Comrade for Christ

Spring Ice Show - Videos

The Spring Ice Show was the weekend of April 24th.  We had performances on Fri, Sat (two) and on Sunday.  This year it was the Wizard of Oz and High School Musical.  Riley had three parts.  She did a routine with her Synchronized Skating team, was a snowflake that woke up the Dorothy, Toto, ScareCrow, Tin Man and Lion after the Witch used the Poppy Seeds to put them to sleep and was a cheerleader in High School Musical.  Below are some pictures and movies.  Check them out:

Quotes for June 2007

"My soul groans, to see the hours of the day roll away, because I do not fill them in spirituality and heavenly mindedness. And yet I long they should speed their pace, to hasten me to my eternal home, where I may fill up all my moments, through eternity, for God and his glory."

David Brainerd from The Life and Diary of David Brainerd

- Comrade for Christ

Resentment or Contentment

I am one who gets into a "funk" and is susceptible to feeling of melancholy more than the average person.  I found this Daily Bread devotional written by David Roper to be helpful.  Here is a snippet from it:

Sour moods create untold misery.  Discontent, jealousy, bitterness, resentment, defensiveness, touchiness, and ingratitude are the dispositions that ruin our marriages, wither our children, alienate our friends, and embitter every life - including our own.

It's easy to defend our bad moods and to slide into deception and hypocrisy.  But we must guard our hearts against such destructive attitudes.  When they arise, we need to confess them, let them go, and experience God's forgiveness. 

Don't let your bad attitude cause you to lose out while others enter into joy.

Resentment comes from looking at others; contentment comes from looking at God.

- Comrade for Christ

Bodily Organs of Sin

  In my 42 years of observation, I think there are 3 organs of our body that give us the most trouble:

• tongue
• jealous heart
• sexual organs

As Christians, we have to control and reign over these organs created pure by God and corrupted when we sin by listening to the lies of the evil one.

- Comrade for Christ

A Biblical Prophecy that Still Holds True Today

  One of the most interesting and long-standing prophecies that still hold true today can be found in Ezekiel 29.  God said through the prophet Ezekiel that the Egyptian nation would never be a powerful nation and it would never dominate Israel:

At  the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were scattered...There they will be a lowly kingdom.  It will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the other nations.  I will make it so weak that it will never again rule over the nations.  (Ezekiel 29: 13-16)

Up until the time of Ezekiel, Egypt had been a world power for centuries, dominating many nations, including Israel. But for most of the past 2500 years, Egypt has been controlled by foreign powers, including the Romans, Ottomans and Europeans. Today, Egypt is an independent nation again. In 1948, 1967 and 1973, Egypt tried to dominate Israel but was unsuccessful each time, despite the fact that Egypt is 10 times larger than Israel. Egypt today, in many respects, is an impressive nation. But since the time of Ezekiel, it no longer rules over other nations.

  I think this prophecy is absolutely amazing since it was prophecied around 850 BC and is still true today.  I believe that  what the LORD promises holds true every time.  A few prophecies cannot be proven without a shadow of a doubt...yet!  But hundreds have been proven by history, facts or archaeology and this is one of them.  So, why would you questions anything the Bible says?

- Comrade for Christ

Speak Up...But Help!

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy (Proverbs 31:8-9)

LORD, I am like Moses because I am a man of slow speech and am far from eloquent in speaking.  Please, God, help me to speak better so I can do what you command above, especially in Cambodia.

- Comrade for Christ

21st Century Tassels

The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel.  You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God.' (Numbers 15:37-40)

What a great idea God!  Put tassels on their garments as a visual to remember not to sin during times of temptation.  I too could use a tassel to help me to avoid sin.  Today, I started to wear a homemade, native bracelet I bought in Cambodia as a reminder  not to sin and not to be tempted to rationalize sin.  It also reminds me to pray for my Christian Cambodian brothers and sisters.  The bracelet has two strings with beads on the end that hang down and act just like tassels.  Thank you God for the idea.

- Comrade for Christ

As Easy as Watching a Cloud Lift

Have you ever read Exodus or Numbers, the second and fourth books of the Old Testament?  If you did, you know that Moses talked to God as if he was a friend next door.  Wouldn't it be great to have a constant dialogue with God, the way Moses did?  In Numbers 9, some Israelites asked Moses a practical question about whether they could celebrate the Passover after touching a dead body.  Moses was unsure if this was all right with Almighty God.  This is what blows me away....Moses tells them, "Wait until I find out what the LORD commands concerning you."  Very soon after, Moses comes back and tells them in detail what God wants them to do!  He needed to know God's will and somehow he just went to God, asked and got specific answers.

There is no reason why I can't do the same!  I can go to God in prayer anytime and ask Him questions.  The hard part is being quiet enough and discerning enough to hear God's answer.  I think that is the key!

Moses and the Israelites knew when to move and where to go when they wandered in the desert after the Exodus by simply following a column of fire by night and a cloud by day. 

LORD, my prayer is that I can be so close in relationship with you that discernment of your will would be as easy as watching a cloud lift and following it.

- Comrade for Christ

Quotes for May 2007

Here are some vintage observations and wonderments from Philip Yancey's latest book called Prayer:

• What can we learn from the fact that Jesus prayed over the calling of his disciples and got Judas as one of the answers?
• Why would Jesus need to pray so much?
• The church's hymnbook is the Psalter, and some of its psalms are not only exultant, but also angry and whiny.  What do we do with the raw prayers of the Bible - the ones that show so little serenity?
• Job is bitter and impatient, but he's the one God vindicates, not his polite, rational friends.
• Jesus taught his disciples that "our Father knows what you need before you ask him." He then proceeds to teach his disciples to ask for the same things God knows we need

Yancey's main recipe for prayer has only three ingredients:

1. Keep it honest
2. Keep it simple
3. Keep it up

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An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips (Proverbs 24:26)

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Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips (Proverbs 27:2)

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- Comrade for Christ

Brother Baruch

This is what Jeremiah the prophet told Baruch son of Neriah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, after Baruch had written on a scroll the words Jeremiah was then dictating: ² "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: ³ You said, 'Woe to me! The LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.' "

    ⁴ The LORD said, "Say this to him: 'This is what the LORD says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the land. ⁵ Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the LORD, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.' " (Jeremiah 45)

This is one of the shortest chapters in the Old Testament and I have always just breezed by it while reading through the Bible.  Today the Lord opened my eyes to a lesson I never saw before.

  Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe must have been depressed - maybe because of his secondary role alongside Jeremiah, maybe because God wanted to write down the harsh punishment that God, through His prophet Jeremiah, was bringing to Judah.  In any case, Baruch complained that he was worn out and could find no rest.  He felt inadequate because he was only a scribe.  The LORD told him not to be self-seeking and to not expect to be more than you are.  This is a timely message for me, how about you? I have to admit that many times I feel the same way as Baruch.  I feel like I should be doing much more and that God should put me in the limelight as I minister in His name.  But I have to have faith that God is working with me and using the skills in which I am most proficient.  I must be content where God is using me and not always be looking at the other jobs that God is working through our other Christian brothers and sisters. God has a plan for my life and yours and it is unique and different from any other person on this earth.

Help me Lord not to be self-seeking but to do everything for the good of my neighbor and not myself.  In some way, God will reward us for this type of behavior.  God's reward for Baruch was that his life would be spared when God's destruction came upon Jerusalem.  He has a different reward for all of us...and one is eternal life with Him.  Praise God!

- Comrade for Christ