Christian Photographers Community

 




When I was twenty-four, I lived to please myself.  At my card club, I drank and gambled until dawn.  I also played the piano with my brother's dance band.  God had little place in my thoughts.

My husband decided to go to business school, so we put our little girl in a day nursery and I got a job.  God sent a missionary candidate to work with me and to live Christ before me.  Comparing her pure, dedicated life with my frivolous, self-centered one, I became convicted.  I saw Lillian had something I did not have, and I began yearning for it.

One day a janitor left a gospel tract on my desk.  When I read it, I realized that Jesus died for MY sins.  Weeping, I bowed my head and gave myself to Him.

As I continued to hunger and thirst after righteousness, I grew spiritually.  I had the joy of seeing every member of my family come to know Christ, too.

The Greek word for "filled" in Matthew 5:6 is "chortazo" which means "completely satisfied."  I experienced the joy of becoming completely satisfied as I learned that the Holy Spirit was working in me to conform me to Christ's image. (Romans 8:29; Phillipians 1:6).  These beautiful truths are for you, too.  What joy we can experience as God gives us the victory over bad habits and makes us right with Him.
~Muriel Larsen

Thank you for those words Janet.

Still praying for Jerry and Marilyn's friends.  any updates?

and how is tom;s wife?

off to bed now!

laters

Just got up to get an ice pack and thought I'd read the devotional.  Thanks Janet.  I'm also so glad that you're taking the photos of our Abby.

Well, I'll go and use this ice pack while it's still freezing cold.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Hi everyone.  I realized when I got up this morning that I didn't get in to CP at all yesterday so wanted to post early today. 

Etta Sue, I appreciated getting the e-mail concerning Jerry and have been praying for him and do hope he will be improved today.  It sounds like he has a difficult road to recovery ahead.  It is so good that you were there to check on him.

Daniel, thanks for the link and it is certainly encouraging to read of your successful cure from cancer.  Glad you explained the face painting as well.   

Marilyn, certainly hope you have some encouraging news concerning the lady and her daughter in the accident.  You don't win when you tangle with a cement mixer. 

Sonja, know you are proud of your daughter winning the dance competition.  Do hope the one who is ailing is a lot better today.  Computers are great but when they don't work properly they can be very frustrating.

Janet, we will be doing only one performance of the Messiah.  Unfortunately we don't seem to see any increase in attendance but we are doing the performance for the glory of God so we give it our all regardless of how many folks are there.  There will be no professional recording of it but usually one of our members does a video of it and is then able to take off the digital music track.  However, we are still awaiting his doing something with our Christmas music.  I look forward to seeing the photos from Abby's sewing project.

Papa John, so glad you are going to be able to make your 12th annual visit to Florida as know you both enjoy it very much.  My wife's aunt and uncle, who wintered for about 10 years in Pennsacola Beach, are no longer making that trip.  Know her aunt particularly misses not being there.  There health has become an issue.

Etta Sue, certainly shocked to read you had ended up in the hospital for three days.  Were you here in Atlanta when that happened?  Don't understand your drug store not filling your prescription and hope that gets straightened out quickly. 

A belated Happy Birthday to BrianW.

Pat, the situation with the killings here in Georgia is really a sad story of imcompetence and circumstance.  It is indeed sad.  The one bright note in the lady who was allowed to go free and turned the man in.  She apparently read to him from the Bible and also from the book "Purpose Driven Lie". 

Mary Frances, it is nice that you can live close to your daughter so you are there for each other.  As your posting pointed out, there is a lot of good and wonderful things done in our world each day that get little attention, such as the Boy Scout project to gather food for the needy. 

Rachelle, you will get your house to spiffed up that you may decide you don't want to move.  It sounds like you are making good progress.

Ryan, it is always a good day for a church when a senior pastor is called.  We have just experienced that in our church and last Sunday had a formal installation.

It was good seeing each person posting. 

After coffee this morning my friend, Rod, is coming by to help me with something on my computer.  Then this afternoon I will be going to Calvin Cove to play for and sing with the older adult day-care folks.  I usually go on Thursday now but have a schedule conflict.  Hope everyone has a good day and that the ice pack has helped Pat. 

Janet - a wonderful story, proving once again if we do our 'little bit' for the Lord like leaving a Gospel Tract somewhere then He will do the rest.

These are difficult times for many of us yet God is faithful and will not allow us to be tried above what we are able to bear. He knows the way that we take and I cannot think of a better companion on life's journey than Jesus.

Can you?

I cannot change my yesterdays and tomorrow is not promised me, so today I choose to honour my God and trust my soul, my life, my all to Jesus.

With love.

Your brother in Christ

Iain

Etta Sue I kept wondering why I didn't get an email regarding Jerry, but I finally checked my Cox email address and there it was along with some others from you. Thanks for letting me know. I am so glad that so many people are rallying in prayer for Jerry. My church  among them.

The only word I have had so far on Jennifer and Joanne is that one of them recognized the Pastor when he was there on Sunday. I think it must have been Jennifer because at that time Joanne was still in a coma. I will try today to get more info and post it in the prayer thread.

I went over and met the owner of the little house yesterday and she wa talking like she is going to rent it to me. I sure hope so. It is the perfect size for me and the dogs. I just hope that she keeps the rent at what the previous renter paid, then I can afford it.

Several of my church family are in the neighborhood just weithin walking distance from the little house.

Thanks Al for the devotional  read it last night but didn't post.

March 15 - Learning by Example

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"But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them" (II Timothy 3:14).

When Paul wrote these words to Timothy, they were in the midst of his foreboding prophecy of coming apostasy and persecution. Furthermore, he knew that he himself would soon be executed, and that these might well be his final teachings to his young disciple and to others through him. It is remarkable that in such a setting the Spirit of God impelled him to use the example of his own life as the best and most fitting climax to his great ministry. "Just keep on believing and doing what I have been teaching you-that which you have seen put into practice in your own life." These teachings and practices had just been recounted in verses 10-11, and what a remarkable summary they provide of a genuine Christian life!

Doctrine-my teachings, sound and true to God's Word;

Manner of life-my Christ-like behavior and habits;

Purpose-my sole aim, to honor God and do His will;

Faith-my faithfulness to His Word and its demands;

Longsuffering-my patient forbearance;

Charity-my showing true Christian love;

Patience-my cheerful endurance in hard times;

Persecutions-the unjust opposition heaped upon me;

Afflictions-sufferings and tortures which I endured.

The apostle Paul had maintained this strong and consistent Christian testimony for over 30 years following his conversion and could, in all good conscience and true humility, cite his own example as a true teaching aid for others to study and follow.

May Paul's example be ours, and may our lives likewise become true examples of Christianity for any who are watching us today. HMM

Quoted from the Days of Praise Devotiional

G'mornin' y'all.  Janet - do not, in any wise, complain about the $2.17/gallon price on your gasoline!  Our lowest price here (discount stations) is $2.36, and most of the stations are charging $2.45!  Sincerely - could we pray that this continual rise will end?

Good morning.

This is Ruth Ann, and I'm beginning to feel better today. The problem was that one medication depleted the sodium in my body and that caused "symptomatic hypo....something or other." At any rate, I don't yet have the approval process finished for the new medication, but Walgreens and my doctor allowed purchase of 4 capsules until, hopefully, the Rx approval process is completed.

Red Tape...<wearily>

Ruth Ann

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Tbear, you indeed have reason to be proud of your son.  He should helping to assure a bright future for himself out in the work world.  Without education a person is at a great disadvantage.  Does he has any job prospects?  What is his major field of study?  Nosey aren't I? 

hey everyone, i have been swamped with work and unable to post the last few days but my prayers are going out and i also have asked my church to pray for you all.

Good morning!  Boy, the time is flying past--I can't believe it is already past eleven!  I have been on the run since 7:15, but that's a normal start for the day.

Ruth Ann, I'm glad you at least got four pills.   As you said..........red tape.  Please take it easy and let yourself recover.  You've been through the wringer.  (((hugs)))

We had a little snow last night!  But if one weren't up early, you wouldn't have seen it before it all melted.  Las Vegas, Nevada, has 24 inches, and it's still snowing!!  Wow.

The senior center is serving chicken fried steaks today, Beth's favorite.  So we are going there for lunch.  Darrel and I pay only $2.50 each, but for Abby and Beth it will be $4.00 each.  Still a good price for that menu.  I need to go and pay for my Share for this month, anyway.

Larry, I know you are all putting your best into the music production.  I hope your congregation appreciates all the effort put into it.  We had a family here last Sunday night, a dad and two teenage boys, plus another older man who sang bass.  They were really, really good.  The 19 year old boy played the electric piano, as well as singing, and he is so talented!  The 16 year old played bass guitar, acoustic guitar and sang baritone, and the dad was the lead singer.  They really glorify the Lord in what they are doing, which is what it's all about!

Hey, Karen.  Hello, Marilyn.  Hope you get the little house!  Hi, Pat!  How are things going?

Al, I know gas is always higher in California, but will that stop me from complaining?  Nope!   I agree we need to pray about it.  I believe they should begin drilling in the ANWAR immediately, also that they need to develop alternative fuels, especially the fuel cell.  We have been dependent on foreign oil way too long already!

Well, I need to be about my business here.  We have a sewing project to complete today!

Larry ... NO YOUR NOT BEING NOISY ... his studies were on COMPUTERS ... that is all I can say as I really do not know but once I see that DIPOLMA & what it says then I will share it with you so stay tune !!

March 15   

Pastoral Ministry: God is Not a Railway Porter

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured heaven
with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed
the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 
--Isaiah 40:12

We must be concerned with the person and character of God, not the
promises. Through promises we learn what God has willed to us, we
learn what we may claim as our heritage, we learn how we should pray.
But faith itself must rest on the character of God.

Is this difficult to see? Why are we not stressing this in our
evangelical circles? Why are we afraid to declare that people in our
churches must come to know God Himself? Why do we not tell them that
they must get beyond the point of making God a lifeboat for their
rescue or a ladder to get them out of a burning building? How can we
help our people get over the idea that God exists just to help run
their businesses or fly their airplanes?

God is not a railway porter who carries your suitcase and serves you.
God is God. He made heaven and earth. He holds the world in His hand.
He measures the dust of the earth in the balance. He spreads the sky
out like a mantle. He is the great God Almighty. He is not your
servant. He is your Father, and you are His child. He sits in heaven,
and you are on the earth.  Faith Beyond Reason, 44.

"God, I fall on my face before You in worship this morning. Forgive
me for those times I have treated You as though You were my servant,
somehow expected to meet my demands. I am Your servant, Lord, and I
humbly bow before You today. Amen."

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the daily Tozer devotionals from Literature Ministries International.

You Americans do not know how blessed you are!
So start counting your blessings!
Petrol here in the UK is about $7  a gallon!!!!
Most of our cars are smaaaal, guess why???   

Chris.........   LOL

This, from a friend today, it's well worth acting upon.


Be holy in order to save the culture.
"Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel" Exodus 19:5-6.

"Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" 1 Peter 2:4-5.

A man in the Bible who faced much of what we face today was Lot. If we only had Lot's story as it is told in Genesis, we might think that he wasn't a true believer. However, Peter gives us a more complete picture. He says, "... if He (God) rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment" (2 Pe 2:7-9). There are three words that describe Lot, "righteous," "oppressed," and "tormented." Lot was revolted by Sodom, but ironically Sodom was in his soul. This shows us that it is possible for a believer to be distressed by the world and still willingly clinging to it.

As righteous as Lot was, he was of no benefit whatsoever to the people of Sodom. Even though he lived in Sodom for years and was prominent it its gates, having many opportunities to influence his friends, he was of no benefit to them. When the judgment of God came on Sodom, not one righteous person could be found outside his family. Not one of his friends, no neighbors, not even one of his servants had come to know the Lord. His future son's-in-law thought he was joking when he spoke God's judgment and having to fleeing the city. Lot's lifestyle had done nothing to lose the grip of the culture on his wife. She left her heart in Sodom for while fleeing destruction she had to turn around and therefore became a pillar of salt. The very woman who was most intimate with him, who knew him best, who bore his children, saw nothing in him or in his faith to point her from earth to heaven.

We also see in Lot's daughters the spirit of Sodom in their souls. You see deception was a way of life in Sodom. Their daddy was also part of it. But the deception that grip Lot was doubly dangerous. Inwardly he was spiritually tormented and greatly distressed because of the moral decay he saw all around him, but outwardly he said or did nothing for he was prominent in the city.

He was a master at survival. He even offered his daughters to appease the sexual desires of the men of Sodom and betrayed his fatherly duty in order to save his own skin and those of his guests. Later his daughters, who had watched him over the years, deceived him with his wine, and by the deceit they had learned from him in the same shameful act that he had wished on them. Lot had effectively sown Sodom into his daughter's hearts.

What was Lot's problem? Even though the worldliness of Sodom disturbed him, he lived as close to the world as he could, hanging on to it for dear life until the bitter end. The result being that though God judged all of Sodom except for Lot and his daughters, Sodom was in their very lives. We see that it is very possible for believing people like you and I to be distressed by this world and all that happens in it and still be influenced by it and not the other way around. And God tells us to be holy for He is holy.

You can laugh Janet!! lol.
Start counting  lol

Hi Everyone...  Our gas is about 84 cents a liter.  Not sure how much that is per gallon as our gallons are a different size.  American gallons are smaller than Canadian or Imperial.

Anyway, it's expensive.


I've been working on the minutes for the Guelph Hiking Trail Club executive meeting tonight.  I'm trying to get a ride to the meeting as I'm in too much pain to drive my car still. 


I'm still praying for the sick among us.  I sure hope that Jerry is a lot better soon and Tom's wife. 

Tom, if you're looking in here, we love you and pray that your wife will be on the mend soon.


Must go and see if I can get a ride.

Love you all,

Hi dear friends of C.P.
I  - still dosen't sound am using a hotel lap top computer here, in Daytona Beach Fla.  Its been a cool 69 deg today., a far cry from what I'd be experiencing though in Guelph, I''m sure.

I really can't stay online here for long., as you can imagine the line-up to us this computer.

Now, I'm concerned though for the sick amongst us.  I will ask to have this a bit longer.  I need to see how Jerry is doing.  And Pat - .  how are those spasms?...dosen't sound like you have much improvement!...I'm so sorry!

Please send me an email... and I'll try and pick up my messages from here.

Love to all.....Judy.

HI JUDY .... Have fun on your vacation and do write when you get back please !!

Love, KAREN

Quote from: Chris &amp; Margit Saunders on March 15, 2005, 02:21:01 PM
You Americans do not know how blessed you are!
So start counting your blessings!
Petrol here in the UK is about $7  a gallon!!!!
Most of our cars are smaaaal, guess why???   

Oh, yes, we do know how blessed we are.

hello!

Great day!  Chandraya is feeling much better.  My computer was fixed and I now have a dvd/cdr burner.  woohooo!!!

I am off to take chandraya to the dance center. 

Soni

That was a really wonderful message by Tozer, Chris.  Oh that the people of today's churches might be truly overwhelmed - as they ought to be - with Who and What God is!  Oh that we all might be overwhelmed by what our Savior did in taking upon Himself our indifference!

I agree that the price of petrol in Europe is extremely high, but I also hasten to add that that is not adequate reason for high prices here - prices that are controlled by greed alone.

I am burning my first dvd home video.  I will see in about 10 minutes wether or not it will work. hehehe.. <soni crosses fingers>

WHEW!!     Abby and I finally finished her little outfit!  The pattern says "EASY"-----NOT! The instructions weren't clear, either, so I had quite a struggle.  It took two of us and two sewing machines, but we finally got it done.  Abby was really good help, and learned a lot, I think.  She can now thread the machine, replace the needle, and she had to thread it every time, as I couldn't see to do it!  She can also replace the bobbin case.  Much more than I knew how to do when I was seven!  We didn't get her tote bag done, but her Mom says she will make that for her.  She has to go home tomorrow.

I think the terrible prices for oil, and thus for gasoline, may be the impetus this country needs to get on the ball with developimg alternative fuels.  At least I hope they will!!  They made a carbuerator YEARS ago that would get 50 miles per gallon, but wouldn't go ahead and use it, for fear of hurting the oil companies!  Well, now it is time to get with the program, both chemically and mechanically!!  And that's my story and I'm sticking to it! 

Sorry about your prices, Chris.  That's just ridiculous, and probably the same in Canada.  We sure see the rise in prices of groceries because of gas prices.

Anyhow, hope you soon get rid of those spasms, Pat, and also hope we soon get updates on Tom's wife, Jerry, and Marilyn's friends.

Abby wants to do some egg coloring and decorating, so see y'all tomorrow!

Update on Joanne and Jennifier HERE

Time to lock the door...  Click Here


I heard from Tom (Woodenshoe) and he says that they transferred his wife tonight to the other hospital so it shouldn't be long now till they operate on her.