A World Wide Open
Saturday was a great day. Evelyn preached a powerful message in the morning. Her sermon was entitled: "The Value of a Soul." She came from Matthew 16: "What shall it profit you to gain the whole world and lose your own soul."
Point: the value of a soul is based on (1.) the fact that we have
God's breath in us ("breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and
man became a living soul") and (2.) the fact that we have been bought again by Christ's blood.
If we understood our value, we would never trade our souls for stuff. Not worth gaining the world and losing that soul of inestimable value.
She preached a good, solid, creative message.
After church we went to Nancy's house for her house blessing. It turned out to be such a wonderful time! First of all, Nancy is a fabulous cook! She cooks like she's somebody's down-home grandmama! Girl can burn! (Go Ekene!)
But the fellowship was sweet. The boys had a ball. Ev and I sat on her back porch and talked with Seth a good while.
The pic I have chose kind of encapsulates the intense conversation we shared with Seth who works for a school district. These children are so precious! They are so full of potential and promise! But some bad decisions on their part combined with poor parenting can just squander those opportunities.
This week has been filled with some distressing news. In the last seven days people have personally talked to me about children who are going to jail, a mother whose daughter is about to be evicted and put on the street, teenage children who have recorded videos with other teenage children that could never be rented at a Blockbuster or Hollywood video store (catch my drift?), children who have overdosed on drugs! These are some challenging times for these children, many of whom never understand the great risk and possibly long-lasting effects of the things with which they involve themselves.
In this pic it looks like Winston is doing the Lloyd Mallory. (Lloyd Mallory has a Doctorate in Musical Arts from UCLA. A protége of the late Nathan Carter, director of the world-renowned Morgan State University Concert Choir, he often directs his soloists who are backed by the choir.) Who knows what Winston will grow up to be? Or Spencer?
The world is wide open. God has His plans. But let's not fool ourselves, the devil has a plan too. So let us pray for our children. And let us pray for ourselves, that God will give us wisdom to strike the right balance between letting them know that we support them and at the same time supporting those who also have their best interests at heart who must sometimes discipline our children for things we may not so readily see.
Point: the value of a soul is based on (1.) the fact that we have
God's breath in us ("breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and
man became a living soul") and (2.) the fact that we have been bought again by Christ's blood.
If we understood our value, we would never trade our souls for stuff. Not worth gaining the world and losing that soul of inestimable value.
She preached a good, solid, creative message.
After church we went to Nancy's house for her house blessing. It turned out to be such a wonderful time! First of all, Nancy is a fabulous cook! She cooks like she's somebody's down-home grandmama! Girl can burn! (Go Ekene!)
But the fellowship was sweet. The boys had a ball. Ev and I sat on her back porch and talked with Seth a good while.
The pic I have chose kind of encapsulates the intense conversation we shared with Seth who works for a school district. These children are so precious! They are so full of potential and promise! But some bad decisions on their part combined with poor parenting can just squander those opportunities.
This week has been filled with some distressing news. In the last seven days people have personally talked to me about children who are going to jail, a mother whose daughter is about to be evicted and put on the street, teenage children who have recorded videos with other teenage children that could never be rented at a Blockbuster or Hollywood video store (catch my drift?), children who have overdosed on drugs! These are some challenging times for these children, many of whom never understand the great risk and possibly long-lasting effects of the things with which they involve themselves.
In this pic it looks like Winston is doing the Lloyd Mallory. (Lloyd Mallory has a Doctorate in Musical Arts from UCLA. A protége of the late Nathan Carter, director of the world-renowned Morgan State University Concert Choir, he often directs his soloists who are backed by the choir.) Who knows what Winston will grow up to be? Or Spencer?
The world is wide open. God has His plans. But let's not fool ourselves, the devil has a plan too. So let us pray for our children. And let us pray for ourselves, that God will give us wisdom to strike the right balance between letting them know that we support them and at the same time supporting those who also have their best interests at heart who must sometimes discipline our children for things we may not so readily see.
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