Be Willing to say yes !

Casa Hogar When I went to Casa Hogar with Margret last year I kept saying,and still believe that this is not my passion. I went because my wife was afraid to go without me. God has given me many passions for many things, this just wasn't one of them. On that trip the one thing that really stuck out is how important this home is and that they have no way to tell their story. So I asked my friend Michael Ryan who owns a video production company Four-Thirds creative if he might be willing to go down here with me some time. I felt this was a very,very, long shot, but I did my part and I asked him. See he shoots fancy stuff like for Frito-lay, and Pier One, and I am guessing it would be a $20000 process for him to do this. He has a beautiful and brilliant wife who works with him, and my daughter says that their son Finn is the most beautiful baby in the whole world.Michael has a lot of responsibility and he is not too big on leaving the country, but he said he would go ! Isn't that all that God asks from any of us,just to be willing to go ? Don't tell Michael and Karen, but I LOVE these people. So now we need an interpreter, to take a week of their life,go to a foreign country, and help us get this story on film. I have another friend, ( hard to believe I know ) who was just about as crazy as I was growing up. He was in a bike gang for a long time ,but God has gotten ahold of him, so I asked him if he would go, he said yes. He was willing to go. He has never had a passport and we kinda got a late start but the day before we were to leave his passport came in , it was really looking like it might not happen, but God has been on this deal from the beginning . God has some amazing things in store for Phillip and it has been my honor to watch these things unfold ! Don't tell Phillip, but I love this guy too. I have come to understand that in my walk with God when he asks me to go, and I am willing to go there will be opposition, especially if something good is going to come from it. After a while I have come to expect it ! It used to really freak me out, but not so much anymore . When we landed in Mexico the Federal police grabbed Phillip before we even got off of the plane ramp and detained him. After fifteen or twenty minutes we started looking up the numbers for the Methodist conference legal council in Mexico, or anyone else we could get to help us, it was pretty nerve racking. Jj Mainard went back over to them,which only a woman, a JJ Mainard woman could get away with , and they released him. In following God there will be trouble, but he laughs at these things. Then last night I started having cold chills at about 10:30 and I remember seeing 2am and the whole time shaking like crazy. This morning I couldn't get out of bed, with a bad headache and fever. They called a Dr. who came to my room examined me and went back to the clinic to get medicine and came back to my room and gave me two shots and some prescriptions. She charged me $65 total for shots meds and all. There WILL be opposition ! The amazing and wonderful power of God constantly humbles me. I by myself am nothing, but if we didn't say yes and go how can Gods will be done ? It is so hard to figure out our part in all of these things. How am I here ! What is my part, and when do I shut up and let God do his thing. We are all called into a relationship with God, it manifests in many different ways and we never really know where it might lead. The main thing is that if we truly love God we should always be willing to say yes. Yes I will go. With all of the hurdles of this trip I KNOW that something huge will come from this trip and this video. Casa Hogar is an amazing place with some wonderful brothers in Christ and children of God who suffer like we can't understand. We have been given an opportunity to say yes and find a way to help these people. Let's do that ! The people of Acton United Methodist church are such an inspiration to me . You guys are amazing and wonderful beyond words. I want to thanks you all for all that you do and how you love us. You were what made this trip possible. And don't tell anybody but I love every one of y'all too.

PROJECT-44 GSA

In basic terms, Community Supported Agriculture, a CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community's farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Typically, members or "share-holders" of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer's salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm's bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production. Members also share in the risks of farming, including poor harvests due to unfavorable weather or pests. By direct sales to community members, who have provided the farmer with working capital in advance, growers receive better prices for their crops, gain some financial security, and are relieved of much of the burden of marketing.
Project-44 would like to take this concept and mix it up a little. We are starting a GSA ( God Supported Agriculture). The CSA's that I have looked into sell a share of the harvest before it is planted for roughly $900 a year. In return they hope to provide 1 box of fresh organically grown produce a week for 30 weeks of the year. Here God has provided ( as always ), and we would like to identify families who could most benefit from fresh organically grown produce for free.
What we need are people willing to sponsor these families. The sponsors responsibility will be to gather all of the information on the family and tell us about them, be willing to see that the veggies are delivered to the family every week from a central distribution center, bring them to our cooking classes, and canning/ pickling classes, and help us track the benefits from the program. The cooking/ canning classes will be designed to show them how to prepare and process the vegetables, and will be held monthly.
Our sincere hope in all of this is that instead of throwing a Bible at someone, or just using words, that we will have a whole year to spend with these families and truly show them Gods love with our actions. When we care about someone's family, health, and basic needs we show them God.
If you know of someone this program would help, would like to sponsor a family, or would like to help us in any other way please call Margret @ 817-313-6916 or Ben @ 817-727-2229. Or visit our website
www.Project-44.org for more information about this or any of our other ministries.

Holy Spirit Presence

Understanding this thing we call a walk with God is pretty confusing. We have what the church has told us to go by. We have the things that our parents have told us. Friends, sunday school teachers, the list goes on. We also have the bible to read and try to understand for our selves. What to do, what to do....?
The Holy spirit presence is promised to us in the bible. The holy spirit is the presence of God with us right now. For me it kind of started like intuition or "that gut feeling". But as I grow in my faith it has turned into something entirely different. It is the presence of God with me right now. There is NO question about it. We were designed in the image of God, to be in fellowship with God. Until we get our minds wrapped around this concept it is near impossible to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We can only be the hands and feet of God if he lives in us and through us. Don't make God that small. John 14: 15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you

Losing Self

1. Have you ever noticed that tomorrow never actually gets here? It doesn't, can't, never will. Learning to live right now, today is a huge accomplishment, that most people never achieve. Watch over the next few weeks how much time you spend either thinking about the past, or thinking about the future. All that you have, or ever will have is right this instant. So waiting till tomorrow to get closer to God is not good form, do it today.
2. The longer I have hung around church, the more I have learned about how to pursue God. And sadly I don't think anyone told me, it was more of a trial and error kind of thing. Mostly error I might add. As I lay down my own will I start to see God's will. And it is never in an instant, it always takes time. I feel like if I talk to God he should answer me right then. So patience is part of the deal.
3.So strangly enough patience IS a virtue. God's will is what matters, and if we figure that part out we are in pretty good shape.

If you love me, feed my sheep.

This verse keeps playing through my head. If you love me feed my sheep.Not only did Jesus use these words to reconcile Peter to the church, but this was one of the first orders of business for the church, if not THE first order. IF YOU LOVE ME FEED MY SHEEP! So what do we make of this mandate from Christ? Maybe he meant to feed their spirit ? Teach them your traditions, and the rules of your grandparents? Yeah, maybe not. It is very hard, if not impossible to feed the spirit when the stomach is empty. Project-44 garden ministry seems to be going into a new gear lately, and I feel that this is an answer to this very important question. If you can feed someones stomach, you gain their trust, and their attention. We are making partnerships all over Tarrant county, and trying to figure out how we answer this all important mandate. Please join us. Be thinking about how this can play out. Please be in prayer that the Holy Spirit is in constant attendance as we walk down this road. And ALWAYS remember that Jesus Christ said, IF YOU LOVE ME FEED MY SHEEP.

Isaiah vs. Pat

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places

9 -12"If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins, If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones. You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build a new,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.
13 -14"If you watch your step on the Sabbath
and don't use my holy day for personal advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy,
God's holy day as a celebration, If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,'
making money, running here and there— Then you'll be free to enjoy God!
Oh, I'll make you ride high and soar above it all. I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob."
Yes! God says so!
This passage is so fitting and true! God has blessings laid out all around us, everywhere that we turn, but often our hands are full, and we are unable to reach down and pick them up. Career, hobbies, whatever it might be that keep our hands full. Whatever we chose over God will eventually become our IDOL!
Our charge is to both proclaim and embody the gospel so those around us can see, hear and feel the presence and love of God. Think about that, we are to be the embodiment, the tangible presence, the hands and feet, the warm embrace of our God to this world! Project-44 is an attempt to do just that. We are nothing more than faithfully following our Lord. And with that obedience God has done ALL of the heavy lifting. We only follow, everything that has happened has been by God alone. We would never assume to be able to give cars away to people, that just sounds silly. But GOD will, and GOD has!

CATFISH SANDWICH AND A STRAWBERRY MOON PIE

Sometimes God will open a door for a brief moment and give us a opportunity to do his will. It is very easy to miss if you are not listening for his voice. This last week on mission trip was one of those times. We saw an old woman come out onto the porch of a home that we just knew was condemned. Talk about shocked ! Human nature is to do the look away and move on, but we felt called to see what God had in mind. We were able to find out that she was if fact renting this dump so we with CTCYM couldn't ever work on the house. Time for another look away. We kept after it and found that the owner of the house was also the building inspector in this tiny Mississippi town, WOW. We were actually able to negotiate a price ($2000) and buy the home for this woman. We were so busy with mission trip we were not even able to tell the woman that she now owns her home.
To be present at such a miracle is a true blessing! To buy a home in 2 days is not of this earth, and if you don't believe that try it some time.
We get nudges from God from time to time. They are easy to miss. If we are paying attention He will walk with us every day. He just wants for us to take his hand and walk with him, he will do all of the heavy lifting. If we had done the look away how long would it be before God tried again? 6 months, a year? Be present and open to Gods call, it is faint at times but always there. I think that it is so cool that we got to walk with him like that last week. I try to live for that at all times and it seems to get easier every day. Thanks God that he is present with us like this, and thank God that I am able to notice. Try to notice !
p.s. If you are ever in Beulah Mississippi go to the quick stop and have a catfish sandwich and a strawberry moon pie! And try not to bite your fingers.