tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50450914013993214682024-03-12T18:40:54.131-07:00Sherri's BlogSherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-32636917729988505672018-01-18T15:00:00.000-08:002018-01-19T04:29:13.877-08:00In Between Heaven and Earth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bQtdGbeow-g/WmFOLGym6MI/AAAAAAAAAV4/FpM7q4MXfBsdmAN6gYehSy33WS6chxHygCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_3446.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bQtdGbeow-g/WmFOLGym6MI/AAAAAAAAAV4/FpM7q4MXfBsdmAN6gYehSy33WS6chxHygCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_3446.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
Back in the fall of 2007, I had two teenaged stepchildren, two elementary school children, and a toddler. And God gave us a farm. We weren't even looking for a farm. We loved going to the beach, and I had grown up on Lake Guntersville, so a lake house or a beach house would have made more sense. But somebody e-mailed Rick and said, "I heard you were looking for a farm."<br />
<br />
We weren't, but we went to look at it anyway, and when we drove up, I said, "I've been here before."<br />
<br />
I had.<br />
<br />
The couple who owned it go to our church. Karen had even helped me teach Sunday School one year and had invited our little Sunday School class down for an Easter Egg hunt. I knew the property, and as Tracy, her husband, started showing us around, we knew that it was for us. He loved that old horse farm, but we were thinking those horse trails would be perfect for four-wheelers. And there was a big hay field with so much room to run, and a pond where the kids could fish. So perfect, and so near, 30 minutes from our house, if the traffic isn't too bad. <br />
<br />
It was a gift, a perfect gift from God, just right for our family, and we had not even thought about it.<br />
<br />
So much of life is like that. It's lived when we're not looking, or searching, or striving. <br />
<br />
Why?<br />
<br />
Because there is a God in Heaven, and He reigns. He's not distant or unaware but He is intimately involved in every little detail of our lives. <br />
<br />
I bought this little chair for that farm, for Bronner, and I'm not sure he ever even sat in it. But I remember him loving the gravel in the driveway. It was little pebbles that he loved to pick up and throw. He was sitting there in that driveway while I was talking to a contractor about things that needed to be done to the little farm house, new siding, new tin roof, that kind of thing. We were on the porch, and he was right there in plain sight just picking up the pebbles and filling a bucket with them when he decided to take off down that little dirt road as fast as he could. Well, thankfully, his mama was pretty fast too. I was a sprinter on the track team back in the day. I ran and grabbed him up, and I thought, "My goodness, do you need that big hay field, little one!" Oh, and he loved the four wheelers. He'd ride right in front with us loving every minute of it.<br />
<br />
I wanted him to grow up on that farm.<br />
<br />
But it wasn't to be.<br />
<br />
You know what I use this chair for now? And I use it; I do. <br />
<br />
I use it as a step stool. I keep it in the kitchen at our farm, and it dawned on me just recently how appropriate that really is. Because Bronner taught me how to reach higher, to step into a place that isn't quite Heaven but it's not quite the earth either. It's somewhere right in the middle, and that somewhere is right where God wants me to be. <br />
<br />
That night, that cold, dark night in January, 2008, when I pulled my baby up out of the water and ran inside with him, laid him on the couch, pulled off his wet clothes, and breathed air into his lungs and watched his chest rise and fall but without one ounce of life left in it. That's the moment. So many times I tell this story and I rush past it because it was so fast and there's so much more to tell and maybe because it's just too hard to stay in that moment too long, but today, tonight, that's the moment I want to land on. <br />
<br />
Because it's important.<br />
<br />
Life before that moment had a little sweetness to it, but it was far from perfect. There were lots of things that made life not so perfect, but it was nothing I couldn't handle, nothing I couldn't tackle, fix, work on, make happen by sheer force of will. And I did, buddy. I made some things happen because I CAN, because I'm strong and smart, and I'm a real hard worker. I get stuff done. Don't you?<br />
<br />
Of course you do. As Americans we're taught from the cradle, there is nothing you can't do! The world is your oyster. Find all the pearls you can! Work hard; achieve the American dream. You can do it all, anything you want. It's for the taking, and it's all... for... you...<br />
<br />
The World. Have at it!<br />
<br />
But God.<br />
<br />
In His unsearchable wisdom looks down at us with compassion and mercy and grace because He knows that we're just dust. And to dust we return. Our lives are just a vapor, a blade of grass and a fading flower. <br />
<br />
We forget that sometimes, and God has to remind us. Because we think we're so strong. We think we can do anything because that's what our culture tells us. And we have become just like the generations before us, civilization after civilization of idolaters. Lovers of self and lovers of money, pursuing pleasure and gratifying every desire of the flesh. We've become so self-sufficient, so obsessed with what we can set our eyes on, that we've forgotten that other place - the more - that which we can't see. What we have forgotten is God.<br />
<br />
And so He pricks us - and maybe pinches us - just to say, "You know, I'm just as real as anything you can see with your fleshly eyes. Look harder."<br />
<br />
That has always been our problem from generation to generation to generation. The problem of unbelief. Faithless men and women throughout all of history.<br />
<br />
Don't you remember that the earth at one time became so wicked, so utterly evil, that God had to destroy it with water? We were in Arizona once and visited the Red Rocks of Sedona, and it was so interesting to look and see right there in all those layers of sediment one layer not so red, one layer not like any of the others. And the woman taking us on the tour tried explaining it, but Rick, always the voice of reason, looks at her and says, "Or maybe that layer of <i>ocean like sediment</i> could be the result of a global flood, just like the Bible says there was. It could be that." <br />
<br />
She didn't have anything to say to that.<br />
<br />
And if the Bible is true - and I believe it is, not only because the Holy Spirit of God within me confirms it but because it has proven itself true in countless ways not only in my life, but in yours - do we realize that there were only eight people who made it into that ark?<br />
<br />
Eight, one man and his family. Today, Noah might be hard pressed to get his whole family on there. Eight people out of the entire ancient world were worth saving. That's pathetic.<br />
<br />
But God did save those eight people and He tried again, and what was the name He gave to Moses when He began teaching the people how they should live? <br />
<br />
<i>"Then Moses said to God, 'If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me,'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?' God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And He said, 'Say this to the people of Israel, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations." (Exodus 3:13-15)</i><br />
<br />
I am THE LORD. I AM.<br />
<br />
Because people ALWAYS forget that there's a God in Heaven who sees them. <br />
<br />
And we become godless, or worse, we make gods of ourselves or other people or things. But God isn't like us. I'm always amazed by the story of how Satan came to be. This angel - Lucifer, beautiful, wise, all of that - wanting to become God.<br />
<br />
But it really makes no sense because God is so different from anything else. Every one of us, humans, angels, demons, everything can point to a day when they were born or came to be. We all have a beginning.<br />
<br />
God doesn't.<br />
<br />
He is from everlasting to everlasting. And He created everything else. Everything. Every leaf on every tree, every animal, every blade of grass, and every hair on every head. He created it all. No body, no thing, can boast of that.<br />
<br />
God is incomparable. Nothing, no one comes close.<br />
<br />
But when we remember that we are just dust and that we need God to help us, to deliver us, to redeem and shepherd us, to teach us and guide us, and bring us into His presence, He gives us of Himself and we become a part of who He is and what He's doing. That's when we look beyond ourselves - to God - who is holy and perfect and good. <br />
<br />
Calamity can do that. It can make us remember. It can make us remember who we are and to whom we belong. <br />
<br />
Calamity isn't a word we use that often. It's a Biblical word. Webster defines it as an event causing great harm or loss and affliction: disaster. I had a sneaking feeling that didn't quite get to the heart of it, so I looked it up in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, which I like to do. I knew I was going to find something interesting, and I did.<br />
<br />
Right off the bat I found that the Hebrew word for calamity is pronounced, "aid," as in Kool-Aid. And that's exactly what it's supposed to be, an aid to your spiritual growth. That Hebrew word "ade" comes from another root word that means firebrand or poker used for gathering or turning embers. Have you ever taken a fire poker and used it to punch at or stir the coals of a fire and watched the flames get bigger and bigger each time you touched the fire? <br />
<br />
I have. <br />
<br />
Calamity takes embers that are about to be snuffed out and makes sure they don't, and sometimes stirs up a flame that burns brighter and brighter. <br />
<br />
And have you ever seen someone take a firebrand, put it in those coals and get it so hot that it glows red, and then touch it to the backside of a cow? That type of branding is meant to let you know who that cow belongs to. God does the same thing with us. It hurts, no doubt, but one who has been marked in this way knows to whom they belong. <br />
<br />
The Bible tells us so specifically that suffering is a part of the Christian experience. But for some reason we just won't hear it. We don't want to think about it, no matter how true it is, or even how clear it has been made through scripture or in that other person's life. We just don't want to believe that God will use calamity and suffering to grow our own spirit or to fan into flame any bit of fire that we might have for the gospel. Maybe it's as simple as this: we're scared. We don't want to have to go through what it will take. But don't you trust Him with your soul? Don't you know that He's your Father who loves and strengthens you? Suffering and calamity are a part of the Christian experience for that very reason, so we don't forget our Heavenly Father and that our faith and trust in Him will not grow cold.<br />
<br />
<i>"For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of you souls." (1 Peter 2:21-25)</i><br />
<br />
Don't you forget it. Don't forget it, dear child of God. And <i>"don't be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed." (1 Peter 4:12-13)</i><br />
<br />
<i>"For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering." (Hebrews 2:10)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
And if He is made perfect through suffering, then so are we. <br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him." (Romans 8:16-17)</i><br />
<br />
God wants us to be a part of Him. He wants to be able to call us children. That's why He allows calamity to strike, so we'll remember that He is THE LORD and we are not.<br />
<br />
Because when we're in that moment, that moment of destruction, the moment where we see ourselves as who we really are - utterly helpless - nothing but dust - all we can say is GOD HELP ME. GOD HELP ME.<br />
<br />
BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE CAN. And we know it.<br />
<br />
When I looked at my baby lying there with no spirit of life left in him. I knew God alone could help me. That's the moment, people. That's where He wants us. Because that's when we know, "I can't fix this. I need something better, something greater than myself." Because we've all made gods of ourselves. But when we are looking at our lifeless baby, not just somebody, but somebody real special. Somebody we carried in our womb for nine months and nursed for eight months. With the other kids in school and Rick at work, Bronner was my life. And I loved my life with him. That's the moment of perfect humility when I knew that I wasn't God but I needed Him real badly. That's the moment when we know we need God, and that's the moment that we know that He is. <br />
<br />
He not only is, but He is able.<br />
<br />
And He is.... able.<br />
<br />
But He's also greater in wisdom than any of us grasshoppers here below. And His ways and His purposes are so beyond searching out through human eyes. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, who is truth and comfort and power and peace, we can begin to see it.<br />
<br />
We can see divine plans being played out before our eyes. A Divine Being too wise to give us everything we want here in this world because if He does, we will never reach high enough to touch the hem of His garment and be healed of our selfish, sinful ways.<br />
<br />
We'll never reach high enough to even desire something greater - God - Heaven - life everlasting. Without calamity in our lives, would we be satisfied with this? Earth - where God only casts His shadow but doesn't truly live. Would it be enough? Death alone should be enough to make us want more. More life, more meaning, more purpose.<br />
<br />
And we don't know when that moment is going to come.<br />
<br />
It came to a small Baptist church in Texas a week ago Sunday.<br />
<br />
Are you ready?<br />
<br />
Jesus said, <i>"You also must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him." (Luke 12:40)</i><br />
<br />
I can see so clearly now that God used Bronner to help me step up to a different place - not quite to Heaven - even though I grasp at it all the time. I reach out for just one touch of the hem of His garment.<br />
<br />
I wanted Heaven at first because I wanted Bronner and I still want Him, but now I know that more than I need Bronner, I need God - who is from everlasting to everlasting. Not like anybody else. <br />
<br />
He is better.<br />
<br />
And my aim is to please Him in any and all things that I can. <br />
<br />
But my feet aren't really on the earth either. My citizenship is in Heaven. My hope is in seeing the glory of God face to face. That's coming for me. I don't know when but I know it's coming, and I wait for it. But not idly.<br />
<br />
I walk somewhere in between Heaven and earth crying out, "Sinner, dear sinner, come home." <br />
<br />
There's another word for calamity in the Greek - epikaluma - which means covering or cloak, to conceal, cover, forgive.<br />
<br />
A calamity isn't something you get through. It's utter disaster. That old part of you is gone and you're covered, marked, by something different. You wear it for the rest of your life, like a cloak, an outer garment, that conceals. So in this way calamity has to do with forgiveness and reminds us to die daily to ourselves and live unto God.<br />
<br />
Way back in September of 2004, I prayed and fasted that God would set me on a course to crucify the sin in my life. A few days later I found out that I was pregnant with Bronner.<br />
<br />
God has used that baby, that sweet precious baby, to refine me in the furnace of affliction so that I might shine for Him.<br />
<br />
<i>"You are the light of the world,"</i> Jesus said, <i>"A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house." (Matthew 5:14-15)</i><br />
<br />
What's it going to take to get you up in that place in between Heaven and earth, up in this place where God wants you, where you can touch both God and the evil in this world and be used to do something about it? What's your stepping stool? What will it take for you to cry out, "God help me." And then, as a cleansed sinner yourself, to begin crying out, "Sinner, dear sinner, come home."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-45295827647835694002016-10-05T10:52:00.000-07:002016-10-05T10:52:30.460-07:00Dear LGBT Community, <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">I
do not hate you.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I love you so much that
I was willing to die for you.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">My father
sent me not to save the godly or the righteous; I came for the ungodly and
sinners.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">My father is holy, perfect, and
good.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I am His Word.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I am perfectly wise for I created everything
including you.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I created you in my image
and with a hole in your heart that can only be filled by the Spirit that
proceeds forth from both my father and myself.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">My Spirit’s name is Holy.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I did
not come to condemn you but to redeem you and give you of my Spirit to help
you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When
I was here before, some people brought a woman to me who had been caught in the
act of adultery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They wanted to stone
her for her sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told the crowd there
that the person with no sin should cast the first stone, and one by one they
all dropped their stones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They knew they
had all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked the woman where her accusers were,
and she said, “They are all gone, Lord.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I told her then, “Neither do I accuse you; now go and sin no more.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what I ask of you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that you have inherited from the first
man, Adam, a sin nature, and it is strong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But I am stronger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am a great
conqueror, and I am here to help you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Think
not that because you are bent toward sin that you cannot master it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can, but not without me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sin lies within each human being, but I have
given you more than flesh and instinct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have given you a spirit that desires fellowship and oneness with its
maker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is how I have made you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I came to pay the price for your sin on the
cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ask you now to nail it there
and come into my light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Bible is a
light and a path for all mankind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
spoke it by my Spirit to people in order to reveal myself to mankind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want you to know me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My Word is not dead but very much alive just
like myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
came as a servant before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am coming
the next time as conqueror and king.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
want you to be on my side when that happens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I gave the rainbow as a promise that I would never again flood the earth
with water. It is a symbol of that covenant that you can still see today as a
reminder that there is a way of salvation for mankind if he is willing to enter
into fellowship with me by faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
asked Noah to build an ark, and he did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was a man of great faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
believed me when I told him that I was going to send a flood as a baptism to
cleanse the earth of its unrighteousness in that age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and his family were the only ones who
believed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
would have welcomed any and all on the ark in that day that I sent the flood as
I am doing now in this time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I welcome
you all into my presence, but it is a conditional invitation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lay down your life for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Die to your sins and live in relationship
with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Believe my word and know that I
am coming again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will you be for me or
against me when I come?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will you shrink
from me in fear or shame, or will you rejoice and be glad when finally you see
my face?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road I ask you to take with
me is a hard one but it is not without reward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is a heaven waiting for you, a paradise that is filled with good
things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The time you have right now on
the earth is very short.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I will give
you an eternity here if you choose to follow me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There
are those to whom I will give white robes of fine linen to wear as they ride
behind me on white horses back to the earth at the end of the age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are those who are humble and meek now,
and they will inherit the earth at that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Will you throw off your pride and humble yourself before me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you do so now, I will exalt you when the
proper time comes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cast your cares upon
me, for I care for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your enemy, the
devil, wants to destroy you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Resist him
and draw near to me, and I will protect you from his evil scheming against
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is a liar and a murderer, but I
come to you with truth and eternal life. Come to me now and be at peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am rest for your weary souls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am truth and life, and I love you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-48831219348002221152016-02-10T09:20:00.003-08:002016-02-25T16:12:53.375-08:00We are NOT on Top of Things <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Well, it’s happened. The question. After countless
interviews over the past two months, a radio host in Orlando, Florida asked me
to tell his listeners the importance of “being on top of things” from the
standpoint of water safety. It’s understandable given the fact that Florida has
more drownings than any other state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
not upset. I’m glad it happened because it gave me and gives me the opportunity
to say that we are most definitely NOT on top of things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God is.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes
his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We aren’t in control of anything.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name
of the Lord. (Job 1:21) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Life and death are in God’s hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s man’s pride that tells him he can depend
on himself to keep everyone safe, to provide, to do anything at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But God says, “Apart from me you can do
nothing.” (John 15:5)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s the whole point. That was the lesson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God is omnipotent, having all authority in
Heaven and on earth. He gave Bronner. He took Bronner. But I will see him
again. And I will stand in the presence of God and give account for what I did
with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Have I grown weary?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Have I wished to be done with this world?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Have there been days when I felt completely and utterly
alone?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But God…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But God, changes things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He reminds me that His mercies are new every morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He reminds me that He is my portion and that
I can hope in Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like Jeremiah, I lament over my sorrows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I throw pity parties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And when I cry, I cry to God.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And He is there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He is there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He tells me to trust Him in all things, that He is making
all things new, and that one day, death shall be no more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I love Him for it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love my God greater, better, deeper, and
higher than I ever did before my suffering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I have suffered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have suffered much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But God.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But God was there for me in my suffering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He touched me with His presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He made Himself known to me, so that I may
delight in Him the way I delighted in Bronner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He fills me up to overflowing with His peace, His love, and even His
joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He has shown me that He is beautiful and kind and good and
faithful.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He tells me that everything is going to be OK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He tells me He loves me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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He shows me how much He cares.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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He teaches me that my suffering is like His suffering. </div>
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I know what it’s like to lose a child, so if I love my God,
I don’t want that for Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see clearly
that He is using Rick and Bronner and me to bring some of His children home to
Himself, to make us see the good in the midst of the trials of life and the great
tests of faith behind them, and to trust Him with all of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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And I do trust Him. I trust Him because I know He is good
and because I know He loves me and because I know that this is about
eternity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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And it’s eternity that I’m in this for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I willingly suffer for His name’s sake
because I have learned to have compassion on the One who is the author of
compassion, the author of life, the One who holds my life, my heart, and my
baby in His hands... forever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
</div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-66339383431076932252016-01-19T13:56:00.000-08:002016-01-19T13:58:01.749-08:00Preface to Bronner: A Journey to Understand<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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{page:WordSection</style>In setting out to write this book, I wanted to introduce you
to my sweet Bronner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was only two-and-a-half
when he went to Heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never say
“died” because I don’t feel that he has.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I truly see him as going on to another place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bronner didn’t cease to exist. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has been transported to another land,
distant and mysterious in that I have never been there before nor can I go
there right now and haven’t even the vaguest idea when I might be able to go
there, but also the most assured of places in that I am certain of the way and
long for it like no place on earth.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Heaven has my heart, my citizenship, my baby, and my
God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the Land of the Living and
the Kingdom of Light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In contrast, earth
is the land of the lost and of the dying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bronner has been found and taken to the truest place, the best place, a
place many will never find even though the Lord God specifically said, “Seek
and you will find.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many people seek God
in a way that is only palatable to their own desires.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They want God to be who they want Him to be,
not who He really is, and so they never find the real, true God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many people find God’s ways offensive, harsh,
arrogant even.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, when you seek God
for who He truly is, you’ll find that He is magnificent. </div>
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<br /></div>
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In times of tragedy, grief, or despair, some people grow so
angry with God that they turn away from Him completely, but in the turning
away, they are showing faith<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman italic"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped
for, the conviction of things not seen.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Hebrews 11:1)</span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
believe in God, but what they are doing in turning away from Him is saying, “I
don’t like you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t like your
methods, and I don’t want anything to do with a God who would…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>fill in the blank</u>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What they are doing is REJECTING GOD.</div>
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When my life’s great test came to me, I already knew God in
an intimate way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I called Him my father,
my savior, my teacher, and my friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
had walked me through many lesser trials before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This time He was going to have to carry me,
and I trusted Him to do that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because… I knew Him to be good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God’s goodness and mercy had already been
poured out by the bucketfuls upon this wretched creature called me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time I stood in that baptistery at
Lakeview Baptist Church in Oxford, Alabama at the age of 25, I already had a
quarter century’s worth of sins to wash away, but as I stood there wearing a
robe of white, I felt God’s Spirit moving upon me with healing in His
wings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, as Brother Jerry lowered me
down underneath the water, my former life was vanquished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Buried with Christ.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hidden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Covered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Washed and cleansed of
the former life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Rising to new life in
Him.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman italic"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Therefore
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(2 Corinthians 5:17)</span></i></div>
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I was a new bride at that time, figuratively and literally,
having married my husband, Rick, just two months prior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was also a new mom of sorts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rick had been married before, for a short
time, but it had been long enough to produce two children, Brandi and
Blake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were there at my
baptism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were five and six years
old on that day, April 21, 1996.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
were there again at that same small church when their little brother, Brooks,
was being dedicated to the Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all
stood together in a circle as Brother Jerry anointed him with oil and as we all
promised to help raise him in the fear and admonition of the Lord.</div>
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It was in that little church in the small Alabama town where
Rick spent most of his childhood and where he graduated from high school that
God would anchor Himself to our family, holding us and keeping us close to His
bright shores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was there in a Bible
study called “The Mind of Christ” that I had been amazed at the discovery that
the Bible contains ALL the answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a
child, I remember looking up into the sky and wondering, “Where are you,
God?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Can you see me?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Why can’t I see you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Do you love me?”</div>
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I found out just how much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And, as our family continued to grow in the fear and admonition of the
Lord, adding Brody, and then Bronner, my heart began to overflow with the joy
of the Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was soaring on the wings
of an eagle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had tasted and had seen
that the Lord was good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was very,
very good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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And, then came January 19, 2008 shooting me like a shotgun
right out of the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No more soaring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t even standing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t even on ground level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in a pit, deep and dark, but I was
still holding on to someone’s hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was the hand of the ONE who had lifted me up out of darkness once before, the
hand of HE who had HIMSELF knit me together in my mother’s womb, the hand who
had spoon fed me the truth of John 3:16 but who was now going to feed me the
meat and the bread and the wine of 1 Peter 4:1-2.</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman italic"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Since
therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of
thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to
live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for
the will of God.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></div>
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None of this was going to be easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been torn from my baby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was ripped away from me, and it wasn’t a
clean break.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all that goodness,
Lord, what are you doing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had been so happy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our family was SO happy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, we were doing all that you had asked of
us!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My goodness!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rick was speaking at a youth retreat when it
happened!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weren’t we giving enough?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, You’re going to take our baby?</div>
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The BABY?</div>
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MY baby.</div>
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I needed some answers, so I jumped in the ring and wrestled
it all out with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t going to
let go of Him until He answered me, until I could make some sense of this whole
matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, here I am, LORD, still
standing in the ring, but instead of wrestling with You, I’m here to tell YOUR
story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story of how You took me deeper
and higher and further with You than I ever thought possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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At the end of Job’s struggle with the LORD, he said, “I had
heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you…”</div>
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Through suffering, Job learned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He grew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He saw God in a new way, the way of reverence and awe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we come face to face with the POWER of
the ONE who created all things and through Whom all have their life and breath
and being, we begin to see things as they really are, not through those
rose-colored glasses I threw away long ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
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TRUTH.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what I
wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what I got. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what I have to tell.</div>
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God has always taught us through stories, through the lives
of ordinary human beings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s
mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn’t tidy or fun or sweet or
cute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, it’s mine, and it’s
Bronner’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone might say he “died”
for this story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope it will mean
something to you.</div>
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Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-19041386263944730992016-01-06T15:03:00.000-08:002016-01-06T19:20:07.417-08:00From One Salt Dispenser To Another<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mHEJW7_UDaA/Vo1lzViNwZI/AAAAAAAAAUc/aA98Q27pr3I/s1600/IMG_0009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mHEJW7_UDaA/Vo1lzViNwZI/AAAAAAAAAUc/aA98Q27pr3I/s400/IMG_0009.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Writing is a lonely business, but I never really felt alone those five years I spent writing my book. God's Spirit was my constant companion. I depended on Him for every word. I was so in the Spirit for so long that I was sustained. I felt so called and compelled by God to complete this project that I believed I would be in sin if I didn't finish it. I still think this book will be my single greatest contribution to God's kingdom in this generation. It's that important. The sacrifice, the pain, the solitude, the hours upon hours of study, prayer, and contemplation that went into it even before one word was written made this feel like a mission. It consumed me. I could not rest until it was finished, and I couldn't see beyond the writing. I didn't know how much effort and time and publicity was involved in the publishing process. After all that time alone, I've been thrust into somewhat of a media whirlwind with interviews coming almost everyday. I'm very thankful. I want to get the message that God gave me during those five years of wrestling it all out with Him into the hands of as many people as I can because I believe it will help them to understand that God loves them even when it doesn't seem like he does. <br />
<br />
It's been a hard transition, and Rick has been praying for me nonstop. Yesterday, I went to see an old friend, mentor, and former Bible teacher of mine, and she prayed for me too. Then, she gave me this salt cellar that once belonged to her grandmother's first cousin who was a missionary to Japan many years ago, a family heirloom I was very hesitant to accept. But she told me I am family to her. We are all family who belong to Jesus Christ. We are brothers, and we are sisters. We are called to give generously and beautifully and sacrificially to one another. That's what Penny Pace did for me yesterday. She wanted me to be reminded always to be salt and light in this generation.<br />
<br />
Then I went to another friend's house to pray, and as Julie and I talked and prayed, I realized what God is doing. I was so humbled when Bronner first went to Heaven. I wanted nothing of this world, but only to walk out God's purpose for my life, which for a long time was writing a book. But that's over, and God has brought me into a new season. He wants me know that I need Him just as much now as I ever did. If I want to be salt and light, then I have walk in the Spirit continually. And if I want to do these interviews to "my utmost for His highest," then I can't do it alone. Rick and I can't do this alone. I'm going to need Penny and Julie and Janice and Anne and Leslie and Linda and Susan and Pam and Lisa Ann and Wendy and Lynn and Kim and Meredith and Maegan and so many others if I am going to do this any justice at all, but most of all, I have been reminded that it's God I need most in this life. I need His wise and discerning council every moment of my life because I am weak and fallible and fallen even if I have been redeemed.<br />
<br />
Thank God that where I am weak, He is strong. "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (1 Corinthians 12:9). And I pray that the manner of life that I lead from this day forward will be worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ, a life that is fearless and bold, one that casts every anxiety upon Him because I know He cares for me, and one that is watchful. Oh how I know the adversary prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, but greater still do I know the power of God to protect, to heal, to grow, sustain, and fulfill. <br />
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Will you be salt and light with me? And will you watch and pray with me? I need you dear friends and sisters and brothers in this season where I have found myself to be a messenger for God. That is no small thing, and I have felt its weight. But I believe God is with me, and that He is within me. What can man do to me? And what do I have to fear? <br />
<br />
Father, glorify your name. </div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-28587488662869626212015-12-16T21:15:00.000-08:002015-12-16T21:37:35.918-08:00Shattered<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;">When Shattered Magazine wanted to know what my childhood dreams were, I was kind of stumped. I couldn't even remember. It's been so long since I've thought about my younger self. I've been caught up in the moment of the life that I am living now - raising children, loving and losing Bronner, wrestling it all out, and writing what I've learned. For me, there hasn't been a before or after, just life being lived, doing the best I can and trusting God with the rest. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It wasn't until after I got off the phone with the reporter on Monday, that I understood what she was looking for. She wanted to know if my hopes and dreams had been shattered and whether or not God had picked up the pieces and put me back together. I hung up the phone and went for a run through the woods and around the pond at Veteran's Park. It occurred to me as I ran that nothing good in me has been shattered. God shattered only what needed to be shattered: worldliness, pride, and self-reliance. I'm no longer tied to world the way that I was before, and that is so freeing. Because I'm not in love with the shiny things of the world anymore, I'm free to live as God is calling me live, following the Spirit however and wherever He leads. "Not my will, but thine, O Lord, be done." This is God's will for me and for you. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Just before the first anniversary of Bronner's Heaven-going, I was reading through 1 Peter as I had done many, many times before, and 1 Peter 4:1-2 jumped off the page at me screaming, "This is why and this is what you must do." I remember it like it was yesterday. I was sitting in my rocking chair on the front porch of our little farmhouse in Jemison, Alabama wrapped in a blanket and holding a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee, and there they were, the words that changed my life, "Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin so as to life for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God." </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">This is a universal truth, for if we are in the flesh, we will suffer. So take this flesh of mine, O Lord, and do with it what you will. I am yours, and, hallelujah, You are mine! And You, Oh Great God, are enough for me. </span></div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-32787895082489541302015-12-01T15:45:00.000-08:002015-12-01T15:45:41.055-08:00Jesus is our Joy!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;">Celebrating lots of love and laughter this holiday season, for "Jesus is
our joy and His joy makes us strong." Oh, how we love our Lord, each
other, and even the life circumstances that have brought us to this
place in time where we can say, "Yes, Lord, in all things, You make us
glad." There is no better feeling than to know you have been obedient to
the Lord's call and command. My book, <i>Bronner: A Journey to
Understand</i>, is the product of a call and command on my life that<span class="text_exposed_show">
was brought forth at tremendous sacrifice, and now that is it is
complete, yes, I do feel like celebrating! God is good, and ALL His
plans and thoughts toward me are good. He is mighty and majestic but
kind and filled with comfort, love, mercy, compassion, and grace. How
can we do anything but celebrate Him? He is our great treasure in this
life and in the one to come. Oh, praise Him! "Oh, praise the One who
paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead!"</span></span></div>
</div>
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Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-5641977576055108872015-11-30T01:16:00.003-08:002015-11-30T02:23:29.572-08:00The Meaning of Redemption<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
To be taken or removed from death, darkness, and damnation into life, light, and love. That is the meaning of redemption. Oswald Chambers, in the classic devotional <i>My Utmost for His Highest,</i> says we don't think on redemption enough, and he would be right. Chambers calls the Cross of Calvary the "tragedy of God." I call it God's most characteristic act. God is love. Of course, He would go to such great lengths to show it. God is light. Of course, He would die in order that darkness should be put to death. God is humble. Of course, He would stoop to such a humiliating death. God is life. Of course, death could not hold Him.<br />
<br />
The cross is where we see God's character most clearly. He is quite the opposite of the selfish, prideful, self-seeking, self-preserving people we all are by nature. That is why we need Him so desperately. We CAN be overcome by His nature, but only through redemption and only through the Cross of Calvary.<br />
<br />
The cross isn't just a symbol. It isn't something to simply wear around our necks like a good luck charm or even as a proclamation as to whom we belong. THE CROSS IS EVERYTHING. Without it, we are doomed. Without it, all would be lost. God would have never let that happen though. That's the point. It's just not in His nature. He loves. He lives. He redeems. He restores. He makes all things new. He is light and beauty and power and all that is good, right, and holy.<br />
<br />
My words fall so short in describing Him. But think for one moment about that one word, "light." By it, we see. Can you imagine life without light? Light is good. It warms us. By it we know and are known. What cannot be revealed by light? Shed light on anything anywhere and a gift will have been given, taken, or exchanged. Light is good. By it, we walk and are fed. Even at night, there are twinkling diamonds overhead. Never would our God leave us to utter and complete darkness. He reaches out with a spark of light that spreads and grows like wildfire, and darkness will never consume it.<br />
<br />
The cross is the spark that ignites a flame of fire inside each of us who believe. Believe today with great gratefulness for the light of salvation, the beauty and hope of resurrection, and the bonds of love that will never be broken between us and our great God. <br />
<br />
<i>Oh God, our Father, thank you for the cross. Thank you for today, for our country and land, and for the hope of a new and perfect land that is coming with you, Lord. May we walk by your light, grace, and mercy forever. Amen.</i></div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-71667890876299722792015-06-27T09:52:00.001-07:002015-06-27T10:48:00.717-07:00Pride - The Original Sin<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If anyone believes that he or she knows better than God what
is right and what is wrong, that person has a real ego problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But let’s face it – Pride was the original
sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It led to the fall of Lucifer and
his followers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It led to the fall of
mankind and subsequently all of creation. So we shouldn’t be surprised that
pride is behind any movement that stands against God’s Word, law, and
principles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Humility is hard for humans, maybe because we were made in
God’s image and to reflect His glory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
can be glorious creatures filled with wisdom and beauty, but something in us
went astray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It no longer was good
enough for us to reflect the glory of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We became selfish and wanted the glory for ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When that happens in a person or an angel,
the wonder in his or her heart dies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
stops marveling at the goodness and loveliness of God and begins striving for
self.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Pride becomes anxiousness, greed, selfishness, and lust –
all trying to feed something inside of us that can never be filled with any of
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when it doesn’t, despair sets
in and depression takes hold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wonder
why we aren’t happy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We ask ourselves,
“Wasn’t this what I wanted?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Didn’t I get
everything I set out for?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why do I feel
this way?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the point when many
people realize their utter need for God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In brokenness of spirit, we reach up asking for a hand of help out of
the hole we dug for ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
happens all the time with all kinds of people and has throughout history. Sometimes
people just have to learn for themselves that sin destroys lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It always has.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But God is patient and kind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He waits on us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knows that we are but dust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He allows for mistakes and teaches us through
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But rest assured that if anyone
calls out to God for help and forgiveness, He will give it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one is beyond His reach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is God, and He is able to redeem and
restore all that has been lost in us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sin is going to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not about
government or Supreme Court Justices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s about the hearts of men and women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What am I to do about my culture?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sit back and let it devour me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You and I, saints of God, are
called to be holy – to be different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
am going love you no matter who you are, for we are all sinners in this earth. But
I refuse to let my wonder be taken from me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I will always stand in awe of the One who created me, who loves me, and
has redeemed my broken life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll never shake
my fist at God and blame Him for all the destruction that is coming upon the
world because of sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I will never
stop hoping for the lost and the dying to come home to God because I know that
is His desire and that many, many will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Don’t fret, my friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is all working together for good for those who love God and are called
according to His purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watch and
see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He – JESUS – the light of the world
– will shine ever more brightly in the darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we are called to shine with Him, to
reflect His grace, His glory, and His goodness forever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His purpose remains the same as from the
beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His purpose is this – to call
out for Himself a people who love Him as He loves us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He seeks hearts to come in childlike faith
and wonder to be a part with Him and His kingdom forever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
this, there is joy and peace and love and compassion and mercy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is abundance of life and liberty and
growth and purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the proud will
see none of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is but one God,
one truth, and one redemption, and He who was and is and is to
come is He.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you believe this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If so, there is nothing to fear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we realize the power of God to break down
strongholds, to give life to dry bones, to make all things new, then we can
rest in His strength and authority and know that He can be trusted in all things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Acknowledge the power and authority of God right now, and know that
in the end, everything, everything, will be more than okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will be perfect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wait and see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-74030770074774333612015-01-24T18:01:00.000-08:002015-01-24T19:32:06.558-08:00The Authority of Scripture<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last night I read some breaking news: "Federal judge strikes down Alabama's gay marriage ban." You've got my attention, Cliff. (Cliff Sims, Yellowhammer News) The article explains that two Mobile women traveled to California in 2008 to get legally married. They had been living as a couple since 2000. One of them gave birth to a son through a sperm donor in 2005. They went to court so that the other one could legally adopt the child since the two women shared parenting responsibilities for him. Seems reasonable enough from a logical standpoint.<br />
<br />
The federal court judge ruled that the laws preventing the couple from doing exactly as they wished were "irrational." I guess so if you're basing your ruling on emotion or even reason. I found myself understanding completely how U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade could come to such a conclusion if she were ruled by no higher authority than her own opinion.<br />
<br />
America's founding fathers set up our government by the people and for the people. They didn't want to be enslaved by an earthly king any longer. They believed that too much power in the hands of one human being is never a good thing. Humans are generally ruled by lust and greed unless they are ruled by something greater than themselves. Knowing this, they developed a system of checks and balances so that one branch of government wouldn't end up with too much power.<br />
<br />
Federal court judges were never meant to base their rulings on emotion, reason, or opinion. They were to base their rulings on law and precedent. Even though the State of Alabama overwhelmingly agrees with what is written in God's Word, the Bible, about marriage and family, Granade's decision seems to be based on something else, certainly not the law because she overturned the law that our elected state legislators had made. <br />
<br />
Where did her decision come from? Her heart? The Bible tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things. (Jeremiah 17:9) We could justify all manner of evil if we allowed our hearts and minds to rule us. So where does truth come from? Jesus said, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31) He further explained that it's sin that enslaves us. He came so that sin would no longer have dominion over us. It wouldn't have to rule us in the way that it had before. God had already taught us through the Bible what sin is, but we couldn't seem to let go of it, and so sacrifices had to be made. Jesus gave His life for this reason. <br />
<br />
A human being is more than flesh and blood. There's a lot more to us than than that. Yes, there's reason and logic, memory and emotion, talents and skills, but there's even more. It's the soul that makes us alive, and it's our spirit within that can have fellowship with our Maker, God. The Bible tells us that people were created in the image of God, meaning that we are like Him in some ways. The Bible also tells us how human beings came to be separated from God and how we can be reunited with Him once again. The Bible is filled with explanations. It explains what is good, right, and just, and it explains what is not.<br />
<br />
Most people believe in God. He made us that way. He made us to have fellowship with Himself, to know Him, to believe in Him. But God is holy. He's pure. There is no darkness in Him at all. But man chose to live in darkness instead of the light of truth. This is also explained in the Bible. Scripture has been highly valued and treasured as truth throughout all of humanity. Men and women of old gave their lives to preserve it, handing it down to future generations, translating it into the native tongues of the world, reading it, memorizing it, meditating on it day and night because it was treasured above all earthly knowledge or possession. <br />
<br />
Do we understand what a treasure we have in the Bible? It is God's revealed truth to humanity. Do we cherish this in the way that we should? I hesitate to think what our world would look like without it. I daresay we would have destroyed ourselves long ago. God's Word brings law and order where chaos and destruction would otherwise reign. Do we dare discard it in our day? Do we dare give ourselves over to the lusts of the flesh, the indignities of our depraved minds? Where would our hope be? Would every enjoyment come from what we can see and hear and touch with our hands and our bodies?<br />
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True joy comes from deep within. It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit of God within a person. If circumstances determined my joy, I'm afraid I wouldn't find much of it. It's the peace I have in knowing that there's more than what I can see and touch and hear and taste and experience here in this life. I know there's more. God's Word tells me that, and I believe it. I don't make this stuff up, and you can't either. No one can. Truth is truth. There is no other. <br />
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The Bible says, "Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine." (1 Timothy 1:8-10) It also says that "the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by unrighteousness suppress the truth... For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature..." (Romans 1:18-26)<br />
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Scripture makes it clear that homosexuality isn't lawful. It is a sin based on the lust of the flesh. According to these passages, it is "contrary to sound doctrine" and is a "dishonorable passion." It is lumped in there with several others sins such as murder and lying. If we begin to make laws according to the desires of the flesh instead of what is truly lawful in God's eyes according to His Word, then He will give us over to our sin to be destroyed by it. (Romans 1:18-32)<br />
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Many people see this as a human rights issue and liken it to the Civil Rights Movement or even to slavery. The problem with that is that God says, in these very passages, that "enslavers" are also contrary to God's law. The Civil Rights Movement wasn't in any way sinful. It sought dignity and honor for a race of people, created by and for God just as any other. This is not the same thing at all. This is about a society that has become dishonorable, reckless, does not acknowledge God as Supreme, nor gives any authority to His Word. The bottom line is that we don't, we won't, acknowledge sin as sin. For this reason, the wrath of God is coming. God help us. </div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-51010077552936920932015-01-19T12:37:00.000-08:002015-01-19T13:47:39.421-08:00Worth the Fight<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today I am remembering and celebrating the lives of two great Americans, Southerners, and people, Martin Luther King, Jr. and my baby boy, Bronner Burgess. Both are in Heaven today, and both have left their mark upon on our hearts and leave legacies that won't soon be forgotten by those of us left upon the earth. I hope they have had a chance to meet one another in the Paradise of God. MLK Day is a floating holiday held on the third Monday in January each year near the birthday of the great man, January 15. This year we celebrate the federal holiday, signed into law by another distinguished American, President Ronald Reagan, on January 19. That is the day seven years ago that my sweet Bronner went home to God.<br />
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A movie was released this month entitled <i>Selma</i> in honor of the 50th anniversary of King's famous march from Selma to Montgomery. I went to see the movie last Saturday night with a friend. As I watched, I was surprised to find that at times during the movie, I didn't know what was about to happen. While it is true that these events happened before my birth on August 15, 1970, they happened in my home state. I have always been interested in the Civil Rights Movement for the courage shown by those who stood up for a cause they believed in, convinced of its worth, merit, and truth. Many Alabamians are ashamed of what happened here, but I'm not. I'm so very proud of my fellow Alabamians who did what it took to change a nation for good, people like Rosa Parks. She knew right from wrong, and she did what was right. I'm proud of her, a sister in this struggle called life.<br />
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I read through Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" last night before I went to bed. It's long and kept me up later than I expected. My pastor, Dr. Danny Wood, quoted from it in church yesterday. What he read was intense and good. It made me want to read the whole thing, so I did. I found myself thinking of its relevance for today. Truth is truth and can be applied wherever falsehood exists. Dr. King's efforts are rightly celebrated because they changed us. Our nation is not the same today as it was then. He brought great injustices to light. I have found in my 44 years of life that people in general are selfish. We, left to ourselves, think of ourselves first. But sometimes in human history, people stand up for God, for truth, for others, for what is right. The cause, the good, becomes more important to that person than him or herself.<br />
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As I watched <i>Selma</i>, the movie, I said out loud, "That's right." I was responding to something Dr. King was saying as I would in a church service. I was agreeing with this pastor who was speaking of God's truth as I knew it so well. A white woman in front of me turned around to look at me as if to chide me. I felt her eyes say that I was in error to think Dr. King was right in being so selfless, selfless unto death. He was being warned in the scene that his life was in danger, that he needed to walk carefully, and that there were those who were bent upon his destruction. When someone stands up so defiantly against powers that be for what is right and true, there will always be people willing to kill them. I have thought so much about this over the past week since I watched the movie. I have tried to understand how anyone could be so compelled to murder another human being. I've tried to see why someone felt they had the right to take another person's life from them, and I do think that it was out fear. Maybe they did think they were protecting their families, but that doesn't make it any less appalling to me today. I didn't live in that culture, so it is hard for me to understand. But I do understand courage, and it's those who stood up so defiantly against a great evil, understanding the risks and doing it anyway because they were so convinced of their calling, that I applaud and relate to.<br />
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Dr. King told the man warning him that he wanted to be "happy" just like any other man but that he had come too far in this cause to back down now. Dr. King knew the risk he was taking. He knew people were out to kill him, and I believe he knew in his heart that he would die for what he believed in. But he did not count his life as more precious than that. He was no doubt well acquainted with Paul's letter to the Philippians and stood with Paul in his belief that life in the flesh is to be lived for the glory of God and not for self and that "to die is gain," for life in the presence of Christ is "far better" than life here as is. Dr. King stands among many who have been martyred because they knew their blood would pave a path straight to God, not only for themselves, but for countless others behind them. I have a book called <i>Jesus Freaks</i>. There is a story in it about a young woman named Anne Askew, a protestant in the time just before the English Reformation. She was tortured in such a way, and finally burned at the stake, that I could hardly bear to read of it. In fact, the book doesn't go into the gory details but gave just enough information to compel me to do a little more research. What she endured for her faith at the tender age of 25 is amazing to me, but I believe her to be right. What else could she do but endure the pain? She knew she was right, and she knew what joy awaited her in Heaven.<br />
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I am not a martyr myself, but I certainly know the sting of death and am no stranger to pain. And I know this: that God's truth, God's kingdom, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the way of and to Heaven is worth the fight. Dr. King is right, God doesn't desire for his disciples here on earth to seek out the pleasures of this world to make us comfortable and "happy." God, in fact, desires exactly the opposite from us. He doesn't want His true followers to be comfortable in this world, for this is not our home and to be settled in it as if it were is wrong. Our home, our happiness, and our Father await us in Heaven. He gives us the strength to endure unfathomable pain and suffering in this life because he wants us to know true life. For there is no real life apart from Him. Without Him, we are doomed to eternal separation from everything that is good and right and true. The Apostle Paul said he counted "everything" as a "loss" compared with the "surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord." Paul was eventually killed for his beliefs as well, but I am quite sure he doesn't regret anything he ever did for the sake of Christ. He knew, as did Dr. King and Anne Askew and countless others, that death for the Christian isn't really death at all. It's only the beginning of a new adventure with God, an adventure I believe is worth everything we have to endure in this life. <br />
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To have such a calling is where true joy is found. To do the work of the Lord is more satisfying than any gain, glory, or earthly pleasure to be found in and for self. So let's take to heart in this day of remembrance the words of the great apostle, <i>"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:3-11) </i><br />
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I have posted the "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" also today. I encourage you to take the time to read through the thoughts and ideas of this great man not only to remember the past and what great strides can be made for good when we set our hearts and lives to it, but also to find truth for us today. The struggle has changed but the fight remains. I believe it is the fight for good, for Christ, and for our rights as American citizens to be free to worship God in spirit and in truth, for in the words of this great American, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." </div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-78416172121189870302015-01-19T10:08:00.001-08:002015-01-19T10:16:28.937-08:00"Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">16 April 1963</span></div>
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<br />
My Dear Fellow Clergymen:</div>
<br />
While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement
calling
my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my
work and
ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would
have little time
for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no
time for
constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your
criticisms are
sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient
and
reasonable terms.<br />
<br />
I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced
by the
view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president
of the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern
state, with
headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty five affiliated organizations across
the South,
and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share
staff,
educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliate
here in
Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such
were
deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise.
So I,
along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here
because I have
organizational ties here.<br />
<br />
But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets
of the
eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond
the boundaries
of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried
the gospel of
Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the
gospel of
freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian
call for
aid.<br />
<br />
Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I
cannot sit idly
by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is
a threat
to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a
single garment
of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we
afford to live with
the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States
can never be
considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.<br />
<br />
You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am
sorry to
say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the
demonstrations. I am
sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social
analysis that deals
merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that
demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the
city's white
power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.<br />
<br />
In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to
determine
whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. We have gone
through all
these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice
engulfs this
community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United
States. Its ugly
record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in
the courts.
There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in
any
other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of
these conditions,
Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently
refused to engage
in good faith negotiation.<br />
<br />
Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's
economic
community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the
merchants--for
example, to remove the stores' humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises,
the Reverend
Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
agreed to a
moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we
were the
victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained.
As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep
disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action,
whereby
we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of
the local and
the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a
process of self
purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked
ourselves: "Are
you able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeal of
jail?" We decided
to schedule our direct action program for the Easter season, realizing that except for
Christmas, this is
the main shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic-withdrawal program
would be
the by product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring
pressure to bear on
the merchants for the needed change.<br />
<br />
Then it occurred to us that Birmingham's mayoral election was coming up in March, and
we
speedily decided to postpone action until after election day. When we discovered that the
Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene "Bull" Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in
the run off,
we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run off so that the
demonstrations could
not be used to cloud the issues. Like many others, we waited to see Mr. Connor defeated,
and to this
end we endured postponement after postponement. Having aided in this community need, we
felt
that our direct action program could be delayed no longer.<br />
<br />
You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't
negotiation a
better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very
purpose of direct
action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension
that a
community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It
seeks so to
dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as
part of the
work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am
not afraid of
the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of
constructive,
nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was
necessary to create a
tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half
truths to the
unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for
nonviolent
gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark
depths of
prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it
will
inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for
negotiation. Too
long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue
rather than
dialogue.<br />
<br />
One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates
have
taken in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked: "Why didn't you give the new city
administration
time to act?" The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham
administration
must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act. We are sadly
mistaken if we
feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor will bring the millennium to
Birmingham. While Mr.
Boutwell is a much more gentle person than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists,
dedicated to
maintenance of the status quo. I have hope that Mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough to
see the
futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure
from devotees
of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in
civil rights without
determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that
privileged groups
seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and
voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups
tend to be more immoral than
individuals.<br />
<br />
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the
oppressor;
it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action
campaign that
was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of
segregation.
For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with
piercing familiarity.
This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our
distinguished
jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."<br />
<br />
We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The
nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political
independence, but
we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter.
Perhaps it is
easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." But
when you have
seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and
brothers at whim;
when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and
sisters;
when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an
airtight cage
of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted
and your
speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to
the public
amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in
her eyes when
she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of
inferiority beginning
to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by
developing an
unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five
year old
son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you
take a
cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable
corners of your
automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by
nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your
middle
name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife
and
mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted
by night
by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing
what to
expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever
fighting a
degenerating sense of "nobodiness"--then you will understand why we find it difficult to
wait. There
comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be
plunged into
the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable
impatience.
You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly
a
legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's
decision of 1954
outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather
paradoxical for us
consciously to break laws. One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and
obeying
others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I
would be the first
to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey
just laws.
Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St.
Augustine
that "an unjust law is no law at all."<br />
<br />
Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is
just
or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of
God. An unjust
law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St.
Thomas Aquinas:
An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law
that uplifts
human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All
segregation statutes
are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the
segregator
a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation,
to use the
terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I it" relationship for
an "I thou"
relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is
not only
politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul
Tillich has said
that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic
separation, his awful
estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954
decision of the
Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation
ordinances, for they
are morally wrong.<br />
<br />
Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a
code that a
numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make
binding on
itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a
majority compels a
minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.
Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as
a result of
being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say
that the
legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically
elected?
Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming
registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a
majority of
the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such
circumstances be
considered democratically structured?<br />
Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have
been
arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having
an
ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when
it is used
to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful
assembly and
protest.<br />
<br />
I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I
advocate
evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy.
One who
breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the
penalty. I
submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who
willingly
accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community
over its
injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.<br />
<br />
Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced
sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of
Nebuchadnezzar, on
the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early
Christians, who
were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than
submit to
certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today
because
Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented
a massive
act of civil disobedience.<br />
<br />
We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and
everything
the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and
comfort a Jew in
Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would
have aided and
comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain
principles dear to
the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's
antireligious
laws.<br />
<br />
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I
must
confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white
moderate. I have
almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his
stride toward
freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white
moderate, who is
more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence
of tension
to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with
you in the goal
you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically
believes he can
set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and
who
constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding
from
people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill
will.
Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.<br />
<br />
I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the
purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the
dangerously
structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white
moderate would
understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition
from an
obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a
substantive
and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human
personality. Actually,
we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring
to the
surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it
can be seen and
dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be
opened with all
its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with
all the tension its
exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before
it can be
cured.<br />
<br />
In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned
because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn't this like
condemning a robbed
man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn't this like
condemning
Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries
precipitated the
act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn't this like
condemning
Jesus because his unique God consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God's will
precipitated
the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts have
consistently affirmed,
it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional
rights because the
quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber.
I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation
to
the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He
writes: "All
Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is
possible that you
are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to
accomplish
what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems
from a tragic
misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the
very flow of
time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used
either destructively or
constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more
effectively
than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely
for the hateful
words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
Human
progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts
of men willing to
be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the
forces of social
stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to
do right.
Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national
elegy into
a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the
quicksand of racial
injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.<br />
<br />
You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed
that
fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began
thinking about the
fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a
force of
complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are
so drained
of self respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation; and
in part of a
few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and
because
in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the
masses. The
other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating
violence. It is
expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation,
the largest
and best known being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's
frustration
over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people
who have
lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded
that the
white man is an incorrigible "devil."<br />
<br />
I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the
"do
nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For
there is the
more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the
influence of
the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle.
If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am
convinced,
be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as
"rabble
rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if
they refuse to
support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair,
seek solace and
security in black nationalist ideologies--a development that would inevitably lead to a
frightening
racial nightmare.<br />
<br />
Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually
manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within
has
reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it
can be
gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his
black
brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the
Caribbean, the
United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of
racial
justice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one
should readily
understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent up
resentments
and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer
pilgrimages
to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. If
his repressed
emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence;
this is not a
threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: "Get rid of your
discontent." Rather, I have
tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative
outlet of
nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist.
But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I
continued to
think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was
not Jesus an
extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and
pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist
for justice:
"Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Was not
Paul an
extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was
not Martin
Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John
Bunyan: "I will
stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham
Lincoln:
"This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold
these truths to
be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ." So the question is not whether we
will be
extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for
love? Will we be
extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that
dramatic scene on
Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were
crucified for the same
crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below
their
environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and
thereby rose
above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of
creative
extremists.<br />
<br />
I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic;
perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the
oppressor
race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and
still fewer
have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and
determined action. I
am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the
meaning of this
social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too few in quantity,
but they are big
in quality. Some -such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs,
Ann Braden
and Sarah Patton Boyle--have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms.
Others
have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy,
roach
infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as "dirty
nigger-lovers."
Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of
the
moment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease of
segregation.
Let me take note of my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed
with
the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am
not unmindful
of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend
you, Reverend
Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your
worship service
on a nonsegregated basis. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating
Spring Hill
College several years ago.<br />
<br />
But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have been
disappointed
with the church. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find
something
wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who
was nurtured
in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true
to it as long as
the cord of life shall lengthen.<br />
<br />
When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery,
Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church. I felt that
the white
ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead,
some have
been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting
its
leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained
silent
behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.<br />
<br />
In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white
religious
leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral
concern, would
serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. I
had hoped
that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.<br />
<br />
I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply
with a
desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers
declare:
"Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your
brother." In the
midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand
on the
sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a
mighty
struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers
say: "Those are
social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern." And I have watched many
churches commit
themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, un-Biblical
distinction
between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.<br />
<br />
I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other
southern
states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's
beautiful
churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive
outlines of her
massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "What
kind of people
worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett
dripped
with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave
a clarion
call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary
Negro men
and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of
creative
protest?"<br />
<br />
Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the
laxity of
the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep
disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do
otherwise? I am in
the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great grandson of
preachers. Yes, I
see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body
through
social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.<br />
<br />
There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early
Christians
rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church
was not
merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a
thermostat
that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the
people in
power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being
"disturbers of the
peace" and "outside agitators."' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that
they were "a
colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in
commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their
effort and
example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial
contests.
Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice
with
an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being
disturbed by the
presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the
church's
silent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are.<br />
<br />
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not
recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity,
forfeit the loyalty of
millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth
century.
Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into
outright
disgust.<br />
Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably
bound to
the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner
spiritual
church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But
again I am
thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken
loose from
the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for
freedom. They
have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us.
They have
gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to
jail with
us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops
and fellow
ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil
triumphant. Their
witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in
these troubled
times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.
I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if
the
church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no
fear about the
outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood.
We will
reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of
America is
freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's
destiny. Before
the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the
majestic words
of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more
than two
centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they
built the
homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation -and yet
out of a
bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties
of slavery could
not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because
the sacred
heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.
Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that has
troubled
me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and
"preventing violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if
you had
seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would
so quickly
commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes
here
in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro
girls; if
you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe
them, as
they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace
together. I
cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.<br />
<br />
It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling the
demonstrators. In
this sense they have conducted themselves rather "nonviolently" in public. But for what
purpose? To
preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently
preached that
nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have
tried to
make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must
affirm that it is
just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.
Perhaps Mr.
Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in
Albany,
Georgia, but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of
racial
injustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do
the right deed for
the wrong reason."<br />
<br />
I wish you had commended the Negro sit inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their
sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of
great
provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James
Merediths, with
the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and hostile mobs, and with
the
agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old,
oppressed, battered
Negro women, symbolized in a seventy two year old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose
up
with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who
responded
with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My feets is tired,
but my
soul is at rest." They will be the young high school and college students, the young
ministers of the
gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch
counters and
willingly going to jail for conscience' sake. One day the South will know that when these
disinherited
children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is
best in the
American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo Christian heritage, thereby
bringing our
nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers
in their
formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.<br />
<br />
Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take
your precious
time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a
comfortable
desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write
long letters,
think long thoughts and pray long prayers?<br />
<br />
If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an
unreasonable
impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth
and indicates my
having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God
to forgive
me.<br />
<br />
I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will
soon make it
possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but
as a fellow
clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial
prejudice will soon
pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched
communities,
and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine
over our
great nation with all their scintillating beauty.<br />
<br />
Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,<br />
Martin Luther King, Jr.<br />
Published in:<br />
King, Martin Luther Jr.
</div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-85318224639716580612014-12-31T15:32:00.000-08:002014-12-31T16:08:51.370-08:00Come Home<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Our seventh Christmas without our precious Bronner has just passed, and as this year of completion comes to a close, I am filled with thoughts of him, of all God has already done through his life and legacy, and the purpose for which he was given to us. Memories are vivid and powerful as my heart overflows with love not only for my youngest child but also for my God, the Giver of his life. <br />
<br />
God gives and takes away, yes, but there is so much more. I have hashed it all out with Him. I have pondered and prayed and wept and wondered at it all, and now the book is written. It was completed this year, 2014, and took so much time and effort that upon its completion a time of rest was given to me this fall. But I know that my rest is now complete and that my work and witness must begin again.<br />
<br />
In just days from now, January 19, 2015, will mark my son's 7th year in Heaven.<br />
<br />
What amazing adventures has he been on?<br />
<br />
What beautiful things has he seen?<br />
<br />
What does he know and see and do?<br />
<br />
I am sure of only this: that his life still is, that he is held in the arms of Love, and that I was given a great treasure in him.<br />
<br />
As the 8th day begins, I pray that we as a family will be given renewed purpose, strength, and determination to carry not Bronner's story to the ends of the earth, but God's.<br />
<br />
I often wonder at those whose sympathies cannot fathom the justice in God's eternal purpose. It IS hard to understand from our human perspective. That is why we must try to look at it from God's.<br />
<br />
Someone once asked me, "What is it all for?" and "Why are we even here?"<br />
<br />
Grief is a part of our existence. We are all grieving something. The circumstances of life in a fallen world weigh us all down so much so that such despondency as exhibited by my question-bearer must certainly come to us all at some point in life. I am sure I have asked these same questions before: "What is it all for?" and "Why are we even here?"<br />
<br />
We are here because we are and because He is. If that seems too simple, think of it in reverse. What if you never were, where would you be then? We ARE because there IS a Creator, Almighty God, and He is filled with good things. He is love and light and beauty beyond compare. He is incapable of wrong, for He is perfect. You may ask, "If this is so, why is the earth riddled with injustices?" For surely each of us, with the moral compass and logic implanted in us by our Maker, can clearly see much that is wrong in the world in which we live.<br />
<br />
Even if we can see evidence of His majesty and glory everywhere and in all things, we can't overlook the fact that the opposite resides here as well. The two extremes of good and evil can't but confuse us. That is why an answer must be given to the questions posed by my friend.<br />
<br />
"What is it all for?" and "Why are we even here?"<br />
<br />
God's purpose is this: to gather for Himself a people tried and tested in the furnace of affliction, who have walked through this valley of the shadow of death called earth, and who have come out of it with life everlasting. The redeemed of the earth, when all is said and done, will have chosen the good portion. They will have have been humbled under the mighty hand of God and will have bowed down before the throne of His grace. <br />
<br />
Our lives here and now are short; eternity is the real question. You have heard it said that the devil prowls around looking for someone to devour, but have you considered that God's Spirit also searches the earth looking for someone to rescue and redeem? It is a question of submission versus self-reliance, humility versus pride, good versus evil. <br />
<br />
The prideful will never submit to the authority of God and His Word. They make THEMSELVES judge of what is good and what is evil or perhaps deny the existence of evil at all. This is a very sinister spirit, and our culture is filled with it. We do not accept God's law or standards for living as written in His Word, for it we do, we are convicted of our own sinful nature. And we must never feel badly about ourselves. We are all good, says the culture, just misunderstood. Sin has become a thing of the past. No one sins anymore, therefore no one deserves punishment for sin. This is what we have come to believe as a society and in the world at large, but the truth, as written in God's Word, tells a very different story. It tells us that we are all sinners in need of a Savior. That Savior has been given. The Way of Salvation has come. <br />
<br />
God commands all people everywhere to repent. (Acts 17:30)<br />
<br />
To repent means to turn away from sin. It involves an acknowledgement of one's own sin, the acceptance of God's mercy, grace and forgiveness, and a renewed life in the Spirit of God by faith in the One who died to pay the price for the sins of the world, Jesus Christ. <br />
<br />
This may seem narrow-minded or obsolete, but look around and you will see the truth of it. The world in its current state is in need of salvation. Look into the face of danger or death, and each of us will cry out for help. Where does that help come from? It comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and earth.<br />
<br />
God has provided a Way of Salvation for us all.<br />
<br />
Will you take it? Will you submit to the Lordship of Christ Jesus? Will you acknowledge your sin before a holy God and be ransomed as His own? <br />
<br />
Sin is selfish and brutal and unrelenting. It visits us day and night in our thoughts, attitudes, and actions. Jesus, alone, turned away every and all temptation by the word of His mouth. We can't boast that nor can we boast a love greater than His.<br />
<br />
Some look at God and see a tyrant ready to throw us all into Hell unless we do as He says.<br />
<br />
The Bible does say, "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn with an unquenchable fire." (Matthew 3:12)<br />
<br />
We don't like to think about this, but herein lies the answer. The earth is God's threshing floor, and He is asking us not to be its chaff. It's up to us to accept what has already been freely given on our behalf. This place and time we exist in is for a purpose, God's purpose. It is where God separates what is good from what is unusable and unworthy. Wheat makes bread to eat. Chaff is good for nothing, and it will be discarded and burned. That is God's truth.<br />
<br />
We don't like to believe that anyone under any circumstances can be discarded. In our pride, we see ourselves as more compassionate than God and our own righteousness above His because we would never cast anyone aside. We believe we love others far too much for that, but consider this: Until it is you who wears the crown of thorns upon your head, until your beaten body hangs upon a cross and a sword pierces your side, you cannot say you love them more.<br />
<br />
The cross reminds us of an unsurpassable Love that pursues us with the kind of unrelenting passion that none of us could even fathom. Our bleeding hearts grieve and offer sympathy, empathy, and love, but He, alone, is able to redeem anyone or anything. He has, He does, and He will. We are the reason He hung there. Sin is what crucified our Lord, and it is His love for us that motivated Him to go through with it. The cross brings life into death, hope into hopelessness, peace into despair, love out of hate, and a place to belong for the wandering soul. <br />
<br />
Come home, it cries. Come home to the place for which you were created. "Come to Me, all who are weary, I will give you rest. I love you, and I will never forsake you." <br />
<br />
It is His kingdom to reign. Will you submit to Him? Will you follow? Will you be bread and not chaff? Will you choose the good portion, the Bread and Living Water, whose name is Love? I pray you will. </div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-57575612013287163052014-10-27T16:00:00.001-07:002015-01-28T10:01:48.899-08:00Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of God<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was recently asked to speak to a group of baseball moms, and the first thing I thought about was America. I don't know if baseball is still "American's pastime," but it is certainly a part of who we are, a part of our heritage and culture. Americans like baseball and football and lots of other sports that are wholesome and good and fun because that's who we are, wholesome and good and fun. I've been around the world and have seen places where this isn't the case, where kindness and compassion aren't the norm. I've seen poverty and sickness and injustice like you can't find here in America. A lot of it has to do with oppressive governments, but most of it lies in the prevailing religion of the land.<br />
<br />
I have a book called <i>Jesus in Beijing</i> written by David Aikman, the former Beijing bureau chief for <i>Time</i> magazine. In it, Aikman writes about a study done by a leading research group in China. They wanted to find out what makes America so great. This is what they said, "One of the things we were asked to look into was what accounted for the success, in fact, the pre-eminence of the West all over the world. We studied everything we could from the historical, political, economic, and cultural perspective. At first, we thought it was because you had the best political system. Next, we focused on your economic system. But in the past twenty years, we have realized that the heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That is why the West has been so powerful. The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life was what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transition to democratic politics. We don't have any doubt about this." <br />
<br />
China knows what makes America great. Do we?<br />
<br />
William Tyndale was an Englishman who lived from 1494-1536. I share his story here because he was a man of conviction who lived and died for what he believed in. He was a clergyman with a gift for languages who felt called by God to write a translation of the Bible in his native tongue. The problem was that it was illegal to do so at the time. He had to go into hiding to to do the work. He had completed the New Testament and much of the Old when he was caught, strangled to death, and burned at the stake. Two years after his martyrdom in 1536, King Henry XVIII authorized the Great Bible to be read in the newly established Church of England. The Great Bible drew heavily from Tyndale's work as did the Geneva Bible released in 1557. But the top dog of them all came in 1611 when the King James Bible was printed and released, just 75 years after the death of William Tyndale who had laid the foundation for its publication. Within a decade, in 1620, the pilgrims set sail for America. On board the Mayflower were two Bibles, the Geneva Bible and the King James. Before those pilgrims ever set foot onto Plymouth Rock (and no coincidence that it was a rock either ), they had formed a compact that drew them together as a society that was based on what they had learned and read of God and His law, His standards, and His freedom in those Bibles. That Mayflower Compact set the groundwork for the law and the liberty that would prevail in the yet to come United States of America.<br />
<br />
Two things we can glean from this story:<br />
<br />
1. Never underestimate the impact that one person can have on a society and on the world at large.<br />
<br />
2. America was founded upon the truth of God's Word, and that, most assuredly, is where its goodness comes from.<br />
<br />
America has done and still does a lot of good in the world. We provide food for the hungry, shelter for the weary, and send out the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ everywhere. We are the peacekeepers of the world keeping evil at bay. I read a book this summer called<i> Unbroken</i> by Laura Hillebrand about an American POW during WWII who had been captured by the Japanese. We have all heard of the atrocities of the holocaust and what happened in Germany under Nazi leadership, but I had never really studied or read about the horrors that went on in those Japanese war camps. The prisoners of war in Japan were beaten and starved and tortured in ways a normal human being couldn't fathom. There was a great darkness there. Louis Zamperini had been an Olympic runner. His athleticism was probably one thing that kept him alive. The other thing was the conviction that someone would come for him. Salvation did come. When the American bombers finally flew overhead and tipped their wings at the prisoners, Zamperini knew he would survive the war. He did and lived to tell the story. <br />
<br />
America is a force for good in the world. As I've said before, a strong America doesn't just benefit America. A strong America is important for the whole world. Our values, beliefs, and religion are needed everywhere. Salvation came that day for Louis Zamperini in the form of American fighter pilots, but true peace came to his soul through Jesus Christ years later. Believe it or not, it was at a Billy Graham Crusade. Never underestimate the impact one person can make upon a society and upon the world. William Tyndale and Billy Graham certainly prove that point. <br />
<br />
A few weeks ago, a friend of ours called Rick to see if he could fill in for him at a church in Russellville, Alabama, for a Wednesday night service. Scott Dawson, an evangelist in the tradition of Billy Graham who speaks at churches and youth events around the country all the time, had double booked himself. His conflict was that he had promised to take his teenaged daughter to a One Direction concert on the same night. Of course Rick understood and gladly accepted the request. He later got a call from the church where he would be speaking that a young man in their community had been involved in an ATV accident and was clinging to life in the ICU. He was a star football player for the local high school team. Rick knew it was no accident that he was the one called there to comfort and encourage that community at such a tragic moment. Rick's message was basically this: that this is a world where star football players cling to life in the ICU and where beautiful baby boys drown in their own backyards. Bad things happen in this world, but if you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, this is the worst of life you'll ever know. But if you don't know Him, this is the best you're ever going to get.<br />
<br />
Many gave their lives to Christ that night including at least one of the football player's teammates. Tragedy works like wildfire in the Christian church spreading it like nothing else can, mainly for the reason that Rick gave in his speech at the church that night. People want more than this. Tragedy makes us realize that things aren't right, right now, and it makes us want more. It makes us want what we were created for, God - holy and righteous and good.<br />
<br />
Some of the players on the football team asked their coach and team chaplain if they could be baptized on the football field after practice in honor of their friend and teammate and brother. Who could deny a request like that at a time like that? The boys were baptized, but somehow a group from Wisconsin called "Freedom From Religion" got wind of it and began to threaten the school, coach, and chaplain with a legal fight because of it.<br />
<br />
It seems the most illogical of complaints to me. First of all, how far away from Russellville, Alabama is Wisconsin? How could they make any claim at all that their freedom was infringed upon? And what freedom can they claim from religion? It is religion itself that is protected as a first amendment right, not the lack thereof. I don't believe the "Freedom From Religion" group has a leg to stand on, but the point is that they exist at all. Groups like these have never before existed in America, nor should they. No one has the right to be free from religion, not in the way they expect. They expect me to be quiet, to sit still and let them take away my religion, which tells me to bold in proclaiming the truth of the gospel to any and all who will hear, to be a light and a witness to an unbelieving world, to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ Jesus EVERYWHERE. That is my religion, and to prohibit my free exercise thereof is a violation of the constitution upon which this great nation was founded.<br />
<br />
"But take heart," Jesus said, "I have overcome the world." Jesus is greater and more powerful than anything. He conquered the grave. He has the power of resurrection. He holds the keys of death and Hades, and He will triumph over all evil with the breath of His mouth. He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and He will reign forevermore. With this kind of power on our side, what are we afraid of?<br />
<br />
"No power of Hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand."<br />
<br />
Be bold, brothers. Be of good courage, my sisters. Fear not, for He is with us. We are living in a day when we will have to stand up and fight for what we believe in. We are living in a day when we must be bold. We are living in a day when we must say with the Apostle Paul that "it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." <br />
<br />
If the rest of the world is an indication of the health of the church, then let the persecution come, for a persecuted church is a thriving church. Let it be. What will come will come. I will not fear persecution. What can man do to me?<br />
<br />
"What then shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the One who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:31-39)</div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-46197638422029496332014-09-02T18:38:00.001-07:002014-09-02T19:17:16.595-07:00Work of Worth <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UKRF5kLIYR4/VAZuxJ2sStI/AAAAAAAAAQk/xxZVxYhKfN8/s1600/IMG_2780.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UKRF5kLIYR4/VAZuxJ2sStI/AAAAAAAAAQk/xxZVxYhKfN8/s1600/IMG_2780.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a>"Every woman has a story," says the tag I snipped off my Village Artisan handmade necklace that I bought from the woman I want to tell you about. I've known Kristi Griem for a long time. Her husband is the minister of missions at my church. When I wanted to go to Israel for the first anniversary of Bronner's Heaven-going, he coordinated the trip. He also coordinated the one Kristi and I were a part of that kind of begins this story.</div>
</div>
<br />
We were two of nine women from our church who visited a work ministry in India called Freeset in May of 2010. What I mean by work ministry is that the mission is to give women caught in the sex trade another choice. Freeset employs women who live and work in Sonagacchi, the largest, most infamous red light district in Kolkata, India. Instead of selling their bodies for profit, the women are now employed to sew unique handbags of jute and old sari material. A sari is the beautifully draped and usually colorful and ornate traditional dress of Indian women. Freeset also makes and sells fair trade tee shirts, but they'll tell you that they are in the business of freedom. The women in Sonagacchi aren't there by choice. Many of them were trafficked and even sold by their own families when they were young girls because of dire poverty. No one wants to sell their daughter, but maybe they felt that was their only choice. Freeset and others like them want to break that cycle of prostitution and give women hope, life, and gladness.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8dv7uJFHCPI/VAZuTsvySEI/AAAAAAAAAQc/PYd_4S9Q6yI/s1600/IMG_2796.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8dv7uJFHCPI/VAZuTsvySEI/AAAAAAAAAQc/PYd_4S9Q6yI/s1600/IMG_2796.jpg" height="320" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kristi Griem, Work of Worth COO</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Kristi has always had a heart for the poor and a passion for justice, but something awakened in her on that trip. Maybe it was anger, anger at the exploitation of young girls, and in that righteous anger, she knew she wanted to be a part of it all. She began working for Freeset in the USA giving voice to the women who formerly hadn't one. "I feel a particular calling to exploited women. I want to give them another option. I want to help give them dignity." While working for Freeset, Kristi discovered many other groups doing similar work and realized she could help in a bigger way. "I like connecting people," she said. "What I can do is connect the need to the impact point." That's what Work of Worth is all about.<br />
<br />
The Village Artisan jewelry and journal I bought were made by women who have been "employed in dignity" in Northern India, the rice bag in Mumbai, the scarf in Bagladesh. They'll still feature items from Freeset, but this way more and more women and girls can be impacted. There are even men involved. "We're really excited about some leather goods we'll be getting in soon," she said. The concept behind Trinajit Leather Works is to employ men in impoverished areas so that selling their daughters is no longer a necessary evil. That way we stop the trafficking before it begins. And the artistry is impeccable, hand sewn works done in the old ways. Everything Work of Worth International sells is a work of art. That's the best part to me. We, the consumer, can get really cool hand made products and know that what we're buying is so much more than a bracelet or a scarf. We're buying hope for a human being because we are all a "Work of Worth." I just love that! <br />
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Kristi, Chief Operations Officer for Work of Worth, along with Executive Director Barry Morehead and Brendt Blanks who works with volunteers and online sales want to invite you to the Work of Worth Launch this September 9th from 5 until 8 p.m. at the Christian Service Mission in downtown Birmingham. There will be music and food and, of course, Work of Worth products to buy. "It's a great opportunity to participate in setting someone free," Kristi said. The address is 3600 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35222. I hope to see you there!</div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-19289068607957035312014-06-02T10:21:00.000-07:002014-06-03T07:34:01.274-07:00Turning America on Its Heels<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Like many other Americans, I became increasingly concerned about the direction our country was headed during the 2008 election year. We could all see the change happening. It was a movement away from the Judeo-Christian values our nation had been founded on. I knew that those values were what made America so great. Liberty and freedom are a God given right to all people declares our Constitution. Not only were we free to worship and live and speak by our own convictions, we had become a defender of freedom around the world. I believed that an American on the decline would be disastrous not only for ourselves but for everyone. I prayed. I asked for forgiveness for our collective sinfulness as a nation. We had become too worldly, too much like everyone else, and that is not God’s calling for His people. He asks us to be holy, set aside for His purpose and His plan, but many of us had become so focused on the so-called “American dream” that we had forgotten our true calling and place in the world. Of this, I repented and prayed according to 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”<br />
<br />
It was about that time that I met Gary Palmer, President of the Alabama Policy Institute, a conservative think-tank here in Birmingham. He felt strongly that women could play a vital role in turning America on it heals back toward its noble heritage. It was from this idea that a Political Action Committee was formed called Allied Women. I was one of the founding members of that group, and it was Gary Palmer who mentored us and brought us up to speed on some pressing issues. He believed we needed to start at home, focusing on the Alabama State Legislature, uprooting the old and putting in some new, fresh faces we believed would stand up for ethical laws and standards that were more fitting with Alabama’s highly conservative and Christian constituency. We did, and the Alabama State Legislature was overturned in 2010 for the first time in more than 100 years. With the new Republican legislature it was easy for then Governor Bob Riley to push through an ethics package he had been hoping to pass for years. We were in full support of more ethical standards in politics and legislation in Alabama, so this was a wonderful victory and step in the right direction. During this whole process, one of the big issues facing our state at the time was gambling. Interested parties had targeted our state to push for legalized gambling in Alabama. We also fought against this and won. I have since left the board of Allied Women to focus more closely on other callings from the Lord on my life. However, I know Gary Palmer to be a man of conviction, passion, heart, character, and knowledge, a man who loves America deeply, the true America, the one George Washington led to victory in the Revolutionary War because he knew it was right, the one who hates tyranny and loves freedom, the America who defends the weak and the oppressed, the America that is "a city set on a hill" shining the light of Christ to all points of the compass. That is why I will cast my vote tomorrow, June 3, to send Gary Palmer to Washington to represent Alabama’s Congressional District 6. I will vote for him because I know he believes what I believe and that he knows how to make a difference. He’s not really a politician. Gary is an American, a patriot, one who really cares and who has the fortitude to fight for America and for "freedom loving people everywhere."<br />
<br />
I will also cast my vote tomorrow for Arnold Mooney in the Republican primary for Alabama State House District 43. I will vote for Arnold Mooney because I believe he is running for the right reason, to give back. So many people go into politics to make a name for themselves. That is not the case with Arnold Mooney. He has been a businessman for much of his life. He has raised his family and is now a grandfather. He feels called by God in this season of life to serve publicly, not for himself but for the good of the people of Alabama. He knows that career politicians were never called for but that ordinary citizens like you and me should offer themselves as public servants when God calls them to that. And that’s where he is. I believe him to also be a man of character who can be trusted to make wise decisions concerning Alabama. So I hope you will join me in voting tomorrow, wherever you are, for men and women who are getting in the race to serve not themselves but God. “For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Rom. 13:1b) Let’s do our part in bringing about change in the right direction for our state, our nation, and our world. </div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-90741318080961537582013-10-28T07:53:00.001-07:002013-10-28T07:56:42.775-07:00Love and Obedience: The Connection<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Brody forgets to hang his towel up... a lot. He leaves it in the floor of his room and sometimes on his bed still wet. I've told him a thousand times not to do this, that he can hang his towel on the towel rack that was made for that purpose and use it more than once. It's an ongoing thing. I've scolded, yelled even, and become completely irritated by the fact that Brody forgets to hang his towel up… a lot. But the other day, I went downstairs where he was and being filled with love for him because he really is the best kid ever... He's kind and generous and thoughtful. He never gets in trouble. He makes wise decisions. He hangs with the good kids. He IS a good kid, very good, even though he forgets to hang his towel up... a lot. I gave him a big hug for the morning, just a good morning hug really, and told him that he was such a good boy. "You're such a good boy, Brody," I said, "such a GOOD boy. I am so proud of you." He loved the hug and the compliments. After I patted him on the back a few times just out of a mother's sheer happiness with such a fine young man, Brody held up his finger and said, "Wait a minute." He walked to his room, picked up his towel out of the floor, and hung it on its place. </div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-71968700115616637562013-10-16T14:58:00.000-07:002013-10-16T14:58:18.647-07:00Thoughts to Ponder<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I go down to our farm in Chilton County a lot. There's lots of trees and plants and grass there. But there's no t.v. or internet or phone except for my cell. I can listen to the birds and cut flowers and put them in a vase. Maybe I work the garden or dig up weeds, but the main reason I go there is because it's quiet. I can think there. I'm not tempted to do housework or laundry or watch t.v. I can be alone with God. I can be still and think and pray. <br />
<br />
I think that our culture is so tuned in and plugged up that we miss the quiet goodness that nature provides. We don't have to think because the answers are so readily available to us. You don't know who Genghis Khan is? Google him. You can find out in two shakes of a lamb's tail. Never heard that idiom used? Google it. You'll know where it came from in... You get the picture. In all that information, something is lost... the ability to think things through, to wonder, to dream, to ponder. <br />
<br />
Our world is moving forward so quickly that the "facts" are being lost. Take the word "crucial." It means decisive, important, or significant. That's what a current Webster's dictionary says, but I have an old "Handy Edition" published in 1944 by the John C. Winston Company that defines crucial as cruciform (cross-shaped), intersecting, severe or searching. How this very useful, modern word came to be is a testament to the Christian heritage of our forefathers. So, the next time your history teacher tells you its "crucial" that you do your homework, you could tell him/her with certainty that it's not quite "that" important. </div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-24904131419308975162013-04-15T16:09:00.001-07:002013-04-15T17:08:32.038-07:00Love: The Most Excellent Way<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Love is a hard word to define, but we've all experienced it. Haven't we? Look in the dictionary and you'll find something like "strong affection" or "warm attachment." That's a little lacking, isn't it?<br />
<br />
Love is strong.<br />
<br />
Have you ever really loved someone, I mean REALLY loved someone? I have. And what I feel for the people I love is so intense, it IS hard to define.<br />
<br />
Here's why:<br />
<br />
The Bible tells us that God is love. God IS love. It doesn't say He created love or that He's the source of love or that He gives love... It says HE IS LOVE. That's why it's so hard to wrap our minds around what love really is.<br />
<br />
We may not be able to put our finger on it, but we do it. We all love, don't we? And, we've all been loved. We crave it, and we can't help but to give it.<br />
<br />
Why? Because we were created in God's image. If God is love, and we were created to be like Him, then of course it's in our nature to love, to love God, and to love one another. That's how it was always supposed to be.<br />
<br />
But sin entered the picture. We still have the remnants of God, of love, in our nature, but now we have something else too. We have a sin nature as well. And the two natures are so unalike that they battle each other. Sometimes the sin nature wins out, doesn't it? But sometimes the God nature wins. The key is to not let the sin nature win the war.<br />
<br />
The only way we can truly override this sin nature in us is by the Spirit of God. In a natural born person, these two natures are gonna go at it naturally, but when a person is born of the Spirit, then He has a helper. It's like we get a double dose of the God nature. Because when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we're given the Holy Spirit to help us in the battle. It doesn't mean the battle isn't still on; it just means you've got a helper in this life, in this world.<br />
<br />
We live in a fallen creation. There's sin and death and disease and war and famine and all kinds of bad things going on out there that can really get you down. People always ask, "If God is good, then why does He allow bad things?"<br />
<br />
The answer may shock you. He does it out of love.<br />
<br />
He doesn't want us to be in love with this fallen world. He wants us to be in love with Him. Because He is greater than anything this world has to offer.<br />
<br />
A few years ago, I had to bury my son, Bronner, my baby. He was only 2 1/2. I should have been crushed by it, but I wasn't. Because God showed me that He didn't take Bronner to hurt me, but to teach me, to refine me, to use me.<br />
<br />
Just after Bronner went to Heaven, I had this moment of desperation. I had many moments of desperation, but during one of those particularly desperate moments, I cried out to God to tell me, "WHY?"<br />
<br />
"Why the Children? Why do you take the children?"<br />
<br />
I said to God, "There is nothing worse than losing a child! Nothing! I know you lost Your Son, but you got Him back after three days! Three Days!"<br />
<br />
And I heard God speak to me in my Spirit. "But what about the others? They're all Mine. You're going to get this glorious reunion with your son, but I won't get that with all of Mine." <br />
<br />
And I understood. I got it. And maybe for the first time ever, I had compassion for God. Because I know that He created each person to seek out and to find Him. He'll never make you love Him. He'll never make you obey Him. But, He wants you to because He loves you.<br />
<br />
I know that I will be with Bronner again. I'll hold him in my arms and I'll kiss him and I'll love him forever. I know this by faith. It's my hope. God has given me this, and I CAN endure the pain of separation because I know it's only temporary.<br />
<br />
I can see that God took Bronner away from me for a time, for a season, so that some of His children would come back to Him forever. <br />
<br />
God is love, and everything He does, EVERYTHING, is out of His great love for you and for me. <br />
<br />
God is love, but He is also just. And His holiness requires a reckoning for sin. But even in this, He provides a way of love. <br />
<br />
"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends." <br />
<br />
"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends."<br />
<br />
Jesus did just that. He laid down His life for you and for me to pay the penalty for sin so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. <br />
<br />
"In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, He has overcome the world."<br />
<br />
And because He has overcome this world, we can too.<br />
<br />
We can walk in the way of love. <br />
<br />
In 1st Corinthians, Chapter 13, the Apostle Paul says, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all that I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." <br />
<br />
If God is love, then we can put God in place of the word "love" here and understand that Paul means that without God, it's all pointless. Anything he ever did apart from Jesus Christ, the Lord, gained him nothing. People place their faith in a lot of things, but unless it's God, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that I believe 1 Corinthians 13:13 gives an illustration of, then you gain nothing. <br />
<br />
1 Corinthians 13:13 says: "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love."<br />
<br />
It is by the work of the Holy Spirit that we have faith. It is by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we have hope. And it is God, the Father, who loves us so much that He would send His only Son to die in our place. <br />
<br />
Love is the greatest of these because love came first. If not for our sin, we wouldn't have to hope, we wouldn't have to have faith, because we wouldn't be separated from God.<br />
<br />
"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." <br />
<br />
"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." <br />
<br />
I ask you today... Is there anything greater than the love of God? Is there anything more pure and holy? Is there anything better?<br />
<br />
Why would you choose anything else?<br />
<br />
Love God. Serve Him only.<br />
<br />
And why not?<br />
<br />
God is patient and kind. He doesn't envy or boast. He isn't arrogant or rude. He doesn't insist on His own way. He isn't irritable or resentful. He doesn't rejoice at wrong-doing but rejoices with the truth. God bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things... for you. <br />
<br />
All of it is for you and for me.<br />
<br />
Let's pray:<br />
<br />
Father God, may your Holy Spirit be alive and at work in the world today. Open the minds and hearts of everyone who reads this to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, yesterday, today, and forever. Teach us by Your Word that You love us, that You gave up Your Son to pay the price for our sins, and that if we believe this by faith, that Jesus died and rose again, we will have eternal life in Him. Give us strength, Lord, for the battle. Clothe us with your Spirit that we may walk in the way of love. Test us and try us, Lord, that we may be perfected in You. Fit us for Heaven and take us to live with You there until that time when You bring us back to the earth and every tear will be wiped away and death shall be no more. Give us to eat from the Tree of Life and let us see Your Face. And the grace of the Lord Jesus be with us all. Amen. </div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-14874554488798614732013-01-02T09:29:00.001-08:002013-01-02T10:55:51.870-08:00In the World but Not of It? Yes, but... How? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This morning, I was reading through some messages and found one I felt compelled to answer knowing all the while that I would want to post it here. It's a good question, one we should all be asking. I'm betting that some others are wondering the same thing especially with Christmas just behind us. I hope so, and I hope what I've written here will help you in your walk with the Lord today. For privacy's sake, I won't say who the letter is from, but I do want to share both the letter and it's response. Here they are: <br />
<br />
<i>"Hi Sherri. I feel so awkward emailing you, and I'm not really even sure
why I am. I have just been praying about something and long story short I
happened upon your blog and found some of the answers. I have listened
to the show for years, and I mourned the loss of your sweet baby boy as
so many others have. I'm not sure why I never read your blog before...I
think it's just because I was supposed to read it now. Anyway after
reading your blog and listening to Rick preach your baby's funeral I
just have this burning question. I just wonder once you "get it" - once
you know that nothing we do here matters unless it is for the kingdom-
how do you find joy in all the other stuff? Do you forever feel guilty
for spending money on something you know you don't really need but that
you just want? Do you struggle with the activities that your kids do and
the time they spend doing them? Do you feel led by the spirit to know
when you are crossing those lines? I just feel the sincerity and wisdom
in the words that you write. And I guess I am hoping you can impart some
of that wisdom on me. I just struggle with that fine line between being
in the world but not of the world. Anyway, I just want to say thank you
for sharing your heart and for taking the time to write down the words
that have become the answers to another's prayers! Thank you!"</i><br />
<br />
<div class="_38 direction_ltr">
No, I'm so glad you did. This is a
great question, the best question, the thing all Christians should be
asking, and the thing I have struggled with the most. After Bronner
went to Heaven, I wanted to die... literally. I had no love for this
world anymore. I found myself lying on the pool deck one day looking
into the clouds wanting to fly up into them. I felt at that moment that
I could, that I could just give up my spirit and rise up to Heaven with
God and with Bronner. As I lay there, I closed my eyes as if to go,
and then I heard the names of people I knew were not
Christians and may never find the Lord if I weren't here to help show
them the way. I stood up and the moment was gone.<br />
<br />
I was never
suicidal, never would I deliberately take my own life, but I felt that I
could, if I desired, give up living. Even before I lost Bronner, I had
felt this. When I was pregnant with him, I began to have a great fear
of losing one of my children and had even discussed it with Rick. He
and I both agreed that we couldn't go on living after something like
that. I said that I would just crawl up in bed and die. We even joked
about it a little agreeing that he would have to stay and take care of
the other children. It was all hypothetical then.<br />
<br />
Looking back, that seems
almost idolatrous to me, and, in fact, it may have been. I have always
loved the Lord, but He has taught me that I must love Him more than
anything, even my children. God was drawing me nearer in the taking of
my youngest son.<br />
<br />
Brody was in first grade when Bronner went
away, and I was having a real hard time living in the world. I
expressed this to his sweet teacher one day when I was dropping him off.
She told me to look at the world through the eyes of a first grader,
that there was more for Brody in this world, and that I would have to be
here for him through it all. Another mom I know who has lost a son
said she struggled with the very same thing. She said that "the world
had lost its luster" for her. She told me to just "do the next thing"
and that I would find life again. So, yes, it is very hard to live in
this world when your heart, treasure, baby, and God live elsewhere.<br />
<br />
Then,
we began to go on mission trips and see horrifying conditions of life
in other places, and that made me want to help them. I stopped feeling
so sorry for myself and began to want to help others. I always knew
that I wanted to stay to raise my other children, and I knew that my
role as a wife was to be a comfort to my husband through his pain and
grief. So, leaving the world was never a real desire, just a fancy I
guess. I know that there's something so much greater than what this
world holds, but what I live for within it is the work God has given me to do. He
wants me to raise my children in the fear and the admonition of the
Lord. He wants me to love my husband and to be a helper to him. He
wants me to write and speak and teach in His name. He wants me to give
generously of my time, talents, and resources to further His kingdom.
Those are the things I live for.<br />
<br />
I recently took my children on a
surprise trip to New York City for Christmas, and I had a good time. I
really did. But, it's not really my thing. I didn't do it for me. I
did it for them because there is still a wonder in them that has gone
away for me. There's a song by one of my favorite artists, Kristyn
Getty, about that very thing. She asks, in the song, for God to not let
her lose her wonder. I do find wonder in some things, things like
flowers and birds and babies. I love to see the excitement and wonder
of my children about almost anything. They were so excited about our
trip. Brooks said the best part was the surprise. They thought they
were going to our farm to take Christmas pictures, and when they
protested that "this isn't the way to the farm," I pulled out a gift for
them to open. It was the tickets to the shows we were going to see.<br />
<br />
"Are we going to see a play?" Brooks said. <br />
<br />
"Keep reading." <br />
<br />
"New York City, New York!!!"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e-CnyvZOa4g/UOR1KCCpZFI/AAAAAAAAAPU/PpsPfwg0caM/s1600/IMG_9454.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e-CnyvZOa4g/UOR1KCCpZFI/AAAAAAAAAPU/PpsPfwg0caM/s400/IMG_9454.JPG" width="400" /></a>And,
I agree. The surprise was the best part. He had worked so hard
studying for finals, and this was just the thrill he needed to start his
holiday break off right! <br />
<br />
It was fun and a memory he'll always
have, I hope. I gave him this gift because I love him and because I
knew he would enjoy it. There is nothing wrong with that. God,
Himself, wants to lavish us with good gifts, and He will one day. We do
want to give good things to the ones we love if we can. I would give
the whole world a trip to New York City if I could. But I am called to
raise my children. And I am. <br />
<br />
I haven't always felt this way. I
know exactly what you're feeling. I have so felt buyers regret. I
don't really anymore. I buy things because I love people. I buy things
to make my home more lovely and comfortable for my family. I buy
things to look nice for my husband. I think this is good. God calls us
to be hospitable, and He has also created women to love beautiful
things. The women I met in India were fascinated by my diamond wedding
band. They had never seen diamonds. I mentioned this to the man who
ran the ministry we worked with there commenting that "women everywhere
are the same." And he said, almost a little accusingly, "Oh, how so?"
And I said, "We all love beautiful things." He was a little taken aback
and had no reply. I think he thought that maybe I was right. Those
women had nothing, but they wore beautiful clothing. They wore the same
sari everyday, but it was one that was very ornate and lovely. That's part of being
a woman, I think. <br />
<br />
For me, though, the difference is priority.
If I were given a choice between sponsoring a missionary or buying a new
dress, it would always be the sponsorship. If we keep our lives in
balance, with God right in the center of everything we do, then it's
okay. I have begun to ask the Lord about purchases and activities. He
always confirms me in my spirit. If I feel wrong in my spirit about
something, I know it's not the right choice, but if God gives me
overwhelming peace about something, as He has many times, then I know it
is His will. For instance, I took my parents on a trip to Ireland a
couple of years ago, not for a mission trip but just to give them a good
gift, and I felt not one ounce of regret about it. The Lord wanted me
to do this good thing for them out of love. We did the same thing for
Rick's parents, taking them to London the following year.
Now, we all treasure those moments together so much. Because it's not
about how much we spend or what we do, it's a way to express our love
for one another. Yes, I sponsor missionaries and children in Africa and
ministries in great number, my church, etc., but the people who get the
most of me are the people I love the most, my family, my friends. <br />
<br />
That's
what it all boils down to... love and peace. If you love someone and
God gives you peace to give them a great gift, then do it. We do live
in this world, and we have to make the best of it. We follow the Lord's
leading in all things. He's right there inside of you to give approval
or disapproval to everything you do. If you'll listen to that nudging
of the Spirit, you'll know.<br />
<br />
Another aspect is trust. Some
people worry that if I do this or that, I may run out of money. I don't
really ever worry about that. I don't worry that Rick will lose His
job or that I have to save tons of money for the future. I feel that
God will always provide for me no matter what. If the economy fails, if
Rick loses his job, if America... whatever! God speaks of this very
plainly in Matthew 6:19-34: "Do not lay up treasures on earth, where
moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up
for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys
and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also... Look at the birds of the air:
they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly
Father feeds them. Are you not of more value that they? ...Therefore
do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we
drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ...your Heavenly Father knows that you
need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."<br />
<br />
I
really think that is why I am at peace with my life... I seek FIRST the
kingdom of God and His righteousness. He knows this and has
provided abundantly more than I could ever think or imagine. I look
forward to my life in Heaven very, very much, but I know there is work
left for me here in this world. <br />
<br />
I will... that is my answer to
God. Yes, Lord, I will do all that you ask or require of me. Yes,
this, and more will I do, because I LOVE YOU... more than I love this
world... more than anything, Lord, do I love YOU.<br />
<br />
His,<br />
Sherri+</div>
</div>
Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-66717609460077761642012-12-05T07:41:00.000-08:002012-12-05T08:04:33.767-08:00The Christmas TowelI smiled as I took it out of the drawer, the Christmas towel I keep with the other hand towels at our farm. I use it year round, and usually I think how silly I am to do so. But today when I took it out, it was in season. All year, I use that towel and it never really makes sense to me. But today I used it, and it did. Christmastime is here!<br />
<br />
It made me think of all the times I have to remind myself of the reality of Heaven. All this preaching and teaching and Bible study and mission work to convince people of what we believe will all be over with one day. There won't be any need for it because we'll all know Him, from the least of us to the greatest. One day, we're going to look up and see His face. The season for our salvation will come.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, I think people are so self-satisfied that they can't really understand true desperation. My longing for Christ's return may be foreign to many, but somehow I think that we all come to that place, the end of the rope, the brokenness that makes us turn, to cry out for help. And when that time comes and the promise of eternal life is given, we say we're saved. But you could think of it like this, that the hour of salvation hasn't really come yet. We're still walking around in this dark world, a world filled with war and hatred and greed. We live in a world that's dying. I've been all around the world now, and I've seen death.<br />
<br />
I once sat by the bedside of a very young woman in India who was so shriveled up with disease, she was but a wisp, and she hated it. She hated her condition. We couldn't speak each other's language, but I knew she was glad I was there. She wanted me to pet her, to rub her back, to give her a few sips of water. She pointed to her emaciated arms and shook her head and then let it fall to one side as if she could barely even look at herself in the state she was in. I tried to comfort her. I made a cradle with my arms and rocked them back and forth and then pointed to the sky. She knew what I was saying. She held up two fingers, made the cradle sign, and pointed upward. I understood. She had two children in Heaven. Poor girl. She couldn't have been much older than Brandi. Her life would be better after she left this world, her present darkness.<br />
<br />
That was the day we spend at the Mother Teresa Center in the city formerly known as Calcutta. This girl had been taught about Jesus, and I hope and I pray that one day I'll see her again in another world, in another day. I'll see her wearing her brightly colored sari; and her big, brown eyes will be sparkling as she introduces me to her children. Bronner and I will spend the day together with her and her children. I don't know if they're girls or boys or one of each. We didn't get that far in our hand signals.<br />
<br />
It's for people like this young Indian girl that the dream of Heaven and a new earth is more than a hope. It's not just a desire anymore, a nice thought. It's raw desperation, something you want so badly that without it, nothing else matters. If not for Heaven, why live at all? If not for Jesus, what light is there? I saw her pain. It wasn't just physical pain. Her pain reached into the depths of her soul. She remembered herself as a beautiful young girl running and playing, but life had not been kind. Her heart cried out for more.<br />
<br />
THERE MUST BE MORE THAN THIS!!!<br />
<br />
Can you relate to that? Can you understand why I want something more than what is? Yes, technically, I'm saved in the Christian sense. But saved from what? Certainly not the heartbreak I saw in the eyes of this beautiful but dying young woman. Certainly not from the disappointment of seeing dreams and lives shattered. Certainly not from darkness itself and the travail against it every waking moment. No, there's a salvation to come that is even greater than the promise my faith gives me. Salvation will be my reality and existence only when THERE IS NO MORE DARKNESS. Only when the Creator and Giver of light and life itself rides upon the clouds will my darkness be stamped out forever.<br />
<br />
Today, I pulled out a towel that was in season. Maybe tomorrow, I'll no longer have to dream of streets of gold or of holding a precious boy that I've been missing like crazy. Maybe tomorrow the season of my salvation will come. Maybe.Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-69323455815912082222011-05-06T16:07:00.000-07:002011-05-06T16:53:48.362-07:00Pleasant Grove This Spring<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-053UTy24uGw/TcSJ8KxQlUI/AAAAAAAAAM8/rox6Q9d9FQc/s1600/DSC_0128.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-053UTy24uGw/TcSJ8KxQlUI/AAAAAAAAAM8/rox6Q9d9FQc/s400/DSC_0128.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603755503131858242" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2PRe6xiCOmE/TcSJ7kQtTSI/AAAAAAAAAM0/YuXs-nLm-2s/s1600/DSC_0127.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" 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src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Re-9B3AERPs/TcSGk3XccFI/AAAAAAAAAMU/v9cK9idGvgk/s400/DSC_0122.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603751804251435090" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R-fEmyvIei8/TcSGkR_CxWI/AAAAAAAAAMM/t-XoAwYTO8M/s1600/DSC_0123.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R-fEmyvIei8/TcSGkR_CxWI/AAAAAAAAAMM/t-XoAwYTO8M/s400/DSC_0123.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603751794216977762" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-93Ojk2JdIYM/TcSGkYR5TpI/AAAAAAAAAME/sQ5EjRDlHnM/s1600/DSC_0121.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" 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src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dTZF1NFGE-M/TcSCya77b2I/AAAAAAAAALk/IQmXXf4vfLo/s400/DSC_0117.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603747639091490658" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NQgDGDAi2hg/TcSCx64IXcI/AAAAAAAAALc/Xlt-gkgWmLo/s1600/DSC_0116.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NQgDGDAi2hg/TcSCx64IXcI/AAAAAAAAALc/Xlt-gkgWmLo/s400/DSC_0116.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603747630485626306" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LjF3zZiUbJk/TcSCxlJKs7I/AAAAAAAAALU/FgDGSuQm3XE/s1600/DSC_0115.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LjF3zZiUbJk/TcSCxlJKs7I/AAAAAAAAALU/FgDGSuQm3XE/s400/DSC_0115.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603747624651502514" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hDxqyvOZSEU/TcSCxWxa72I/AAAAAAAAALM/hw2Q-O8p_jI/s1600/DSC_0114.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hDxqyvOZSEU/TcSCxWxa72I/AAAAAAAAALM/hw2Q-O8p_jI/s400/DSC_0114.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603747620793806690" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ixXJvgaRkUs/TcSAEkiWPZI/AAAAAAAAALE/KRwohpSv-RU/s1600/DSC_0113.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ixXJvgaRkUs/TcSAEkiWPZI/AAAAAAAAALE/KRwohpSv-RU/s400/DSC_0113.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603744652371312018" border="0" /></a>Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-75032025506967760072011-05-04T08:09:00.001-07:002011-05-06T16:58:24.906-07:00Speech Given to Pleasant Grove First Baptist Church Last Spring:<style>@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }@font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Arial Italic"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >There are a lot of voices out there.<span style=""> </span>The world tells us it’s all about us.<span style=""> </span>You deserve a break today.<span style=""> </span>You’re worth it.<span style=""> </span>Do whatever you feel like.<span style=""> </span>Nobody will ever know.<span style=""> </span>Isn’t that what they mean when they say “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”? <span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >And Satan, himself, will tell you all kinds of lies like “Well, you’ve blown it now.<span style=""> </span>You’re not good enough.<span style=""> </span>You’re not worthy.<span style=""> </span>What would God want with the likes of you?”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Or, sometimes, “You’re good enough.<span style=""> </span>You don’t need Jesus to be saved.<span style=""> </span>There are many ways to heaven, and besides there’s no hell anyway.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Lucifer became Satan when he came against God, because Satan means adversary.<span style=""> </span>To justify himself, he accused God, thus becoming the devil, because devil means accuser, and that accuser is out to steal, kill, and destroy that which does not belong to him, us, for we are God’s workmanship.<span style=""> </span>We are His creation.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve chose to listen to the voice of Satan, God’s adversary.<span style=""> </span>God had clearly told them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, one commandment, just one, and they couldn’t keep it. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Do you realize we never had to have the knowledge of evil?<span style=""> </span>If Adam and Eve would’ve obeyed, none of us would have ever seen evil, destruction, or despair.<span style=""> </span>If Adam and Eve would’ve obeyed, we would have known only that which is good.<span style=""> </span>And, if they had obeyed, none of us would have ever had to die, not Bronner, not Nick, not even Jesus.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God had said to his creation, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”<span style=""> </span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >You shall surely die, not maybe and not probably, but surely. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >You idiots!<span style=""> </span>How could you mess up perfection?<span style=""> </span>How could you mess up in the Garden of Eden?<span style=""> </span>You got to walk with God everyday in the cool of the day.<span style=""> </span>You knew God.<span style=""> </span>It’s not like you didn’t know Him.<span style=""> </span>You knew and had seen God, and you listened to a stupid serpent?<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >None of us would have ever done that, would we?<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Or, would we?<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Isn’t that what we do all the time?<span style=""> </span>We know God, but we choose to shut Him out.<span style=""> </span>We won’t listen.<span style=""> </span>We think we know better than God how to live our own lives, and so we choose our own way. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >And the world goes right along with us.<span style=""> </span>It says, “Don’t limit yourself to Jesus.<span style=""> </span>That’s old fashioned.<span style=""> </span>Try something new and hip from the eastern religions like Budhism, and if you’re really daring, why not even Islam?<span style=""> </span>God is God, right?<span style=""> </span>Doesn’t matter what you call him?”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >People will say, “Homosexuality isn’t a sin.<span style=""> </span>You were born that way.”<span style=""> </span>Or, “What man can stay faithful to one woman his whole life?<span style=""> </span>Everybody has affairs; you shouldn’t feel so guilty about it.<span style=""> </span>And to his wife, “girl, you know I wouldn’t put up with that.<span style=""> </span>You need to just go on and leave him.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >So many voices.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >And in the midst of it all, there’s a still small voice deep in our hearts beckoning, “Come.<span style=""> </span>Come to me and I will give you rest.” “Cast your cares on me, because I care for you.” “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” “I am the bread of life.<span style=""> </span>Take and eat of me and live forever.” “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >“Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” <span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on our own understanding, and in all thy ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Listen.<span style=""> </span>Listen for God’s voice.<span style=""> </span>He will help you.<span style=""> </span>He will direct your paths.<span style=""> </span>Listen and trust Him.<span style=""> </span>You can trust him, no matter what life throws at you.<span style=""> </span>Don’t let Satan tell you to give up.<span style=""> </span>Press on.<span style=""> </span>Fight the good fight.<span style=""> </span>Run your race, and in the end you will be more than conquerors in the fight.<span style=""> </span>You will win, if you do not give up, the crown of righteousness and gain eternal life.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >What is not worth that?<span style=""> </span>Nothing.<span style=""> </span>I can endure.<span style=""> </span>I can stand.<span style=""> </span>I can because of Christ.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Abraham was a man who trusted God even when God asked him to sacrifice his own son, the same son God had promised to establish his covenant through.<span style=""> </span>Abraham didn’t wait either.<span style=""> </span>He knew God’s voice and he trusted Him, so he got up early in the morning, the bible says, to go and do exactly what God had told him to do.<span style=""> </span>He didn’t want to.<span style=""> </span>He loved Isaac.<span style=""> </span>He had waited a lifetime for him.<span style=""> </span>Isaac was the son of promise for Abraham, yet he was willing to bind his own son, lay him on an alter, and draw up his knife to slay him.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Rick said, “God didn’t ask us before he took Bronner, and it’s a good thing too, because I don’t think we would have been so faithful.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God says, “Trust me.”<span style=""> </span>“It won’t always be like this.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Satan will come to sift you like wheat here in this world.<span style=""> </span>But there’s someone praying for you, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, Jesus.<span style=""> </span>Jesus is praying for our endurance.<span style=""> </span>That we will be able to stand against Satan’s scheming and when his fiery darts come our way, that we will hold up the shield of faith and fight, that we will press on even as the pangs of Sheol encompass you.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Jesus said, “In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >An angel stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son on the alter, but there was no angel there to stop the hand of God from pouring down his wrath upon his own son with whom he was well pleased, the son he loved.<span style=""> </span>No angel stopped the Roman soldiers as they beat and mocked and nailed Jesus to the cross.<span style=""> </span>No angel stopped the plan of God that was formed before the foundation of the world.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God, himself, was the one who made skins for Adam and Eve in the garden, killing an animal to clothe them.<span style=""> </span>The first sacrifice was made by God himself, and so was the last.<span style=""> </span>Jesus offered himself up on the alter of sacrifice as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >When God took my son, my sweet baby Bronner, I kept saying, “But we were so happy.<span style=""> </span>We were so happy God.”<span style=""> </span>And He said, “But I want you to be holy.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God wasn’t so interested in my happiness here on earth but in my holiness forever.<span style=""> </span>He lay this cross upon me to test me, to try me in the furnace of affliction.<span style=""> </span>He wanted me to suffer as Christ has suffered.<span style=""> </span>But why?<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >The bible tells us in Romans 8:17 that anyone who is to be glorified with Christ, at his second coming, must also suffer with Christ, now. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";color:navy;" ><i> </i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >And 1 Peter 4:1 says, “let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing so.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Then in 1 Peter 5:10, God’s word says, “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >“In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, Jesus has overcome the world.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Now let’s go to 1 Peter, chapter one, and read together verses 3-9:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."</span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God in taking my baby wanted me to see the world for what it really is, fallen and cursed, but that one day the curse will be lifted.<span style=""> </span>This world, as it is, is not heaven, no matter how hard I tried to make it that.<span style=""> </span>Life here on earth isn’t perfect nor can it be, not now.<span style=""> </span>God didn’t want me to set my hopes on what I could see but rather on what I couldn’t see.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I can’t see Bronner anymore, but I know him.<span style=""> </span>I had touched him and loved him and kissed him.<span style=""> </span>I know he’s real.<span style=""> </span>I’ve seen him with my very own eyes, and because I know Bronner’s real, that makes the place where he is and the person he’s with that much more real to me too. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God wants us to know He’s real, and that His inheritance far outweighs any suffering we experience now, and that his abode, heaven, is worth waiting for.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >The heroes of faith from Hebrews 11, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Joseph, Moses… "all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.<span style=""> </span>For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.<span style=""> </span>If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.<span style=""> </span>But as it is, they desire a better county, that is, a heavenly one.<span style=""> </span>Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city." <span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >The Apostle John said, “I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.<span style=""> </span>And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.<span style=""> </span>He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.<span style=""> </span>He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.'<span style=""> </span>And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >It won’t always be this way.<span style=""> </span>Jesus is making all things new.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >So we wait for it with patience knowing that although God won’t always shield us from the storm, he’ll be there waiting it out with us, and when the wind and earthquake and fire are gone, we’ll be ready to listen for the sound of a low whisper.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I heard God speak to my heart so many times in the days and weeks and months following my life’s most terrible storm.<span style=""> </span>That very night he assured me that this was his will.<span style=""> </span>I heard him pray through me, not my will but thine, oh Lord, be done.<span style=""> </span>I didn’t pray that, but it came just the same.<span style=""> </span>It was the Holy Spirit within me because all I wanted was my baby.<span style=""> </span>And I was begging, prostrate, laid bare before the Lord, begging for my son’s life to be restored as Isaac’s had been, and then I heard within my own soul “Not my will but thine, Oh Lord, be done."<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God had a purpose and a plan in my baby’s dying, and no plan of God’s can be thwarted.<span style=""> </span>I knew this was God’s will, and I had listen for what He was going to teach me through it.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >The next day I heard him say to my spirit, “Rick is not your helper.<span style=""> </span>You’re his.” I had not even thought about that.<span style=""> </span>But God came before me.<span style=""> </span>See ’cause He knows me, and he knew that in my flesh, I was going to start blaming Rick for not being there to help me with our three boys that night.<span style=""> </span>But God was taking me to a new place with him, a place led by the Spirit, who knew this had nothing to do with Rick or with me or with anyone else I might try to blame.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God had plan and a purpose in my baby’s dying, and no plan of God’s can be thwarted.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God gave Rick a dream and in it, he was battling a demon.<span style=""> </span>He was screaming scripture at what looked like a woman dressed as a gypsy, and she was screaming back at him.<span style=""> </span>And he fought with this demon for what seemed like hours before he grew tired and had to sit down, but when he sat down, I stood up, and started battling the demon in his place.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God was showing us that Rick and I are a team, and when one of us gets tired, the other will be there to pick him up.<span style=""> </span>Our marriage is stronger than ever and God is using us together to fight against evil. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >One day, I received a book in the mail, and on the back, there was a bio of the author.<span style=""> </span>It said he was pastor at such and such place, he went to such and such seminary.<span style=""> </span>He had a wife.<span style=""> </span>I can’t remember her name, and four children, one of whom has gone on to be with the Lord.<span style=""> </span>His son drown just like mine had.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I read that and burst into tears, and I started pleading with God to tell my why.<span style=""> "Why the children? </span>Why so many children?<span style=""> </span>Why do you take the children of people like this pastor who had given his life for you, God, and why Bronner, a baby who couldn’t have been more loved or more wanted in this world.<span style=""> </span>Why?<span style=""> </span>Why the children?"<span style=""> </span>And I said, “God, there is nothing worse than losing a child.<span style=""> </span>Nothing.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I know you lost your son, but you got him back after three days.<span style=""> </span>Three days!<span style="">" </span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >And he said to me, “But what about the others?<span style=""> </span>All my children I have to send away from my presence for eternity.<span style=""> </span>You’re going to get a glorious reunion with your son, but not all of my children will I see again except on that day when they rise again only to die a second death.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >We’re all God’s creation.<span style=""> </span>It’s His breath that gives us life.<span style=""> </span>We’re all His, and God saw fit to take my happy life away from me - for a time - in order that many lost souls would be turned to Him, that he wouldn’t have to send them off to die a second death but that through the testimony of a small child named Bronner they would live forever.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >See ’cause death has a way of waking people up to the reality of itself.<span style=""> </span>And they start asking questions like “What if that had been my child?<span style=""> </span>Or, what if it had been me?<span style=""> </span>What would happen to my soul if I died today?"<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God had a plan and a purpose in my baby’s dying, and I had to get on board with it, so I could help carry on to completion what God had started.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I had a dream of Bronner swimming through the water.<span style=""> </span>All I could see was Bronner and water, water above him and water below him.<span style=""> </span>But he was swimming through that water with a huge smile on his face and he was beautiful.<span style=""> </span>He didn’t have on any clothes, and he looked like a little Valentine cherub with his milky white skin, red hair and red lips.<span style=""> </span>And he was happy.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I had that dream on a Saturday night.<span style=""> </span>And on Monday, I received another book in the mail.<span style=""> </span>It was from a woman from Dothan whose little son Luke had drown the day Bronner was born.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I started reading <span style="font-style: italic;">Within the Gates</span>,</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > a little book written over a hundred years ago, and there I read about a woman getting her first glimpse of heaven and she was swimming through the River of Life... water above her and water below her and she felt exuberant. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I knew what God was saying.<span style=""> </span>He was saying "Bronner came to me through the water, not the water in your backyard, not the water in your pool, but he came to me through the waters of the River of Life, and he’s alive just as Jesus is alive and they are in a place where the River of Life flows through and no unclean thing can ever enter there." <span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Bronner’s more than o.k.<span style=""> </span>He’s exuberant.<span style=""> </span>He’s surrounded by the glory of God and he is filled with joy.<span style=""> </span>And I know he’s running though heaven with reckless abandon, because that’s how he is.<span style=""> </span>He was my runner.<span style=""> </span>He loved to run.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Still, our family wanted to reclaim that water in the pool in our backyard.<span style=""> </span>We wanted to overcome evil with good, so we planned a baptism in the pool in our backyard.<span style=""> </span>Our son, Brody, was six almost seven at the time.<span style=""> </span>He had already asked Jesus into his heart and wanted to be baptized anyway.<span style=""> </span>So we planned a ceremony for April 26, 2008 in the pool where his brother had gone to heaven three months before.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >That morning as I was preparing everything, I blew up about 50 balloons and in each of them I placed bible verses and prayers or praises.<span style=""> </span>We were going to release the balloons at the end of the ceremony to lift our eyes heavenward.<span style=""> </span>We hoped that Bronner could see them.<span style=""> </span>But as I was taking them through the door to take them down to the pool, one of the balloons popped, just one, and a bible verse fell at my feet.<span style=""> </span>It said, “I will fight for you, you need only be still.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I felt God had given me that verse to tell me He was there and he was fighting for me.<span style=""> </span>He wanted me to be still, to rest in him.<span style=""> </span>He is for me, so who can be against me?<span style=""> </span>Nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus, my Lord.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >After the ceremony, I found another little scrap of paper that had fallen from where one of the balloons had popped in a tree, and all it said was “love.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >About that time, I started noticing dragonflies everywhere, and they were always this baby blue color that made me think of Bronner.<span style=""> </span>I saw them at his grave, around the pool, at our farm, everywhere, not just a few but hundreds of baby blue dragonflies so close I could reach out and touch them.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I felt like God was trying to say something to me through those dragonflies, but I didn’t know what.<span style=""> </span>I thought maybe he was letting Bronner come sit with me for a while.<span style=""> </span>I didn’t know, but my friend, Brenda, told me that after her dad had died, she kept seeing these little yellow butterflies. She didn’t know why either until one day she was walking into a church and she saw a little caterpillar crawling around in the grass, and it hit her why God kept sending her the butterflies.<span style=""> </span>“We, here on earth, are like the caterpillar, but her dad in heaven is like the butterfly.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >"That is an awesome message, Brenda, but why does God keep sending me dragonflies?" She didn’t know, but she did know it was the Lord’s comfort, meant to show me and teach me something.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I didn’t know anything about dragonflies, so I looked them up on the internet, and I found out that a dragonfly goes through a metamorphosis just like a butterfly does, but dragonflies start their life out in the water.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Now that made sense. God wanted me to know that Bronner’s life didn’t end that night in the water.<span style=""> </span>It began.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >A dragonfly lays its eggs in the water, and when they hatch they’re a little nymph that lives in the water for up to three years, and when they’re ready, they climb out of the water on a reed or a stick and when their skin touches the air, it begins to breath and through a little slit on their backs out comes the full grown dragonfly, wings outstretched in the shape of a cross.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I also found out that there are about 500 different kinds of dragonflies, but the one I kept seeing, the baby blue one, is called a blue dasher.<span style=""> </span>How appropriate for my little runner, my blue dasher!<span style=""> </span>Isn’t God cool?<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Then, we started noticing sevens.<span style=""> </span>Bronner was the seventh member of our family.<span style=""> </span>He had seven letters in each of his names, William Bronner Burgess, 777.<span style=""> </span>He was born May 27, 2005.<span style=""> </span>May’s the fifth month, so numerically, it’s 5-27-2005.<span style=""> </span>Add the five and the two in front of the seven and the five and the two in the back of the seven, and you’ve 777.<span style=""> </span>He lived 2 years, seven months, and 23 days.<span style=""> </span>You already have one seven.<span style=""> </span>Add the 2 two’s and the three together and you have another seven.<span style=""> </span>The last full year of his life was the seventh year of this century, 2007.<span style=""> </span>He even had three sevens in his social security number.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Seven is the number in the bible that represents perfection, fullness, completion.<span style=""> </span>It stands for the seven days of creation, and it’s mentioned upward of 50 times in the Book of Revelation, the completion of God’s plan and purpose for the earth as it is and ushers in the new heaven and the new earth.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God wanted us to know that Bronner’s life on earth had been complete and perfect at 2 ½ years.<span style=""> </span>He had fulfilled the purpose for which he came.<span style=""> </span>God himself had formed the days for Bronner when as yet there were none of them. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I talked about the sevens in a speech I did that August, the year of Bronner’s heaven-going.<span style=""> </span>It was my home church, Shades Mountain Baptist, and<span style=""> </span>I got a call that afternoon.<span style=""> </span>They had taken up an offering for Bronner’s Memorial Fund that day, and they had collected $7,777.<span style=""> </span>One woman had written a check for $1.23.<span style=""> </span>Do you realize what a miracle that is?<span style=""> </span>How God had to work in the hearts of everyone there to come up with that amount.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God’s confirmation…</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >But, you won’t believe when I tell you.<span style=""> </span>It happened again.<span style=""> </span>Betty Bussey and I spoke the next August, August 2009, at Frazier Memorial United Methodist Church in Montgomery.<span style=""> </span>They took up a collection, and Betty and I were still there having some lunch after we talked and the Women’s Director came and told me that they had collected more than $7,000 for Bronner’s Memorial Fund.<span style=""> </span>She was excited because she thought that was a large amount, and I said, “Seven thousand what?”<span style=""> </span>She said, “I don’t know exactly, but I can find out.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I told her the reason why I was asking.<span style=""> </span>She had no idea what had happened at Shades.<span style=""> </span>But she left the room, and when she came back, she said, “The collection was $7,777.77.”<span style=""> </span>And 77 cents.<span style=""> </span>God is real.<span style=""> </span>God is real and He is working among his people.<span style=""> </span>Look around, you’ll see him.<span style=""> </span>Listen for his voice, and He will speak.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Tune in.<span style=""> </span>He has something to say to you.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >You’ll know when God speaks, and you’ll know the other voices, too.<span style=""> </span>We know who’s speaking to us.<span style=""> </span>We’ve eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.<span style=""> </span>We know the difference. We know the difference between good and evil, and we have the same choice to make that Adam and Eve had to make.<span style=""> </span>Are we going to listen to the voice of God, or are we going to listen to the voice of the serpent?<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Every day we choose to live either by our flesh and the desires of the flesh or to live by the Spirit of God which brings peace and power and wisdom.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Follow Jesus to the cross right now.<span style=""> </span>Cast your cares on him, because he cares for you.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Jesus came not to condemn the world but to set it free from the law of sin and death.<span style=""> </span>He brings life and light.<span style=""> </span>He is Jacob’s ladder to heaven.<span style=""> </span>He is the door of heaven.<span style=""> </span>He is the narrow way.<span style=""> </span>The Spirit of God testifies with our spirit that Jesus is the only way no matter what the world says.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >And we are called to follow Jesus no matter where He takes us.<span style=""> </span>Follow Him.<span style=""> </span>It’s not easy road that Jesus traveled.<span style=""> </span>No, The Lamb of God was slain, and He tells us to be slain also.<span style=""> </span>Die to yourself; live for God.<span style=""> </span>Love not your life so much as to shrink even from death.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >I’m studying the Revelation in Community Bible Study right now, and I see it over and over and over again in that last book of our bible.<span style=""> </span>People choosing what is temporary over what is eternal.<span style=""> </span>The world offers a lot right now, wealth, fame, education, entertainment, and sometimes even happiness.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Choose holiness.<span style=""> </span>Choose the eternal.<span style=""> </span>Choose God.<span style=""> </span>He’s already chosen you.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Come to Jesus, right now.<span style=""> </span>Listen to his voice calling you.<span style=""> </span>Come.<span style=""> </span>Come to me all you are weary, and I will give you rest. I am the bread of life.<span style=""> </span>Take and eat of me and live forever. I will never leave you nor forsake you.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Some of you may need to say to God, I’ve accepted your free gift of salvation, but I want more of you, God.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Some of you may be in the midst of a great trial yourselves and want to fall at the feet of Jesus and give it all to him. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >So, I’m going to ask all of you to come and pray at this alter.<span style=""> </span>As many as can, come and pray.<span style=""> </span>Whatever God has laid on your heart today, tell him, talk to him.<span style=""> </span>Pray to him and listen for his answer.<span style=""> </span>I’m going to give you a few minutes alone with God at the alter, and then I’ll voice an audible prayer including a prayer of salvation to close us.<span style=""> </span>So, come, pray at this alter right now.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Sometimes, I know it’s not easy to take that first step alone, so here’s what I want you to do, look to the person sitting next to you and say, I’ll go with you.<span style=""> </span>I’ll go with you.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >(Time of Silent Prayer)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Lord God, thank you for your presence here with us today.<span style=""> </span>Thank you for loving us and sending your son to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross.<span style=""> </span>We know that the penalty for sin is death and that Jesus died for us so that whether our bodies are asleep or awake we might live together with him.<span style=""> </span>Let us not be content with the things of this world, but let us have a passion for what is to come.<span style=""> </span>Let us be eagerly awaiting the day you come for us, Lord Jesus.<span style=""> </span>Set our minds on things above not on earthly things, and give us peace that transcends all understanding, and we will rejoice in you, Father.<span style=""> </span>Lord, I pray that if there are any here today who aren’t sure of their salvation, who have never accepted the atoning sacrifice of the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, that today will be the day they make their salvation sure.<span style=""> </span>Pray with me right now:<span style=""> </span>Lord, I know I am a sinner and all my righteousness is like filthy rags compared to you.<span style=""> </span>I confess my sins before you and ask for forgiveness.<span style=""> </span>I believe that you, Jesus, are the Son of God, that you bore the wrath of God upon yourself, and that you died and were raised on the third day.<span style=""> </span>I pray to receive you as my Savior and my God.<span style=""> </span>I pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit, the comforter, to help me abide in Christ always and that when I come to die, I will be with you forever. In Jesus name I pray.<span style=""> </span>Amen.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >With every head bowed and every eye closed, if you prayed with prayed that prayer with me just now, just look up at me for a second.<span style=""> </span>Acknowledge Christ before men, and He will acknowledge you before His father.<span style=""> </span>So, look up.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Know that this is just the beginning of your journey with Christ, and you’re going to need help.<span style=""> </span>Get involved in church.<span style=""> </span>Get involved in bible study.<span style=""> </span>And never cease to praise Him.<span style=""> </span>Praise guards your heart from losing its joy.<span style=""> </span>Sing praises to him.<span style=""> </span>Get some cd’s and sing in the car.<span style=""> </span>And pray.<span style=""> </span>You can’t establish a relationship with someone unless you spend time with them.<span style=""> </span>Spend time with the Lord in prayer and reading the bible everyday.<span style=""> </span>I would recommend getting to know the person of Jesus Christ first through the gospels.<span style=""> </span>The Gospel of John would be a great starting point, and then I’d go on to Romans which is the most complete statement for the basis or foundation of our faith, a very important book of the bible.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Now, lift your head if you have determined today to listen for God’s voice and His leading in your life, that you will trust him no matter what life throws at you, and that you will walk the path that Christ lays for you knowing that life with Christ brings joy and peace but that sometimes it brings sorrow as well and when it does you are determined to endure it, to stand, and press on, running your race until it brings you to the gates of heaven.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >That should be everybody…</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >Let’s commit together today to listen more, to not run aimlessly through life checking off boxes in a to do list, but stop and listen and look around for what God has for us, that we will be still more before the Lord and that we rest in the hope of his salvation.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" >God bless…</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;color:navy;" > </span></p>Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-46050982851352298842010-12-31T10:16:00.000-08:002010-12-31T10:20:34.662-08:00Seasons<style>@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }@font-face { font-family: "Brush Script MT Italic"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> <p class="MsoNormal">Just before Thanksgiving, I was driving along on a familiar stretch of road near my house and was captivated by the beauty around me.<span style=""> </span>The colors I saw were bold and bright in their rustic and earthy tones as the leaves of the trees had morphed into what many believe is their most magnificent hue.<span style=""> </span>I began to wonder about the season we call “The Fall” and how it so represents that infamous biblical event with the same name.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God in the Garden of Eden, they “fell.”<span style=""> </span>And, from what heights they did fall!<span style=""> </span>They were created for relationship with God and with each other.<span style=""> </span>They were created for eternity.<span style=""> </span>But, our sovereign Lord knew the choice they would make and also what He would have to do to rectify their sin.<span style=""> </span>God sent them out of Paradise into a world filled with thistles and thorns, with heavy labor and pain, but…<span style=""> </span>not devoid of ALL that is good.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Even in this fallen world, we see beauty.<span style=""> </span>It isn’t constant, and it is never perfect, but there are glimpses of Eden here and now.<span style=""> </span>And, with every little glimpse of goodness and light, color and joy, the warmth of the sun or the crispness of fall, we see God.<span style=""> </span>He reminds us everyday, “You’re not alone.”<span style=""> </span>He screams it in the sunset, “I’m here!”<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">“I’m with you!”<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">“I love you.”<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">He sends us gifts like snow in winter to cover the nakedness of the leafless trees and lifeless fields making what is barren beautiful.<span style=""> </span>God is good and mysterious and wonderful.<span style=""> </span>I’ve sung about white Christmases all my life but never imagined that it might really happen here in Alabama, but it did.<span style=""> </span>Life is so like that, unexpected.<span style=""> </span>On Christmas Day in Alabama, it snowed.<span style=""> </span>It didn’t cover the ground, and it was mixed with rain at times, but it snowed!<span style=""> </span>The first snow in my 40 Christmases spent in Alabama.<span style=""> </span>I wondered all day about it.<span style=""> </span>Why is it snowing?<span style=""> </span>What does it mean, God?<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">My Bronner had gone to heaven on the day of the first snow in Alabama in six years, January 19, 2008, and now it was snowing on Christmas Day 2010.<span style=""> </span>Another friend of mine buried her adopted daughter on a snowy day in February 2009, and the snow comforts her.<span style=""> </span>She has always seen it as symbolic of the purity, the innocence, and the goodness of her sweet Emme.<span style=""> </span>Snow is never comforting to me.<span style=""> </span>It’s beautiful to me, and as I have watched it fall, I have felt so many emotions from peace to melancholy to even joy.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I truly believe that everything matters, everything, and that God is speaking to us all the time and in every possible way.<span style=""> </span>I, for one, want to listen.<span style=""> </span>I want to know what God is saying to me through the snow mixed with rain.<span style=""> </span>Maybe He was saying that the cold, dark days I’ve spent here on earth since Bronner’s been in heaven won’t last forever and that the many tears I’ve cried have all been kept in His bottle.<span style=""> </span>Maybe He was saying that goodness and light can fall on a fallen earth and that something else is on the horizon, the dawning of a new day when tears will never fall and winter will not bring death.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">God has a plan for redemption, for restoration, for life.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fall becomes winter, and winter… becomes spring.<span style=""> </span>And, spring brings life.<span style=""> </span>If all was not lost in the fall, then all is not lost in winter either.<span style=""> </span>The cold, dark winter of our souls bears a seed that in springtime will awaken.<span style=""> </span>If fall represents the dying (and we all are, both fallen and dying) and winter represents death, spring is the resurrection of all that is good.<span style=""> </span>Spring is life and brings life.<span style=""> </span>And, we know that it is coming, so in that, we take comfort, and we bide the fall and the winter with the hopes of spring.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">But, the seasons are not only for biding.<span style=""> </span>There is a purpose for every season under heaven just as there is a season for every purpose under heaven. So many people say that fall is their favorite season, and rightly so in a way.<span style=""> </span>It is the here and now.<span style=""> </span>It is what we can see, feel, and touch. It is a reminder that all is not lost.<span style=""> </span>There is so much to be thankful for in the fall.<span style=""> </span>Here is the harvest, a time to bring in the crops, a time to work.<span style=""> </span>Most of us aren’t farmers, but even in my little garden, I found that there is so much work to do when the “crops” come in.<span style=""> </span>For instance, corn comes in all at once.<span style=""> </span>You have to either eat it, dry it, or freeze it right away, because it doesn’t last long.<span style=""> </span>Time is imperative with a crop like corn.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">We must remember to work in fall, to help bring in the harvest for God, the harvest of souls searching for the seed to resurrect their spirits in springtime.<span style=""> </span>Everyone wants to live.<span style=""> </span>We were created that way.<span style=""> </span>We were created for life, for God, for something each one of us knows deep inside is there…<span style=""> </span>Eden, Paradise.<span style=""> </span>We’ve never been there, but we remember it somehow.<span style=""> </span>It’s deep within us, and all of us are searching for our way back.<span style=""> </span>Some have found the way, the truth, and the life, and those who have, have to show the others.<span style=""> </span>It’s required.<span style=""> </span>It is not suggested, but commanded.<span style=""> </span>But, even this is a gift.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">What are we doing with the time God has given us to live here in “The Fall?”<span style=""> </span>Are we bringing in the harvest of souls put before us?<span style=""> </span>Are we praying for spring?<span style=""> </span>Are we working as if time was of the essence?<span style=""> </span>Are we reminded of God’s plan and purpose for man and the earth with each coming season?<span style=""> </span>Do we take time to reflect on and ponder God’s goodness and grace?<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Every night is dark, but every morning is the dawning of a new day!<span style=""> </span>Everything in nature and in time testifies to the resurrection.<span style=""> </span>As the caterpillar inches his way into his own tomb only to come out a new creature, more vibrant and beautiful than before, so will we.<span style=""> </span>Just as dying brings death and winter brings the cold, Jesus brings life.<span style=""> </span>Jesus walked out of that tomb on Easter morning.<span style=""> </span>He was dead, and behold, He is alive forevermore, and He is making ALL THINGS NEW.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">So, when springtime comes, dance, and when summer is here, rejoice!<span style=""> </span>Work in the fall, and reflect in winter.<span style=""> </span>It is all from the Lord, and He is perfect.<span style=""> </span>He has made everything beautiful in its time.<span style=""> </span>Drink in every new day with expectation, the expectation that God will speak, the expectation that there are gifts around every corner and that with every new year, there is growth within the Kingdom of God.<span style=""> </span>Grow your gifts in this New Year, seek the holiness and mystery of God Almighty, and challenge yourself to see what could be.<span style=""> </span>Spring will come.<span style=""> </span>Let us prepare ourselves for it, for Him who is coming to revive our souls, to wipe away every tear, and to make all things new.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Happy New Year, my friends!<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">With love,</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:16pt;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:16pt;" >Sherri</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span></p>Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5045091401399321468.post-50040636157838841492010-12-23T11:53:00.000-08:002010-12-23T18:36:10.167-08:00Speech to Christian Women Job Corps (given Nov. 8, 2010)<style>@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }@font-face { font-family: "Euphemia UCAS"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Hi, I’m Sherri Burgess, and I am thrilled and honored to be here in Huntsville today.<span style=""> </span>May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be upon us all. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Well, my story is story of hope.<span style=""> </span>As a young girl, I remember looking up into the sky and wondering what life was all about.<span style=""> </span>I had the same questions I’m sure many of you have had.<span style=""> </span>“What am I doing here?”<span style=""> </span>“Where are you, God?”<span style=""> </span>“Why can’t I see you?”<span style=""> </span>“Do you see me?” “Do you love me?”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >I knew Jesus had died for my sins.<span style=""> </span>I had heard that for as long as I could remember, but I didn’t understand why He had to die. Couldn’t God forgive us of our sins without having to crucify His son?<span style=""> </span>And, a big question I had even as a young adult was “Is Jesus the only way?<span style=""> </span>Would God really send all those other people to hell?”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >See, I didn’t know God, so I didn’t understand Him, but thankfully, the bible tells us that if you seek God with all your heart, you will find him.<span style=""> </span>All those questions I was asking weren’t stupid.<span style=""> </span>They were good, because the bible also tells us that if anyone lacks understanding he should ask God.<span style=""> </span>I can’t tell you how many times I prayed for wisdom.<span style=""> </span>I wanted to know the answers, and I found them and I keep finding them… right here.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >This Word is truth.<span style=""> </span>It’s the only truth… and it is absolute.<span style=""> </span>The God of the Bible is God.<span style=""> </span>How do I know?<span style=""> </span>Because, now, I know Him.<span style=""> </span>I’ve talked with Him, and He has talked with me.<span style=""> </span>He has given me of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who searches and reveals all things.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Have you ever seen someone at a potter’s wheel when they have the wet clay and they start shaping with their hands something from the clay? Well, God is that for us.<span style=""> </span>He molds and shapes us into what He wants us to be. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >For a long time in my life, I think I just sat there on the wheel, this big lump of wet clay.<span style=""> </span>The potter’s wheel may have been spinning, but God’s hand wasn’t upon me, so I was being made into nothing.<span style=""> </span>And, I sat there a useless lump of clay for a long time.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >But, then God’s hand touched me, and that lump of clay that was my life started to take shape.<span style=""> </span>He smoothed out rough edges.<span style=""> </span>He added vibrant color and precious gems, and anyone could see that what God was making was very beautiful. But God, in His infinite wisdom, looked at the vessel of clay he was making, and said, “I can do better.”<span style=""> </span>So, he took all that he had been building and smashed it back down to the wheel.<span style=""> </span>The life that had been was no more.<span style=""> </span>It had been crushed, taken back down to nothing, but… </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >God’s hand gently touched the clay once more and He started sculpting something else, something very different from before… something sure, something useful, not quite as vibrant or beautiful anymore…<span style=""> </span>just a humble pot filled with tears and marked with sorrow, but a pot who now knows who is doing the building in her life.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >When you come face to face with death, you realize you have no power over it.<span style=""> </span>You realize that you are in control of nothing and that God alone gives life or takes it.<span style=""> </span>He is power.<span style=""> </span>He is might.<span style=""> </span>He is sovereign Lord above all things, and we…<span style=""> </span>are clay in His hands.<span style=""> </span>He does what He will among men.<span style=""> </span>And once you realize and understand how great God is, then you’ll have gained a real jewel in your crown, humility.<span style=""> </span>You’ll understand as Job did that naked you came from your mother’s womb, and naked you shall you return.<span style=""> </span>The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >On that day when God took my baby, Bronner, I knew God, and I knew him to be good.<span style=""> </span>I had tasted and had seen the Lord’s goodness.<span style=""> </span>He had lifted me up out of darkness, out of the miry clay, into the light.<span style=""> </span>I could see, and I knew where my help comes from.<span style=""> </span>So, I ran to my Father, and that little girl in me came out again and asked those same questions I had asked so many years before.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >“Where are you, God?”<span style=""> </span>“Why can’t I see you?”<span style=""> </span>“Do you see me?” “What am I doing here when my baby is there?”<span style=""> </span>“Don’t you love me, God?”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >And, He had to answer those questions all over again for me.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >And He said, “I am on my throne, and you will see my face. I love you with an everlasting love.<span style=""> </span>Those I love I discipline and reprove.<span style=""> </span>I don’t give as the world gives.<span style=""> </span>But, I bind up the brokenhearted and comfort all those who mourn.<span style=""> </span>I give them a beautiful headdress instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >“Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.<span style=""> </span>Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.<span style=""> </span>If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.<span style=""> </span>If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >I said to God, “But, we were so happy.<span style=""> </span>We were so happy, God.”<span style=""> </span>And, He said, “But I want you to be holy, set apart for my good purposes.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >And, again, I said to God, “There is nothing worse than losing a child.<span style=""> </span>Nothing!<span style=""> </span>I know you lost your son, but you got him back after three days.<span style=""> </span>Three days!”<span style=""> </span>And He said, “But what about the others?<span style=""> </span>All those I have to send away from my presence for eternity.<span style=""> </span>Those who breathe the breath of life I have given them.<span style=""> </span>They are all mine.<span style=""> </span>You are going to get this glorious reunion with your son, but not all of my children will I see again except on that day when they rise only to die a second death.” </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Then I understood from God’s perspective, and I had compassion for God.<span style=""> </span>He loves each person and desires a relationship with us all.<span style=""> </span>I could see that God saw fit to take away my happy life, for a time, so that some others of his flock could come home.<span style=""> </span>I could also see that I was losing my life here on earth, so I could gain it for eternity.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled.<span style=""> </span>Believe in God; believe also in me.<span style=""> </span>In my Father’s house are many rooms.<span style=""> </span>If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?<span style=""> </span>And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Jesus is coming again.<span style=""> </span>He’s coming for us.<span style=""> </span>And, I believe that it’s soon.<span style=""> </span>No man knows the hour or the day, but Jesus Himself said, “Behold, I am coming soon.”<span style=""> </span>“Surely I am coming soon.”<span style=""> </span>“I am coming soon.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >This is our great hope.<span style=""> </span>Do you realize that? Our hope is in eternal life with God.<span style=""> </span>If this is all there is, then we are to be pitied.<span style=""> </span>But, it’s not all there is.<span style=""> </span>It’s not.<span style=""> </span>We do have hope.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Romans 8:24-25 say, “Now hope that is seen is not hope.<span style=""> </span>For who hopes for what he sees?<span style=""> </span>But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Does that mean we just sit around and wait for Jesus to appear in the clouds?<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >No…<span style=""> </span>we are to be about our Father’s business until that day. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >And, just as John the Baptist was a herald of his first coming making straight the way of the Lord and crying out for people to repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand, we should be shouting from the rooftops the same thing.<span style=""> </span>The kingdom of heaven is at hand.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >If John the Baptist was a herald of his first coming, we who are His children now are to be heralds of his second coming.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Let us also say, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, the one who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Jesus is alive, and He is saying to us in this generation, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one.<span style=""> </span>I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Wake up from your slumber and behold the living God. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Behold Him, have him in your sights, and Trust Him no matter what life throws at you.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, and in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.<span style=""> </span>I have said that to myself over and over and over again.<span style=""> </span>Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, and in all thy way acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >We’re all going to trials and tribulation in this world, but in this we rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, we have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of our faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >“And after we have suffered a little while,” the bible says, “the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >So, stand firm.<span style=""> </span>Fight the good fight, run your race, and in the end you will be more than conquerors in the fight.<span style=""> </span>You will win, if you do not give up, the crown of righteousness and gain eternal life.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >What is not worth that?<span style=""> </span>Nothing.<span style=""> </span>I can endure.<span style=""> </span>I can stand.<span style=""> </span>I can because of Christ. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >I say with Job, “Though He slay me, yet shall I hope in Him.”<span style=""> </span>Even if He kills me, I will still hope in Him, because God is our only hope.<span style=""> </span>We live in a world of hurt, of sickness, of pain, of turmoil and strife, but it won’t always like this.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >The heroes of our faith from Hebrews Chapter 11, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Joseph, Noah, all these died in faith, the bible says, not having received the things promised but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.<span style=""> </span>For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.<span style=""> </span>If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.<span style=""> </span>But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.<span style=""> </span>Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >John saw that city.<span style=""> </span>He said, “I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.<span style=""> </span>And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.<span style=""> </span>He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.<span style=""> </span>He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Jesus will make all things new.<span style=""> </span>I will see my baby, Bronner, again.<span style=""> </span>I will hold him in my arms, and I will raise him up on a perfect earth where there will be no sickness or pain or even sin.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >And, when that happens all my suffering, all these days without Bronner, will fade into a distant memory as this slight momentary affliction will have prepared for me an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >And, since I know what’s coming, I have the strength to hold on until that day. I can endure this life, because I know in whom I have believed.<span style=""> </span>And, not only can I endure it, I can be useful in it.<span style=""> </span>I can be used of God.<span style=""> </span>My son, Bronner, the baby, the one that brought us so much happiness was taken from us for this purpose, to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, that all who believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >That is our great hope, eternal life there with Him.<span style=""> </span>Even though we die, we live.<span style=""> </span>That’s the gospel.<span style=""> </span>And I am ambassador in chains for it.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >“And the rain fell, and floods came, and winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall for it had been founded on the rock.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >Let’s pray:<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" >“Father God, thank you for being with us today, and thank you for the hope we have in Jesus. I pray, Lord, that if there are any here today who don’t know that kind hope, that today will be the day they find it.<span style=""> </span>Your word tells us to seek and you will find.<span style=""> </span>Knock and the door will be opened unto you.<span style=""> </span>It is my prayer that your Holy Spirit will convict each of us of our sin and that we will turn from it and seek a life fully devoted to you, Lord. Let us walk as children of Light and as heralds of Your return.<span style=""> </span>We know that you are coming for us, and we welcome you, Lord Jesus.<span style=""> </span>But, until that day comes, God bless our state and our nation in order that we may shine Your light to ends of the earth.<span style=""> </span>In Jesus name, Amen.”<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:";" > </span></p>Sherri Burgesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060844322657821004noreply@blogger.com1