Serving with our children

It is amazing how many people heads turn or question our decision to bring our children on mission trips--particularly to the Gulf Coast. However it is the best way that we believe we can disciple our children. We want them to see the passion that drives us and we want them to learn from the earilest of age that we are called to Love Jesus and serve him by loving others. This picture is of Andrew, our 4-year-old, hammering in a nail. Now our children are limited physically what they can do--but were excited when they could help out and talked about serving on the mission team.

The greatest moment for us as parents--is when Andrew sat in the back seat with his mom asking questions as to why the people's houses were broken and then came up with a simple plan of helping everyone out. Basically it can be summed up as this (1) We can house everyone in our home until the homes are not broken, (2) We can fix all their homes.

The Faith and Love of a Child. May we all regained that Love.

Chalmette Seafood Reaturant

This is a picture outside the Seafood Resturant that we cleaned and gutted in Chalmette, LA. The whole crew isn't in the picture, but that pile is all ours.

Some of the worst smells came from this place as it was a time capsule and hadn't been touch since the hurricane hit. Countless houses upon houses (and businesses) are like this in gulf coast still.

The story behind this business, is the owner of the land was a member of the church that we were staying at in Slidell, LA. (Slidell is where the Epi-center of Katrina Hit. The owner didn't qualify for any help from FEMA or his insurance, but can't afford to do the clean-up himself. He has been drawing on his retirement funds to pay for the mortgage on that land. The mortgage was paid by the owner of the seafood restuarant. However, what happened in Chalmette is that the Oil Refinery down the street forget to empty its tanks, so 4 square miles in Chalmette (which is a densely populated area) was covered with oil. So the EPA is saying that they need to make the area green space. Some resident have a class-action lawsuit against the oil company, but others took teh $25,000 bribe that the Oil company made right after the Hurricane hit. The whole think is downright crooky and evil.

No one is helping this people. The church needs to step up and send more people to ministry to those that are still down there. We need to respond by spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ with our words and our deeds. We need to go down to the gulf coast because we Love Jesus and Jesus is moving in the people, they are ready to respond to his message of Truth.

Growing Closer to Jesus thru Judgment

"For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? God will judge those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you.”" (1 Corinthians 5:12-13, NRSV)

"you are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord." (1 Corinthians 5:5, NRSV)

Judging is such a negative word these days. But what would we do without judgment. What would we do if everybody could do what they think is right in their own eyes? What if we lived a in culture where people were not allowed to judge at all. We couldn’t judge a person’s behavior, a people’s behavior. We just had to tolerate. Well, we know that is just absurd.

Judging has it’s place in the world. Paul here frustrated with the church in Corinth demands that they stating judging within their ranks in order that people that have fallen into sin may be transformed. We are to judge carefully and with respect to our own sinfulness to help others and ourselves be saved.

Judgment is part and parcel with Jesus’ message of salvation.

It is hard for me to think of judging as a part of the journey of one’s salvation. However, if deadly behavior isn’t pointed out, how is the person going to know what they are doing is wrong or separates them from the living God. If there are no consequences, how do we learn and grow.

Perhaps I need more people in my life judging me to help me grow closer to Jesus.