The Day has finally arrived!

We are all set for our first night as an emergency coldweather homeless shelter for 24 guys from our community. Community of Joy and Cathederal of Love are the two area churches that are hosting this week's shelter. We open tonight at 5 p.m. Then supper at 6 and all night shelter till 7 a.m. each day through next Saturday.

We had lots of our own help this morning and 12-15 of the guys came to help as well. It will be a great week as we extend the love of Jesus to these guys!

Thanks to ALL who are being part of this effort and especially to our Key Volunteer Belinda White!

Spent some time this afternoon talking to one of the guys... 66 years old... retired vet and iron worker... never been homeless before, this past week... the shelter is quite a shock for him... he had a stroke 2 years ago and has limited use of his left arm and hand. He was unable to walk anywhere today... normally he is in the Go-Getters Friendship Network and goes to the senior center during the day... but they don't operate on the weekend... so he was forced to stay outside (shelter rules) until 5 p.m. We decided to let him back in to go to the restroom and to fix his lunch... then I offered to talke him to the Library and bring him back at 5 but he opted to sit in the sun on a chair that I got for him. Nice guy... so sad... so hard for him to deal with what he is going through... gets $715 a month SS. On Monday, Go-Getters is getting him hooked up with a section 8 housing situation and he is looking forward to being out of the shelter.... I pray it works out for him!

Still in the Finishing Phase....

The finishing phase of our new ministry center is continuing ... the above picture is the newly painted downstairs bathroom...GREAT JOB!

True Religion....

Today in my quiet time, I was reading from the book of James in the Bible... James 1:27 says "Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles and refuse to let the world corrupt us."

And I was thinking... this week as we open our ministry center to the homeless men of salisbury, we are doing exactly what James is saying... we are practicing "pure and lasting religion"!

I am so greatful for a congregation that takes seriously the call to practice pure and lasting religion. That takes seriously the call to do something with our faith besides speak it! This week will be a hard week... with lots of challenges and not much sleep, but it will be a tremendous oppotunity to be part of something that matters to God and that will transform our lives!

Be Strong and Courageous!

Yesterday's Bible reading was from Joshua 1:1-18. In verse 9, God says to Joshua, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged: for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

This was spoken to Joshua as he faced a huge challenge... to fill the shoes of a great leader, Moses and lead his people into an unknown future.

All of us face challenges in life --- challenges of huge proportions where we are called to do great things and to go places where we've not been before. In the midst of the challenges we face, God speaks the same words... "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged: for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

For every challenge before us, there is a promise. While the challenge changes, the promise does not! No matter what the challenge is, the promise is... be strong and courageos... for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go!

And the neat thing is that we can be strong and courageous because of the promise!

I did....

Did YOU????

Don't Forget....

to VOTE today!

The Countdown is on....

At Community of Joy, we are gearing up for our week of hosting the Community Emergency Shelter Project... it begins on Saturday night and runs until the next Saturday morning. We have had awesome response to this project! I am so proud of our folks! We really do want to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the community and world!

Looking forward to a great week... serving our brothers in need in the name of Jesus!

Email now working....

Just got an email from Comcast saying that my outgoing email problem has been fixed! YEAH!!!! It has been a real hassle having to use outlook express! So happy to have it working now!

Great show by Charlie...

Went with a friend tonight to hear Charlie Alshiemer, who is a nationally known outdoor writer and photographer, speak. What a phenominal job he did. He shared some spectacular pictures... walking us through the life of a whitetail through the seasons. Then gave some incredible tips on when best to hunt in Novemeber 2008. (You can bet I will be out between Nov. 9 and 19, 2008!!!

But more than all that... he spoke of his faith in God and challenged us to recognize God's presence in our lives and to follow Jesus. What an incredible testimony he has! And he was very effective in his presentation!

A HOT tip for Valentines Day...

If you are looking for a great gift to give the love of your life for Valentines, I've got just the tip. In fact this tip will not only bless your valentine, but it will bless others as well.

Doug and Sally Ruby have just received a shipment of fair trade coffee and chocolate from Guatemala. All of the proceed will help the people who made the chocolate or grew the coffee and the student we are sending to highschool there. Contact them at 410.548.9122 to place your orders. They are also taking orders and have a small supply of weavings that the ladies of Union Victoria have made. Great gift items!

This week's pain....

Thankfully is not in my foot! But in my computer and is very frustrating! I've just learned that outgoing emails are not going out... or are not being received. After 2 hours on a live chat and the phone.. NO help yet... It's amazing how dependant on email we are!

So, if you are emailing me and don't get a response in a timely manner... call! However, I did figure out a way to bypass the comcast webmail and use outlook express for now! The issue seems to be with Comcast.

Super Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, FAT Tuesday...

All these things rolled up in one day... TODAY! Can't vote today, because the Maryland Primary is next Tuesday! Don't particularly like pancakes, so, Shrove Tuesday is out... it is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (tomorrow) where you eat pancakes. BUT I love the FAT Tuesday concept that we latched onto when we pastored two churches in Pennsylvania. It is also called Fasnacht Day. Or more affectionately, Fat Tuesday... because on the tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Dutch make these delicious homemade donuts (fasnacht). Just got back from keeping the tradition... took Sharon to Donut Connection to have some donuts on Fat Tuesday. Sharon says that Fat Tuesday was just the excuse I was looking for to get some donuts! She may well be right!

They sure were good!

A FUN Night!

Even if the Patriots didn't win... we had a FUN night last night! The crowd was loud and rowdy... espcially the "Fat Lady Choir" that sang at the end to torment Glen and me. The food was fabulous as always... Thanks, Walt, Karen, Tracey, Tri and Daryl! We had wings to go!

The BIG disappointment of the night was the LACK of chocolate desserts! Only one that I saw/ate!

The sign out front even brought a neighbor in to watch the game with us! He said he'd be back on Sunday... great time was had by all!

History in the making...

That's what tonight's game will be! AND it will be a real good time for all! I heard that we have 40 lbs of perdue chicken wings being prepared! Can't wait to taste them! And then there is pulled pork and Louise's coleslaw. And besides all that there are ALL the DESSERTS! Death by chocolate I am sure! What a great time we will be having shortly!

Oh What a Relief it is....

.... to finally have some medication that is working on the gout! Thank God for the new meds! I am finding such relief! It was so good to sleep most of last night and to be able to walk almost normally now! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!