Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You so much for all of the blessings You bestow upon me. Thank You for Your mercy and constant love. You never cease to amaze me. Help me to have a spirit of love for others. Help me to overcome my fears and show how much You love me to others. Help me to lead by example and to lift those people up who are hurting because they do not know Your love like I do. I want to be a light to the world, help Your spirit shine through me.
I pray that you touch lives and plant seeds this weekend Lord. Please show us that this weekend is only a start to the magnificent and wonderful ways we can be used to glorify You. Help us to remember to be humble, and teach us when to be. Help us discover our purpose here. Not just at Prestoncrest, but for our lives. Help us discover how to live with a spirit of love, a body of armor, and a heart at peace. Help us to show others what we have discovered and share in our experiences to bring us closer together.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Grateful
Today has been an exciting and uplifting day. First we helped out a family who is suffering from cancer and needed some work around the yard done. A few of us went and spent a couple of hours of our time and did what we thought was an easy job. We gained a better perspective on what we did when we sat and discussed it and thought about how much more time it would have taken for only one person to do it. We stood in the doorway of this family's house and prayed that God blesses their life, health and their family. That was a great moment. The second thing that I was uplifted by was in Downtown Dallas. Our group drove into downtown and just as soon as we parked and pulled out the fresh socks we had people were coming over in droves. It didn't take much time before we realized we needed to get more socks. Before we did we continued on our stroll and saw groups of people in the shade waiting around a community center were later they might get some warm food and social services if they want it. It was amazing how a bottle of water and socks changed the expression of their faces. It was amazing how these things could bring them to share their stories and open the conversation to prayer.
Father-I am thankful for today. Thankful for the love you've given us to give a peice of you to others. I'm thankful that you gave us all some great encounters with people who are not like us. I'm grateful that you gave us eyes to see, hear and say what you wanted us to. We pray that our small gifts of water,socks, crackers would create more room for Your love. We pray that that our presence around town planted a seed among this city. I pray that we brought joy to others in some way this weekend. I pray that you would continue to bless this singles ministry for your glory.
Father-I am thankful for today. Thankful for the love you've given us to give a peice of you to others. I'm thankful that you gave us all some great encounters with people who are not like us. I'm grateful that you gave us eyes to see, hear and say what you wanted us to. We pray that our small gifts of water,socks, crackers would create more room for Your love. We pray that that our presence around town planted a seed among this city. I pray that we brought joy to others in some way this weekend. I pray that you would continue to bless this singles ministry for your glory.
why not me?
Lord, I pray right now for Joseph and Eddie. God, these two men are just a couple of the people we talked to today on the street. Father, I confess that I have tuned my head to look away, or pretended like I didn't see men like these on the street before. God, they are your children, and it is arrogant and foolish of me to turn away. God, I mistakenly believe that they want this life. Father, I now see in their eyes, the hope that they once had, but have no longer. God, there were people on the street just like me--college degrees, family that loves them, but now they are in a place quite unlike mine. God, soften my heart. As I stood in my kitchen I had a new appreciation for the abundance of food you've given me. As I lie on my bed, I am grateful for the protection you've given me. As I drive to work on Monday, give me gratitude for the job that provides me peace of mind. God, help me to never forget that this Joseph and Eddie are my brothers. You are our father.
lunches and socks
well, we had plenty of help to make all 100 sack lunches. bobby e. is going to take them down to the homeless shelter tonight and they are going to be used tomorrow (if i remembered correctly).
after that, we all headed out in groups of 5 or 6 with bags of new socks, granola bars, and crackers. in our group was ashley, elly, bobbi w., bobbi e. and myself. we headed downtown in search of people who need new socks from all the walking they do.
we found plenty of homeless men to give the socks to. they were all very grateful. we struck up conversations with them and they were all very easy to get along with. we told them we would continue to pray for them over this weekend and in the future.
in addition to meeting the homeless, we also got to meet and speak with the staff of two shelters. the first one was a soup kitchen and we got to speak with David, the director. they serve meals all during the week, but not on the weekends. we also got to meet the staff at an overnight shelter...the only free shelter in dallas.
all in all, we helped a few people but we were encouraged more. we thank the Lord for the opportunity and blessings he gave us today.
-john keese
after that, we all headed out in groups of 5 or 6 with bags of new socks, granola bars, and crackers. in our group was ashley, elly, bobbi w., bobbi e. and myself. we headed downtown in search of people who need new socks from all the walking they do.
we found plenty of homeless men to give the socks to. they were all very grateful. we struck up conversations with them and they were all very easy to get along with. we told them we would continue to pray for them over this weekend and in the future.
in addition to meeting the homeless, we also got to meet and speak with the staff of two shelters. the first one was a soup kitchen and we got to speak with David, the director. they serve meals all during the week, but not on the weekends. we also got to meet the staff at an overnight shelter...the only free shelter in dallas.
all in all, we helped a few people but we were encouraged more. we thank the Lord for the opportunity and blessings he gave us today.
-john keese
unfailing love
Lord, thank you for your unfailing love, for your wonderful deeds for your people. You band us together for a common purpose, a common goal. You allow us to use our everyday gifts that we take for granted to serve You. Father, today, a group of us went to a donation center to help organize and sort items. The people there didn't need for us to have gone through any special training; they just needed us. They needed a group of twenty people who would get a job done to come help them through their daunting task of sifting through piles and piles of one person's trash to find another person's treasure. They needed us to work quickly, but most of all, to work and keep working. 
Lord, you are so gracious to us. Psalms 107 talks about how You constantly help and actively love your people. You deliver us from distress when we cry out to you. You allow us to go through our own consequences to our choices, which oftentimes is very painful and emotionally draining. All you crave for us to do is to call out to you to come rescue us, and you will come save us from ourselves. Lord, you have this same desire for all people -- to call out to you for you to save them.
I pray the same thing for the rest of our weekend, Father. From the commotion outside, it seems as if the lunch packers just finished putting the sack lunches together. 40 minutes is not bad for putting together 100 lunches and coming all the way back to the building! They are planning on driving around town to deliver water, fruit, socks, and other supplies to those in need. I echo a previous post in saying, Lord, forgive me for ignoring the needy. I oftentimes pass off doing service activities a few times a year for "having a heart for the needy." This is not so! Seeing Jesus in people is being constantly aware of those who need you, no matter what their situation.Father, I lift up the FriendSpeak potluck to you now. What a great opportunity to share Your love with people who are here for a season. I pray that in every action, we can emulate Jesus's love to the FriendSpeak readers. I pray for the singles who will be participating tonight. May they love as You do so the readers want to know You as well.
I pray for the Sweetheart banquet tomorrow. I pray that the ladies of our congregation can feel so loved by our singles. I pray that we can get to know these women of faith and begin building bridges over the generation gap that we naturally divide ourselves into. Lord, I pray that we see wisdom from our church body with the Sweetheart banquet and that we can establish friendships that will carry beyond tomorrow.
Thank you Lord,
In your son's holy name,
Amen.
For more pictures, click here.
9AM Good Lord (Who is Good but the Lord?) I am weak to think it is early, but it is early
Praise be to God, the one and only true God, the God who saved us from Egypt and led us from the desert! All of creation praise Him, praise your maker and fear Him. Glory be to the Father, from the rising to the setting of the sun he makes all life possible, from the setting to the rising of the sun he makes all life possible, nothing is anything without you God. And God, we praise your holy name.
The one and only God is my God and I am His. When I wake in the morning it is by His grace, and when I fall asleep it is with His permission. For who understands even waking and sleeping except my God? Who can guarantee sleep when it will not come, and who can wake another up when they are in a deep sleep? Only my God.
Thank you Lord for this weekend God. Thank you for giving us the idea, and thank you for protecting our hearts and minds as we planned the action. Please be with us as we do what we can for the city of Dallas. Please help us as we go to people's homes today Lord, please help us do more than yard work lord, please help us to love on the people in our congregation Lord. There are so many people that we can help inside of the church, there are so many people that are hurting and so many people that just need someone to talk to or a little help around the house, and a church that will not help others inside of their own church is not a church at all. Please help us open hearts and minds Lord, help us to ignite your spirit of servant-hood, and open the hearts of those that we serve so that you can work in them. Please also open our hearts as we work, so that you can work on us.
Father, we know how much you feel for the needy. Jesus, we know that you love those who are outcast. I am so sorry for the times that I was inhuman to a person, to one of your people, as I passed them in the street. I don't always need to give them something physical Lord, but when I scorn them I scorn you, when I ignore them, I ignore you, when I stop caring Lord, I stop caring for you. Please help me to find out what it means to love people who I cannot understand, those to emotionally shattered to lead a normal life, those so addicted to drugs or alcohol that they feed their habit when they should feed their stomach, those who have fallen hard onto times that are harder and cannot pick themselves up, those who do not have the mental capacity for normal life, please Lord, help me to know what it is to love those people, because Heaven is filled with those people, and until I learn to love them, there is no place in heaven for me. Please be with those that take the time today to love on those who need you so desperately, and who need things of this world so much more than I.
God, the foreign are your children. The Good Samaritan is a story saying that the people that you are prejudiced against are your neighbors, and you need to love them. I know that story by heart Father, but I seem to surround myself with people that look like me, and talk like me, and grew up in Texas (all praise to God, make of Texas and earth). I am not confronted with people that are not at home where we are, Lord. Please help us with Friendspeak to show that even though the earth is not our home, it is still filled with family. Please help us to serve those who are not living the lives they are used to, Lord, help us to open our hearts and our doors to those who seek shelter from this crazy place that surrounds them.
God please be with the elders in our church. They have seen so much, and done so much work for you, and they can teach us whipper-snappers a whole lot about life if we would shut up and sit still for just 30 seconds. Our society has moved away from a family life that includes constant supervision by our parents parents, and in doing so we have lost so much history and so much perspective. Please help us to serve the elders in our church Lord, to love them, and listen to them, and learn from them. They have a lifetime of wisdom and experience from you. Please help us to love them.
Lord please be with the service tomorrow night. Please help us to show that we, the B1 singles group, cares for the church, and cares for the community. Please help us to be a light that ignites more light around us, please help others in the church to be caught up in the spirit of what we are doing, so that they feel called to love on the people around them. Please God help this be a starting point for service, in the church, and in the city.
How often Lord, do we forget your Spirit? We do not spend enough time fasting, we do not spend enough time mourning, and we do not spend enough time celebrating. Your son's first miracle was keeping a party going, He was accused of partying too much. You, awesome God (awesome, God) gave us a day to do nothing but celebrate you. One day a week, just to celebrate you! You constantly have angels singing your praises, which sounds like a good time. Please help us to celebrate our weekend of work, with a time of joy and celebration. Hopefully we are all preparing to go to the biggest party of all Lord, and let this celebration be one that brings us closer to that time and closer to you.
Thank you so much for everything you have given to me Lord. Thank you so much for everything that you have given to us Lord. Thank you Lord, for you are good. Thank you Lord, for your are love. Thank you Lord, for your grace. Thank you Lord, for your mercy. Have mercy on me, a sinner. Be gracious to me, for I am ungrateful. Love me Lord, I am unlovable, and yet, still, you love me.
Amen.
The one and only God is my God and I am His. When I wake in the morning it is by His grace, and when I fall asleep it is with His permission. For who understands even waking and sleeping except my God? Who can guarantee sleep when it will not come, and who can wake another up when they are in a deep sleep? Only my God.
Thank you Lord for this weekend God. Thank you for giving us the idea, and thank you for protecting our hearts and minds as we planned the action. Please be with us as we do what we can for the city of Dallas. Please help us as we go to people's homes today Lord, please help us do more than yard work lord, please help us to love on the people in our congregation Lord. There are so many people that we can help inside of the church, there are so many people that are hurting and so many people that just need someone to talk to or a little help around the house, and a church that will not help others inside of their own church is not a church at all. Please help us open hearts and minds Lord, help us to ignite your spirit of servant-hood, and open the hearts of those that we serve so that you can work in them. Please also open our hearts as we work, so that you can work on us.
Father, we know how much you feel for the needy. Jesus, we know that you love those who are outcast. I am so sorry for the times that I was inhuman to a person, to one of your people, as I passed them in the street. I don't always need to give them something physical Lord, but when I scorn them I scorn you, when I ignore them, I ignore you, when I stop caring Lord, I stop caring for you. Please help me to find out what it means to love people who I cannot understand, those to emotionally shattered to lead a normal life, those so addicted to drugs or alcohol that they feed their habit when they should feed their stomach, those who have fallen hard onto times that are harder and cannot pick themselves up, those who do not have the mental capacity for normal life, please Lord, help me to know what it is to love those people, because Heaven is filled with those people, and until I learn to love them, there is no place in heaven for me. Please be with those that take the time today to love on those who need you so desperately, and who need things of this world so much more than I.
God, the foreign are your children. The Good Samaritan is a story saying that the people that you are prejudiced against are your neighbors, and you need to love them. I know that story by heart Father, but I seem to surround myself with people that look like me, and talk like me, and grew up in Texas (all praise to God, make of Texas and earth). I am not confronted with people that are not at home where we are, Lord. Please help us with Friendspeak to show that even though the earth is not our home, it is still filled with family. Please help us to serve those who are not living the lives they are used to, Lord, help us to open our hearts and our doors to those who seek shelter from this crazy place that surrounds them.
God please be with the elders in our church. They have seen so much, and done so much work for you, and they can teach us whipper-snappers a whole lot about life if we would shut up and sit still for just 30 seconds. Our society has moved away from a family life that includes constant supervision by our parents parents, and in doing so we have lost so much history and so much perspective. Please help us to serve the elders in our church Lord, to love them, and listen to them, and learn from them. They have a lifetime of wisdom and experience from you. Please help us to love them.
Lord please be with the service tomorrow night. Please help us to show that we, the B1 singles group, cares for the church, and cares for the community. Please help us to be a light that ignites more light around us, please help others in the church to be caught up in the spirit of what we are doing, so that they feel called to love on the people around them. Please God help this be a starting point for service, in the church, and in the city.
How often Lord, do we forget your Spirit? We do not spend enough time fasting, we do not spend enough time mourning, and we do not spend enough time celebrating. Your son's first miracle was keeping a party going, He was accused of partying too much. You, awesome God (awesome, God) gave us a day to do nothing but celebrate you. One day a week, just to celebrate you! You constantly have angels singing your praises, which sounds like a good time. Please help us to celebrate our weekend of work, with a time of joy and celebration. Hopefully we are all preparing to go to the biggest party of all Lord, and let this celebration be one that brings us closer to that time and closer to you.
Thank you so much for everything you have given to me Lord. Thank you so much for everything that you have given to us Lord. Thank you Lord, for you are good. Thank you Lord, for your are love. Thank you Lord, for your grace. Thank you Lord, for your mercy. Have mercy on me, a sinner. Be gracious to me, for I am ungrateful. Love me Lord, I am unlovable, and yet, still, you love me.
Amen.
Dear Lord...
Thank you so much for all the many blessings you have given to me. I take them for granted so often, but I truly am grateful for everything and everyone in my life.
I pray that you pour your blessings on this weekend as we try to reach out to those in need and to make an impact on someone's life. I pray that we will genuinely show the love of Christ as You want us to, and that people can see Christ in us, and that You are glorified through our actions.
I pray for changed hearts. Help us to plant the seed and have faith that You will make it grow. I pray that our group will be encouraged by what they see and be moved to continue to reach out whenever they see a need. We are called to serve, and I pray that everyone has a heart of a servant and has a humble attitude; one that constantly asks, "What can I do for someone else?"
Let us reach out not only to those outside the church walls, but those inside as well. Christ calls us to be unified, and we will never have a true community unless we have selfless hearts. Help us to learn about each other, get out of our comfort zones and talk to someone we don't know. Help everyone to feel welcome and feel like they can fit in with anyone and really be a part of this family.
I pray for the leaders at Prestoncrest: the elders, deacons, and ministry leaders. I pray that you give them wisdom in making decisions and that you give them the strength and perseverance in hard times. Also, for the missionaries all around the world that are doing Your work. Thank you for their hearts and I pray that you protect them and bless their efforts. Give them peace when they face difficult situations and give them the courage and boldness to speak Your Word.
One ministry that is close to my heart is FriendSpeak. Please bless that ministry and touch the hearts of the readers who come to learn English. Help them to build a relationship with their worker, and to eventually come to have faith in You. Please give the workers the right words to say to answer difficult questions, and to explain the message and to share their life with the reader.
Thank you so much for sending your son. Thank you for grace, and please help us to be joyful because we have the greatest gift and that is the Holy Spirit. Let us live a life of love and in everything we say and do, may You be glorified!
Amen.
I pray that you pour your blessings on this weekend as we try to reach out to those in need and to make an impact on someone's life. I pray that we will genuinely show the love of Christ as You want us to, and that people can see Christ in us, and that You are glorified through our actions.
I pray for changed hearts. Help us to plant the seed and have faith that You will make it grow. I pray that our group will be encouraged by what they see and be moved to continue to reach out whenever they see a need. We are called to serve, and I pray that everyone has a heart of a servant and has a humble attitude; one that constantly asks, "What can I do for someone else?"
Let us reach out not only to those outside the church walls, but those inside as well. Christ calls us to be unified, and we will never have a true community unless we have selfless hearts. Help us to learn about each other, get out of our comfort zones and talk to someone we don't know. Help everyone to feel welcome and feel like they can fit in with anyone and really be a part of this family.
I pray for the leaders at Prestoncrest: the elders, deacons, and ministry leaders. I pray that you give them wisdom in making decisions and that you give them the strength and perseverance in hard times. Also, for the missionaries all around the world that are doing Your work. Thank you for their hearts and I pray that you protect them and bless their efforts. Give them peace when they face difficult situations and give them the courage and boldness to speak Your Word.
One ministry that is close to my heart is FriendSpeak. Please bless that ministry and touch the hearts of the readers who come to learn English. Help them to build a relationship with their worker, and to eventually come to have faith in You. Please give the workers the right words to say to answer difficult questions, and to explain the message and to share their life with the reader.
Thank you so much for sending your son. Thank you for grace, and please help us to be joyful because we have the greatest gift and that is the Holy Spirit. Let us live a life of love and in everything we say and do, may You be glorified!
Amen.
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