This is my daughter at a park feeding ducks after the flood.

What to do when troubles hit your life

The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. Nahum 1:7

We are are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. II Corinthians 4:8-9

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. Psalm 138:7

Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. John 14:1

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Isaiah 43:2

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou has considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities. Psalm 31:7

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2

For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. I Peter 5:7

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:34

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. II Corinthians 1:3-4

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:6-7

Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. Isaiah 51:11

Georgia Flooding

On Sunday, September 20, 2009, the South Cobb area experienced what many have referred to as the 500 year flood. Many of our Powder Springs and Austell citizens lost their homes, as well as, all of their possessions. The city had a number of neighborhoods impacted by the flood. It is estimated that 1220 in the Cobb County area were affected by the flood. Paulding, Douglas, Fulton, Dekalb and Gwinnett counties are still assessing the damage of the disaster.

To the fellow servants I want to thank:

• The American Red Cross
• The United Way
• The Salvation Army
• Samaritan's Purse
• Habitat for Humanity
• Atlanta Council of Churches
• All the food closets in the Atlanta area
• Firefighters
• Police
• 911 operators
• CERT (Cobb County Emergency Response Team)
• EMA of Cobb
• GEMA and FEMA
  

I truly thank you for being there for our wonderful citizens in need. How blessed we are to have been a recipient of your love and kindness.

To my brothers and sisters in the many teams of the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams from:

• Texas
• Mississippi
• Alabama
• Louisiana
• Florida
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Kentucky
• Oklahoma

...and all the workers who responded to the call lead by Stuart Lang, Ricky Thrasher and Lee Hurtt of the Noonday Baptist Association where most of the disaster happened.

I would like to personally thank the teams of 26R, 16R, 19R, and my own 13R and to the leaders of the tams I worked with in the past weeks--David, Joe, Charlie, Marcus, Mike, Carl, Gary, Steve and my buddy Don who has worked many diasters in his years with Disaster Relief.

To my fellow chaplains: Rob, Ralph, John, Charlie, David, Carl, Julia, Melinda, Mary, Ruth, Don, Jim, Russell and all the other chaplains I did not have the opportunity to meet--THANK YOU.

To the many other organizations and volunteers and public safety personnel in the flood disaster area that I have not mentioned, please know we are so thankful to you. Please let me know who youare so that I might thank you personally.

A Thankful Change

Some days, we forget to look around us
Some days, we can't see the joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves, we take when we should give

So for tonight, we pray for what we know can be
And on this day, we hope for what we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for

Look beyond ourselves, there's so much sorrow
It's way too late to say I'll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth, it's so long overdue

So for tonight, we pray for what we know can be
And everyday, we look for what we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we can do more
There's so much to be thankful for

Even with our differences, there is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each others' light
So for tonight, we pray for what we know can be
And on this day, we hope for what we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more
There's so much to be thankful for

You are the light of the world...Matthew 5:14

A thankful change...
A special blessing for this year...

Brother Gary

Times are A'Changing

What used to be MODESTY is now called sex hang-up.
What used to be Christian discipline is now called unhealthy repression.
What used to be disgusting is now called adult.
What used to be moral irresponsibility is now called freed up.
What used to be chastity is now called inhibitions.
What used to be self-indulgence is now called self-fulfillment.
What used to be living in sin is now called a meaningful relationship.
What used to be perversion is now called alternate life-style.
What used to be depravity is now called creative self-expression.
What used to be ethical anarchy is now the theology of liberation.

SIN CAN BE VERY SUBTLE AND DECEPTIVE

PLEASE DO NOT BE MISLED

For the whole story, read Romans chapter 1

AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH...

In the first chapter of John, it says that Jesus is the Word.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:1, 14

In the beginning of this Christmas season, I would like to share the words of a song sung by Aaron Jeffries. The Word is the Word of God--we call it the Bible, the most beautiful story ever told about Jesus. The title of this song is HE IS:

HE IS

In Genesis, He's the breath of life

In Exodus, the Passover Lamb

In Leviticus, He's our High Priest

Numbers, The fire by night

Deuteronomy, He's Moses' voice

In Joshua, He is salvation's choice

Judges, law giver

In Ruth, the kinsmen-redeemer

First and second Samuel, our trusted prophet

In Kings and Chronicles, He's sovereign

Ezra, true and faithful scribe

Nehemiah, He's the rebuilder of broken walls and lives

In Esther, He's Mordecai's courage

In Job, the timeless redeemer

In Psalms, He is our morning song

In Proverbs, wisdom's cry

Ecclesiastes, the time and season

In the Song of Solomon, He is the lover's dream

He is, He is, He is

In Isaiah, He's the Prince of Peace

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet

In Lamentations, the cry for Israel

Ezekiel, He's the call from sin

In Daniel, the stranger in the fire

In Hosea, He is forever faithful

In Joel, He's the Spirit’s power

In Amos, the arms that carry us

In Obadiah, He's the Lord our Savior

In Jonah, He's the great missionary

In Micah, the promise of peace

In Nahum, He is our strength and our shield

In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He's pleading for revival

In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage

In Zechariah, our fountain

In Malachi, He is the son of righteousness rising with healing in His wings

He is, He is, HE IS!

In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, He is God, Man, Messiah

In the book of Acts, He is fire from heaven

In Romans, He's the grace of God

In Corinthians, the power of love

In Galatians, He is freedom from the curse of sin

Ephesians, our glorious treasure

Philippians, the servant’s heart

In Colossians, He's the Godhead Trinity

Thessalonians, our coming King

In Timothy, Titus, Philemon

He's our mediator and our faithful Pastor

In Hebrews, the everlasting covenant

In James, the one who heals the sick.

In First and Second Peter, he is our Shepherd

In John and in Jude, He is the lover coming for His bride

In the Revelation, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords

He is, He is, HE IS!

The prince of peace

The Son of manThe Lamb of God

The great I AM

He's the alpha and omega

Our God and our Savior

He is Jesus Christ the Lord

And when time is no more

He is, HE IS!

Sometimes, as little children, we mess up or just get confused a little bit.

Here is the Children's Bible in a nutshell:

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, "The Lord they God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that. Anyway, God said, "Give me a light!" and someone did. Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet. Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden. Not sure what they were driven in, though, because they didn't have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.

Pretty soon all of the earthly people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some oter people to join him, but they said they would have to take a raincheck.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange from some pot roast. Jacob had a son name Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.

God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: Do't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff.

Oh yeh, I just thought of one more: Humor they father and they mother.

One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.

After Joshua came David...He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines...My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there wer a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore. There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't ahve to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of the New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. I wish I had been born in a barn too because my mom is always saying to me, "Close the door! Were you born in a barn?" It would be nice to say, "As a matter of fact, I was."

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees nad the Republicans.

Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man. He healed may leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.

But the Republicans and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead. Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again.

He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. He return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

Now tell me, can we mess up?

Blessing,

Brother Gary

DON'T FORGET:

• Jesus became what we are so we can become like He is.
• Life is fragile, handle with prayer.
• Extreme times demand deep faith.
• God is at His best when Man is at his worst.
• Count your blessings, not your problems.
• He who loses money loses much, he who loses a friend, loses more; He who loses faith, loses all.

KNOWING GOD'S PEACE IN TROUBLED TIMES

Billy Graham's Prayer for the Nation

Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask forgiveness and to seek direction and guidance. We know Your Word says “Woe to those who call evil good,” and that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed out spiritual values. We have exploited our poor and called it the lottery. We have reward laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbors possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom and expression. We have ridiculed the time honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Amen

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this on his radio program, “The Rest of the Story,” and received a larger response to this program than any other he has aired. With the Lord’s help may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we can again be called one nation under God.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Liturgical Year A, Cycle II

Thanksgiving Day Mass

First Reading: Revelation 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 100:2,3,4,5
Gospel: Luke 21:20-28

Religion is man's way to go...God's way is Jesus to us.

That is why we must share God's way (the WORD) which is Jesus.

Share the Word with a brother or sister. You may be closer than you think to him or her.

Religion is just customs, traditions of man, hearsay, which doesn't come from the WORD of God.

Remember faith cometh by hearing. Our hope is in Jesus, the WORD, that was from the beginning to the end, ALPHA and OMEGA, from eternity past, to the present, to eternity future. The world that was, the world that is, and the world that is to come.

Blessing, may they be showers of blessing,

Brother Gary

DON'T FORGET:

• Brilliant people talk about ideas
• Average people talk about things
• Small people talk about other people

P.S. Try not to even think small this week. Let us try to understand your brothers and sisters customs, traditions of men and religions, they all come from man. We all know we need the LORD.

A THANKSGIVING PRAYER

This is a letter from the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians.

Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus,

and love unto all the saints,

Cease not to give thanks for you,

making mention of you in my prayers:

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened;

that ye may know what is the hope of his calling,

and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-word who believe,

according to the working of his mighty power.

Which he wrought in Christ,

when he raised him from the dead,

and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion,

and every name that is named,

not only in this world,

but also in that which is to come:

And hath put all things under his feet,

and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Ephesians 1:15-23

Remember when we pray, it's not our power, but His. To be enlightened by His power, we must listen for His voice to be able to understand. It is the power within us who believe to receive the answer to our prayer.

Blessing,

Brother Gary

DON'T FORGET:

• God allows U-TURNS
• We're too blessed to be depressed
• When all else fails, trust God.