Chris

So, James has gone home to Salisbury, and Mike got called into the office again today, this time Chas asked if Mike would be willing to bring a young man named Chris home to stay for a couple nights. Mike has been working with Chris around the church, and said “of course” Chas asked if Mike had to call and ask me, and he said no (because he doesn’t, first of all Mike is the head of the household, and second, I submit to my husband). So, enter Chris Knight, our adopted 20 year old son. Chris recently came to accept Jesus as his Savior, and was baptized, and went to TN to join an extensive rehab program. The program went pear shaped, and Chris was forced to come back to NC. He really didn’t have anywhere he could go, so one of the Assistant Pastors took him home. And Chris was entered into the rehab program we have at the church. Extensive Bible teaching, and working at the church. The program can be 3-6 months, depending on progress. One thing Chris had to do was quit smoking, stay away from old friends and have limited interaction with family. Not to be mean, just to teach him disipline, and how to submit to authority.
Whereas James lived in the motorhome, Chris gets to live in the house. We have him situated in the guest room and things are going well. I only see him for limited time, morning and evenings, where Mike has him all day at work too, but we are all learning things and enjoying the fact that the Lord is using us and our house to do HIS good work. Chris’s mother and step-father live in Kernersville and he gets to spend Sundays with them, after church(they attend there too) and his father lives about 2 hrs south and came up with his grandparents for church the other Sunday. It looks like we will have him with us until June, or whenever he gets out of the “program”. Someone in the church will employ him, and he will get an apartment, and his drivers license, he’s obviously looking forward to that, but right now, he just needs to be “poured into” and get strong in the Lord, before he goes out into the “real world”. We are loving on him, and he has become part of the family.

James

We were sitting around watching TV one night, it was almost dark, so around 7:30pm and there was a knock on the door. We thought it was our “handy man Jesse”, so Mike answered the door, and went out on the porch to talk. I went around to the bedroom window to see who it was, and saw Mike talking to a young white man with blonde hair. I watched them speak for awhile, making sure there was no angry body language and that everything was safe, then I went in to wash dishes or something. A couple minutes later I again went to the bedroom window to see that everything was still ok, and I see Mike with his hand on this boys shoulder praying for him! Tears came to my eyes, it is so awesome to see how God is transforming my husband! Next thing I know, Mike is in the house putting shoes on, and getting the car keys. The young man’s name is James and his car has been stolen, Mike is taking him to George’s house(a friend of James)where he is staying. Mike gets back a little later and unfolds the story. James lives down south about an hour, in a place called Salisbury, he came up to help George move, and he left his keys in the car at the gas station, and it was stolen. Now it was Easter weekend, and he was stuck til Monday, waiting to hear from the detective. About an hour later, Mike’s cell phone rings and it is James, family came to stay with George for the holiday weekend, and he was getting kicked out of his bed, did Mike know where he could spend the night? Bus station, hospital waiting room? Are you crazy? So, Mike went and picked him up while I fixed up the motorhome. We had let Jesse and his girlfriend Jocelyn store some stuff in there, so it was an ordeal, but I got it where you could walk and the bed made up, so that was where James stayed the night. The next day was Easter and James went to church with us, stayed thru both services, while Mike worked in the coffee bar, then went to George’s house for Easter dinner. We had Easter dinner of our own, new friends from church Joe and Gina Floyd and my friend Kathy from work and her husband Chris and daughter Brianna. Kathy brought a ham, and I did some lamb, scalloped potatoes and some southern greens. It was cold and windy so we ate inside, which was a tad crowded, but we all laughed really hard and had a great time. As the party was winding down James showed back up, and we had some more time to talk to him. He knows the Lord, and knows he’s not living the way he should, and meeting us, hopefully put the “fire” back in him. He stayed another 3 nights, during the day he would play phone tag about his car, and work around the neighborhood doing yardwork for money. He was in touch with his boss (he works for a plumber) and was coming to get him Thursday. He kept trying to get info about his car, and finally found out that nobody was assigned to his case, the tel# he kept leaving messages at was just the initial officer who took his statement. So (with relief) we said goodbye to James on Thursday, and he promised to keep in touch and to find a church of his own. We continue to pray for James and he has called. He called the first Sunday he was home, had gone to church, with his aunt and had news on the car. It had been pulled over on Monday eve, and had been sitting in the impound lot since Tuesday! Now they wanted him to pay something like $249.00 to get it out! My friend, had been worried about him staying with us, of course there had been some news story warning people about scam artists going door to door, but I had to tell her that we didn’t live by “what ifs” and we had to trust the Lord was going to keep us safe. The Lord did keep us safe and after all the conversations we had with James, we all came to the conclusion that the Lord wanted us to meet. It was cool.

A Nice Surprise!

So, last week the Operations Manager, Chas called Mike into the office and blessed us unexpectedly, this week Mike got called into the office again, and was asked if he wanted to go on staff. Of course the answer was yes! Paperwork was filled out, and insurance info was taken. Another way GOD works is this, insurance wasn’t supposed to be effective for 90 days, but when the insurance cards came in the mail, they were effective immediately. The other thing that we noticed when Mike went on staff was that we were going to need another car. There were a couple days he went in at 7:30am, and I had to take him, go home get ready and get to my work at 9:30, then go pick him up at 6:30pm. A long day for him, and for me, so we asked around the staff and church friends, and started praying for a car. It happened that the Pastor was selling his car, and after we looked on our own for a week, we thought buying his car, would be the easy way to go. So we approached Chas about buying the car, and he told us to “hold off, we are working on something” What does that mean we wondered? So we held off, and by Friday of that week, Mike came home with a free car! Someone had donated this 1996 Buick some time ago, and the church had been waiting for the “right people” to bless it with…WOW!!! What a month it’s been, we wonder what will happen next month!! God is Good!

Misc Pics

Songs

All The Earth Will Sing Your Praises
by Paul Baloche

You took, You take our sins away oh God
You give and gave Your life away for us
You came down, You saved us thru the cross
Our hearts are changed because of Your great love

You lived, You died,
You said in three days You would rise
You did, You're alive
You rule, You reign, You said You're coming back again
I know You will and all the earth will sing Your praises

No one, No name can rise above You Lord
One hope, One life will shine forever more
Your kingdom in heaven and on earth
Your children stand to sing of Your great worth

You lived, You died, You said in three days You would rise
You did, You're alive
You rule, You reign, You said You're coming back again
I know You will and all the earth will sing Your praises

It Might Be Today
by Greg Fadness

Though I don't see You
Still Lord I love You
You've given me hope
You've given me life
Through all my trials
Still Lord Your with me
And I have Your word
Your coming back for me

It might be today I look into Your eyes
Might be today I see Your face
Might be today You place Your wounded hands
On my tear-stained face, it might be today

God Speaks Billboards pt 3

Birds & Mutz

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Well, today I’m back at the dentist, I’m in the car with my laptop and my buddy Mike is in the dentist. It’s another nice day. After we finish here we will try and get back to the church by lunchtime. Mike is another volunteer; he vacuums the church and cleans the bathrooms. I’ve been doing a few different types of jobs from re-hanging shelves, changing out toilet paper dispensers, gluing molding down as well as the usual painting. I really need to take some pictures so you can see what it looks like. The church and its staff have been an unbelievable blessing to us since we got here. They couldn’t have been more loving or have treated us more like family. They went out of their way and did something really nice for us recently. I don’t really want to go into detail but we know that they are the type of people we want to serve God with. We are so thankful to God for letting us pursue our dreams out here and that He would let us be a part of this incredible “thing” that Calvary Chapel of the Triad is. It is amazing and I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before but this church is a bit over 4 years old and has over a thousand people attending on Sunday. It started as a bible study of 5 people and 4 years later it’s over a thousand. Only God can do that. In the short time we have been here we have seen it grow and expect it to grow even more. It’s a great thing to be part of.

We recently bought a bird feeder and hung it right outside our kitchen window. It took a few weeks before the birds found it, but when they did it was hard to keep it filled. It mainly attracts two types of birds; the Carolina Chickadee (tiny tanish bird with the black and white head) and the Tufted Titmouse (grayish with orange under wings and a spike on its head). I've been trying to take pictures through the window. I have a few good pictures of them. We did get one blurry picture of a Cardinal, which is the main reason we got the feeder. We didn't have Cardinal's in Boise.

There is a North Carolina Women’s Conference hosted by the Calvary Chapel in Cary, coming later this month and Paige is going to go. It’s 3 days and 2 nights in Greensboro. Greensboro is about 20 miles away but they are going to stay in a hotel. It should be a really great time to get to know other women in the congregation and to be able to spend time with people she already knows. In May I am planning to go to the Southern Pastors conference in Atlanta, GA. its open to Pastors, leaders and people who want to learn more so I’m going to go. The church is working on teaming people up with rides and sharing hotels rooms to keep the cost down. We are also praying about being able to go with the church to Israel late in the year. Money is fairly tight with one income but we have begun saving already so we can go. Our Pastor is very knowledgeable about Israel and is very good bringing the original Hebrew into his messages so it will be very interesting to be there and being able to hear him teach in the original land. We as a church and as a family support the Jewish people and Israel in general. This may come as a surprise to some of you, but Jesus and all of the 1st Christians were Jews and God made promises to them that He will not break. If you pray, we would ask you to pray that God would open doors and help us get to the places that he wants us to be. We really just want to be where He wants us to be.

We went out to Hillbilly Hide-A-Way for dinner with some people Paige works with (Sammy and his girlfriend and Kathy and her family). It always has great country style food and this time we stuck around and went to the area set aside for live music. The musicians are very talented and I have always been a fan of old bluegrass style country music (i.e. Hank William Sr., George Jones and banjos etc.) It was a lot of fun and we hope to do it again. The next day we went over to Kathy and Chris’ house because we are going to take care of their pets when they are on vacation. We wanted to meet their dogs, Drew (think German Shepherd / Whippet) and Macy (Wirehair Terrier Mix). We had a great time with the people and the dogs and are looking forward to going to Flea Markets, camping, etc. with them (the people). We have a lot in common and really hit it off (the people). The dogs are really sweet and Macy has a natural Mohawk and eyebrows like I would have if I didn’t trim them. We are going to enjoy watching them and will upload pictures later. (later turns out to be now.)

I guess you can see I have added some other informational items on the left side of the blog. So now if you want the verse of the day, search the Bible, or spellcheck your comments or my post. :) You can. There is also a new photo section with a few photos. The main site for new photos will still be http://community.webshots.com/user/MKAdams66

I also added links to the weekly (New Testament Sunday and Old Testament Thursday) messages from Calvary Chapel of the Triad. They will change every week and are a great listen. More soon. -m

God Speaks Billboards pt 2

Jokes & Comix

Jokes …

Satan Goes to Church
One bright, beautiful Sunday morning, everyone in tiny Jonestown wakes up early and goes to their local church. Before the service starts, the townspeople sit in their pews and talk about their lives and their families. Suddenly, at the altar, Satan appears!! Everyone starts screaming and running for the front entrance, 
trampling each other in their determined efforts to get away from evil incarnate. Soon, everyone is 
evacuated from the church except for one man, who sit calmly in his pew, seemingly oblivious to the 
fact that God's ultimate enemy is in his presence. This confuses Satan a bit. Satan walks up to the man 
and says, "Hey, don't you know who I am?" The man says, "Yep, sure do. "Satan says, "Well, aren't you afraid of me?" The man says, "Nope, sure ain't. "Satan, perturbed, says, "And why aren't you afraid of me?" The man says, "Well, I've been married to your sister for 25 years."

Uh-Oh
A woman takes her 16-year-old daughter to the doctor. The doctor says, "Okay, Mrs. Jones, what's the problem?” The mother says, "It's my daughter, Debbie. She keeps getting these cravings, she's putting on weight, and is sick most mornings." 
The doctor gives Debbie a good examination, then turns to the mother and says, 
"Well, I don't know how to tell you this, but your Debbie is pregnant - about 4 months, would be my guess. "The mother says, "Pregnant?! She can't be, she has never ever been left alone with a man! Have you, Debbie?" 
Debbie says, "No mother! I've never even kissed a man!" 
The doctor walked over to the window and just stares out it. About five minutes pass and finally the mother says, 
"Is there something wrong out there doctor?" 
The doctor replies, "No, not really, it's just that the last time anything like this happened, a star appeared in the east and three wise men came over the hill. I'll be darned if I'm going to miss it this time!"

The Helper
A pastor is walking down the street one day when he notices a very small boy trying to press a doorbell on a house across the street. However, the boy is very small and the doorbell is too high for him to reach.
After watching the boys efforts for some time, the pastor moves closer to the boy's position. He steps smartly across the street, walks up behind the little fellow and, placing his hand kindly on the child's shoulder leans over and gives the doorbell a solid ring. Crouching down to the child's level, the pastor smiles benevolently and asks, "And now what, my little man?" To which the boy replies, "Now we run!"

Guess Who's Wanted?

Wanted By:

the FDA for turning water into wine without a license,
the EPA for killing fig trees,
the AMA for practicing medicine without a license,
the Dept. of Health for asking people to open graves, for raising the dead and for feeding 5,000 people in the wilderness,
the NEA for teaching without a certificate,
OSHA for walking on water without a life-jacket and for flying without an airplane,
the SPCA for driving hogs into the sea,
the NATIONAL BOARD of PSYCHIATRISTS for giving advice on how to live a guilt-free life,
the NOW for not choosing a woman apostle,
the ABORTION RIGHTS LEAGUE for saying that whoever harms children, it is better that they had never been born,
the INTER-FAITH MOVEMENT for condemning all other religions,
and by the ZONING DEPT for building mansions without a permit.
Guess Who?

Growth For The 1990s Generation
1. As I let go of my feelings of guilt, I am in touch with my inner sociopath.

2. I have the power to channel my imagination into ever-soaring levels of suspicion and paranoia.

3. I assume full responsibility for my actions, except the ones that are someone else's fault.

4. I no longer need to punish, deceive, or compromise myself, unless I want to stay employed.

5. In some cultures what I do would be considered normal.

6. Having control over myself is almost as good as having control over others.

7. My intuition nearly makes up for my lack of self-judgment.

8. I honor my personality flaws for without them I would have no personality at all.
9. Joan of Arc heard voices, too.

10. I am grateful that I am not as judgmental as all those censorious, self-righteous people around me.

11. I need not suffer in silence while I can still moan, whimper, and complain.

12. As I learn the innermost secrets of people around me, they reward me in many ways to keep me quiet.

13. When someone hurts me, I know that forgiveness is cheaper than a lawsuit, but not nearly as gratifying.

14. The first step is to say nice things about myself. The second, to do nice things for myself. The third, to find someone to buy me nice things.

15. As I learn to trust the universe, I no longer need to carry a gun.

16. All of me is beautiful, even the ugly, stupid and disgusting parts.

17. I am at one with my duality.

18. Blessed are the flexible, for they can tie themselves into knots.

19. Only a lack of imagination saves me from immobilizing myself with imaginary fears.

20. I will strive to live each day as if it were my 50th birthday.

21. I honor and express all facets of my being, regardless of state and local laws.

22. Today I will gladly share my experience and advice, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so!"

23. False hope is better than no hope at all.

24. A good scapegoat is almost as good as a solution.

25. Just for today, I will not sit in my living room all day in my underwear in the Hollywood Cafe.

Instead, I will move my computer into the bedroom.
26. Who can I blame for my problems? Just give me a minute. . . . I'll find someone.

27. Why should I waste my time reliving the past when I can spend it worrying about the future?

28. The complete lack of evidence is the surest sign that the conspiracy is working.

29. I am learning that criticism is not nearly as effective as sabotage.

30. Becoming aware of my character defects leads me naturally to the next step of blaming my parents.

31. To have a successful relationship I must learn to make it look like I'm giving as much as I'm getting.

32. I am willing to make the mistakes if someone else is willing to learn from them.

33. Before I criticize a man, I walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot.

The Baby
Ole and Lena went to the hospital so Lena could deliver their first baby. As Ole waited in the lobby, the doctor came out to talk to him. The doctor said, "I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that you have a normal baby boy. The bad news is that it is a cesarean." Ole started crying, and said, "Vel, I'm glad it is a healthy baby.... but I vas kinda hoping it vould be Norvegian."


Awful Jokes

Q. What has four legs, is big, green, fuzzy, and if it fell out of a tree would kill you? 

A. A pool table.

Q.What do you call a boomerang that doesn't work? 

A. A stick.

Q. What's brown and sticky?
A. A stick.

Q. What’s E.T short for?
A. Because he’s only got little legs.

Q. How many letters in the alphabet?
A. 24, E T Went home!

Q. Did you hear about the dyslexic Satanist? 

A. He sold his soul to Santa.

Q. Did you hear about the dyslexic Atheist?
A. He doubted the existence of Dog.

Q: How do you get holy water?

A: Boil the hell out of it.

Career Path

My first job was working in an orange juice factory,
but I got canned ... couldn't concentrate.

Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack,
but I just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the ax.

After that I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn't suited for it. Mainly because it was a so-so job and seamed more exciting than it was.

Next I tried working in a muffler factory but that was exhausting.

I wanted to be a barber, but I just couldn't cut it so we parted.

Then I tried to be a chef -- figured it would add a little spice to my life but I just wasn't at home on the range

Finally, I attempted to be a deli worker, but any way I sliced it, I couldn't cut the mustard.

My best job was being a musician, but eventually I found I wasn't noteworthy.

Mining was interesting, but then they gave me the shaft.

Next was a job in a shoe factory; I tried but I just didn't fit in.

I became a professional fisherman, but my net income was reel low.

Thought about becoming a witch, so I tried that for a spell.

I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining.

I got a job at a zoo feeding giraffes but I was fired because I wasn't up to it.

So then I got a job in a health club, but they said I wasn't fit for the job.

Next, I found being an electrician interesting, but there were too many undercurrents.

After many years of trying to find steady work I finally got a job as a history teacher until I realized there was no future in it.

My last job was working at Starbucks, but I had to quit because it was always the same old grind and the job had no perks.

So I retired and I found I am a perfect fit for the job!

Monastery of Silence
Brother John entered the 'Monastery of Silence' and the Chief Priest said, "Brother, this is a silent monastery, you are welcome here as long as you like, but you may not speak until I direct you to do so."
Brother John lived in the monastery for a full year before the Chief Priest said to him: "Brother John, you have been here a year now, you may speak two words."Brother John said, "Hard Bed."
"I'm sorry to hear that," the Chief Priest said. "We will get you a better bed."
The next year, Brother John was called by the Chief Priest. "You may now say another two words, Brother John." "Cold Food." said Brother John. The Chief Priest assured him that the food would be better in the future.
On his third anniversary at the monastery, the Chief Priest again called Brother John into his office. "Two words you may say today, Brother John."
"I Quit." said Brother John.
"It is probably for the best," said the Chief Priest. "All you have done since you got here is complain."

God’s Crowd
If you think you are holier than thou and God needs you, you are probably in the wrong crowd!

Moses stuttered.

David's armor didn't fit.

John Mark was rejected by Paul.

Hosea's wife was a prostitute.

Amos' only training was in the school of fig-tree pruning...

Solomon was too rich.

Abraham was too old.

David was too young.

Timothy had ulcers.

Lazarus was dead.

John was self-righteous.

Naomi was a widow.

Paul was a murderer.

So was Moses.

Jonah ran from God.

Miriam was a gossip.

Gideon and Thomas both doubted.

Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal.

Elijah was burned out.

John the Baptist was a loudmouth.

Martha was a worry-wart.

Mary was lazy.

Samson had long hair.

Did I mention that Moses had a short fuse?

So did Peter, Paul - well?, lots of folks did.

But God doesn't require a job interview. He doesn't hire and fire like most bosses, because He's more our Dad than our Boss.
God doesn't look at financial gain or loss. He's not prejudiced or partial, not judging, grudging, sassy, or brassy, not deaf to our cry, not blind to our need.
As much as we try, God's gifts are free. We could do Wonderful things for wonderful people, and still not be... Wonderful.
Satan says, You're not worthy. Satan looks back and sees our mistakes. God looks back and sees the cross. He doesn't calculate what you did. If it's repented sin, it's not even in the record.
Sure. There are lots of reasons why God shouldn't want us. But if we are utterly in love with Him, if we hunger for Him more than our next breath, He'll use us in spite of who we are, where we've been, or what we look like.

Miscellaneous Quotes

Some people are kind, polite and sweet-spirited, until you try to get into their church pew.

Most of us spend the first six days of the week sowing wild oats, then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure. --Fred Allen

Do you know the three times that most people are in church? When they are hatched, matched and dispatched

Quit griping about your church; if it were perfect, you couldn't belong.

A lot of church members who are singing "Standing On The Promises" are just sitting on the premises.

We were called to be witnesses, not lawyers.

Every evening I turn my troubles over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway.

I don't know why some people change churches - what difference does it make which one you stay home from?

If a Savior leaves you as you are and where you are, from what has He saved you?

Young man, the secret of my success is that at an early age I discovered I was not God. --Oliver Wendell Holmes