Missionaries are the cream of the crop of Christianity.
A few decades ago, a missionary was working hard at spreading the Gospel in China. Impressed by the advances he was making with the Chinese government, the Standard Oil Company offered the missionary a weighty sum of money to work for them in developing a branch of the company in China. The missionary promptly turned them down. Shocked, the company doubled their offer, giving him a sum of money that would draw even the strongest of people to consider the life of luxury it could offer. Again, the missionary refused the job. Puzzled, the company asked him what it was he wanted. "We can't offer you any more money." The missionary replied, "The money's not too small; the job is."

Thanksgiving Plans

For Thanksgiving this year it is just going to be my younger sibs, me and my parents at home. Hopefully it will be a peaceful and relaxing day aside from all the dishes to wash. Josiah is flying into Baltimore late tonight. Hopefully he makes it in ok.

I am looking forward to Friday too. We are going to Sight and Sound with my older brothers and their families and my grandmother.

Some things I am thankful for:

Family

Friends

Tea & chocolate
(two things necessary for survival)

Church

Freedom

God's Word

Books

Time Management

I haven't shared much about what I learned at the conference yet. I thought I would share about one of the sessions which I have been working on applying in my life.

One of the sessions that has made a difference in my life was on time management by Jeremy Rands. What he shared wasn't really profound, it was just something that I needed some encouragement and motivation to apply to my life. He emphasized the importance of having a schedule and just being organized with how you use your time by good planning.

I used to be fairly good with this but have been slipping in this area more recently. As a result, I have been wasting a lot of time. Then things don't get accomplished that need to be done and the frustrations and stress begin to mount. Ever been there?

I have tried in times past to go by a detailed schedule everyday but have found that this just doesn't work for me. So, the first step I have taken is to just stick to going to bed at a certain time and getting up at a specified time. This has helped me to be well rested and also to get a good start on my day with spending a good amount of time with the Lord. It is amazing how much better the day goes when it gets off to the right start.

I have found the best way to get the things accomplished that I need to is by making a list and then set an amount of time to accomplish it in. I have also been trying to use up small amounts of time that usually go wasted. I am also working on getting my areas of the house better organized and working to keep them that way. I have decided that even if I am in a hurry, in the long run it saves time if I put things away instead of leaving it out to do later.

One thing Bro. Rands also mentioned is that sometimes it is the spiritual thing to say no to people. It is not God's desire that we live overwhelmed lives, constantly under stress and pressure. One thing my pastor said in his sermon on Sunday was that sometimes we may need to seem standoffish just to be sure that we are keeping God in His proper place. We have to keep things in the right priorities and our relationship with our Lord must be placed above all else.

"If you are too busy, hectic, and overwhelmed, you are not effectively ministering to people."

"The purpose to being organized is living a life that glorifies and honors God and helps others to do the same."

From my bookshelf...

I have just finished reading Life is Tremendous by Charlie "Tremendous" Jones. This is one of those books where you can really feel the author's enthusiasm. He encourages you to get excited about life and to learn to love what you do even if it's not what you love doing.

One of the things he says in the beginning of the book is that he doesn't care what you remember from the book but how your thinking is changed through the book. I have been pondering this and thinking this is how it should be with the sermons we hear, what we read in our devotions and the other inspirational books we read. What I remember is not as important as is how my life has been changed and what actions I am taking as a result.

I do not love life based on my circumstances but because of a decision that I have made.

Twas the month before Christmas*

*When all through our land,*

*Not a Christian was praying*

*Nor taking a stand.*

*See the PC Police had taken away,*

*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*

*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*

*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*

*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say*

* December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.*

*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*

*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*

*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*

*Something was changing, something quite odd! *

*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*

*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*

*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*

* At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.*

*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*

*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.*

*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*

*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*

*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*

*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !*

*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*

*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*

*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*

* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*

*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*

*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*

*So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'*

*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*

*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*

*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,

not Happy Holiday !*

Please, all Christians join together and

wish everyone you meet during the

holidays a

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christ is The Reason for the Christ-mas Season!

Wordless Wednesday

I am back home now from the conference. It was absolutely an awesome conference! I am very glad that I was able to go. It was definitely life changing. The preaching and sessions were exceptional. We are hoping to get more people from our church to go out next year. Hopefully, I will be able to go again. The only down side is that I am exhausted. I did not get much sleep last week and have also been recovering from sickness and am still dealing with migraines. Please pray for me as I will be going through more testing to try to figure out what exactly is causing the headaches. I have had them almost continuously since the summer.

At the conference, I bought several new books which I am eager to start reading. I will post reviews about them after I finish them. I have a stack of books I am in the middle of, so I need to finish those before I start anything new.

Rejoicing in the Lord!

“It takes character to cope with life
when duty rather than excitement
is the sustaining force.”

Well...tonight I am off to Ohio. I am going to be attending the "Loving and Leading" conference in Milford. There is going to be a number of excellent speakers. I am very exciting about this and hoping to gain lots of new ideas and be challenged. I will be getting back late Saturday night or Sunday morning (yay!). I am also looking forward to catching up with a friend from college while out there.

I have yet to finish packing so I will best be going!