Prayer request

Helen Patterson is a good friend. I met her over three years ago through my small group at church. She's an eighty-one year young ornery spitfire who can talk and cook up a storm. She went into the hospital last week. They put off surgery hoping she could get better without it. I stopped in the last two days only to find her peacefully sleeping. Thinking she needed her rest, I left. I went back today to find her gone. Panicked, I ran for the nurses station to find she was in Intensive Care from post surgery. How awful! They let me in to see her. She was aware I was there, but was too weak to speak. They say she will be okay. She will have a long recovery. Pray for her. She's so special.

Twas the Night Before Jesus Came

I'm happy and honored to say I have permission to reprint this thought provoking poem:

Twas the night before Jesus came and all through the house
Not a creature was praying, not one in the house.
Their Bibles were lain on the shelf without care
in hopes that Jesus would not come there.
The children were dressing to crawl into bed
not once even kneeling or bowing a head.
and Mom in her rocker with baby on her lap
was watching the late show while I took a nap.
When out of the East there arose such a clatter
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash
tore open the shutters and threw up the sash!
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
but angels proclaiming that Jesus was here.
With a light like the sun sending forth a bright ray
I knew in a moment this must the THE DAY!
The light of His face made me cover my head.
It was Jesus! returning just like He had said.
And though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth
I cried when I saw Him is spite of myself.
In the Book of Life which He held in His hand
was written the name of every saved man.
He spoke not a word as He searched for my name,
when He said, "It's not here," my head hung in shame.
The people whose names had been written with love
He gathered to take to His Father above.
With those who were ready He rose without a sound,
while all the rest were left standing around.
I fell to my knees, but it was too late.
I had waited too long and thus sealed my fate.
I stood and I cried as they rose out of sight.
Oh, if only I had been ready tonight.
In the words of this poem the meaning is clear.
The coming of Jesus is drawing near.
There's only one life and when comes the last call
we'll find that the Bible was true after all!

Used with permission by the Author 12/18/08

Dear Anonymous

I'd love to see your item. How do I get you my email without publishing it?

Thanks

Dear Anonymous
Thank you for telling me who the author of the poem "Twas the Night before Jesus". I see there is a copyright on it. Out of respect to the author I will remove the poem until/unless I get permission to use it. I accidently deleted your comment. Could you tell me who that was again so I could give them credit and contact them? Thanks again.

What's your worship style?

My son, Kevin, is a big fan of You tube. He enjoys funny videos, but he also likes to watch New Pointe videos. Apparently the motor cross video created quite a controversy with viewers. Motorcycles and rock-n-roll music in the service offended some. Kevin tried in vain to sway one person toward his view that rock-n-roll is okay. He or she didn’t buy it.

Wanting to keep an open mind, I’m pondering the situation myself. Do you suppose God is offended by the sour notes of a child attempting to sing, “Jesus loves me, this I know….?” Or, is he pleased at the sincerity to worship Him no matter what the sound, or style of music, or how loud it is.

Ideally during service at any church no matter what kind of music is playing the congregation should be in true worship, focusing heart and soul on how awesome God is, how our God created the whole universe, yet knows every hair on our head and singing praises to Him and only Him.

While all this is going on, I’ll just bet there are a few in any congregation at any church during any style of music thinking, “Wow, the music is great.” Every Sunday the Holy Spirit convicts me of this. Let’s face it. We’ve been blessed with some serious musical talent at New Pointe, but if I’m thinking about anything other than the God I am trying to worship, does it really matter what style of music is playing? True worship comes from the heart of the individual who, while singing, is totally focused on his/her Creator. I don’t believe the style of music makes any difference.

Picture in your mind a small country church with stained glass windows, hymn-books, wooden pews, and a choir. The style of music is traditional, conservative. Sons and daughters are singing in the choir. During the worship service Mom and Dad might be a bit puffed up about their kids in the choir rather then focusing on God. The music is not rock-n-roll, but what’s the object of their worship?

Really listen to the words from “Beautiful Letdown” or “On Fire” by Switchfoot. It makes me sad to think that anyone could be offended by those words just because their genre is rock-n-roll.

No matter what the genre of the music at New Pointe, the words to the music they choose always glorify God. I will be there come Sunday and will sing those words to my God as I focus my thoughts on Him. For a moment my thoughts will wander. I will think how great the music is. The Holy Spirit will nudge me back into focus. He’s so gracious about my failings.

I think it grieves the Holy Spirit when we criticize other’s worship style. It makes His job more difficult. When the unsaved hear us taking shots at each other, it just gives them reason to not want to be a Christian. I don’t want to be responsible for prolonging anyone’s decision to be saved.

Back In Business

Okay. I haven't felt like blogging. I haven't really had the time lately. I found a good reason for a post. The K through 4th grade Velocity classes at New Pointe have been challenging the kids to memorize the books of the bible. A few girls in my class have succeeded at half the Old Testament. They are getting bored. I am attaching a link to a word search puzzle to help get them interested again. Here is the link to the Old Testament puzzle.
http://www.biblestudygames.com/biblegames/wordsearchpuzzle/game8.htm
Here is the link to the New Testament puzzle.
http://www.biblestudygames.com/biblegames/wordsearchpuzzle/game9.htm

Blessings Girls
See you next Sunday

Doug and Wyatt

Dear Doug,
If you can read this on your side of Heaven, you probably know how the Kidstuf Theatre was filled with people who got to hear the salvation message because of your going to be with Jesus. We'll be seeing you, someday.
Love Dave, Karen, and Kevin



The good folks at dotPhoto.com created a photo slideshow as a tribute to Doug. Use this link to see it. http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=mcrobie&SID=229846&Show=Y&p=

I'll take a large fry and a cheeseburger please...

I just got on the floor to do my exercise during which I was listening to Alistair on the computer when I looked over at the window. There floated a humming bird looking in at me. I'm no Doctor Doolittle, but I thought maybe he was telling me he was out of food. So I got up and paused Alistair. I opened the front door and looked. Sure enough the feeder was empty. They do have a way of telling you what they want. I think I made friends when I rescued two out of the garage the other day.

Sue's Blog

Sue put some new pics in of a project we and others have been working on together. That's why I've been away for so long. Check out her blog from my link on the side bar.

Matt Loves His Seat and I Love This Video

Furry Spotted Visitors

No, these are not new additions to the Reign Forest at New Pointe. They are two young deer who apparently got separated from Mom yesterday. They stayed around all day waiting for her. They did not seem to mind too much when I came around. Today they were gone.

Picture from Kevin's Florida Trip

This is a view from the audience during the worship at Bigstuf Camp that Kevin went to. I believe there were over a thousand teens there.

New pictures

Sorry Tina, out of all those fireworks pictures I took, I couldn't find one worth posting. My camera is not doing well on action shots.

We went canoing with our friends Mark and Chris, their daughter and friend, and Kevin and friend. These were worth sharing.

At the campgrounds we stayed they were having a vintage camper convention. The whole place was filled with historical campers. Some were beautifully restored. Some not. The gentleman talking to Dave owned the one in the other picture. He claimed to be Jay Leno's mechanic. Interesting!

Happy Birthday Marianne West

Saturday, Sunday, Monday......Whatever day it is I hope it's filled with many blessings. Maybe I'll get it right next year.

Happy Birthday Wyatt

He's a warrior, a baseball player, a racecar driver, and a big game hunter, all in one small package. He's also my nephew.

Even a child knows the value of a life

Over the Fourth of July weekend we had the privilege to work at the Town Days Festival, Right to Life Booth. We’ve been volunteering for around ten years now. There was a baby girl that stole our hearts when she was hugging the life-like babies on display. So I took a picture of her. Isn't she adorable! Children seem to know instinctively the value of a life. We can either nurture that instinct or teach them that life doesn’t matter.

The weather broke for a change and allowed for a nice fireworks display. Several friends were there to share the moments. Kudos to Kevin and Marianne West who ran the 5K race at the festival.

Happy Birthday Big C

Dave's Dad's birthday was last Thursday. He and Wanda are coming out to see Kevin off today. Then they're coming out for supper. They're the best and we love them.

Kevin leaving for Florida

Today Kevin is leaving for Bigstuf Camp in Panama City Florida.

Thanks family and friends for buying all that chicken.

Here's a link to see what you helped finance. http://bigstuf.com/panama/
Pray for him, the twenty-five other students, the leaders, bus drivers. etc. I wish I were going.

Happy Birthday Mom

On your birthday I pray for you all your favorite things:

Humming birds, blue birds, misty eyed deer
Songbirds of every kind you'll hear
Books by Thoreau and Hawthorne to read
Visits to Linda and Duffy's, Godspeed
Milkglass and china as far as the eye can see
Perdita licking your face with glee.
These are the things I pray for you
On your birthday and every other day, too.

Love
Karen

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday. We had lunch today so I didn't post this until today because I wanted her to see it first. We went to lunch at a new restaurant called Hot Rod City. It's really nice there. They have it made up to look like an old time gas station on a large scale.

Happy Birthday Jim Howard

Reflecting Jesus

Do you think it’s true that when you live a Godly life that people watch you and see Jesus in you? There are two people I’ve been watching for years and I didn’t even realize I was doing it. The two people I’m referring to are Jim and Marie Mason. You might know them if you go to New Pointe. Marie recently went to be with God.

You know in those moments after church service lets out when there’s a sea of people walking down the isle way, almost in slow motion. Everyone is a blur. As you’re waiting for someone to let you merge, along would come Jim and Marie gingerly shuffling down the isle way together, Marie holding on to Jim’s arm. When they would see us, they’d always stop and say hello. Though the other faces in the crowd were a blur, they were completely in focus, kind of like when you’re taking a picture and all the background is fuzzy except what you’re zoomed in on. Was it Jesus’ light that I would see reflecting from them that made them stand out? I don’t mean to imply that they were glowing. I’m just trying to point out that they did life the right way and something inside of me was attracted to that. After Marie’s diagnoses, I stopped and thought about what a great relationship that they had and how I want my relationship with Dave to be that way.

The most glowing thing about them was the way they handled their last days together on this side of Heaven. I heard about the lovely things Jim said to Marie when she was first diagnosed and the moment when God took her home. I can’t remember most of the good books I’ve read, but their story will stay in my mind and I’ll replay it in moments of reflection, kind of like I’m doing now.

People have their own unique style of trying to spread the good news about Jesus. For instance, there’s this car driving around town that has a menagerie of Jesus bumper stickers, doomsday messages, scriptures, you name it, covering every inch of the car. I must say it does have quite an impact on me. I not sure it’s the one they are hoping for. Who drives it is a mystery. My eyes never get past the car. Maybe it’s Bubba Jo.

Anyhow—back to what I was saying--the only people who’ve ever had any spiritual impact on me are people who are just living out their beliefs hour by hour, day by day, week by week (like Jim and Marie).

Poison Ivy

Dave was on vacation this week. A very old willow tree finally fell. It had poison ivy all over it. Dave covered from head to toe with clothes to avoid exposure. His wrists were exposed between his glove and his cuff. Well, he's got it bad there. Some vacation. Between moving the tree and enduring the poison ivy, he'll have to go back to work to get some rest. He's my rock. I don't know what I'd do without him. I hope I never have to find out. We are doing a spiritual journey together. Sometimes I get ahead of him. Sometimes he gets ahead of me. But we keep each other grounded. I pray your Father's Day will be more pleasant then the past week has been.
Love
Karen

P.S. Thank you Mark for your tireless work in moving the tree. What would we do without you?

Gone missing from blogger world

With summer and end of school and murals I haven't blogged in forever. This is our third home school year and it gets better every year. I hope we keep improving.

Kevin just got back from church camp in Michigan. He had a great time. Next stop is Florida at the end of the month. He is handling independence really well. That's a good thing, right? We forgot to pack his phone charger, so we didn't get to keep in touch as much as hoped. I'll make sure to pack it for Florida.

Here are the latest additions to the Reign Forest at New Pointe. I could not get a straight on shot of the mural because the room was not deep enough. Zebras are fun to paint. The stripes make them look like they could walk right off the picture.

Francis Chan-Cornerstone Church

Kevin West and Jessica Rilke at New Pointe introduced me to Francis Chan via podcast. I added him to my favorite links. If Joyce Meyer is not your cup of tea, try Francis Chan. He blew me away. If I only have half an hour to spare I will be really torn at which one I will listen to. Both Joyce and Francis are awesome.

View from my back door

Photo

Painting plus a few deer. I wanted this to be a fall picture. There was snow on the ground in the photo. I left it out in the painting. When the sun sets it looks as if there is a purple lens on everything. I used a lot of purple in the painting. I added the deer because we have regular visits from deer and I wanted to share them with everyone. The younglings always hide behind mom and peek out from behind her. If you put your curser over the pictures and click, you can get a larger view. I hope you like.

Flowers

The result of my first attempt at bulb planting.

They're pretty, but they're falling over already. I wish they'd last longer. They smell so good.

Giraffe family joins ReignForest at NewPointe

A face only a mother could love

Facing our own giants

I love they way Joyce Meyer uses the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt for the Promised Land to explain different levels of spirituality. It really helped me to understand how someone can be saved and still be a mess. Basically she said when we get saved its similar to when the Israelites left Egypt (approximately 3 million). When the Israelites left Egypt, that represents us getting saved by accepting Jesus as our savior, which guarantees our salvation. While in the wilderness the Israelites were up against some great giants keeping them from the Promised Land (Moabites, Hittites, Jebusites). Our own giants are keeping us from our present day Promised Land. These giants are bad attitudites, doubtites, jealousites, selfishites, and so on. We're guaranteed salvation when we accept Jesus as our Savior, but we can’t live the life that God promised us until we shed ourselves of these giants and we can’t do it without God’s help. We just keep going around the mountain in the wilderness until we get it right. If we fail the test we just get to keep taking it. When we pass the test we get to leave the wilderness for the Promised Land. The Promised Land represents a happy more fulfilled life here on earth when we conquer our giants.
I am so thankful for anointed speakers who can put it into words I can understand.
I keep revising this because everytime I read it I seem to be leaving something out.

Turbo the Cat

What gifts do you have?

I can cook. Whether or not it tastes good is debatable. Well, we have to eat so I'll keep on trying. Pray for Dave and Kevin. I should stop feeling guilty about it. Some people can't do the things I do well. Don't compare your gifts to someone else. When we do we get in trouble and the Kingdom does not profit.

"God will help you be all you can be, but he won't help you be someone else." quote by Joyce Meyer.

Thank you Joyce

The Gift of One........

This was so good I had to write it down. Today Joyce Meyer pointed out how easy it is for us to accept the sin that we received from one man who was Adam. We acknowledge we’re sinners when it is said, but when it comes to accepting the gift of salvation from one who is Christ Jesus we find that so hard to comprehend.

She then quoted Romans 5:17…
For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

So good, so good, so good..........

Help wanted: Disciples, no experience necessary.

Joyce Meyer was saying how important it is to be self-accepting. Give yourself some grace. Try to like yourself. You can’t have good relationships if you hate yourself. She talked about how she was abused as a child and how it had a negative effect on her. She hated herself. She couldn’t relate to people around her in a positive way until God helped her overcome her self-loathing. Even with her past, God is using her in an incredible way. You or I may be the next to be used in a big way. Don’t compare yourself to perfection. Perfection can be misleading. Joyce used the following letter to illustrate how God always uses imperfect people in a big way:

Letter to Jesus

Topic:
To: Jesus, Son of Joseph
Woodcrafter’s Carpenter Shop
Nazareth 25922

From: Jordan Management Consultants

Dear Sir:

Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.

The profiles of all tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully.
As part of our service, we make some general comments for your guidance, much as an auditor will include some general statements. This is given as a result of staff consultation, and comes without any additional fee.

It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale.

One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.
We wish you every success in your new venture.

Sincerely,
Jordan Management Consultants


Eating Problems for Breakfast by Tim Hansel, Word Publishing, 1988, pp. 194-195 used with permission from http://www.bible.org/.,

If you’re not perfect, don’t be dismayed. Prepare for something big!

Rock on......

Dave, Kevin and I recently attended a training session at church that involves the creative side of New Pointe. I'm glad they’ve really been hammering the “why we do what we do” topic lately. When they first introduced rock and roll on stage at the church in Sugarcreek, I thought to myself, “I wonder what the older folks think?”

I just turned 50. I got my invitation to join AARP. So now I can answer that question. What do I think about that music they’re playing? I think it’s pretty cool. According to Bob Smithhouser of Breakaway (Kevin’s teen magazine) Magazine: “The Bible never specifies that God favors one musical style over another. Any sincere song of praise is a multi-platinum chart topper to God.” Unlike seniors of the distant past, most of us have been spoon-fed rock and roll. It’s not just for teenagers. As a matter of fact, when they played “Rockin Drummer Boy” at Christmas, I could hardly contain my enthusiasm. Okay! Okay! So my boy was on the stage when they played it. Can I get some grace here?

News flash from Dave: 95.9 radio said it is illegal in Oklahoma to burp in church.

Back to what I was saying, the key is the word “most”. What will most people like? There’s always going to be something about the service that doesn’t appeal to everyone. Everyone has a preference. That’s just the nature of the beast. So in order to reach the most unsaved, we should aim at the bigger target and do what is relevant to most. So, thanks New Pointe for doing what you do the way you do it.

Spam is not good...

Spam has invaded blog world. I'm not sure, but I think you can make money by visiting blogs and commenting on them. I got a comment from someone I don't know that asked me to click on a link. I declined to do so. I also changed my settings to help prevent spam comments. If you want to leave a comment, you have to type in a set of letters. Automatic spam is unable to read the letters, so this will result in less spam. I also have decided to read comments before they are posted. If they look suspicious or inappropriate, I can delete them before they're posted. I still look forward to comments from friends and legitimate bloggers. Have a great day!

New animals at the Reign Forest....

Meet Spike and Needle Nose. They are two new additions to the Reign Forest at New Pointe Community Church. They like swimming and playing hide and seek. They also like children, especially preschoolers, to come and visit them. You can find them in the Rhino Room at the Reign Forest. I’d like to thank Faye for her patience while I captured these elusive creatures.

Happy Birthday.....

Happy Birthday Dave. Kevin and I love you.

New songs.....

I added a few new songs to the player. Enjoy.

Speech....Speech.....

Last year Kevin and I reluctantly attended a speech and debate class at the urging of other home schoolers. When we attended the first class we entered a room of chatty, enthusiastic speech students. We felt like aliens from another planet. As weeks passed by we reached a level of comfort that we could bear. After about a month of weekly speech coaching, despite his limbs going numb, Kevin courageously gave a persuasive speech. Speech topics could be about almost anything from silly to serious. Kevin’s topic was “Why Christian Rock Music is Okay.” At this point we still didn’t quite understand the passion that the other students seemed to have for speech. After the classes were completed, you could go on to compete in statewide competitions if you wanted to. Although Kevin chose not to compete, he ended the season with a sense of accomplishment and survived something he thought he would never be able to do.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t done yet. Speech veterans and their moms heavily encouraged him to come back this year for something even more challenging called a limited prep speech. Speech classes started up in November. In the upcoming weeks Kevin would learn to prepare to give a speech where you are given a topic (not revealed in advance) and three minutes to respond to the topic. I watched a young man Kevin’s age who demonstrated a speech he prepared that was so eloquent and well delivered it blew me away. Kevin absolutely refused to do this type of speech in competition, but reluctantly agreed to learn more about it. Still puzzled by the enthusiasm of the veteran students, especially the limited prep speakers, we continued with the classes.

Up to this point I kept saying to myself, “I don’t get it. Why is speech-making so important to them?” They had to do a lot of research to be able to put a speech together in such a short amount of time. “Research!” I thought to myself. Kevin hates research. I have to admit; I’m not a fan of it either. During class, when I realized how much research it was going to take, I jokingly thought to myself, “Maybe we could slip out the back door unnoticed. Naught! We have to stay.” My motherly instinct told me we needed to finish what we started.

The coaches really wanted all the kids to do a limited prep speech at the tournaments, but every time the subject came up Kevin would argue, “It’s just not something I’ll ever be interested in.” Even so, a forum on limited prep was planned for this week for everyone, including the kids who weren’t going on to compete. His coach sent this list of speech topics including but not limited to:

Does the Bible contain errors, contradictions and inconsistencies?
Isn’t living a good life good enough?
Why does God allow evil?
Did the miracles in the Bible really happen?

Then a list of resources:

The Bible

Reasonable Faith
Answers to the Spiritual Questions Teenagers Ask
If I Were God, I’d End all the Pain
When Skeptics Ask
When Critics Ask
God: The Evidence
Why I Believe

The list goes on. After reading the possible topics and resources, I finally got it (the enthusiasm that is). “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). These topics are all about defending your faith. We misread their enthusiasm for a love of research. They’re excited because they are ready to give an answer about why they believe, not because they love research! They will know how to respond to the most important questions ever, the moment they are asked.

When I explained the other’s enthusiasm to Kevin, his expression changed from skepticism to cautious optimism. He started going over the topics. He picked “Why does God allow evil” and “Is living a good life good enough.” For the first time I saw a hint of enthusiasm in him as he researched the answers.

Nuggets...

Your worst day with Jesus is better than your best day without. (from today's Joyce Meyer Broadcast)

Out of over a million of the Jews that left Egypt for the promised land, only two of the original made it. The rest that entered were offspring of the original. (also from today's Joyce Meyer Broadcast)

So Far, So Good...

Vernon has had his new kidney since the 10th. He is doing well. Use my link to the church and to Jessica's blog. She is updating daily on his progress. Praise God for Vernon's progress!! His donor niece is doing well also.

Sue's link has pictures of a mural that she and I did at a shop in New Phila that helps women in need. We had lots of fun and fellowship.

Vernon Yoder Kidney Transplant....

Everyone, please pray for Vernon Yoder's kidney transplant to go well on Thursday. This will be his second kidney. For those of you who don't know him, he lives out the following virtues everyday.

Godliness
Loyalty
Determination
Compassion
Forgiveness
Unselfishness
Resourcefulness
Courage
Patience
Genuineness

The world needs more Vernons.

Two Cute Cowboys.....

Click on Sue's link and check out her adorable grandson after a day of fun, and Logan, the SkyAngel Cowboy video. Both are worth the look. Warning, have your tissues ready for the video. I had a great Christmas. Hope yours was, too.