Hiding His children in His love

So let it rain

And if my eyes grow dim with tears of pain

This hope I have will not be washed away

'Cause my soul is resting on Your higher ways

Maybe then You will take me aside 

And show me the bigger picture

But until I'm with You 

I'll be here with a heart that is true

And a soul that's resting on

Your higher ways

I probably shouldn’t have been driving in that moment because I didn’t have wind shield wipers for my eyeballs. Couldn’t really let the kids know I was up there in the front seat about to totally lose it! I couldn’t get my breath…and it wasn’t because we were at about 13000 feet of altitude…Silently sobbing to myself and feeling like I needed to pull over…I was wondering why we were being led down this family  path. But…

 “Your higher ways teach me to trust You

Your higher ways are not like mine

Your higher ways are the ways of the Father

Hiding His children in His love”

As many of you know, the Steven Curtis Chapman family lost their sweet five-year old adopted daughter, Maria in an accident in their driveway a few years ago. Little Maria was born in China and became the Chapman’s third adopted child. The five-time Grammy award winner and his wife, Mary Beth have been humongous advocates for adoption of orphans left alone in the world. They have three natural kids and three adopted Chinese kids. Mary Beth said once, “There may or may not be issues ahead for us. But even if Shaoey turns 16 and says, 'I hate you, I'm going back to China,' I know God put Shaoey in our lives; God put Stevey Joy here, and God put Maria here. Whether it's all peaches-and-cream or it's miserable, this is God's work."

I remember how my heart was so broken for them. I can’t ever thank God enough for how much that guy has encouraged me in my darkest times. I wished there was something I could do…

Just like all of our hearts are all broken for Jen, Patty, Tim, Haylee, and Rick this week. I could never thank God enough for how much Tim and Patty have encouraged us all with all they do for Triple C! How we all wish there was something we could do.

All we can do (and have done!) is lift their precious family up to the throne and pray that God will give them the strength of heart to have a “soul that is resting on Your higher ways”.

Hug your kids today. Tell them you love them. Tell people you love, that you do love them. 

Lift up the broken hearted.

And no matter what happens today, decide in your heart that, with God’s help, you will trust in "His higher ways".