Special Alone Time

It's been a whole month since I posted last, why has it only felt like 2 weeks?
As most of you know I have been burning the candle at both ends and although I am trying to have that special alone time with God it has been very difficult. I seem to be waking up and before I know it, it’s 10:00 PM. I have been feeling guilty about not spending the time I want to spend with the Lord, but I know He is orchestrating some rest for me and I am looking forward to it. He has given me the following passage which I trust is the beginning of the rest that I see forthcoming.. By rest I mean to rest in Him and His love for me.
It’s Ephesians 1:4-14 (NIV)

4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

God is Good!

God is so good! Romans 8:28 says, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. We have seen this promise first hand as God worked through all the details of the sale of the church property. We saw it as God orchestrated a much needed rest for Pastor Frank and Kathi. We saw it as God brought forth the perfect rental for the young family that rented the church house. And we continue to see God’s hand as He brings forth the visiting pastors who have blessed us so much with encouraging words that God has placed on their hearts. I would like to encourage each of you to soak in the goodness of God’s blessings-Yes; God is good!


4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Phil.4:4 (NIV)

Seasons

A few weeks back I spoke about feeling melancholy and sad as I packed up the office. I have to say that up until a few days ago I was still feeling that way; but something is changing. Something exciting is happening. Growing up in Texas I saw the different seasons change. I not only saw the trees drop their leaves I felt it. It’s kinda hard to describe if you have never gone through a season change. That’s what I feel is happening now-with A New Harvest. It’s a change; it’s a God change.
I can hardly wait to turn the corner and have that AH-HA moment. You know the one where God opens your eyes and all you can say is ah-ha!!
My hearts a-pounding…..

Ecclesiastes 3 tells us, There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven:
Verse 4 says, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,…

I personally am putting on that smile and gathering my dancing shoes; I can almost hear Jesus ask; “will you dance with me? Take my hand and I will lead!”

Have a wonderful week in the Lord!

Melancholy and Anxiousness

As I was cleaning out closets and going through stuff at the office this week, I was hit with a sense of melancholy. I started thinking about the things that had happened in the office and also where God was leading us as we take this next turn. I feel a little timid and anxious because I don’t know. (There’s that control thing again, when will I learn?) But the one thing I do sense is that God has some exciting things in store for A New Harvest. I feel He is saying to us as His church– to take His hand, let Him lead and trust Him– for He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.
So, as we begin to turn the corner into a new season with the Lord, and when those anxious moments come upon us - remember Phil. 4:4-7
4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Have a wonderful week in the Lord!

Gods Counsel-Our Worries

The other night my son and I were talking and he said something that got me thinking. He said God sits on His throne and thousands of people from everywhere go to Him for His counsel. They lay down their lives which include their wants and desires to seek His. They lay down their worries and burdens. As he said this, I had a vision in my head of God’s throne and people walking to it and casting their problems to Him and some of them telling Him their troubles. I thought about the many times I go to God to lay my burden at His feet, I say, take it Lord; but do I really leave it with Him? I know I‘ve written about this same thing many times, but for some reason He keeps drawing me back to it. (I think He’s slowly showing me how to trust Him, it’s just taking me awhile to catch on) : >)
God already knows what I/we carry-He knows how to fix it. The thing is; every time we take our worries back, Satan wins. He wins because we lose the peace God gives us when we leave it with Him.

For he himself is our peace,… Ephesians 2:14

Busyness and Remembering

I want to share something with you that I read this week. It really got me thinking about my busyness, about how we can get so caught up in the things of this life that we forget about why we follow Jesus and that He should always be 1st in our life no matter what. I know when I read the following I was convicted because I saw times in my own life where I have forgotten Jesus.

Six Hours One Friday by Max Lucado.

Can you still remember? Are you still in love with Him?...Remember Jesus. Before you remember anything remember Him. If you forget anything, don’t forget Him.

Oh, but how quickly we forget, So much happens through the years. So many changes within. So many alterations without. And, somewhere, back there, we leave Him. We don’t turn away from Him...we just don’t take Him with us. Assignments come. Promotions come. Budgets are made. Kids are born, and the Christ...the Christ is forgotten.

Has it been awhile since you stared at the heavens in speechless amazement? Has it been awhile since you realized God’s divinity and your carnality?

If it has, then you need to know something.
He is still there. He hasn’t left. Under all those papers and books and reports and years. In the midst of all those voices and faces and memories and pictures, He is still there.

Have a wonderful week in the Lord!

We tend to forget how big God is and that He is the one who takes care of us. We don’t and can’t achieve anything without God. As Colossians 1:17 says, He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Let's look at 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 (NLT)
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, ... Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.

With God taking care of us we can praise him and give thanks..

1Chronicles 29:13
Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

God's Formation

This week several things happened that orchestrated the thought of the week. Let’s just say that as always, God’s hand was in its formation.

Psalm 91:9-16

If you make the Most High your dwelling— even the LORD, who is my refuge- then no harm will befall you,no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. "Because he loves me," says the LORD, I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

Being Chosen

As a kid I always dreaded the times at recess when we had to “pick teams”. I was usually chosen about halfway through the pick or towards the end, I was never chosen as the top 5. Seemed to me that the ones chosen first were always best friends to the one doing the choosing, or you excelled in the sport you might be playing that particular day. I don’t know why my thoughts bring me back to that time of life other than to say that we don’t choose Jesus, He chooses us, and when we follow Him we become His friend and we are adopted into Gods family. Galatians 4:6-7 says, Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. With that in mind, see what he says about us in 1Peter 2:9-10, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Not only does He call us sons and daughters, but He loves us so much.... Romans 8:38-39; For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, what a privilege that Jesus chose us, and it should be our desire each and every day to honor Him because He did choose us.

John 15:16
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

(emphasis mine)

Just Ask

The other night while watching TV a commercial came on that started with that old Michael Jackson song that he did with his brothers the Jackson 5 called “I’ll Be There”. As the song and the commercial played on it said in captions, “We all need someone to believe in. To rely on. To trust”.
I guess the commercial was about people being there for other people. As the song played some of the lyrics went like this: “where there is love, I’ll be there, I’ll reach out my hand to you, I’ll have faith in all you do, just call my name and I’ll be there. I’ll be your strength, I’ll keep holding on”..

As I watched the commercial I thought to myself; yes, we do need someone to believe in, to rely on and to trust-we need Jesus. I started thinking about how Jesus is always there, that when we ask for something in His name –it’s a done deal. When we ask for strength, for comfort, for healing, for protection, for covering, for love, the list goes on. Jesus said, 7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matt.7:7-8)

What a wonderful God we serve! All we have to do is call His name.

-and He’ll be there!


13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14:13-14

I Pledge...what was that again?

I often wonder how many of our children know the Pledge of Allegiance. It's not said anymore at schools and it's being pulled from some of our sports events and other public forums. It's really sad. And in a not so distant future people will begin to ask "America had a Pledge of Allegiance, what was it?" It will be a trivia question in a game. It's been a long time since I went to school but does it cover it in the History books anymore? My heart aches for our children, how is this country going to be when they begin to run it? What we are doing today effects them and if they are not taught the truth we have only ourselves to blame.

How about you-can you remember the Pledge of Allegiance?
It goes like this:

I pledge allegiance to the Flag, of the United States of America,and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible,With Liberty and Justice for all.

And to take it a step further do you know what the meaning is?

I Pledge Allegiance I Promise to be faithful and true (Promise my loyalty)
to the flag to the emblem that stands for and represents of the United States all 50 states, each of them individual, and individually represented on the flag of America yet formed into a UNION of one Nation and to the Republic And I also pledge my loyalty to the Government that is itself a Republic, a form of government where the PEOPLE are sovereign for which it stands, this government also being represented by the Flag to which I promise loyalty
one Nation under God, These 50 individual states are united as a single Republic under the
Divine providence of God, "our most powerful resource" (according to the words of President Eisenhower) Indivisible, and can not be separated. (This part of the original version of the pledge was written just 50 years after the beginning of the Civil War and demonstrates the unity sought in the years after that divisive period in our history) with Liberty The people of this Nation being afforded the freedom to pursue "life, liberty, and happiness", and Justice And each person entitled to be treated justly, fairly, and according to proper law and principle for All. And these principles afforded to EVERY AMERICAN, regardless of race, religion, color, creed, or any other criteria. Just as the flag represents 50 individual states that can not be divided or separated, this Nation represents millions of people who can not be separated or divided.

19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deut.11:19 (NIV)

Have a safe Memorial Day !

I Can't Carry It

In a scene from The Lord of The Rings Trilogy we find Sam and Frodo struggling to make it to the top of the mountain where Frodo will finally be rid of his burden carrying the ring. Frodo has collapsed and Sam tells Frodo, “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you!"
To me, Sam was the hero of the Lord of The Rings. He may not have carried the ring but he was there as Frodo’s friend encouraging and helping him along the way. It was Sam’s inner strength that carried Frodo to the top of that mountain.

How often do we carry a burden until we can’t seem to take another step? The burden started out light but it began to get heavier and heavier as each day passed. We sometimes in our pride we hang on to the burden in fear of letting it go, we don’t ask for help because we think it is mine to carry not someone else’s. But what we don’t realize half the time is that Jesus is there waiting for us to give it to Him.

Jesus takes our burdens and carries them for us. Once you take the burden you are carrying and place it in Jesus’ hands he will set you on that mountain top and the weight will be gone. But we have to give it up first.

Frodo wasn’t willing to give up the ring; I believe Sam would have willing taken it if Frodo would have given it to him.

Have you given your burden to Jesus? His invitation to you is;

28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

Gems Along the Way

The other day as I was talking with my older daughter she sounded a little distraught. When I asked what was wrong she began to tell me why she was so upset. Without hesitation I told her I would keep what she was upset about in my prayers and that I would continue to pray for her. She said “thanks mom, thanks for praying.” As I hung up the phone I was filled with joy in my heart and praise on my lips-for hearing her say “thanks for praying mom” was Huge. What I want to tell you dear brother and sister in Christ is this: if you are praying for someone you love to come to the Lord– please don’t give up on them. God hears your prayers and knows your desire for your loved one to come to know Him, for He knows them better than us. But as we wait upon the Lord, He brings us gems that we can treasure and hold in our heart– like “thanks mom, thanks for praying”.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Philippians 4:6

For all those moms out there- HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

His Majesty

At creation, God gave man breath. Then he took man’s breath away with the beauty, grandeur, and eloquence of a universe of marvels created by His own hand. Look around. Examine what God has done. Then, breathless, proclaim His majesty. —Dave Branon

Psalm 8
1 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:
7 all flocks and herds,and the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Storms

The other day as the storm clouds rolled in from the ocean I started thinking about the storms in our lives. As the storm got closer, the lightning started flashing and the thunder rolled and you begin to prepare for the storm that’s about to hit. When I was a girl growing up in Texas the storms seemed to be so powerful and so strong– they in fact scared me. I used to run, grab my shoes and put them on because we never new when we had to run for the storm cellar. Thinking about these storms remind me of how we can be when a spiritual storm hits our life. Most of the time we never see it coming. The storm hits and we are unprepared. We run away from the storm, we look for shelter because a lot of the time we are afraid to face what’s coming.

In Matthew 8:23-26 it says, Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

God has a purpose for the storms in our life. But we can rest in Him knowing He is our shelter against anything that comes our way. When the storm is over and the clouds clear we see things in a different way– a lot of times we see things the way they should be, instead of the way we perceived them to be before the storm.

Have a wonderful week!

On Thursday, at Ohana Group our discussion drifted to 1Corinthians 10:13 (NIV), which states:
13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
The discussion we were having involved why people used this particular verse when someone is going through a trial and people say, “God never gives you more than you can handle.” My argument was that this verse doesn’t clarify that it’s referring to a trial, but that it is speaking of being tempted. … So after much discussion it was determined by everyone in the group that it was talking about being tempted and not being in a trial. I know that one particular person in the group felt let down because she had always relied on this verse when she was in the midst of a trial. Ihave to admit, I also relied on this verse for many years but was always confused about the word “tempted”. Not wanting anyone to stumble for my lack of knowledge I decided I would take it a step further and looked up the Greek word for “tempted”. The word is peirazo (pi-rad-zo) which means to “test” i.e.. endeavor, scrutinize, entice, discipline-assay, examine, go about, prove, tempt, try. With this in mind, I then started looking through different translations of the bible. And for those of you who were at Ohana Group on Thursday evening –my apologies, please forgive me.

1Corinthians 10:13 (The Message Bible)
13No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it. (emphasis mine)
God is with us in our trials, He is there no matter what, for,
... God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."... (Heb. 13:5 NIV)

Easter

For those of you who are wondering about our Easter Services, worship will start at 10:00 AM in the Waikoloa Elementary School Cafeteria. We hope you can make it. We have an awesome worship team who will be blessing us with contemporary music, a special song by Fran Black, a skit performed by some wonderful men of God and be sure to bring the keiki's (children) because Aunty Julie has some fun things planned in Childen's Church.

And we can't forget the Easter message by Pastor Frank Giraud entitled "The Ulimate Bail Out"

The poem I am sharing with you is something I came across several years ago. The author is unknown it's entitled:

You Ask Why I Follow This Jesus?

You ask why I follow this Jesus?Why I love Him the way I do?

When the world's turned away from His teachings And the people who serve Him are few.

It's not the rewards I'm after Or gifts that I hope to receive

It's the Presence that calls for commitment It's the Spirit I trust and believe.

The Lord doesn't shelter His faithful Or spare them all suffering and pain,

Like everyone else I have burdens, And walk through my share of rain.

Yet He gives me a plan and a purpose, And that joy only Christians have known,

I never know what comes tomorrow, But I do know I'm never alone.

It's the love always there when you need it; It's the words that redeem and inspire,

It's the longing to ever be with Him That burns in my heart like a fire.

So you ask why I love my Lord Jesus? Well, friend, that's so easy to see,

But the one thing that fills me with wonder is Why Jesus loves someone like me.

Have a wonderful week!

For God so loved...

We all know what John 3:16 says, for me it's one of the 1st verses in the bible that I had to memorize as a child. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son...

20But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
21"Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor.

"Barabbas," they answered.
22"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.

They all answered, "Crucify him!"
23"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" Matthew 27:20-23 (NIV)

For God so loved the world... God so loved me, God so loved you, that had it been only me or only you- Jesus still would have died for us. We don't understand this agape love that God has for us, but we will one day, and I for one think that it will be hard to contain-

***

I pray you have a wonderful week filled with God's love.

Mark 6

Sorry, I missed a post but hope you had a wonderful week filled with God's blessings.

As I was reading Mark 6 it talked about John the Baptist and how it came about that he was beheaded. My heart cried for him. He was a man who plowed the way for Jesus, he baptized and planted seeds.. Yet he, just like Jesus was persecuted. Maybe not in the same way, but here he was in prison and Herod’s wife who hated John so much used her own daughter to get what she wanted. The reason John died was so that Herod could save face in front of his friends. He didn’t want to kill John the Baptist, he was afraid of him and knew him to be righteous and holy. Yet he succumbed to his own self interests and had him killed.

How often do we do things in order to “save face” in front of someone? We think what will they think of me if I do this or that? We don’t stand up to what we believe in our hearts to be true. I’ve done this a lot of times and I know I have hurt God by doing it.
I ask for forgiveness and I pray that I can stand up for what I believe in and that through God I can find the strength to say no.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2Timothy 1:7 NKJV

Time Well Spent

This week I had the privilege of helping my daughter when she ran out of gas at 11:15 in the evening. What entails is really a comedy of errors so just bear with me.
I get the call she ran out of gas and with an empty gas can in hand I pick her up. Unbeknownst to me the gas station in town is no longer open late at night. We then proceed to my house checking the other 2 gas cans in the garage-no gas. We then travel to her house to check the gas can in her garage-no gas. We then go back to the shopping center thinking that someone may have access to at least a gallon of gas-no gas. So our next thought is the fire station-we are blessed because they not only have gas but fill our empty 5 gallon gas can for free. We then proceed back to her car thanking God all the way. We get ready to fill her car with the gas from the wonderful people at the fire station and realize we have no funnel to get the gas into the car. I then proceed to her house to pick up the funnel from her gas can. As I unscrew the funnel from the gas can I think do I need to take the whole can? I think no and just grab the funnel. Get back to the car and get ready to put the funnel on the larger gas can and the funnel falls into the can filled with gas. Back to square one. I then go back to my house pick up another gas can with a funnel and head back to the car. (In the mean time my daughter is using a coat hanger trying to get the funnel out of the can of gas). We then pour the gas into the smaller gas can (we aren’t even gonna try to change funnels again) thinking okay thank you-Lord we got it. The story doesn’t stop here. The funnel was to short, the gas spilled on the ground. Again back to square one. At this point I’m starting to feel a little like Lucy and Ethel with all the things that are happening. But we then get the original funnel that fell in the can of gas out– put it on the smaller gas can, pour the gasoline that the nice people at the fire station gave us into this smaller gas can and fill her car with gas. What started out to be what I thought a 20 minute there and back lasted one and a half hours.
It wasn’t the gas or the running here and there late at night or the frustrations, it was quality time with my daughter. We laughed so much and talked and to me it was the best time I’ve had in a while. God brought us together that night because God knew I needed a relief, I needed to laugh. But then He gave me something more wonderful-alone time with Him. It was then that I got to spend quality time with my Heavenly Father.

Lamentations 2:19
19 Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord....

Just Stuff and a thought

I call this post just stuff because there are different little tid-bits of information that you can file away.

First, thanks to Cathi Jenkins for sharing her picture of a whale breeching just north of A-Bay.

HIM (Hawaii Island Ministries) is this week Wednesday, March 11 through Saturday March 14. Pastor Frank will be attending. Also coming up is the Women's conference in Hilo on March 13 and 14th. Then Waimea Christian Academy's fundraising event on March 21st at Waimea New Hope gym.

Also before I forget there will be no Saturday Night set-up at the cafeteria on March 14th- come early Sunday morning to help out. if you have any questions call Pastor Frank.

Last week in my thought for the week I spoke about the verse found in John 14:12 (NIV), Jesus says,

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. I then thought about what greater things can we do than He did? So I thought about it and I thought about it and then it hit me. We live in a world that has internet, TV, phones, cell phones and other technology- Jesus didn't. We can be a witness to anybody and everybody in just a few short minutes. Think about how many emails you get asking you to send it to 10 people-they send it to 10 more. These devices can be used to further God's Kingdom and that's one aspect that we can use to do "greater things than these". I just did by publishing this post.

Be the light of the world and let your light shine!

Getting Started

Today's post is just to get started. I will be updating our events and sharing photos of our times together. We pray you are blessed by our postings and that you come and visit us if you are in the Waikoloa, HI area.

Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,they will walk and not be faint.