That was quick

In my previous post I shared a need for an electrician to come in and help with running the electric in a home on one of our reserves. I just got a call from an electrician who is going to do the work and from another electrician who has confirmed he will be donating the material.
It is wonderful to see the Lord work and provide for this immediate need. Just as a side note, if anyone locally could provide some hot meals for this family over the next couple of days, please let me know.

Visiting family on the reserve

This morning I went to spend some time with a family. I mentioned before that they are living in a pretty rough situation on one of our local Indian reserves. Yesterday their only source of electricity, their generator stopped working, so they are keeping warm from the wood stove.
On a positive note the family is now able to receive some financial assistance through the government which should provide money for a smalll amount of groceries weekly. They also had delivered to them just about enough sheetrock to finish their home once we get the electrical finished. Please pray along with them that we can get an electrician in right away so we can really move forward.
Both the mom and dad are battling sickness at this point with pretty nasty colds. It is not surprising due to the situation they are living in.
They continue to wait on a miracle. I feel blessed to be able to call on them and pray with them. They are wonderful people enduring overwhelming challenges.

Prayer request

Yesterday at our church an announcement was made that the prayer room in our church still needed another 7,000.00 in order to begin and complete the project. That plea has been made before and up until yesterday no answer had come. Well yesterday at church someone wrote a check for 7,000.00 and the need was taken care of.
I was thrilled to see God move in the midst of this need and at the same time I was a bit discouraged as I know we still have a tremendous personal financial need that still remains unchanged.
I was encouraged though to once again bring our financial need before God and people to make them aware of the miracle we need. So please pray that some resolution comes our way.
I have an unspoken prayer request as well. I need God's wisdom in a situation where I must confess I am unsure what to do next. My peace comes from knowing that God is in control and He will reveal to me what to do.
Also one last request. Our ministry base in Florida has a property that needs to be sold. It is causing the ministry to have a financial burden it does not need. A potential buyer has stepped forward and it would be such a blessing to have this weight removed from the ministry.

Pictures from Amazing Race

Building friendships
Knocking down 80 pins as fast as you can
Three people eating half a pie
Finding chips around Freddy
Concentrating on the Sodoku

Amazing Race

Saturday afternoon was such a beautiful day after a winter storm hit our area on Friday. I was hoping for good weather so we could host our native outreach. We got the good weather and played "The Amazing Race".

It was so much fun. Each of the eleven teens who participated had a great time and asked when we would be doing it again. It was very competitive, in a good way.

We had four teams in the race which took over three hours to complete. In the end the difference in time between the first and second place team was just .57 seconds. In fact the difference between first and fourth was less than 10 minutes.

There were many fun and challenging things for the teens to do on the race. The last challenge for the teams was a choice. They could either eat gross food, or roll a basketball from one end of the gym to the other into a small net, they had to do this 40 times. To eat the food would be faster but only one team could eat it. Other teams started to eat it but couldn't get over the taste.

What was in the "food"? We started with plain yogurt and added bean sprouts, red kidney beans, hotdogs, and the topper was olives. I felt it was only right if I asked the teens to eat it that I did it as well. It turned out to be delicious???, so I took the leftovers home to have for a snack!!! Just kidding.

I will be posting pictures later from this event. We continue to have so much fun and we grow stronger together as a group. One thing we do need are some funds to be able to put into this ministry. If you know of someone who could help us out that would be great. Right now we are paying for this ministry out of our own pockets.

Favor of God

I have been praying about a native family and finding a way to reach them. I have asked God for wisdom beyond my own and an opportunity to really connect with the mom and brother. On Monday the Lord opened that door wide.

As I drove to the reserve I asked God once again for His favor. When I arrived at the home to meet with the daughter I was welcomed with less than open arms. I was invited in but told they only had ten minutes to talk. When I speak of they, I mean the daughter and her brother.

As I sat at the kitchen table talking about helping this young lady get back in school, her brother said that she needed to listen to what I was saying. He told her that she needed to get back in school and that I had a plan that could work for her.

In just a few more minutes other teens from the reserve came into the house and listened to what I was talking about and they began to share their frustrations in life and how they want to be accepted like everyone else.

As this discussion was taking place, into the house walked the mother. I have called to talk with the mom on many occasions but she has been unwilling to talk with me. She has had people lie and tell me that she was not home when indeed she was. The mom began to listen to the conversation taking place and sat down to participate. It was amazing.

I knew I had been accepted a few minutes later whaen the son walked over and asked if I wanted to have a coffee with them. That was huge. It was a sign that I was welcome in their home.

For the next hour and a half we talked and laughed and shared stories together. I was able to share how I believed their was hope for their family and the community in general. I talked with the mom about beginning to do some counseling and she shared she would like to start.

The final blessing was having the young lady I went to talk to, agree to come out to a youth event we are doing this Saturday and she has invited three other friends who want to come along.

There was such an openness created during our conversation and I can only attribute this to the favor of God. I want to encourage you in this; if you are trying to reach out to people who seem unwilling to listen continue to trust God and pray that He give you His favor.

Catch and release

Over Christmas I had the oportuntiy to read a powerful book, "Same Kind of Different As Me", it may have been the most powerful book I have ever read, it is a true story!!!. I could often only read ten or fifteen pages and have to walk away from the book as i was in tears.

The story is of three people from two different, radically different backgrounds, that the Lord brings together through the vision of a woman and the power of God. There is a poignant scene in this book where the two gentleman are having a discussion about friendship.

When we hear the words "catch and release" we often think of fishing. If we catch a fish that is undersized we then take it and put it back in the water or if we are simply fishing for the sport of it we take the fish and put it back in the water for another day. Either way we only have that fish in our possesion for a short time.

Going back to the discussion between the friends one man who has had a hard time in life and has never had a true friend, asks the other man, "Are you going to catch and release me?" In other words are you going to invest in me for a short time and then forget about me?, or are you and I going to be true friends that stick by one another?

I have thought alot about these words "catch and release". I began to think about some of the people God has placed in my path who I have not been in contact with for some time. I also thought about the people that are hard to minister to and what my commitment to them is. Am I in it for the long haul or simply to "catch and release".

One area of ministry where I know the Lord has specifically directed me to is our First Nation Indian Reserves. This is not a catch and release ministry. It is a get involved, make an impact and show people the love of Christ in all I do.