A few updates

Hey Guys
It's Monday night and so much has happened...I have tried to see may doctor's today as the left side of my face has become numb and began to slide off my head. A condition some have called bells palsy, I know I spelled that wrong. However, no doctor will see me as they do not know if it worker's comp or not. So, I come home and pray the good Lord will heal me. We leave Friday morning for our Mission trip and the Lord has blessed us and the people of San Miguel by sending so much stuff through various people. I pray we get all the gifts across the border. There has even been a huge interest in the March trip as far as more people actually going. I have found out that the job I was kinda hanging out waiting for, has gone away. Yet after some prayer, I have come to realize this was not in God's plan. So, I continue to search and wait for the employeement the good Lord has intended for me. I actually feel like I am being led to the mission field or something to do with the church? I will continue to pray on that as I also feel that nothing is going to change till after the first of the year after this mission trip, and that I am to put all my efforts and energies into that. Ryan has moved out of the house, and I am not sure what the future holds for him. Amazingly enough I am coming to grips with the fact that I cannot control his future. I can only help when he asks and be there if he falls, as all of us can do for each other. If any of you talk to him please encourage him in any positive way, invite him to recovery, church, or just to hang out. I pray if it is part of the Lord's plan that he will still go to Mexico with the team. I had an uncle pass on today, bitter sweet. His pain and suffering now are gone and he is warm and laughing. I feel comfort in the thought, he would not want me to postpone the mission trip, he himself knows the great works that will be done through God's will. Although my mother will take it hard, and she will not understand that someone would pick a mission trip over family. I pray her heart will be softened. I look forward to seeing all of your faces in one place at one time again, and I challenge all of you to pick an area and serve at the church.

God's Rescue

It was a bit of a downer to realize that tomorrow is Saturday and our group will not be meeting. But then again it gives me some time to spend with my wife.... and maybe get some tasks done. Oh well, Ill miss all of you.

One of my ongoing struggles is in not understanding that God will me from my own depravity. I know my sin, but fail to see God's helping hand. For this reason God led me to a special place this morning that I would like to share with you.

Psalm 18:16-19
He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
He drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me fro my powerful enemy (my sin),
from my foes who were too strong for me.
The confronted me in the day of my desaster,
but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out into a spacious place;
He rescued me because He delighted in me.

I thank Him for rescuing me from myself.
God bless you guys and I'll miss you tomorrow.

George

Bleeding Honesty

First, let's thank God for using Chris to bring us all together even after the class is over, and pray the closeness continues. I think we all got a link inviting us to become authors of this blog. Most blogs allow up to fifty authors. Anyway, I think a good way to use this would be to express our problems and concerns as an author. Then, if someone wanted to say something about your problems or concerns they can make comments on that particular post. A couple of examples would be: we are praying for you, I'm struggling with you, or whatever. Let's try not to be negative. I have learned in the past that e-mail has no emotion. If you're not sure exactly how your message will be received, don't leave it. We can say these things till we are blue in the face, but if we don't actually use this thing it won't work.

So, I need to admit that the day we finish the scheduled times for this class Satan has moved hard to test a few of us. It is a true test for me to keep my anger level down. That feeling of control is trying to creep it's way back into my life. I must remember to put my faith and trust in the Lord that this is part of his plan, and I am not in any form of control of the situation. My thoughts are running through the things I may have or may have not done in this situation. I think back to Michael's study on how to do a fifth step, and remember how he explains how God has already planned what he is going to do in that person's life. We are just there as tools, we are not actually going to save anyone. So, my hope rests that this is all part of God's plan. If not, may God give me peace that I can only make my choices, and not make others peoples choices for them.

Finally, Janruary 10 is the Saturday for those classes. I am not sure how many of us will be there. Yet, since they don't start till 9:00 maybe we can meet for breakfast that morning. At least that will be a start.

January Meeting

Alright - just throwing this out there now in case anyone checks out this site over the holidays or just freaks out an comes to this site next Saturday because they're lonely and don't know what to do. :) Anyone have any ideas on if/when we should try to get together in January, '09 and what we should do, where we might meet?