The Simple Truth

Snehashrya

On September 4th our church will be taking up a "Significant Offering" to aide the Snehashrya Women's Shelter in northern India.  As a church we desire to have Jesus' heart toward those who are less fortunate than us (2 Corinthians 8:9).  At the end of our 7/3/11 message entitled "Significant People", I challenged the people of PBC to give above and beyond their regular giving and sacrifice to help out the ladies and children of Snehashrya.  As part of that challenge I encouraged PBCers to come up with creative ways to raise money for this worthy cause. Thus far I've been blown away with the response.  Here are a few of the ways people have come up with to raise funds...

• Yard sales
• Cosmetic parties where 25% of proceeds are donated to the shelter
• Selling of belongings
• Collecting spare change from co-workers
• Selling baked goods at work
• Hosting parents night out parties for a small fee
• If you have come up with other creative ways to raise funds please feel free to post them in the comments of this blog.

We have set a goal of raise at least $3,500 for the shelter. As I said, on September 4th, during our regular service, we will take up the offering for Snehashrya and celebrate God's provision.  Please join us for this service - it's going to be something special. In addition to the offering, I am going to ask people to share what God did in their heart during this process and how they went about raising funds.  I am so looking forward to this service.  Let me encourage you to invite the people who helped you with your fund raising to this service. This will be a great opportunity for them to see a church dedicated to helping those who need Jesus and those who have great physical needs.

Please join us in raising funds for Snehashrya. If you have any questions please contact the church through our website or call (609) 275-8092.

For more information about Snehashrya you can download the following brochure. I'm sure you will be moved by the stories of these women. You can also visit their website - http://shelter-home.org/index.html. Please keep them and Sister Sheeba in prayer!

Download Snehashrya - Brochure 

Things I Learned on the Men's Camping Retreat

This past weekend me and a few of the fellas went on an overnight camping retreat with the intention of getting alone with God and working on our walk with Him.  It was a productive time with some good devotional time in God's word. I really enjoyed spending some time with the fellas and getting to know them better. I also enjoyed listening to the devotions given by a couple of the guys - I always love hearing what God is doing in people's hearts.  In addition to all I learned from God's word last weekend, He taught me a few other life lessons through this experience.  Here are a few...

• You can never be too prepared.  Thankfully there we certain members of our group that planned for every possible contingency - and saved us. There were others in the group that were wishing they had a time machine so they could go back and pack the things they had forgotten.
• The fellowship of suffering draws us closer to one another.  Hiking with a group of guys in the driving rain, setting up camp soaked to the bone, trying to starting a fire with damp wood, and sleeping in a tent with wet sleeping bag, built a camaraderie among the group. Sure we could have stayed in a five star hotel and been a lot more comfortable but we would not have come out the other side as close as we are now. Although I must admit I was voting for the five star hotel at 2am on Saturday morning.
• I can endure almost anything if I know the end is near. Despite being wet, cold, tired, with no legitimate sleep I knew I could make it thru because we were only going to be there for one night. When the end is in sight we can endure. How do we get through the trials of life? We know that one day all the pain will be over and we will be with Jesus forever. That's why Paul was able to call all trials "light afflictions".
• You can start a fire with damp/wet wood. Elijah did and so did we. I've never seen a group of people work so hard to keep a fire going.  It looked hopeless but they persevered and as a result the tone of the whole evening was changed. Before they got the fire started the majority of the group was ready to call it a night. Even when things look hopeless - persevere.
• Freeze Dried Food does not agree with my digestive system - sorry if that's too much information. Some of these lessons are more spiritual than others.
• Vince Lombardi was right when he said, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." There were times on the hike out of the camp site that I was really tired. I'm in decent shape but walking 3 miles with a 50 pound pack, up and down steep grades, in the heat, on no sleep was tough. There were genuinely times on some of the steep uphill grades that I was praying to God for strength to make it through. We need to draw our strength from a greater power source. Don't ask for a lighter burden, or easier path; ask for strength to walk the course He's given you.
• When you don't think you can take one more step, you can! This goes with the previous item. When you feel like you can't go on just keep putting on foot in front of the other.  I love what Winston Churchill once said, "when you find yourself passing thru the valley of the shadow of death, keep walking."
• Encouragement is crucial. During tough times we need others to come along side us and encourage us.  Knowing you are not alone and that someone is there to help you gives you a tremendous boost. 
• Finally, Whenever I say that I am going camping it is guaranteed to rain.  If you are experiencing a drought, pitch me a tent, and within hours the heavens will open up and you'll be singing in the rain.

Significant Prayer

If we hope to do anything significant for the Lord it must be driven by prayer.  For many Christians prayer is simply a supplement to their Christian life - something we do as an add on before meals, or if someone is not feeling well, or if we have some crisis in our life.  Prayer must move from supplemental to fundamental if we hope to unleash the power of God in our lives.  We must grow to the place of continual conversation with God.

Every significant movement of God in the book of Acts was preceeded by a significant prayer. If we at PBC hope to build a significant work for God we will need significant prayer. It is my desire to have prayer become a more fundamental part of what we do as a church and as individual followers of Jesus.  As part of this desire I am challenging our PBC family to join me in praying for the things on our new monthly PBC prayer list.  Some of the items on the list are long term needs, others more immediate, but all require God to do a mighty work in our midst.

I'm truly excited about this new emphasis on the prayer ministry at PBC. Please join us in praying for the items on our prayer list.  Here is a link to the prayer list on the PBC website.

Does Size Really Matter?

Before my son had his recent growth spurt he was on the small side for kids his age - about the 10 percentile for height. One time one of his rather large friends said to him, "you sure are small." His response was, "Yea, but dynamite comes in small packages!" I love it. Size doesn't really matter.

All of us want our life to matter.  We desire to live a life of significance. But for most significance = large, grandiose, huge.  But does size really matter to God? God doesn't dislike things that are huge but I don't believe He equates significance with size.  I think a better definition of significance might be - obedience to God's commands and calling for your life.  This definition would enable us to live a life of significance regardless of whether what we accomplish is large or small.  If we are doing what God has asked us to do and living out his calling for our life then we are significant in His eyes.

So much of our life evaluation is based upon worldly success - how much $, the # of people, the amount of influence we enjoy. Based upon these criteria many, if not most, of the God followers in scripture would have been utter and complete failures. Have you ever read about the lives of the Old Testament prophets? Many died penniless, with few converts, and enjoyed little influence in the world. Where they significant in God's eyes? Unquestionably! Because they were doing what God asked them to do.  I think of the Apostle Paul who actually forsook a life of material and professional success so that he could know Jesus and make him known. That's significant!

As you contemplate your place in this world and how you might live a life of significance, don't become hyper-focused on size or the results.  Focus on doing what God asks you to do.  Then whether the results end up being large or small you can know without a doubt that it is significant.