As you start the week...

"Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us daily."

-Sally Koch

Eternal Value

"I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity."

-John Wesley

Over the last few months, I have gained several items that have made my life much easier by their presence.  A smartphone, a new and better computer, a upgraded printer and a raise in salary from our church have all come my way recently either as purchases or gifts.  The greater technology makes life easier, the upgraded equipment makes daily tasks quicker to perform and the additional income eases the burden of paying back college loans and medical bills.

That being said, I would have survived without each of these items.  They are lovely additions, but not necessary to sustain my life.  What do we value most in life?  Family photographs, our Bibles, heirlooms and keepsakes are most likely very dear to us as physical possessions.  Relationships, words of advice, friendly smiles and memories shared with loved ones are less tangible but probably much more valuable to us.

We must learn to see things as tools: tools that are to be used to give glory to God and help build relationships with others.  Wealth is not meant to be hoarded, but it is rather to be shared.  I must be sure I am placing proper emphasis on using my blessings for good and for God.  My home must be a welcoming place, my vehicle must be transportation for others, my technology a tool to reach out to others and my money a device by which to influence people for the cause of Christ.

May we learn to value things in view of eternity and use our blessings to bless others.

One step at a time

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."

- Mother Teresa

Many times we get overwhelmed by the amount of injustice and wrong in the world.  We are constantly bombarded by 24-hour news channels, fundraising letters, plights of friends and family broadcast through e-mail and on Facebook.  We perhaps begin to think that the little bit that I could do wouldn't really make much difference at all, so why bother?

It is true we cannot do everything to solve the problems of the world.  We may not even be able to do much to fix the problems that our closest friends and family experience.  Despite the fact we cannot do it all, that does not excuse us from doing what we can.  Hunger will be solved by feeding one person at a time.  Destroying poverty will be accomplished by offering one person a job to better his or her family.  Reaching the world for Christ will occur when every Christian talks to just one other person about Jesus.

Friend, don't become overwhelmed that you can't do it all.  Just do what you can, where you are, and allow God to work through you.  The people you influence will go on to influence others and so will begin a chain reaction that can indeed change the world.

"You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving."

-Amy Carmichael

"Sympathy is no substitute for action."

-David Livingstone

today was...

Good music.  Good friends.  Out of Crockett for awhile. 

Less drama.  Two good meetings today.  Talked with good friends. 

Made a few new ones.  Was rebuked by a true friend I didn't know. 

Scolded by a busybody.  Had unity without Unity. 

Just for Today. 

Just for Today. 

Just for Today.

"To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition, to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, THIS is to have succeeded."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Transcendentalist essayist and Unitarian minister

"'Not called!' Did you say?"

'Not heard the call,' I think you should say.'

"Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world."

 — William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

"I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again."

-William Penn

Thanks to everyone who made the Henderson Arts Commission's "Arts in the Alley" program a success last night.  Special thanks to those who supported Richard and Jenni in their long road to adoption.  You were able to receive a gift for a child in your life, so that they may receive a child to be a gift in their own.  That is what it is all about: caring and sharing the love of God, person to person, stanger to stragner, friend to friend.  I know, most of all, Richard and Jenni desire your prayers in this time of waiting on God's response to their prayer to receive just the right child they have wanted for so long.

See all you Chester County folks again on August 26, 2010, LORD willing, for another great "Arts in the Alley."

In Him,

-Will

P.S.  Jenni takes custom orders and SEC football is just around the corner...think about and contact me for more information on how to get that favorite fan a great gift...:)

P.P.S.  Be thinking about returning FHU students...these dolls make great social club gifts, mission trip outreach (lightweight, can be culturally diverse, etc.), can be themed to a particular major (biology, drama, etc.)...possibilities are endless and all monies go to save a child!