Like all you Pam and I are heartbroken over the senseless murder of 20 sweet innocent children and 6 adults today in Newtown, Connecticut. I have been thinking all day how to respond and there are no words; our language is insufficient. Since we can’t be there to provide solace and comfort, here’s what we can do. We can pray for the first responders who had to see 20 dead children in their classrooms. That horrific scene will never leave their memory and the emotional toll will be life-changing. Pray for the funeral home staff that has the task of preparing the dead to be buried. Pray for the pastors and other clergy who will minister to these families. Pray for the teachers and staff of the school as they try to carry on the important work of educating the children. Pray for the other students in the school who must have been scared out of their minds when the shooting started. Pray for the medical personnel who will be treating the emotional and physical wounds of this tragedy for many years to come. Finally pray for the parents and families of these sweet babies who were killed today. Pray like you have never prayed before that God will replace their grief with comfort and their tears with beautiful memories of their darling angels.
Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category
26 Feb
Morning Prayer
This prayer was written by my friend, Pete Stebbins of Salado, TX on August 22, 2004. He shared this prayer with our Thursday morning mens prayer team at First Baptist Church in Salado. I’ve carried this in my Bible ever since and read it most mornings when I have my Bible reading time. I thought it would be good to share with you all. Many thanks Pete!
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for blessing me. I ask that You fill me with the Holy Spirit and that He be my guide today. Please rearrange my schedule as necessary to involve me in Your Mission and Your Word.
Remind me to watch for the opportunities You provide to get involved in Your work. As I receive Your grace and love, allow me to pass some along to each person I contact, and to be a blessing to each.
Help me “abide in You” throughout this day. Allow me to set a Christian example in all I do. Hear my requests……This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen!
Be encouraged today friends! Randy
5 Nov
Attitude is Everything!
Good morning friends! The following is not an original composition of mine; it was sent to me several years ago. I’ve used it in presentations but have never been able to give credit to the author. I bring it to you today for your encouragement.
John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!”
He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?”
He replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood.”
Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or… I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life. “Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested.
“Yes, it is,” he said. “Life is all about choices.
When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line… It’s your choice how you live your life.”
I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw him about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, “If I were any better, I’d be twins…Wanna see my scars?”
I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,” he replied. “Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or…I could choose to die. I chose to live.”
“Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. He continued, “..the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read ‘he’s a dead man’. I knew I needed to take action.”
“What did you do?” I asked.
“Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said John. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes, I replied’ The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Gravity’.” Over their laughter, I told them, “I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”
He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude… I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.
Attitude, after all, is everything. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34.
Randy’s words: Today you may be facing the challenge of your life. Is cancer present? The child you raised to love God and others has gone his own way and your heart is breaking. The job you have come to love and depend on will soon go away leaving you uncertain about your economic future. Your spouse has deeply disappointed you; you are thinking about divorce. Maybe one of the people you have loved most in this life has died, leaving you lonely and uncertain. Have thoughts of suicide invaded your spirit? What is your greatest battle today? Friends, whatever the bettle, know that God is near. “Behold the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; Neither is His ear so dull that is cannot hear.” Here’s what I know: If He carried the the weight of the world upon His shoulders, I know my brother that He will carry you.” (Scott Wesley Brown)
Be Encouraged Today!
Randy
4 Nov
God’s Prompting!
Hey Friends, for many years I have wanted to share my thoughts on a variety of topics. I can remember 30 years ago telling my Pam that I wanted to write a book. Well, one can write a book but getting it published is a whole other thing. So, I never wrote my book, but for the last 30 years I have been saving up for a chance such as this. Today, November1 , 2009 is lauch day for my writing career. It’s my hope that as you read one of several things might happen. Number one of which would be that you would be prompted to action! Action to improve your own life and/or the lives of those around you. After all, isn’t that what we all really want, to leave this world just a little better that we found it, and at the same time, experience the abundant life promised to us by God when we appropriate Christ into our lives? I think so. My prayer for this blog is that it encourages you to be and to use what God has probably already put in place in your life. Here goes.
Pam and I spent time today at Scott and White Hospital in Temple, Tx. It wasn’t my idea to visit the hospital, I wanted to watch the Dallas Cowboys beat up on the Seattle Seahawks. Hospital ministry was the furthest thing from my mind, but God had a different idea. Pam, my bride of 32 years, told me that God had prompted her to visit a lady in the hospital that was probably in the last days of her life and to pray for her salvation. Being the supportive husband that I am, I told her that I would go with her and minister to this dear lady. Being in the ministry for the past 30 years or so this type of ministry was second nature to me. Those of you in the ministry know of what I speak, unless of course, you don’t do hospital ministry. That’s another topic. Anyway, we entered the room of this dear lady and her daughter, aunt and sister were present. We introduced ourselves and asked if we could pray for this dear lady. It was obvious that the three ladies present at the bedside were grateful for someone to come and pray. The lady for whom we were there to pray, was non-responsive. We would just have to pray to her spirit knowing the the Holy Spirit would and could get through to her even in her drug induced state. Pam prayed the sweetest prayer for grace and mercy; I continued praying that God would continue to pursue this lady right up until her heart stopped beating. When we finished, we looked up and the other ladies in the room were weeping. We found out later, through another family member, that they didn’t know people like us existed. People that would come to the bedside of someone in their final days and pray for healing, grace, mercy and salvation of a total stranger! Of coures we know that the world is full of people that when prompted by God, do exactly what He calls us to do. Be it pray for a stranger, pick up a hitchhiker, give money to the guy on the street corner, call an old friend or family member who may be estranged, and of course share the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. Well Pam and I were not called to share the gospel to a lost and dying world today, we were just called to pray for lady who is dying to find Jesus.
Here’s my question to you…..What has God prompted you to do that you have not yet done? Whatever it is, stop right now and do it! If you don’t then you’ll find that rest will not come easy until you have done that which God has prompted you to do.
Be encouraged today my friends,
Randy
Be Encouraged Today 