"Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road."
– Dag Hammarskjöld Good morning family and friends! Steve and I had a busy week. We did some shopping for our trip to Haiti. Our trip adviser gave us a list of items to bring and ideas for gifts we can bring for Wilgens' family. We also scoped out more 55+ communities here in Florida because both of us believe that this area of the country is where we will land. We went back to The Villages and saw a home model that we both really loved. We also visited a community called On Top of the World, which is located in Ocala and is much like The Villages and Del Webb, but not as large. We have too many options now so I think it's best that we stop looking or we will go on information overload - - know what I mean? This week we also paid a visit to Campus Crusade for Christ where we hooked up with Mike and Amy Whipple. Mike used to be one of the Pastors at our church, Westgate Chapel, but moved to Florida to take on the role of National Director for Global Missions. While we were there, we learned about one of the most powerful evangelistic tools - - The Jesus Film Project - - and how it is dubbed into hundreds of languages and used all over the world to bring people to Christ. If you have never seen this film, here is a link: http://www.jesusfilm.org/film-and-media/watch-the-film. One of the fun things we did was watch as Steve demonstrated his acting skills for us. The tour director was telling us how they dub various languages into the base film footage by counting syllables and to demonstrate how they do it, they asked Steve to come up and read some lines for the film. He is NOT an actor and exuded about as much emotion as a stuffed animal while reading his lines. They gave us a recording of it but you can't really hear Steve, or we would have included it. Needless to say, it was a total hoot! As you know, tomorrow is election day and I don't know about you, but I am absolutely exhausted from the media coverage of this presidential race. I can't imagine the amount of money that has been spent on this election. There are kids in this country who go to bed hungry every night and I wonder how much of our country's homeless and poverty issues we could have solved with the money spent on this campaign. The Pastor at the church we attended yesterday had a good point: give both candidates the exact same amount of money, and make it minimal (like $1,000,000 per state or something) and that's it. Do what you can with that! It makes me sad to hear the negativity that drives all of these political races. Even the local races here in Florida are all about accusations and negativity. UGH!!! It's hard to follow a leader who uses fear tactics as his basis for motivation, don't you think? Anyway, the other thing that the Pastor shared with us was a prayer that was read in front of the Kansas legislature back in 1996. After the pastor read the prayer he left without waiting to see how it was received. Turns out that several of the legislators wanted the prayer stricken from the record because they found it offensive. It was tremendous food for thought for both Steve and I so we wanted to share it with you, especially today as you contemplate going to the polls tomorrow in a race that will be very pivotal in this nation's future. Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we've done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded 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 esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbors' possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us O God and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by you, to govern this great state. Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the name of your son, the living savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Ok, that's it for this week. Steve and I prep for our trip to Haiti so there won't be an update until we get back. I am so excited about this trip that I can hardly stand it. We will have lots of pictures and stories to tell when you next hear from us - - probably around November 19 - - which coincidentally is my sister Lois' 54th birthday!!!! Man is she old or what? Take care peeps and get out there and vote tomorrow. It's not just our responsibility. It is our privilege!
1 Comment
Kathy
11/9/2012 09:08:24 am
Loved the prayer, that was profound!
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