One Thing Leads to Another-Fundraising-Guatemala

The holidays are approaching quickly which leads to a new year. A new year leads to my thoughts and the reality that we are planning to take a missions trip to Guatemala in 2011. Since we are planning a missions trip~ we are actively and creatively coming up with ways to raise the money it will take to serve in Guatemala.

Here are a few things we have been doing:

• Collecting all of our pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters in a container that sits on our kitchen counter. We have a can for dollar bills too.
• Collecting aluminum cans and recycling for .60 cents a pound. This will raise the money for meals most likely. Every little bit helps. You can help with this too!
• Yard Sale- We had a yard sale a few weeks back and will have another one in the Spring.
• Creating bottle cap necklaces that we will be selling for $5.00 each. More info to come.

Other Fundraising plans for 2011:

• Spring Yard Sale~ If you have items you would like to donate let me know.
• Lego Contest and Party for local homeschool kids! We did this a couple of years ago and it was a huge success. All the entry fees received will go towards the missions trip. Dates and details to follow.
• Cupcake class ~ All registration fees will go towards the missions trip.
• T-Shirts~ Awesome t-shirt designs for all ages to benefit the Guatemalan missions trip!

As you can see we are going to busy in the coming year. We are looking forward to how God will work in us as a family through it all! One thing leads to another...God is always working!

Orphan Sunday

Hope is Fading – Orphan Sunday from Allan Rosenow on Vimeo.

What is Orphan Sunday?

On Orphan Sunday, Christians stand for the orphan . We are a people called to defend the fatherless…to care for the child that has no family…to visit orphans in their distress.

From many sources, one voice. Hundreds of events across America and beyond, all sharing a single goal: that God’s great love for the orphan will find echo in our lives as well.

Each as they are led. Sermons and small groups, concerts and prayer gatherings—each rousing believers with God’s call to care for the orphan…and what we can do in response.

Orphan Sunday is your opportunity to rouse church, community and friends to God’s call to care for the orphan. (Taken from My Crazy Adoption)

(Part 2 of First Things First) An Amazing God

God is Holy. God is eternal. God is all-knowing. God is all-powerful. God is fair and just. God is Love.

So, I left off with a question- How Big is Your God? Here are some attributes of God to have a better understanding of the God we serve.

God is Holy~ A lot of people would say whatever you believe about God is fine as long as you are sincere. But that is comparable to describing a friend in one instance as a 6 ft. Japanese Sumo wrestler and in another instance as a 5-ft 2 in. gymnast. No matter how sincere you are in your explanations, both descriptions of your friend can not be true.

We have to have a standard to live by.

To say that God is Holy is to say He is set-apart, distinct from us… His perfect Holiness, assures us that we cannot contain Him.

Isn’t it comforting to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?

Revelation 4:8 “…Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

God is eternal~ There is no way for us to ever grasp this concept ~Eternal. Not being able to fully understand God is frustrating, at times, but it is ridiculous for us to think we have the right to limit God to something that we are capable of comprehending. He created us. We didn’t create Him.

Psalm 102:12, 27.”But you, O Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations…But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”

God is all-knowing~ Isn’t this an intimidating thought? All-knowing. We forget this when we “hide” our sins from God.

Hebrews 4:13 says~ “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Now, I am one of these people and I hope you are to that I believe what the Bible says for what it says. We can dress up sometimes by calling our manipulation ~ “encouragement” or our gossip “sharing a prayer request”. We have all done it.

All knowing~ This can be a scary knowledge but it also can be comforting. There is not a problem or struggle that He doesn’t know about.

God is all-powerful~ Colossians 1:16 tells us that everything was created for God: “For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him.

Here are some questions I want you to ask yourself:

Can you worship a God who isn’t obligated to explain His actions to you? He is all-powerful

Could it be your pride or arrogance that makes you think God owes you an explanation?

God is Fair & Just~ God is the only being that is truly good so the standard is up to Him…The creator.

You may not think the standard is very appealing. But to put it bluntly, when you get your own universe, you can make your own standards. When we disagree with God let’s not assume it’s His reasoning that needs correction. It takes a lot for us to comprehend God’s hatred for sin. For instance let’s take pride. Yeah, we would all agree it is sin but we say…”We all struggle with pride. It’s human nature. It’s just life.”

God’s Word says in Proverbs 8:13, “I hate pride and arrogance.”

God never excuses sin. And He is always consistent with that ethic. There are consequences to it.

God is Love.~ I’ll post about this attribute next time. We could feel defeated if we didn’t have love. He is Love or we would be a hopeless human race.