6. Give a back massage or feet rub no strings attached.

Side Note: Many times we will do these things with hopes it will lead to something else. Of course this is a guy perception so do it with no strings attached just to show how much you love them.

7. Pray for your spouse.

Side Note: This is not something that will maybe even be seen but it will make a difference. Pray that God will continue to grow your love and help you to love unconditionally. Take time to pray together and even pray over them as they leave for the day.

8. Give your spouse a “Real Kiss” or as some call it a “Passionate Kiss” out of the blue.

Side Note: If you forgot what this is just remember when you first meet your spouse and how you kissed when you first got married. I love those kisses from Kasha.

9. Make a list of 10 things about your spouse that you love or appreciate and give it to them.

Side Note: This can be delivered in a nice card, you can write one on 10 different pieces of paper and attach them to a rose, and make a trail of them around the house. You can put them on sticky notes and leave them around the house, you can put them in their sock drawer, lunch box you get the idea. Be creative in how you present it, put some time into it, and make it special.

10. Give your spouse some “Mad Money”. This is money that can be spent on anything they want.

11. Show respect to your spouse.

Side Note: Everything does not have to be a fight, There can be two different solutions to a problem, so show some respect to your spouse and stop arguing and fighting over stuff.

12. Help keep the house clean, clothes washed, food on table, yard work, do acts of kindness all the time.

Side Note: When I asked my 86 year old grandmother those were her responses included with make sure you pray together.

13.  Love them even when you don’t feel like loving them.

Side Note: This is crucial, the times we need to show our love the most is normally when we don’t even feel like it. It is in these crucial moments that we press through and love them not based on merit but based on an unconditionally love that we experience from our heavenly father.

There are so many ways to say I love you. I couldn’t just limit them to 10 had to do more and could have kept going. You see love is more than a feeling. Part 2 of “10 ways to say I love you” is being written from my grandparents home. My grand father is in the hospital right now after having a heart attack. There are so many memories that take place here in this home. I have seen the love of spouses being worked out right in front of me. From my grandfather pinching my grandmas bottom and saying love ya, to seeing my grandmother make sure everything is right in the house. I see my grandmother who loves so deeply my grandfather and is worried and doesn’t know what to do but simply trust God and believe in his best laid plans. You see love is so much more than just actions it is you sticking by and believing that God has brought that person into your life to care for and love unconditionally as he first loved us.

So step out and love your spouse today enjoy what God has given you. Your spouse is a gift from God so treat it as such.

Pastor Brian Henley

The last few weeks have been busy for me… too busy! I’ve always struggled with saying “NO!” Lately I’ve been stressed and I’ve realized that I’ve allowed the stress! For me, I know I am stressed when I notice the following:

• Irritable and short tempered!
• Struggle with road rage! [Ultimately because I am running behind on time because I’m doing too much!]
• Feel like I go in circles/overwhelmed! [Start one project then realize… opps, I need to do this, then I never finish the first thing I started!]
• Start to feel stingy pricks in the back of my neck/shoulder blade area and feel my blood pressure rising!
•
One thing I can say is… I do not like the feelings I get when I’m stressed. It affects both my physical and mental health. I know it’s not good for me! So what am I doing wrong? I’m doing all the things I have to do, right?!

What I’m finding is… more and more it’s actually HARDER if you DON’T say “NO!” Saying “NO” will stop you from taking on too much, it will keep you from heading down a stressful road.
But how do we say “NO!” After all, we don’t want to make someone upset! we don’t someone to think we can’t do it…

Let’s ask ourselves one question? How is the current schedule working for me? With what I am doing now, am I content, peaceful, happy, loving, productive? Or am I getting irritable, short tempered, non-productive, overwhelmed…?

We need to stay in tune with our bodies, we need to know our limits and go from there! Do what works for you! What works for you might not work for someone else!

This past week I had somewhat of a break down and I finally said… that’s it! No more; I’m not doing this right now, I’m not doing that right now. I took my long list of things to do and I slashed out the unnecessary. I re-looked at the things I needed to do and I made an order of priority!

This week already I’m seeing what a difference it’s making. I am accomplishing more by saying “NO” than I accomplished when I said “YES” to too many things.

I love to lean on the verse…

Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will guide your path!

The part where it says, “lean not on your own understanding.” That’s the part where you take those thoughts of “what if I make someone upset!” and “I don’t want someone to think I can’t do it!” and you throw them out the window. God is telling us to not worry about what our mind tells us! If we do that, we will always get let down! We are human! This verse is telling us to trust Him, turn to Him for guidance, strength, encouragement… AND HE WILL GUIDE OUR PATH!!! He will show us what’s working and what is not working in our lives! God wants what is best for us and He has our best interest at heart! He wants us to accomplish so much and I hope you all are encouraged that we can accomplish more if we say “NO!”

Angela Oberlin

FEAR

According to Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Fear is a feeling of reverence, awe, and respect, or an unpleasant emotion caused by a sense of danger. Fear may be directed toward God or humankind, and it may be either healthy or harmful.  A healthy fear is reverence or respect.  A harmful fear is a sense of terror or dread.  On the other hand, the unbeliever has every reason to be panic-stricken at thoughts of God, for he stands condemned before Him.

The past couple of weekends my company, Family Christian, has had all the stores wear t-shirts promoting Max Lucado’s new book Fearless.  On it in big white letters it simply says “What are you afraid of?”  Although I didn’t think anything of it, I was amazed at the many conversations this simple statement started.

Some stated “I am not afraid of anything” while others actually broke down and shared their fear.   The response that really surprised me was the people that it struck fear into just reading it.  You could see their whole body language change as they realized what they were afraid of.  Then it was almost like they were ashamed of it and wanted to run away.

This got me thinking what really is fear?  Thankfully, I can say that I have not lived in fear.  I cannot say that I am not afraid of anything.  Just ask my wife if there is a spider in the my vicintiy I freak out! I can recall one specific incident where we were on a mission trip and I was in a tent. The size of the spider will vary depending on each one of us you talk to.

For those of you that do not know two years ago Jamie sustained a back injury that we are still working through to this day.  Prior to that we both had awesome careers and were living “The American Dream” but we felt empty as we had nothing to really show for it.  Some in this situation would dwell on injury; we actually took it as a blessing and a chance to really get our priorities straight.  Now Jamie was our “bread earner” so we lost a lot of income immediately (even with her getting disability income).  Plus, with us trying to live “The American Dream” we had accumulated a lot of debt.

The easiest thing for us would have been to hide in fear of the situation, but God had other plans. Pastor Brian and Pastor Jerry came into my store and invited us to Journey; this turned out to be the best decision we had made in a long time and we have never regretted it. Our Journey family provided a source of comfort, direction and accountability that we needed. God knew.

I leave you with this video from Rob Bell’s Nooma series, Rain.  I saw this video over a decade ago and the message still is at my forefront everyday.  I do not know where you are right now and what you are going to but YOUR FATHER is sitting their ready to comfort you.  He hears your cries; Why not go to Him right now.  There is nothing to be afraid of. He is crazy in love with you and does not like seeing His children hurting.

God Bless You!

Michael

1. Bring flowers Home. Just because!

2. Write a note that says “I love you and here is why” and send it in the mail home or put in their lunch.

Side Note: Think about your spouse getting a love note with the bills. More couples fight over money that any other thing so why not send some love with it. Take a touchy thing and make it special. Hey someone once suggested Naked Bill night. (married couples only of course) Great idea, don’t know if the bills would get paid though!

3. Tell the world publicly how much you love your spouse. Facebook, MySpace, Email, Banner by your desk saying “I Love _______”.

Side Note: This will help keep away any other interested destructive parties in your life. Send a message to everyone you are happily and loving married and will not entertain any other thought. Also your kids need to hear you declaring your love for each other.

4. Do a project or finish a project from around the homestead. Such as hang some shelving, clean the garage out etc…

Side Note: The project is something that your spouse desires done not your project.

5. Give your spouse a night out. Take everything off their plate for the evening and say go hangout and have fun. No responsibilities for an entire evening.

Side Note: This may require pre-planning and fore thought so present it to your spouse as a gift and allow them to tell you what night works best. Also check out “I Gotta Feeling” message talking about Christians having a good time.

Marriage takes work and requires us to go out of our way. So step up to the plate and hit a homerun by saying how you feel. You may say I don’t feel that way, then press through and make yourself love them , do it and maybe things will begin to change. Someone has to step up to the plate. Why not let it be you. Five more ways to come tomorrow enjoy and pass this on to other couples you may know.

Pastor Brian Henley

I am to be held upright, not to be stored on my side.

Shake me and I spit, let me sit and I will speak forcefully.

My shell comes in many different colors: red, yellow, black and white.

I am usually pointed at targets of interest.

When I speak I am seldom heard, but usually felt.

I can be used in many ways, but I am usually reserved for one purpose.

When I am channeled, I can be very detailed and effective.

I must rely on an operator that sees the big picture and I engage when prompted.

Some consider me effective, others do not.

I was bought with a price that some may see as insignificant, but my owner does not.

I am always handled with care by my owner.

When a need arises my owner causes me to engage.

If I become empty, I will be discarded!

I do not want to be discarded, I want to be used!

So I choose to stay full and ready every time I am called upon!

I want to ask you one question. . .

Are you a willing vessel that God can use to further His kingdom or are you just another can of air?

Loving you,

–Pastor Jerry

When I was a kid I remember playing baseball with my friends. Now I wasn’t very good, something about keeping your eye on the ball and swinging at the same time was really hard of this adhd kid. But I still wanted to play, especially because all my friends played on teams. But one thing that baseball meant was baseball cards.  And me and my buddies loved collecting baseball cards.

Yeah, you remember those days, you would beg your mom to buy a pack of tops baseball cards, you would open it up excited and hoping to see that certain rookie card, which your friends would want or you had been searching for. You had your book of plastic sleeves that you held your cards in so your friends could look thru it and see your proud collection. Those cards were normal cards that had some value to them, so they got a special place in the book. Then you always had a box or pile of junk cards not worth anything but hey they would help complete your set out. These cards didn’t hold much value or worth to you.

But then you always had the single plastic sleeves. This was the place of honor and glory. This was where you kept the cards that really mattered and that were worth some money.  There were two kinds of plastic sleeves, a hard plastic sleeve that the card would slip out the top and then you had the fortress one. The one that had screws on the corners to hold it together making an airtight fortress of plastic. This was reserved for the best of the best.

I remember sitting down and showing my regular cards and then in a proud moment I would pull out my special cards say look what I got. My pride and joy was Scottie Pippen (played for the world champion Chicago Bulls) rookie card and it had the airtight fortress case. At the time it was worth a lot of money and also held a lot of value to me.  I loved showing it off to my friends and talking about it.

As I think about those days I am caught with a side thought. How do I treat God in comparison to my baseball cards?

• Do I put him in a place of honor showing him off to my friends?
• Do I just take him out every now and then and show him off?
• Do I just toss him aside and put him in the I could care less about pile never showing anyone?

The Word of God says in Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

My challenge to you is to treat God like he is your price possession.  Show him off to all your friends proudly. Give him a place of honor in your life. Let your light shine for God.

Just some thoughts from Pastor Brian…….

10. When filling your group: You need to be strategic using multiple avenues for recruitment, tactics for getting the message out, and be singular in your message during that month of recruitment. Never underestimate the power of someone telling the story of their changed life through their group.

9. When planning for each semester: You need to have a goal of how many people will be attending Sunday mornings weekly during that semester. Then, you should have a goal to have 100% or more of that Sunday number in a group. Divide that number by 20 and that’s how many groups you should have giving you a basis for how many leaders, co-leaders, coaches, and managers you need to have in place.

8. The implementation of your small groups should go through four processes: a) focus, b) form, c) fill, and d) facilitate. Good ideas are common- what’s uncommon are people who’ll work hard enough to bring them about.

7. Think decentralization, not control. As long as you have complete control over your small group system, you will only be able to go to a certain level before you plateau. Groups will multiply faster and be healthier when you trust God with your volunteer leaders and your volunteer leaders with your people.

6. Think full staff participation, not staff specialist.   Every person on the church staff should have a hand in the development of Life groups.

5. Your Life groups must function as a SYSTEM. Systems save you time, stress, energy, and money.

4. Entry into a group must be utterly simple and fool proof. A one-step sign-up process, which removes barriers will greatly increase the number of people who decide to join a group.

3. Simplicity. If you give people too many options, their involvement will be so spread out that you won’t have their full participation or momentum in any one area.

2. The Four Spaces of Spiritual Growth are: a) public space, b) social space, c) personal space, and d) intimate space. Life Groups are not geared to creating intimate space but, rather social space.

1. Think larger, not smaller. Larger groups seem to harbor healthier patterns for growth and relationship.

Materials taken from Activate: by  Nelson Searcy & Kerrick Thomas

These methods have been developed and tried.  All to be proven true through years of  personal experience by the authors.

Nelson Searcy is the founder and lead pastor of The Journey Church of the City, an innovative, multicultural church located in New York City. Founded in 2002, The Journey has grown to over 1,200 people in weekly attendance and more than 1,400 involved in weekly small groups during its first six years. A multi-site church with locations across the metro New York City, The Journey continues to grow and innovate and serve the people of NYC.

Loving you,

– Pastor Jerry

I read this post from a guy I follow named Perry Noble. It reminded me of something I would write and I thought I have got to repost this. So here it is not from my mouth but from his…. enjoy!
#1 – Have an affair! (II Samuel 11-12)

#2 – Refuse to run from tempting situations! (Genesis 39:1-12, I Corinthians 6:18)

#3 – Look at LOTS of porn! (Job 31:1)

#4 – Connect with “old flames” through online social networking and then convince yourself it is ok because you aren’t actually doing anything wrong!

#5 – Refuse to talk to your spouse about issues that make you angry…just bury them and let a huge pile build up so that you can explode irrationally on them when they totally do not expect it. (Ephesians 4:25-27)

#6 – Have an affair!!!

#7 – Make sure you spend lots of person time with the same person of the opposite sex that you are not married to…and when confronted on it say, “It’s business.”

#8 – Make “innocent” remarks to an attractive person of the opposite sex such as, “I wish I had met you before I had gotten married.”

#9 – Put an ad for yourself on an internet dating site…even though you are married…just to see what type of interest you could create!

#10 – Compare your spouse with other people OFTEN and convince yourself that you didn’t get God’s best when you agreed to marry him/her.

#11 – Have an affair!!!

#12 – Take your cues about sexual morality from Hollywood and your “friends” rather than God’s Word. (John 14:15)

#13 – Begin to believe that your spouse’s main mission on this planet should be to meet your needs…and when they don’t then justify trying to get your needs met elsewhere.

#14 – Fantasize often as to what it would be like to be with another person other than your spouse.

#15 – Be willing to sell out years of marriage, the respect of your children and your character for an orgasm.

The cutest thing happened the other day… my son Joey got his first pair of soccer cleats. Joey took those shoes with “power” knobs and wore them with passion. When he tried them on at Dick’s Sporting Goods, they have a mini track in the shoe department and he ran around that track super charged and on fire. His face looked determined and he was so excited because he had super shoes. He told me he could run super fast now in those shoes.

On Tuesday, Joey started his first soccer practice “ever.” He could hardly wait to get those super shoes on. The minute the last lace was tied, he was off… zig zagging to the left then the right as he ran. He had so much passion and enthusiasm about wearing those cleats and being able to play soccer. The funny thing is… he thought those cleats were so cool that he had his head to the side and kept staring at his cleats while he ran. He fell down a few times because he wasn’t watching where he was going. Didn’t matter to Joey, he had his super shoes on, he could do anything!

This got me to thinking about our relationship with God. Are we wearing God with that much enthusiasm and passion???

God is my super shoes, he helps me walk through my days. He keeps me going and restores me. I truly believe with all my heart that if we choose to wear God [be Christ-like] with “passion and enthusiasm,” just like Joey wore his cleats, imagine the impact it would have in our lives.

I’m going to choose to put a smile on my face even if I don’t feel like it. I’m going to choose to say positive things instead of negative. I’m going to choose to keep my head up and keep going. I’m going to choose to radiate love, kindness and respect. I’m going to choose to live my life with God radiating all over me. Not just because I go to church on Sunday, but because He is in me and a part of who I am. It’s definitely a choice, but if we daily choose to do this, we’ll live full of joy, peace, happiness… and the list goes on and on. Now that’s wearing super shoes.

Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?

• What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
• What if we flipped through it several time a day?
• What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
• What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
• What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it?
• What if we gave it to Kids as gifts?
• What if we used it when we traveled?
• What if we used it in case of emergency?

This is something to make you go….hmm…where is my Bible?

Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don ‘ t have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.

Makes you stop and think, where are my priorities? And no dropped calls!

Can you hear me now? LOL

Jamie

P.S. As much as I wish I could have come up with something this creative, I saw this on Facebook….not sure who the original author was, but they sure did hit the nail on the head