Pastor Juan Mauricio Muñoz

In the recent Chilean earthquake…

Muñoz and his family lost their own home and most of their possessions. Upon their return home, Muñoz was overwhelmed by the devastation that had leveled whole blocks and thrown cars three blocks from where they had been parked.

Yet amid the devastation, Muñoz has been working hard for the Lord. His produce business was not destroyed, nor was his house, so he has been handing out free produce to those in need of food and housing various victims in his church building. Muñoz and his church members have been spreading the love of Christ as they put the needs of their hurting neighbors before their own.

Pray that the Lord would bring good from this sorrow. Pray that Pastor Muñoz and his church would be safe and would know how to use this tragedy for God’s glory.

Source: Despite devastation, pastor and church put Christ first

Don’t Use Your Debit Card There

unless you want fewer consumer protections -- #creditcards --

It’s too easy to use my debit card as I would my credit card, so this is a good reminder warning:

Sometimes reaching for your wallet is like a multiple choice test: How do you really want to pay?

While credit cards and debit cards may look almost identical, not all plastic is the same.

“It’s important that consumers understand the difference between a debit card and a credit card,” says John Breyault, director of the Fraud Center for the National Consumers League, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. “There’s a difference in how the transactions are processed and the protections offered to consumers when they use them.”

While debit cards and credit cards each have advantages, each is also better suited to certain situations. And since a debit card is a direct line to your bank account, there are places where it can be wise to avoid handing it over — if for no other reason than complete peace of mind.

Here are the “ten” places the article goes on to expand on:

  1. Online
  2. Big-Ticket Items
  3. Deposit Required
  4. Restaurants
  5. You’re a New Customer
  6. Buy Now, Take Delivery Later
  7. Recurring Payments
  8. Future Travel
  9. Gas Stations and Hotels
  10. Checkouts or ATMs That Look “Off”

Source: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

Somalia

persecution for Christians -- #persecution, #somalia, #islamic-law --

Somalia is almost exclusively Sunni Muslim, with less than one percent of the population Christian.

Lee DeYoung with Words of Hope says they beam hope in. “The wonderful message of Jesus Christ is unknown to most Somalis. The Gospel radio programs are a lifeline in very troubled times.”

Somalia ranks fourth on the Open Doors World Watch list, a compilation of the 50 countries where persecution is the worst.

Last April, Parliament voted unanimously to institute Islamic law. It was a disastrous move made with the hope that it would undergird support for the government. Instead, Christians find themselves closely monitored by both the government and the Islamic militias.

More than 20 Somali believers were martyred publicly in 2009. Most recently, on January 1….

Christians know they run a risk when following Christ.

[…]

Pray too, that in the midst of challenges, Somali Christians will remain unshaken from the work the Lord has given them, trusting Him to bring eternal results

Source: Radio transcends difficult ministry ground

I Don’t Deserve It!

It’s so easy to feel that way. And believe that way also.

“What did I do to deserve this?!” is our cry sometimes.

Perhaps I need to adjust my perspective.

No. Not perhaps. I do!

So let me try my hand at it….

  • I don’t deserve this; what I deserve is far worse!
  • What have I done to not deserve this?
  • I remember that time I didn’t get what I deserved. And that time. And that time. And….

So there you are.

But I still have a hard time (sometimes) thinking I don’t deserve this. 🙄

(What is this? Never mind. Just remember the lesson.)

That aside, how about five photos? I took them yesterday and today. Read it all

Have or Have Not?

Wow! I’ve been hanging on to this for a long time. Ever since January 27! 😯

The day before I’d seen this entry in our Light for the Day flip calendar:

A wise man does not grieve for the things he has not, but rejoices for the things which he has.

Well, the morning of the 27th Ruby called my attention to two devotional entries she’d read in My Utmost for His Highest.

So I found them online for my quoting convenience and your reading convenience.

First, from January 26:

Look Again and Consecrate

If God so clothes the grass of the field . . . , will He not much more clothe you . . . ? —Matthew 6:30

A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us because we will not be simple. How can we maintain the simplicity of Jesus so that we may understand Him? By receiving His Spirit, recognizing and relying on Him, and obeying Him as He brings us the truth of His Word, life will become amazingly simple. Jesus asks us to consider that “if God so clothes the grass of the field . . .” how “much more” will He clothe you, if you keep your relationship right with Him? Every time we lose ground in our fellowship with God, it is because we have disrespectfully thought that we knew better than Jesus Christ. We have allowed “the cares of this world” to enter in (Matthew 13:22), while forgetting the “much more” of our heavenly Father.

[the rest of it]

Then the entry for January 27: Read it all

Census 2010

It came today.

I haven’t opened it yet.

Maybe I shouldn’t. It doesn’t have my name on it. Instead it has TO RESIDENT AT. 😯

How lame is that?!

Tain’t my name.

Never has been.

Maybe I should mark the envelope “Return to Sender” and give it back to the Postal Service.

🙄

(Some folks think Christians shouldn’t fill out the census. I disagree.)

Above all, love God!

since November 9, 2005