Yay, It's Monday

We got to spend some time this weekend with this little guy and his mommy and daddy.  Oh what fun we had.  He is so dear!  Holding him was like going back 22 years and holding his daddy, they look so much alike, the only difference I see really is that Levi has dark peach fuzz like his mommy and Samuel; Levi's daddy had no peach fuzz untill he was two years old and then it was blond.



Did you all get to go to church this weekend?  We did, and as usual Pastor Don nailed everything he touched on for Jesus. 

I really hope you all do not mind me rehashing the Sunday teachings that we had; I do this because they are so good I want to share them!

So Pastor Don's sermon was titled, "Thankful Heart."  Do you know what it is like to have a thankful heart?  I do!  It's knowing:

          1.  That your family is well and healthy.

          2.  We do everything we can to provide for ourselves and our families.

          3.  That we have good health, we quit smoking this year, about June.

Do you have any idea, how much money we are saving since we are not smoking our pipes anymore?  We are almost caught up on bills, almost...

          4.  We now have an amazing church family to be a part of!

          5.  That we love going to church...

And there are so many more things that we are thankful for I could go on all day.

Pastor Don told us a story yesterday about a boll weevil, which is an insect that comes from Mexico.  This critter somehow ended up in Enterprise, Alabama, and ate the cotton crop.  Well this was the area's way of supporting itself.  And when this was removed from them they figured out that something else need to happen or they would be no more.  So a man by the name of H. M. Sessions convinced a farmer who had his own property, to plant peanuts.  This turned out successfully and the area then discovered that it was a good idea to plant various things rather than the same things all the time.  The town did so well that a monument was erected to remind the townspeople and I suppose anyone who made there way to this town that a disaster is sometimes all it takes for a positive change to be made.

Story Time: Another Illustration!
A young woman with several children has a nice home in a warmer climate.  And this young woman, being the kind of person that she is, not able to turn her back on anyone in need, has opened her home to shelter a few extra people.  Contributions are made to the household.  But are they sufficient? 
So one day the young woman sat down in her own private quarters and made a few list.  The first list was what is cost to run the house with this many people living in it.  The next list was looking at each family unit that lived there and there ability to contribute to the household.  And this was divided into two lists as it were.  The ability to contribute financially and the ability to contribute physically, like cooking, cleaning, and doing chores in general.
Since everyone had lived there for some time, the young women decided that it was the responsibility of all to help with the recent changes that had occurred to set them all back a bit.  And in this fashion, if there were changes within any of the other family units, all would help again.  She set about establishing house rules....
There would have to be time spent each day, at least a minimum of 10 minutes with the Lord.  And it didn't matter to the young woman when this was accomplished as long as it was accomplished.  Everyone would have chores to do, from the oldest to the young, but capable children.  And if a child was ill than it became that child's parent's responsibility.  In other words, everything didn't fall back on the young woman. And there was also time spent discussing things...things that were happening and positive changes that could be made (Therapy sessions).  But and this was very important, there always must be one person to head up such a venture, and since the young women had been the one to invite these people to stay in her home it was the young woman who had the final say.  After all she had many years of both good and bad experiences to call upon for knowledge.  And if she didn't know an answer, she was capable of saying this, and finding out the answers. 

Time went by....eventually the young woman was able to move everyone into larger accommodations; the new house was called The Walk Out House.
She decided to call it this because, although some people were only able to crawl in, they were eventually able to Walk Out.  Standing tall and proud and capable, but mostly thankful.  So perhaps this young woman has her boll weevil moment, here catastrophe is her catalyst for a positive change. 

When you pray don't just ask for things from God, express your thanks as well!  And remember that if you are walking with God, you will still have adversity, but since you are walking with God you will know how to handle the adversity!  Guess what it is time for me to get ready for work and to go and be a blessing to someone to day, I wonder who that will be?