Wow C2... good for you!!! Who knew mission work could double as sightseeing!!! I'm just kidding .... but how great is that... you get to see some amazing places and serve the Lord all the while.
Hey I have a birthday that week... it'd really be a great b-day present if you pack me up and take me along... I'm sure I'd fit in a medium size bag.... you wouldn't even have to bring me back. Somehow I'm thinking once there I might not want to leave.
Psa 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
LA/Boston, the radio air waves (sports talk) is nothing but Lakers/Celtics! When it comes to the Lakers, this "City" includes Ventura, San Bernadino, Riverside and Orange Counties. All call the Lakers "their team" which is over 18 million people. It is going to be fun!
Jill,
Thanks for the congrats. I am excited and very grateful. So, I'm gonna love Barcelona, huh? Very cool!
lnf,
Sightseeing? Yep, every trip include a bit of sight seeing but just the experience of being in another country is very cool. Every trip rejuvinates me to be the best servant I can, here in my own back yard. I have story after story after story of how God used me to reach out to someone here in my community as I was either about to go out or was coming back from a trip. The enthusiasm is infectious as my friends who cannot go, hear the stories and benefit from the encouragement I am able to give them in their circumstances.
They all know how I got shafted in the marriage yet they see how I knew I had to cling to God. Now they see how He has blessed me on these trips, they see how He blesssed me with this job and they see the confidence I have that God will take bad things and work them out for His good.
Yep, I am fired up!
Also, I still encourage you to get connected to an area you believe God wants you to go at some point and start supporting missionaries currently serving their through prayer and encouraging communications.
Story from Hawaii about France: A group of bible college students went to Hawaii as their end of the year trip and they were there the week before we arrived and stayed through the duration of our trip as well. One of those students had been praying about going to France but she only told one or two of her friends. While on the island, she encountered a couple who had been praying and praying for France and wanted to support someone doing missionary work there. The end result is this student went to Hawaii to do work for the Lord and wound up getting the support she had been praying for to go do the Lord's work in France. Go figure!
So, again, I encourage you to pray about where He wants you to support, then connect to some missionaries there. If your church doesn't have any in that area or if you don't have an organization you want to support there, I can probably lead you to some resources off the board. (Bethie, Jill, Karen know how to reach me).
If something or some place is on your heart, the Lord probably put it there and has something or someone there He wants to connect you to, some way, some how. It takes a step of faith and the God does the rest (I have seen it happen way too often to doubt what God can do with a willing heart).
Committed2Him- "C2H" All Things (Back from Spain!)...18
Way too many blessings to count! About to start my 45 min commute which gives me the opportunity to thank God and to petition Him for those needs each of you have that I am aware of. At a minimum, I know I need to continue to stay in a mode of forgiveness towards my X and Mr. X and to bring myself to a mindset of genuine caring for them and their eternal well being. This is a prayer I think I can probably pray for just about everyone on the board.
Freedom in forgiveness When I went to the men's conference on Saturday, I sat with some guys I did not know and we chatted over lunch. I shared a little about my story, including forgiving Mr. X (I was talking about the need to have men I am accountable, men who can see things in me I can't see) as a result of some brothers telling me I still hadn't forgiven Mr. X. During a pause in the conversation, the guy across from me nudged his friend and said, "you needed to hear that, didn't you?" I soon found out his friend was dealing with an X he needed to forgive. God will use us if we are willing.
Again, praying that you each have a most blessed day.
George "C2H" Bailey
Committed2Him- "C2H" All Things (Back from Spain!)...18
Gotta run but will look up your postings on the topic.
Spain confirmations: I was willing to give up 4 days without pay, to go on this trip. After stepping out in faith and deciding to go, I then realized one of those days was Thanksgiving and I then found out we also get that Friday off as well
Yesterday my H.R/Accounting person (small company) asked me if our sick day policy had been explained so I said, "what sick day policy?). As it turns out, we get 40 hour which are use it or lose it days and the company uses those days befor vacation days so, she basically explained that for my Spain trip, I will not be losing any salary ! It may not seem like much so some but I was willing to go without pay and yet, the pay has not vanquished.
The explanation came towards the end of the day, a very busy but good day and the news was really welcome, a confirmation that I am right where God wants me to be for this time.
Off to join the traffic, to praise God and to pray for my family and friends (both real and imaginary)
Committed2Him- "C2H" All Things (Back from Spain!)...18
Can I be you for just a day??? I promise to use my own butt light.......
No you can't be Queenie because that would be my job. Well you can do the butt light part, ok?
C2,
Sure sounds as if this Spain trip was mwant to be. How exciting for you!
Sounds like you're liking your job and that you work with pretty good people. So cool. I'm going to use you as an example to fig and Shoe as to how everything works out in the end. We just have to have faith!
Can I be you for just a day??? I promise to use my own butt light.......
Ummm, ok but not on Wednesday. I am going to have dinner with my friends whose wedding I helped with as well as the President of the Romanian ministry our team went to help last year. I stay in contact with the minstry via prayer requests and communicate with her directly periodically. When she comes to So. Cal, she usually visits our church as she is doing tomorrow. I love this woman like any of my closest sisters in church, she is amazing.
We have midweek service which tomorrow will focus on missions so our Hawaii team will have a spokesman share a little bit about our trip while a short slide show is presented. It will be special because we served together for a short time and in doing so, developed a special bond. The President of the Romanian ministry will also speak briefly and the church will also show a short slide show from the trip we took last fall. We will send a team there this fall and so this will allow others to find out about the opportunity to go to Romania and to begin praying about it.
Jill, you can be me on Thursday but you do need to use your own butt light
Bethie, Yep, Spain was meant to be, the job is cool as are my coworkers. There are many here who can be used as an example of life getting better but Shoe and fig are welcome to see how things have gotten better for this undeserving fella. I'm most appreciative.
Special Blessing I looked through my threads and realized I failed to mention one of the most special blessings I have ever received.
The day of my departure for Hawaii, the newlyweds (my friends I will be meeting tomorrow) wanted me to meet them for breakfast which I did. This was my opportunity to give them their wedding gift since the day of the wedding was so hectic PLUS a chance to see them before they went on to another phase of their honeymoon.
So, after we ate and I gave them their gift which they appreciated (thanks to all the wonderful ideas you all shared with me). I gave them special CD's I made for them, a unique picure in a frame which I took of them at their rehersal dinner, a his and hers copy of a very special book they were both aware of, something that will enhance their marriage, a gift certificate to a nice restaurant (which they used last Saturday) and I gave them the behind the scenes video that nobody else had. Rehersal dinner, preparing their reception location with all the help they did not see, video in the groom's room, video at the reception and more. I felt really good in giving them these different things rich in meaning.
After thanking me, the husband handed me a bulky card in an envelope. In the card each wrote how much they greatly appreciated the my efforts to make their wedding day special and what a blessing it turned out to be. Their words were extremely touching. They also indicated that they wanted to bless me and they gave me money. I thanked them deeply and put the money away. We each needed to hit the road, them to Santa Barbara and me to get home to get my bags and get ready to leave for the airport. When I got in in the car and got on the road, I was curious as to what they gave me and counted the money, realizing they gave me $500. They are not people of great means and yet they they gave me this generous gift.
Now I took on the role and did it out of love with zero expectation of any financial gain but they chose to outgive my love gift with one of their own. Amazing! I was completely blown away!
It IS a wonderful life!
(Just now, the song they played after they said "I do" randomly played on my itunes out of 50 songs I have on this particular play list. It is a beautiful version of "Oh Happy Day" (track 3) sung by the Tuff Singers. The song will forever remind me of an amazing journey I was privilege to witness which resulted in a blessed marriage and an amazing wedding).
Committed2Him- "C2H" All Things (Back from Spain!)...18
awwww C2H, how sweet and wonderful that God just planned the whole trip for you and provided for you down to the last detail!!!!!! I'm am so so happy for you hon smiling BIG here
C2H, have you give a try to books on CD? they truly save my sanity!
Be not afraid...I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten Joel2
30something 2kids survivor of S, MLC, A, D I have peace in my heart, at last.
LA/Boston, the radio air waves (sports talk) is nothing but Lakers/Celtics! When it comes to the Lakers, this "City" includes Ventura, San Bernadino, Riverside and Orange Counties. All call the Lakers "their team" which is over 18 million people. It is going to be fun!
Well shoot C2, who do you think the rest of New Englad roots for? It's the Celtic of course and I'm not sure how many people that would be exactly but I know it's a lot!
Hey why can't we have a friendly rivalry? I'll pray and you pray and we'll see who God likes best..........
! It may not seem like much so some but I was willing to go without pay and yet, the pay has not vanquished.