Horror Movie

There was a big sale on boneless chicken breasts the other day and we filled up the freezer. I was telling the boys we were going to have Chicken Spaghettie, Chicken Fried Rice, Chicken and Dumplings, Chicken Pot Pies, BBQ Chicken, Baked Chicken, Chicken Parmesan and etc, etc, etc. That was before I saw this cartoon, now I think we are gonna have steak and burgers!! I just can't get this cartoon out of my mind, when I start to make chicken, I am freaked out!!

Just A Little Info You Might Not Know!

Who was the greatest male financier in the bible?

Noah, he floated his stock while everyone else was in liquidation.

Who was the greatest female financier in the bible?

Pharoah's daughter, she went to the "Bank of the Nile" and drew out a little prophet.

Who was the first drug addict in the bible?

Nebuchanezzar, he was on grass for seven years.

Where was the first insurance mentioned in the bible?

When Adam and Eve needed more coverage and when David gave Goliath a piece of the rock.

What Next?

Last night was a crazy night, I worked over two and half hours due to alot of incidents and the need for officers on the street.

There was a very thin sheet of ice on the pavement, we had several rollovers, four people were ejected out of three different vehicles, three trucks ran into guardrails, many cars ran off the road in ditches, one lady was trapped in her car and crying, there was an incident of another lady running off the road, hitting a guardrail, then the next vehicle came over the hill, slid in the same place and hit her vehicle and totaled hers, wrecked his, she had no insurance and when her mother came to pick her up, they offered the young man who hit her a ride home, then they threatened him and became violent so he had to jump out of her car and take off running. Then we had to shut down the Southbound and Northbound freeways. I was thinking what next!!!!??, when a semi ran through the road block upon a major accident. Thankfully he realized it and slowed down in time!


I have to say this was not a typical night by any means! It has been awhile since I have seen anything this major and the streets were not that bad. I guess I shouldn't say that since there were so many tragedies. I just don't think people realized it was as icy as it was because to look at the street it didn't appear to look bad.

When I finally went home, Joseph had some family come in from San Antonio, so when I walked into the house, there were about ten people in my home that I didn't know. So I am standing in the doorway and he is introducing me to all of them. I was thinking I gotta go find a quiet place to wind down.

So, yesterday afternoon some of his family stayed at the house, while others went to the Ranch to visit his cousin and on their way back to our place, their fuel pump went out. At this moment... it appears as if are not going home tomorrow. I have to say my week has been interesting! Anyways, I know God is teaching me something or preparing me for something, so I'm listening.....

I know this post was like a big run on sentence, but there are no exaggerations here and I didn't tell you all of it! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, I intend to! He has been with me the whole week and I know He is with me now as I wait upon Him and renew my strength!

Moses Taking a Bath

Cedenough

Tonight I spoke with Cedenough on the phone on my way to work. I asked if he would come to the Ranch to minister to the boys. He is on tour and traveling to fifteen states this year, but he said he would be glad to. He will be there either April 23 or 30th, we are making final arrangements in the upcoming month.

I was really blessed to speak with him. This young man loves the Lord and wants to do ministry, he is not concerned about money, but wants to share what Christ has done for him, he will do for others. He said he just appreciated the fact that there are people out there who care enough to go to Correctional Facilities and share there is hope and a better way.

I am praying even now that God will bless his time at the Ranch and Cedenough will share the message God himself has given Him. I want it to be a time where all of us decrease and allow Him to increase.

I am excited about what God is doing, I see His fingerprints in my everyday life. His blessings chase me down, surround me and overtake me!!!!

What Would Jesus Do?

I wrote the lightning story yesterday and now I will continue with it to bring you to some recent events in my life, where I have asked myself, "What would Jesus do?" It's not all about me, it's about Him!, it's about loving Him first and loving one another!

After the fire, we moved into a friends home for awhile. It was vacant, but fully furnished. We stayed there a few months when our supervisor asked if we would like to take over the payments on his home. His son had severe allergies and they could no longer live in the country, they needed to move into town.

We did decide to purchase this home and moved in shortly thereafter. On the day we moved in, we held hands in the living room and thanked God for our new home and then we told the Lord, we now give it back to you. We proceeded to tell him if he ever sent anyone to live with us the door would be open, because the house and everything in it belonged to Him.

Which brings me to last week. I have two boys who have asked if they could move in with us. One of them cried and told me his parents are on drugs and if he goes home, he knows he will end up back in the same lifestyle. He has been attending church with us every week and loves the church. Each week he amazes me at how he will go right up where the youth are and sit with them in the front of the church. He has been very open with everyone and with the youth leaders about his past and they have been writing to him at the Ranch.

Next we have Larry, the boy I told you about in the previous post. He went to Gulf Coast Trades and visited, but came back disappointed. They won't take him because he takes meds for depression. He asked me last week what he should do, they have told him at the Ranch he has to go to an orphanage or to the military. He said, "Dana, do you think I could come to live with you and Chuck? If I can't it's okay, but can you advise me on where I should go." He then told me he didn't know where his parents were and had not heard from them. No wonder this kid takes meds for depression!!!!

Anyways.... here I am today praying and asking God to show us what to do. I know they both belong to the Lord, they love the church we go to, they both always sit up front with the youth. The youth leaders have given them their phone numbers and are writing to them. I have taught both of them to play the guitar and they are both very good at it. So right now I ask myself, "what would Jesus do?" So I may have four boys living with us at the end of April. God has it all worked out. Again I am just trusting and leaving the details to Him.

Lightening Struck!

Several years ago our home was struck by lightening. I was inside with my daughter, Precious. The lightening came through the front picture window and struck the living room sofa. Earlier we had left church, went to a restaurant and my husband stayed behind to watch the game on the television there, while Precious and I came on home.

We were at home maybe twenty to thirty minutes, we had enough time to put on a pair of shorts, t-shirt but no shoes, when I heard a loud pop come from the living room. I ran to see what had happened and saw the couch was on fire. Precious had gotten water and was throwing it on the sofa which was causing the smoke to fill the room. I ran to the kitchen to get some flour or something dry to throw on it, the smoke began to billow. Precious ran across the street to a neighbors and yelled for the neighbor to come help, I was still in the house, when I realized it was no use, I was beginning to inhale too much smoke, so I ran outside to find our neighbor with a garden hose trying to put out the flames through the living room window.

Needless to say we could not save the house, it went up so quickly and by the time the fire department got there it was too late. Everything we owned was in that house. I didn’t have a pair of shoes, a toothbrush or even a change of clothes. The most devastating thing of all was the family pictures that burned. They were irreplaceable.

At this time we were youth pastors of a small church in town so most of the town knew us. News spread quickly, we had several churches that banned together and had a huge garage sale and fundraiser at the school cafeteria. Three people walked up to us and handed us keys to homes that were vacant. We were given the choice of moving into any of them. By the time my husband got there half the town had already shown up. I was crying and a Pastor friend came to me and told me God had a plan, not to worry.

Some people would say why did God allow that to happen? If there were a God, why do bad things happen for no explainable reason. In the movie, “Love Comes Softly,” there is a guy who says, “when I am with my daughter and she falls and hurts herself, I don’t allow it to happen, but I am there to pick her up, she knows her father’s unconditional love for her and she knows I will be right beside her in the good times and the bad, the same way our heavenly Father picks us up and carries us when things happen in our lives beyond our control.”

I have learned through the years that God has carried me so many times and I am sure He will carry me in the future. I am more at peace now than I ever have been, because I know my job is to trust and to leave the details to Him.

I Just Wanna Thank You!

Have you ever heard of the Katinas, I thought I would share one more song I love to listen to. Again, it touches me deeply, Amazing Grace is more than just a song.

Just a little while longer I wanna pray
Can't get You off my mind, so I came to say
Thank you Lord, just for loving me, alright
Many times I do forget
Every need that You have met
Oh thank you Lord, I know you're showing me
You are there when I am down and out
You're holding me, your love is so amazing
Oh it changed me

Here I am with all I have
Raise my hands to worship you
For everything for who you are
You cover me, you touch my heart
I wanna say thank you

I could have died in my sin but you saved me
Didn't have any hope at all
You gave me peace divine, strength to carry on
I should have been the one to pay
But instead You took my place
Amazing grace, it's more than just a song
Even though I don't deserve Your love for me
You looked beyond my fault and You showed me mercy

I hope these lyrics blessed your life as they have mine. I'll be gone for a few days, my mom is ill and I have to travel to Oklahoma, so send up a prayer for her if you will.

Strum the Chords of Mercy

I love to hear Nicole C. Mullins sing. Her song Music of the Heart touches me so deeply when I hear it. She compares her life to an instrument, it goes like this..I'm not ashamed to tell the whole world, without you I'm a thing alone, that I have strings in need of mending, I'm out of tune in certain parts, so strum the chords of mercy, restore my soul completely, lay your hand upon me and this instrument will breathe, cause you're the music of my heart, the melody within my soul, the song that holds me in the dark, the fire that warms me when I'm cold, the symphony that calms my fears, the lyrics that I long to hear, the masterpiece, the work of art, complete before I start, the music of my heart.

Creator of all that is lovely, write a tune upon my heart and when you're finished will you play me like a beautiful guitar, strum the chords of mercy, restore my soul completely, breathe life into me and this instrument will sing, cause you're the music of my heart, the melody within my soul, the song that holds me in the dark, the fire that warms me when I am cold. The symphony that calms my fears, the lyrics that I long to hear, the masterpiece the work of art, complete before I start, the music of my heart.

I couldn't have said it any better than this...He is the Music within my heart!

Eight Cow Wife

Have you ever seen the movie, "Johnny Lingo?" One of our volunteers used it with his sermon this past week and it was an incredible. The sermon was basically about our identity and self worth. He brought out in the movie how this young girl's life had been shaped by the things her parents said to her, the things the village said and she believed them all to be true. She was told she was worth nothing, she was ugly and so on.

Johnny Lingo had grown up with this girl and he had loved her all his life. He knew she was beautiful and he wanted to marry her when they were grown. When a man wanted to marry a woman in the village, he would go to the father and offer cows for the hand of the daughter. Most of the women in the village had been bought for at least two to three cows. No one thought this girl was worth even one cow, but her father asked for three cows and the whole village laughed. But Johnny Lingo said he would pay eight cows for her, that three cows were too small of an amount. Everyone was shocked, but Johnny wanted her to be able to talk with the women of the village and proclaim she was an eight cow wife!

She ended up getting her identity and self esteem back and whole village was shocked at how beautiful she was, her father even told Johnny Lingo he had been cheated, that she was worth ten cows.

The sermon ended on the note that some of us have been lied to all our life. The Lord places so much value on our lives that He gave everything. When the invitation was given, Chuck said, "is there anyone here who would like to give their life to Christ? and if there is stand up boldly and say here I am Lord!" Of course he meant in your mind when you stand, you were saying Here i am Lord, but this kid, his name is Pedro jumped to his feet and said, "HERE I AM LORD!" I thought wow, was he ever bold, he then went up to the front of the room and prayed with Calvin the speaker and we all hugged him and welcomed our little brother in the family.

Until Next Time....Hugs to you all..........

Larry

We went to church with six boys from the Ranch. We were all chatting and listening to each of their plans, how they were going to make it when they got out. How they were planning to do this or that. One of the boys, his name was Ivan was telling us how he wouldn't listen when his family tried to keep him away from drugs. He shared how he had wanted to be the biggest drug dealer the world had ever seen, but now all he wanted was to get out, marry his girlfriend of four years and go to work with his brother in the steel factory. Ivan is a beautiful kid, half sicillian and half mexican.

There were other stories, other plans, but my heart aches for Larry. He just turned eighteen, he is leaving the Ranch when he gets out to go to a trade school. He is hoping to be an electrician. I asked him tonight where his parents were and he told me he didn't know. I was stunned. Usually a kid will tell me their mom is in prison and dad is home or something similar.

So...Larry is going to a trade school, so he can go in independent living and live by himself. He has a little brother and sister who were taken away by CPS. The only thing he knows is their foster parents are christian and he can't see them. I am amazed at how he is determined to make it on his own. He plays the guitar and I have been able to teach him several Christian songs. He loves the Lord and has been faithful to come to church every Sunday. He asked if we could come to see him, he will be near Houston, he told me if he had us and God he knew he make it.

So today if you think about it, say a prayer for Larry. He belongs to the Lord. It's the Larrys that make me keep doing this ministry. God said to go and tell, the rest is up to Him.

Saudi Arabia

For Muslims, a pilgrimage to Mecca called the Hajj is required as one of the Five Pillars of the faith. In recent years, about two to three million have gathered for the major pilgrimage, during the Muslim month of Dhu al-Hijjah, and many more perform the minor pilgrimage or Umrah, which may be performed at any time of year.

A friend of mine, her name is Lisa is in Saudi Arabia visiting her sister Jeni. Jeni has been married to Mohammed for twenty years. I am unsure where they met and all the details. Lisa is a Christian. Islam of course is the country's religion. i was thinking how different Saudi Arabia is compared to us. They will not allow any religious temple to be built there, only mosques that represent Islam. The King said there is freedom of religion if they practice in their own homes. Interesting, huh? Anyway here's some info on Mecca.

The focal point of Mecca is the Ka'bah, the "House of God" believed by Muslims to have been rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ishmael; it is covered in a gold-embroidered black fabric (kiswah). The pilgrims circle the Ka'bah seven times and may also try to touch or kiss its cornerstone, the Black Stone. Pilgrims then drink from the well of Zamzam. The water of Zamzam is believed to have special properties and health benefits. Few pilgrims return from the Hajj without a large plastic bottle of the Zamzam water.

During the Hajj the pilgrims travel to Mina, a small village, where Iblis (the Devil), symbolised by stone columns, is ritually stoned. They then proceed to the Hill of Arafat, a site for prayers, where the prophet Muhammad is believed to have delivered The Farewell Sermon.

The importance of Mecca for Muslims is inestimable. All Muslims, wherever they are on the earth, are required to pray five times a day in the direction of the Ka'bah in Mecca (located at 21°25′24″N, 39°49′24″E). This direction of prayer is known as the qiblah. Muslims regard al-Masjid al-Haram (or 'The Sacred Mosque') as the holiest place on Earth.

Looks Can Be Deceiving!

This picture was actually taken in October 2005. I was thinking on the outside I look calm, content and confident here, but this picture of the cat portrays what I look like on the inside. Hearing too many extreme stories will do that to ya!