60 YEARS AND COUNTING

On October 1, 1949 Joyce Parcher married Charles Wilmoth at Fourth Avenue Methodist Church in Louisville. My parents have been married SIXTY years today!!!!

Happy Anniversary Mama and Daddy. You are a blessing to me, Ernie, and Brittany..... and to everyone who has the honor of calling you friends.

I love you to the moon and back !!!! GO CARDS !!!

WHAT KIND OF A FAN ARE YOU?

Today is the big game between my UL Cardinals and the UK Wildcats ! Of course I want to win but this year UK seems to be the better team. If UL loses, will I stop supporting them? ABSOLUTELY NOT! I am NOT a fair weather fan. I have been a CARDINAL since birth. My parents' first date was to a UL Homecoming Dance and they will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary on Oct. 1. I grew up going to UL games and remain a supporter WIN or Lose.

This got me thinking about Christianity. What kind of a Christian are you? Are you a fair weather Christian, happy to follow Jesus as long as things go your way? Do you stay in your church as long as things remain COMFORTABLE? No talk of sin and repentance? Your kind of music? An entertaining minister?

Or are you a loyal follower of Jesus? Will you follow Him no matter what happens in your life? If your spouse leaves you, if illness comes you way, if your job is eliminated? Will you remain loyal to your church even if the minister is not a gifted speaker? If he or she challenges you to change (REPENT) your behavior (SIN)?

Jesus has not promised us an easy life BUT He has promised to "Never leave you or forsake you". Being a fair weather or loyal fan of your team will have no impact on eternity.... but being a loyal follower of Jesus will reap ETERNAL VICTORY. Lord, please find me faithful.....

A DISTURBING BUMPER STICKER

Today as I was driving along I saw a car with a "DARWIN" symbol and this bumper sticker on the back.

IF GOING TO CHURCH MAKES YOU
A CHRISTIAN, DOES GOING TO A
GARAGE MAKE YOU A CAR?

I wanted to tell the driver how flawed that logic was. I wanted to say the
only thing that makes you a Christian is a relationship with Jesus Christ... and I DID say those things. Of course I was alone in my car and the driver had no idea I was speaking to him or her.

Maybe that driver has never heard the Good News....
Maybe that driver has heard the Good News in a bad way....
Maybe some "human" messed up in telling the driver about Jesus, showing condemnation and judgment rather than love....
Maybe the driver knows ME and saw me acting in an Unchristian way...

Todd's current sermon series is called ALL IN THE FAMILY . We are looking at ways to make people feel like they belong to our body of believers.... that even if they are "new" to our church, they are part of us, an important part.
The premise of this sermon series is that INDIVIDUALS HAVE THE NEED TO BE ACCEPTED, VALUED, AND INCLUDED.

Am I living a life that reflects my relationship with Jesus? Are You?

Last night I (?) picked my memory verse for Aug. 15th. Today, I see how perfect that verse is for leading people to want what we Christians have. (And it is not a church building.......)

For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness," has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6 (NLT)

FAITH PROMISE

"And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly to every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. " John Wesley, Founder of Methodism

Today is Faith Promise Sunday at our church. In Faith Promise, we give out of our abundance so that others may receive what they need. Faith Promise money is different from a yearly pledge. It is a promise to you from God that he will provide you with a certain amount and through prayer, faith and trust you promise to give what God provides to our church for missions, both local and global.

If you are a long time reader of my blog, you know that this has been a challenging time for First United Methodist Church. Divisions have occurred and some long time members have left our congregation over personnel issues. Gloom and Doom have been predicted. Our church will never survive some have said. BUT those of us who remained, who felt that we were where God would have us be have never lost faith.

TODAY God proved Himself faithful. Our Faith Promise pledge was almost THREE TIMES the amount ever pledged in a year. Praise God.

Some say our church is finished....Some say the Christian church has lost it's relevance..... some say there is no place for traditional worship in today's fast paced world.....some say ( you fill in the blank).

BUT WE SAY FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH IS DOWNTOWN FOR GOOD.
TWO LOCATIONS. ONE FIRM FOUNDATION. OUR MISSION IS TO INVITE, EQUIP AND DEPLOY FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS OFJESUS CHRIST.

To God be the Glory. Great things He has done.

GOD CHILLS

Looks like I completely missed posting in the month of April. I hope to do better in May.

Today when I opened my mailbox I had a card addressed to me from Grayson KY. I immediately knew who it was from and knew it contained something special but I was not prepared for the chills I physically experienced when I opened the envelope. Tammy, a friend I have never met but know ( if you are a blogger, this makes perfect sense to you !) had sent me a coin from India called a RUPEE. The coin is special because there is a "THUMBS UP" engraved on each RUPEE.

THUMBS UP is a very important sign to Tammy and her family. You see her son NICK lost his 6 year battle against brain cancer on 11-29-2008. And THUMBS UP was Nick's sign and God's sign to Nick and his family it seems. One day Nick's grandmother photographed a THUMBS UP cloud in the sky. You can read lots of other THUMBS UP stories and learn about Nick's courageous journey at www.nick7-11.zoomshare.com. Please also visit tammy's website My heart...His words at tammynischan.blogspot.com. You will be blessed by Tammy's words as she clings to God in times of great JOY and great SORROW.

Thank you Tammy for sharing NICK with us . Praising GOD for the way He is using Nick to change lives.

AND THE WINNER IS...

Several weeks ago Beth and her staff at Living Proof Ministries started a Siesta scholarship fund to help women who might not be able to afford to attend some of the LPL events or purchase resources. As a kickoff, Beth invited the Siesta community to nominate a church or ministry that could really use some Bible study materials that might not have been budgeted for. Two hundred fifty eight Siestas responded. I nominated the church I grew up in ,Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. When the 5 winners of the Esther Bible studies were announced, Fourth Avenue was not one of the winners. And that was that.... or so I thought.

Imagine my surprise when 25 runner up prizes were given away today AND WOO HOO Fourth Avenue is a winner!

My father has been a member of Fourth Ave. for more than 70 years. He and my mother met there, were married in the beautiful sanctuary as were Ernie and I. Both sets of my grandparents, all my aunts, uncles, and cousin were also members there. The congregation was large at one time but as more and more churches moved to the suburbs, membership declined. There are presently just a few hundred members. Now the church is a more diverse , multicultural fellowship with outreach to the inner city. But it takes a lot of money to heat , cool and maintain this beautiful, historic building. So these DVD studies from GOD to Beth to the members of Fourth Avenue are truly a blessing... FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS.........

To learn more about Fourth Avenue go to www.fourthavenue.us

DESTINY IN SIESTA LAND

A friend ( the kind I haven't met yet) poured her heart out on her blog today. She said it was mostly for herself, to sort out her thoughts but I read EVERY word. I could almost feel the pain and uncertainty she is experiencing. And the only reason I even "know" her is because she was faithful last summer when GOD called her to start a forum for women to do a Bible study together...... DESTINY

Another friend started using her computer daily because of some difficult life circumstances that caused her to be homebound. She says she was rarely on the computer before. She is a GIFTED writer and encourager and she has impacted many lives through her online skills. Do I believe God gave her these circumstances so she would be influential in many lives? ABSOLUTELY NOT. But she is faithful in using the gifts God gave her , in SPITE of her circumstances.....DESTINY.

In the Esther Bible study Beth says one of the most important parts of our destiny is TRANSPARENCY. And boy do we have transparency on our forum! I believe that each time we laugh or share or pray or encourage each other GOD takes note.

Listen to Malachi 3:16 from the Message:
Then those whose lives honored GOD got together and talked it over. God saw what they were doing and listened in. A book was opened in GOD's presence and minutes were taken of the meeting, with the names of the GOD-fearers written down, all the names of those who honored GOD's name.

Those of us who are "members" of the SIESTAS FOR HIM forum believe that we were DESTINED to be there together, led by God "For such a time as this".
Thank you so much for being part of this DESTINY with me. I love you all.