This weekend has been a roller coaster of positives and negatives. Positive: The wedding of two Christians. Sammy and Andrea Livingstone are now hitched and beginning a new life together. I was fortunate to do premarital counseling with them and was looking forward to their big day. Negative: I received a text the night before from Dave Osbourne that he would be flying into Fort Lauderdale at 11:05 am and I would be picking him up, which also meant I would be missing the wedding. I had planned for him to come in, pick him up and for him stay with me while he is in Florida, but the details were not known until Friday night. I heard I missed a great time at the wedding. I did get to speak to the bride 10 minutes before she walked down the aisle, so that was a plus.
Positive: My friend Dave Osbourne is here from Linstead, Jamaica. He is such a neat guy who is passionate about his work. I love it! Many of you mentioned to me how much you enjoyed hearing him speak last night. When you find out the few resources the Caribbean preachers have access to it is encouraging when you hear them preach. They are amazing guys. Limited technology, limited books and limited monies to get those things if they had access to them. This is one of the reasons I did the 2 for $20 on my books so I could provide them (and Bible majors) with a copy at my cost. Dave was the first recipient! You never really hear them complain, only that they feel privileged to speak for the Master. If you would like to spend some time with Dave let me know. Tonight and Tuesday morning lunch is already booked, but if you are interested in another time we will try to work it out. He flies out early Wednesday morning for Ohio but will be back on the 24th before flying back on the 26th. Negative: I have a predicament. Missy is flying out to her mom's Tuesday afternoon and Dave flies out Wednesday morning. His flight is at 8:30 am from Orlando International, which means he will need to leave my house around 5 am. Here is the problem, I have to get Micah and Bella up, ready, breakfast and to school. So (here it comes), I was wondering if we have any early birds who like to take Jamaican preachers to the airport. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. Please let me know if this is something you can do.
Positive: Joe Wild broke down yesterday morning telling us about all the good news of those we have been praying for - Peggy Stephens, Jerry Cutshall, the two little girls who were dealing with serious issues this past week. The fact is, Joe could have made those announcements for the sermon and we would have been given a powerful lesson on prayer. So encouraging. Negative: People hurting in our world never ends. Last night we announced several prayer requests of Brandy Brackett - her grandmother in hospice, her brother's surgery, and dad who has been diagnosed with kidney cancer. When I got home last night I received an email about the Crisis Relief International in Iraq. "We lost the city of Queragosh. It fell to ISIS and they are beheading children systematically. This is the city we have been smuggling food too. ISIS has pushed back Peshmerga (Kurdish forces) and is within 10 minutes of where our CRI team is working. Thousands more fled into the city of Erbil last night. The UN evacuated it's staff in Erbil. Our team is unmoved and will stay. Prayer cover needed!" We celebrate the positive results of prayer, but may we not let up! This is a spiritual battle we are dealing with (Eph. 6:12) and prayer is of the utmost importance (6:18). Don't let the negatives get you down because the positives show that prayer is working.
Enough of the roller coaster. Let's end this thing with positives! Amber Roe made it safely to Africa for her mission trip. Reagan Brackett is growing in amazing ways during her time in Africa with the Harding group. Dave Osbourne will be speaking to the Tuesday morning class, which will consists of questions and answers about Jamaica and the work there. I have two Bible studies on Tuesday. The teens had a great start to selling out their fish fry coming up. Add to that, Mike Wiley has been going out to catch enough fish for 100 people! Our attendance was up Sunday. The singing was encouraging. All of our new Bible classes are getting great feedback. Our children's program continues to amaze our visitors and the kids are learning more and more every week. Our teens seem to be more united and excited than ever. And finally, I got a free coffee this morning at Panera before I began this blog.
Let's carry these positives into our roller coaster world. When you are coming down into the negatives it is hard to remember all the positives at the top. Help others see them as well. Don't dwell in the valleys. Philippians 4:8, Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (ESV)
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