Tuesday, December 27, 2011

It's a good thing we went Christmas Caroling.

Some of you might remember one of my blog posts called, "It's a good thing I ride my bike at midnight". December 8th (just 18 days ago) was one of those kinds of nights. But I didn't know it. Until tonight.My neighbors came over for a surprise visit just minutes ago. They had a plate filled with cookies, which is always nice.

Since they live in the house behind ours, I rarely see them. In fact, I don't think they've ever been over to home before. The couple of times we talked, I found out that the wife's name is "Tricia". This is easy for me to remember (even though she spells it the wrong way). :-)

On Dec 8th, a group of about 20 of us from
Sovereign Joy Community Church went caroling in my neighborhood. When the group arrived they grabbed some hot coco, we said a prayer, got our gloves and snow caps on and off we went. We sang from house to house rather quickly. One song per home. A nice neighbor came out and was so grateful that she hugged several of the kids that were with us. A few doors opened. Only one shut on us. Never to open again. But we left 180 DVD's and tracts with popcorn on the doorstep anyway.I had forgotten about one particular house until tonight.

We approached it to sing and I got a rather large whiff of gas. Hmmm...that was strong. I thought.
I turned to my friend Lisa and said, "Did you smell that?"
"Yes!" She said. "That was strong." She added.
After we sang our song, everyone walked to the next house but I hurried up to the door step and said, "Tricia, it's me Trisha. It's great to see you. I hope you enjoy the DVD and other goodies. I don't know if you're aware of this, but I smelled gas pretty strongly near your curb. And so did a friend of mine from our group. You might want to call and have the gas company come out right away. They'll do it for free."
"I'll call right away, thank you so much, Trisha." Tricia said.
18 days later.
I'm answering emails. The door bell rings. Baby goes nuts. I turn the porch light on.
"Emilio, it's our neighbors!"
Emilio hurries to the door. And opens it.
"Hi you guys." We greeted them. "It's great to see you." I added.
We shook hands.
"We wanted to come over to tell you thank you…Thank you for telling us about the gas leak." Tricia said.
"Really?" I inquired. "What happened!?" I asked.
"We had a very big leak in our attic." She answered.
“We had our roof worked on and the roofers must have done something.” She added.
"It was so bad that when we opened the attic door, Tricia almost passed out. And we were without gas for 3 days while the gas company fixed it." Mr. C added.
As they handed us the cookies they said, "Thank you for saving our lives!”
That quick death can snatch us. We must be ready to meet our Maker. I thank God for his grace on this dear family. And as they were leaving I asked Tricia, “Did you get to watch 180?” “Yes, it was very good and my daughter liked it too. Thank you very much.” She said.

Life is slippery. You don't know what today will hold. But for the Christian, we know Who holds today and tomorrow. Continue to trust in him, dear Christian. He is good at all times. God is in control and does all things for His Glory and for the believers good. If you've been born again, you can trust that God will work out everything for the good in your life, even a gas leak, even your sin, even your suffering, even every mistake that you’ve made, all your past hurt and bad choices (
Romans 8:28).. He will bring beauty out of every trial. There is security for you in Jesus Christ. He is a strong tower for you (Proverbs 18:10).

If you are reading this and you have not repented and turned from your sins and received Christ as your Savior, please don't wait another minute to be reconciled to God, tonight. Fling yourself on the mercy of God. It's not too late (
http://fishwithtrish.com/areyousaved.php).
"Sinners are often shocked when death comes close to them. It’s as though they had never taken the time to face reality. One of the first signs of an awakening soul is that they face their own mortality--that life itself is a slippery place." – Ray Comfort

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!
Psalm 107:1

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Follow and You'll Fish. A sneak peek at The Way of the Master Season 4 Mission Europe: Prague

Why can't God heal amputees?

An atheist emailed me on Monday after I posted a blog about Lauren Scruggs who lost her left hand and now her left eye after the horrific propeller accident. Here's what he wrote:

"Why didn't God just re-attach the limb and eye? Moreover, why didn't God just prevent the accident in the first place. Why can't God heal amputees? J.E. Hill"

Thank you for writing, J.E. God does all things after the counsel of His eternal and immutable will. They asked Jesus the same question, 'Why can't He just deliver himself off that cross and ease His suffering?' Also, the Devil proposed the same sort of questioning when Jesus was fasting, 'Why doesn't God feed you or keep you from dying if you throw yourself of a cliff?'. So it sounds to me like you are in similar company with the Devil and those that hated Jesus Christ. The simple answer is that God only heals when it is according to His divine purposes.

"God will rid the creation of all evil, suffering, pain, tears, and defects. We call that the 'church triumphant' when God will crush all of His enemies under His feet. Scripture does not promise us health, wealth, and prosperity. We are for now 'the church militant' called to endure trials and tribulations, physical suffering is but one aspect of the human suffering which God has ordained for man: "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God." Acts 14:22 - Emilio Ramos

Friday, December 16, 2011

A song for Lauren Scruggs

Lauren Scruggs, the young fashion model who lost her hand and was severely injured by walking into a plane propeller also lost her left eye as well. Surgeons removed it Tuesday. I've been praying for this dear young girl and her family.

Today her mom sent out a message saying, “We received a wonderful gift from someone who created a You Tube video for her. It blessed us so much and we wanted to share it with you.” Mrs. Scruggs
http://bit.ly/tgtoGr

I found the video on this link to be very encouraging especially during this time of year when the trails of life seem to roll over us like large billows. Take heart, friends, and keep trusting in the Lord. He is worth it all. And this short life will be over soon. Speaking of how life is, yesterday Christopher Hitchens died at age 62. He was an Atheist and didn't believe in God. Please pray for his family and friends who are deeply mourning. And take the time to reflect on your own mortality. Where will you go when you die? If you haven't read it yet, take the time to read everything on this page: www.dontwasteyourdash.com

Philippians 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth...

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Atheist Watchdogs Awaken the Church

Contact: Trisha Ramos, 800-437-1893

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 13, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- After reading of an atheist group's demand that Athens, Texas remove a nativity scene from the corner of their courthouse lawn, evangelist Ray Comfort spent some time on the atheists' website reading of their many exploits. Comfort said, "Freedom From Religion Foundation see themselves as moral watchdogs. Among many other suits, they filed a Federal lawsuit against the Town of Whiteville, Tenn., and its mayor, James Bellar, 'to force him to remove crosses on the Whiteville water tower.' One of their news releases states 'An unauthorized Latin cross suddenly appearing at Camp Pendleton must come down, says a national state/church watchdog.'"

Comfort recently created www.180movie.com which has had over 1.8 million YouTube views. He said, "'180' is getting the gospel to the unsaved and at the same time inspiring Christians to share their faith. So I made contact with Pastor Lorick, who is standing up against these atheists (along with 73 other area pastors), offered to give free '180 Courses' to the area churches, and also offered to send in teams to evangelize the area. The pastor loved the idea and was delighted that we wanted to help."

Comfort said that any time Freedom From Religion Foundation try and remove crosses, nativity scenes, etc., he will make some calls. "Whenever they try and bully people with their anti-God agenda, we will make that place ground-zero for an evangelistic campaign. The majority of Americans believe in God, and many of them have had enough of intolerance towards the things of God. Atheists may use the law to make a mayor remove a cross from a water tower, but we will then make it our business to take the cross to thousands."

The best-selling author has already shown that he has the means that can make things happen. "We have faithful workers across the country who gave away 180,000 '180' DVD's in 100 universities, in one day. Those who would like to be involved merely need only join our 180 movie Facebook page, and we will keep them informed of our agenda. We're excited to see when the Freedom From Religion Foundation will make their next move."