Certificates

I scanned the certificates the Men of HBC got over the weekend for helping HSM and FFC. To see larger versions of these images, simply click them. If you want to read more about our mission trip to help HSM and FFC, read this blog post.

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What Can We Learn?

I always like to think about situations to see what I can learn from them. Recently, I posted about a modern day miracale. Here are two things I think we can learn from this:

1. God still does miracales. And not just healing miracles either. God made the water flow into that baptistry. God met the needs of those orphans in a miraculous way. If he did it in the past, he can do it again.

2.Sometimes we have to step out in faith first. What would have happened if the people had refused to take some of the little water they had and baptise with it? What would have happened if the widow in the Bible had refused to make the cake? We don't know the answer, but God may want us to take the first step before he meets our needs. God may or may not have made the widow's flour and oil not run out if she hadn't made the cake. God may or may not have met the orphanage's water need if they didn't use some to baptise. But, we do know that if we do what God wants with what we have at the moment, God will provide what we need.

Modern Day Miracle

Yesterday, the Men of Highland Baptist Church went to Priceton WV to help out Heaven Sent Ministries. While we were there, Lyle shared many stories with us. Here is one of them:

HSM helps sponsor an orphanage in India. There, they have a baptistry (essentially, just a concrete hole in the ground. You can see a picture of it here. Well, this orphanage needed a well, so they drilled one several years ago. When it was being drilled, the well was cursed by the Hindus in the area. The director then prayed to God and asked Him to provide water in such a way that everyone would know what happened (kind of a modern day Mt. Carmel experience). Well, they reached water after drilling only 150-200 feet! The other wells in the area are 800-900 feet deep. That is exciting, but there is more!

Fast-forward two years. That area is in a drought. Eventually, the pump became exposed and burnt up. While they were waiting on the pump to be repaired, Lyle went over to baptise some people (about 70). They had to go get water and truck it in in barrels. They filled the baptistry, Lyle baptised the people, then left. Several weeks later, Lyle received a call from the director.

To conserve water, the orphans had dipped the baptistry dry and watered plants with it. Well, this concrete hole filled up with water again! They dipped it out once again to water plants. Guess what? It filled up again! And not just a trickle either…water was shooting into the baptistry from the ground. They saw what was going on, cleaned out the baptistry so they could drink the water. Guess what?

Water filled up the baptistry from April to August. The flow of water stopped only when the pump was returned and placed into service once again.

Bear in mind, this wasn't because of rain, or seepage. This place is a desert! God caused that water to flow into that baptistry to provide for the needs of those orphans when their well was inoperable.

Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow!

Yesterday

Sorry for not blogging yesterday. The Men's Ministry from Highland went to Princeton yesterday to work with a ministry called Heaven Sent Ministries and Food for Children. I met Lyle, the founder, about three years ago when I he called and asked me about his website. Here is a brief description about both ministries (from their websites):

HSM:

Heaven Sent Ministries was created in September 1997. Responding to a need to help people experience short-term missions, the nonprofit organization began as a facilitating agency helping to obtain passports, visas, and other paperwork required for traveling to other countries. As the agency grew HSM began leading trips to places like Guatemala, Nicaragua, Africa and India. 

Over the years the mission of HSM has developed to include pastor training, church construction, feeding programs and medical missions. People from all over the country have joined under the umbrella of Heaven Sent Ministries to travel abroad.

A domestic side of the ministry called OperationSHARE helps show the love of Christ by donating products and goods to local churches who in turn provide these free of charge to families in need in the local community, city, state, and across the U.S.

The goal of the ministry is simple. Look to see where God is working and join Him.

FFC: 

Food For Children is a ministry outreach of Heaven Sent Ministries. The primary purpose of Food For Children is to feed starving children around the world a nutritious balanced meal enabling them to overcome the ravages of malnutrition. The food not only targets the immune system but also stimulates the brain for learning. We buy bulk ingredients directly from the manufacturers and package the nutritional food at our headquarters in Princeton, WV. As we feed the children we are showing the love of God in a tangible way. This opens the door for us to share with them how to come to know Him personally.

Cyndi had our camera, so I didn't get to take any pictures (bummer!), but Lyle took a picture and gave us a certificate. I'll scan it tomorrow and post a copy online for all to see.

We had four guys go, and we had a great time. The trip down took about 5 hours 10 minutes. We stopped at a Tudor's Biscuit World for breakfast. Once we arrived, Lyle and Scott showed us around, and filled us in on what was going on with the ministry. It was exciting!

We ended up and packaged 2376 meals (a total of 396 bags). The cost to HSM was $596 for the raw materials (that is $0.25 per meal. Yes, 25 cents!).

Thanks everyone for going. Thanks Lyle, Scott, and the rest of the HSM/FFC staff for allowing us to come and help them out.

Popcorn

I happen to really like popcorn. My dad loves the stuff. My grandpa makes great popcorn. I won't go into the really good high cholesterol version we used to eat–poped in nothing but bacon grease, lots of butter, and just the right amount of salt. You had to wash your hands when you got done eating that stuff. It was great! But, did you ever wonder why you end up with old maids? Well, some researchers have done a study and claim to have it figured out. You can read the article here. In short,

Unpopped kernels, it turns out, have leaky hulls that prevent the moisture pressure buildup needed for them to pop and lack the optimal hull structure that allows most kernels to explode.

Cool New Pill Bottle

I was surfing today and came across this new pill bottle design. It looks very neat and well organized. Definantly unique. Here is a summary of the features found on the bottle:

(1) Easy I.D.
(2) Code red.
(3) Information hierarchy. (4) Upside down to save paper.
(5) Green is for Grandma.
(6) An info card that’s hard to lose.
(7) Take “daily.”
(8) Clear warnings.

Christian Service

How often do we see people start off with a bang serving God only to see them fizzle like a flash-in-the-pan? Today's My Utmost for His Highest reading offers an insight into the kind of attitude we need to have to avoid this. The scripture reference is 2 Corinthians 3:18:

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Here is a quote from the devotion:

A servant of God must stand so much alone that he never knows he is alone. In the first phases of Christian life disheartenments come, people who used to be lights flicker out, and those who used to stand with us pass away. We have to get so used to it that we never know we are standing alone…. We must build our faith, not on the fading light, but on the light that never fails. When "big" men go we are sad, until we see that they are meant to go, the one thing that remains is looking in the face of God for ourselves.

We are never called on to parade our doubts or to express the hidden ecstasies of our life with God. The secret of the worker's life is that he keeps in tune with God all the time.

In short, Oswald Chambers is suggesting we–prepare to be shocked here–keep our eyes focused on God. What a novel idea! Just as the Bible teaches, we shouldn't follow after men or what men believe. We should keep our eyes focused on God and what He wants us to do. That will see us through the valley.

There is a passage somewhere in The Pilgrim's Progress where Christian goes through a valley. I don't have the book infront of me right now, but I should have it posted in my online store soon (it is public domain and will be available for free download).

Apologetics Site

I was surfing Pensees blog today and came across this article. It led me to discover this Christian Apologetics site hosted by Lifeway. I never knew this existed before. It looks like a wealth of information free for the viewing. Good job Lifeway!