Wednesday Word - January 27th Edition

Is anyone out there ready for the winter to be over? Or are you like me and you enjoy the winter season? The threat of winter snow is wonderful news to my ears. The sight of winter snow is even a sweeter sight to my eyes. Living in the triad we all know that the threat of snow just may be that a threat that will never amount to much more. When it does snow is it not a sweet sight? Everything is covered in white and seems to get new life.

I am reminded when I see snow falling aznd covering everything in sight that is what happened when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. His precious blood flowed over me and cleansed and cleanses me just like the beautiful white snow. His gift of salvation is a gift to all who ask! We don’t have to worry about the possibility of it not being for us, it is a gift to all. He desires that everyone will acknowledge their need of Him. His mercies are new every morning!!! How precious is our God.

I thank Him today that He chose me to be His and one day many years ago I chose to make Him mine. I pray that you, too have made that choice for your life but if not it is not too late to ask Him in to your heart and life. No matter the circumstance, no matter the sin, just ask for His forgiveness and He will answer you with His redemptive love.

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)

And speaking of love, please join many in the area of extending your love in the way of Valentine’s cards to the senior citizens in our area. There are many a folk that would benefit by receiving Valentine’s card from you!!

Would you please get involved and be a blessing to those seniors? You can take your Valentine’s card to any area Lowe’s between now and February the 7th. Thank you in advance for what you will do to brighten someone’s day!!! For more details, please go to our website, www.wbfj.fm.

Thank you for being a part of our WBFJ family!!! You bless our lives with your prayers, your encouragement and your support. May our God bless you abundantly today and everyday!!!!

Wednesday Word -January 13th Edition

Hello, WBFJ friends! I hope that you are enjoying a cozy January!

As for me, I am one of those folks who really dislikes winter. As soon as the New Year is celebrated, I would like to bypass the rest of January, as well as the entire month of February, and jump straight into mid-March. Then, to make up for the months I’ve missed, I’d like a double-dose of May and September.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could “special order” the seasons of our lives much in that same manner? We all experience times in our lives when our circumstances leave us feeling bitterly cold and winds of discouragement put a chill in our heart. There’s no skipping those seasons. They happen to everyone. Thankfully, we have a loving Father, who wants to wrap His love around us like a warm blanket for our soul. We can drink in His word like a rich cup of hot chocolate and have our hearts warmed from the inside out. I pray that whatever season of life you are experiencing, you are putting your trust in our faithful God and can take comfort in the fact that your springtime will arrive in His time!

Your friend,
Lana

Wednesday Word -January 6th

Happy New Year to all you Wednesday Worders…..

My new year started off with the hardest CD Tower shuffle I’ve ever had. I had Kurt Myers spin my CD tower, grab a random CD and then a random song which ended up being “Gangsta” by the Christian Hip Hop artist “Liquid” off of the 2004 CD titled “Hip Hope Hits.” After listening to the song about a drug dealer’s life on the streets, I did a search on the Latin artist “Liquid” and found out his goal is “to be as honest as possible, in every sense. I want to be honest about the drug dealers and crime, that thugs pull out guns three yards away from you, the fights—it’s all horrible stuff. But I also remember growing up that if we ever needed anything, even a loaf of bread, our neighbors took care of us."

Did you catch that last line…..if we ever needed anything; our neighbors took care of us. That line hit me pretty hard. I started thinking back to when I knew everyone in my neighborhood…….unfortunately, I can’t say that now. How about you? I hear people talk about how “times have changed” but I don’t think they have too much, but they’ve sped up about 200%. We never have enough time. My goal this year is to make time for what’s important….God, Family and Friends. I pray that you and your family will take the time to make this a wonderful year and that God Blesses each of you.


Darren


Wednesday Word -New Years Edition

Is our appearance on this earth an advent? Better yet, does it become one when the indwelling Christ takes up residence in our lives?

As the end of 2009 approaches, I reflect on what has been a great year…but, then it seems like I’ve been to more funerals and funeral homes in the past year than at any point in my life. This sobering fact may be an indicator of advanced age, a broadening of my social circle or simply a greater awareness of the grief that encounters each of our lives.

Despite this concurrence, I find hope in knowing that the Believer has more life in death than in life itself. We don’t want to think that is true from the human perspective…but then again, ours is just that – the human perspective.

Tomorrow, my youngest becomes a teenager. This was a child who was ushered into the world nearly two months ahead of schedule. He spent his first week in the world on a respirator and waited that long for his mommy to hold him. Now, he epitomizes that joy of life and we praise God daily for this gift.

However, during the weeks he spent in the hospital allowing his body to mature to that of a new born – a part of him passed away…actually it did for all of our children, and each of us as well. As a sign, there comes that time for each newborn where “the raisin” is thrown away. At least that’s what we called it at our house. “The raisin” is that final remnant that serves as a reminder of our source of life for the previous nine months.

It’s like the flowers we place at a gravesite – only a symbolism of what was once living. We believe that life begins at conception, so ideally, Christ’s advent was months before Bethlehem. Being made in His image, gives us hope that our lives are not defined by calendars or years, by the measure of eternity for which we were created.

Happy New Year!