Sunday's Coming

Good Morning,

I just want to take a moment and thank those of you who have sent cards and phoned regarding the passing of LaVon's mother. Your thoughtfulness is special to us. THANKS!

I was reading this morning and this was just too close to home, but I felt I should share. I almost left, but God pressed upon me to stay. WOW! Thank You, God.

Does Your Family Know You Love Them?

By Jim Burns

He will turn the hearts of the fathers [and mothers] to their children; and the hearts of the children to their fathers [and mothers]; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse. Malachi 4:6

My mother had been very sick with cancer. We knew she was going to die. Over the months of her sickness, my mom and I had some very special talks about life, God, and our family. My emotions were often raw. I would laugh harder and cry harder than I ever had before.

My mom’s body was shutting down. It was only a matter of time. Almost every day, I would find the time out of the busyness of life to sit with her, since she was confined to her hospice-care bed. That July, I was struggling with the idea of having to leave my mom’s bedside to go and speak to 6,000 students in Colorado at an international denominational youth event.

The day before I was to leave, my mom seemed to be doing better than she had for many weeks. She told me, “Go and speak to the kids, and I will be right here when you get back.” Hesitantly, I decided she was right. As I left the room she called out to me in a very weak voice, “Jimmy, I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

I left for Colorado and spoke to the students. After the evening event at the conference, I came back to my hotel room, and there was a message to call my wife. Cathy told me that my mom had died.

I was crushed that I had not been there with her. After a restless night of thoughts, tears, and prayers, I left for the airport, and then it dawned on me. The last words my mother ever said to me were, “I love you, Jimmy.” The last words I ever said to her were “I love you too, Mom.” What a blessing!

How is your relationship with your family? Is there an atmosphere of love and warmth, or is there some hostility? Whatever your relationship is like with your family, the biblical mandate is to be loving and supportive. God’s vehicle for faith and love is often the family. Who do you need to say, “I love you” to today?

LaVon and I are truly thankful to God for each of you. Thank you for your continual support and interest in our ministry by investing yourself in many ways as partners with us: by prayer, e-mails, phone calls and your financial gifts. Without any of these we could not continue what God has called us to do and that is to share the living water with the world through the RV ministry.

Have a great day, love you, pass it on.

Don

Sunday's Coming

Good Morning,

I just want to take a moment and thank those of you who have given support to us. My heart is full and my prayer is God will bless you greatly.

I had made plans to leave here next Monday to get the rig in south Texas, but things have taken a turn for the worse, so I must stay put for now. I have said this week if you want to make God laugh tell Him what you are going to do.

James 4:13-17 (NIV)

Boasting About Tomorrow

 ¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

 
I came across this story yesterday and it struck a nerve. I pray it does for you as well.

Abraham Lincoln spent years as a circuit riding lawyer. On one of his trips he and a friend were faced with crossing the dangerous Fox River.
While traveling through a small village he decided to ask a minister about the best place to cross it.
“Well,” said the minister, “it’s always pretty bad. I am familiar with all its dangers. But I have one fixed rule that I never change: I never cross it until I reach it.”




Planning for tomorrow is time well spent. But worrying about what might happen tomorrow is a foolish use of our time.

Scripture for Today: 
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."- Matthew 6:33-34
 
I know God wants what's best for us so I will listen and act accordingly.

LaVon and I are truly thankful to God for each of you. Thank you for your continual support and interest in our ministry by investing yourself in many ways as partners with us: by prayer, e-mails, phone calls and your financial gifts. Without any of these we could not continue what God has called us to do and that is to share the living water with the world through the RV ministry.

Have a great day, love you, pass it on.
Don

Sunday's Coming

Good Morning,

I pray all is going well with you today. I want to thank those of you who sent a reply to last week's devotion.  You were a great encourager to me.

I read the following this week. It reminded to keep my eyes open to see where God is at work so I can join Him there.

REACHING OUT - REACHING UP

It was a bitterly cold Sunday morning. People were walking as fast as they could from the parking lot to the steps that led into the sanctuary. Standing next to the steps was a poorly dressed man with his hat pulled down over his eyes and his collar held tightly as he tried to keep warm. His clothes were shabby and his shoes well worn. He appeared destitute, hopeless and unimportant. No one stopped to offer help.
The church members filled the pews, the choir took their seats and the organist started the prelude. As the people sat waiting for the service to begin, they suddenly let out a gasp as they saw that man who was outside the church walk down the aisle, stand behind the pulpit and remove his tattered clothes. It was their pastor.
Opening his Bible he read, "I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me."
Every day God places opportunities to serve Him before us and around us. These opportunities do not require wealth or skills, intelligence or power. They simply require eyes that are open, a mind that is alert and a heart that is sensitive to the needs of others.
To refuse to help others is refusing to help God.

Prayer: Help us, Father, to see what You see, to feel what You feel and then do what You would do when we see others who need our help. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Scripture for Today: Matthew 25:42-46 - Then He will answer them, saying, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me."

LaVon and I are truly thankful to God for each of you. Thank you for your continual support and interest in our ministry by investing yourself in many ways as partners with us: by prayer, e-mails, phone calls and your financial gifts. Without any of these we could not continue what God has called us to do and that is to share the Living Water with the world through the RV ministry.

Have a great day, love you, pass it on.
Don

Sunday's Coming

Good Morning,

This has been a good week. I spoke to a group of pastors Monday. I told them of our ministry and then preached about encouragement. You see everyone of us needs to be encouraged at times. Sometimes I feel that I am not doing anything or what I am doing is for naught. Then I hear from one of you; oh, what that does for me I will never be able to tell you.

Let me share this story:
“The Story of Robert Moffit: One Convert”

I’m sure you’ve heard the classic story about the faithful pastor who was told by his superior that something was wrong with his work. The supervisor told him, “Only one person has been added to your church this year, and he is only a boy.” Later that day, heavy of heart, the pastor was praying when someone walked up behind him. Turning around, he saw the same boy—his only convert that year. The boy said, “Pastor, do you think I could become a preacher or missionary some day?” The pastor encouraged him to pray and seek God about it. 
The lad was Robert Moffit who was destined to open Africa to the Gospel of Christ. 
Years later when Moffit spoke in London, a young doctor heard him say, “I have seen in the morning sun the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been.” The young doctor, deeply moved by Moffit’s message, was none other than David Livingstone. In 1840, he sailed for Africa where he labored for Jesus for more than three decades—all of this happened because a faithful pastor encouraged his “one convert.”

Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

Let me ask you a question: What are some ways we can encourage one another?

Your reply will show me if anyone is reading this and if I should continue, also I can learn, from you, ways to encourage others that I can share.

LaVon and I are truly thankful to God for each of you. Thank you for your continual support and interest in our ministry by investing yourself in many ways as partners with us: by prayer, e-mails, phone calls and your financial gifts. Without any of these we could not continue what God has called us to do and that is to share the living water with the world through the RV ministry.

Have a great day, love you, pass it on.
Don

It's Friday, but Sunday's Coming <<<watch video

Sunday's Coming

Good Morning,

We hear from some of you daily and you encourage us with your words. Thank you for loving us, praying for us and helping us to continue in our ministry. Last Sunday I had the opportunity to speak in a local church, Praise The Lord. Monday I preach to a group of Pastors in this area, again Praise The Lord.
 
Let me say thanks for your prayers:

THE LIMITS OF PRAYER

Young Eddie was saying grace before the family had dinner in a local restaurant. Heads were bowed and hands united around the table when he said, “Lord, thank You for the food that is coming. And Lord, I’ll really thank You a lot more if Mom would get us some ice cream!”
A woman sitting at the next table was heard to say, “Shame on that child. Kids just don’t know how to pray anymore. Asking God for ice cream is a disgrace.”
Someone in a booth overheard the woman and said, “Asking God for ice cream is a great prayer. Ice cream is good for the soul.”
When the ice cream was served, young Eddie took his bowl to the woman and said, “Here, ma’am. This is for you. Sometimes ice cream is good for the soul.”

Paul said, “Pray about everything!” Nothing is beyond everything – not even ice cream. As believers we need not worry about anything because we have a loving Heavenly Father Who knows about and
cares for our every need and want.

Here’s a great reminder from Peter: “Give all your worries and wants to God, for He cares for you.” If only we would accept the reality of God’s power and His unlimited concern for us, our prayers would be vastly different and even include “ice cream” sometimes.

What are you praying for today? Let me know so we can pray with you.

Scripture for Today:
1 Peter 5:7 - "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."
What a great prayer for us to offer to God each day!

LaVon and I are truly thankful to God for each of you. Thank you for your continual support and interest in our ministry by investing yourself in many ways as partners with us: by prayer, e-mails, phone calls and your financial gifts. Without any of these we could not continue what God has called us to do and that is to share the living water with the world through the RV ministry.

Have a great day, love you, pass it on.
Don

Sunday's Coming

Good Morning

We hear from some of you daily and you encourage us with your words. Thank you for loving us and helping us to continue in our ministry. Monday, I met with a group of Pastors here in Georgia. The sermon was encouraging and they also asked me to come back and preach to them in two weeks.  Praise the Lord, I'll be in the pulpit again.

Let me say:

SOMEONE IS ALWAYS LISTENING

It was a luncheon designed to impress her friends from the neighborhood. Wanting to impress them she asked her five year old son, Jamie, to return thanks.
“Jamie,” she said politely, “will you please say grace?”
“Mommy, please, I don’t really know what to say,” he replied cautiously.
“Well, dear,” she said encouragingly, “just say what you heard Mommy say this morning.”
Bowing his head and folding his hands he began, “Good Lord, why did I invite all these dumb people to lunch today.”
Words can be a sword or a solace or even a weapon that leaves a wound. Words once spoken can never be retrieved or marked “Void.” Words take on a life of their own and will leave another person better or bruised, helped or hurt,encouraged or emptied.

King David wrote, Ps. 19:14 “May the words of my mouth...be pleasing to you, O Lord...” “may...the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you.”

David is asking God to approve his words and thoughts as though they were offerings brought to God’s very own altar and came from the depths of his soul.

What a great prayer for us to offer to God each day!

LaVon and I are truly thankful to God for each of you. Thank you for your continual support and interest in our ministry by investing yourself in many ways as partners with us: by prayer, e-mails, phone calls and your financial gifts. Without any of these we could not continue what God has called us to do and that is to share the living water with the world through the RV ministry.

Have a great day, love you, pass it on.
Don
 

Sunday Is Coming

Good Morning,


This is a trying time. Mama Trudy seems to get weaker daily but her faith continues to be strong. She reads her Bible and prays, I'm sure, for the Lord to come and take her home. This has consumed my thoughts, as well, so as I was reading yesterday, I read the following and had to share.

Going HomeBy Michael Youssef, Ph.D.
As the Bible tells us, God has "set eternity in the hearts of men" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). You and I were made for heaven. Down through history, God has sometimes allowed His followers to see a glimpse of heaven while they were still alive on earth. 
In the New Testament, we read the story of Stephen, who was stoned to death as the first Christian martyr. The account tells us that as the enraged mob picked up stones and closed in around him, "Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 'Look,' he said, 'I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God'" (Acts 7:55-56). As Stephen said this, the people rushed at him and stoned him to death. 
Another follower of Christ who was granted a glimpse of heaven before he died was the popular and well-known preacher Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899). After preaching a sermon on November 16, 1899, he collapsed. Though doctors didn't know what caused the illness, Moody suffered from congestive heart failure. Sensing death approaching, Moody confided to his closest friends, "Soon you will read in the newspaper that I am dead. Don't believe it for a moment. I will be more alive than ever before."Three days before Christmas, Moody lay on his deathbed. Though he struggled to breathe, Moody had no fear of death. Those who were with him said that he seemed to see things no one else could see. His last words were, "Earth recedes...heaven opens before me!"If you have placed your trust in Christ, when your earthly life is over, you will have the indescribable experience of going home to be with your Father in heaven. There, you will experience life as it was meant to be lived when God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 
Prayer: Lord, I look forward to the day when I can come home to be with You in heaven. Thank You that I do not have to fear death. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

"We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8).


LaVon and I are truly thankful to God for each of you. Thank you for your continual support and interest in our ministry by investing yourself in many ways as partners with us: by prayer, e-mails, phone calls and your financial gifts. Without any of these we could not continue what God has called us to do and that is to share the living water with the world through the RV ministry.


Have a great day, love you, pass it on.
Don