Genesis 16:13 She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me!” “What!?” my 9 year old daughter Katelyn said to me as I watched with obvious pleasure as she ate a cupcake. “Aren’t I allowed to watch my own daughter that I love?” I inquired. “No, Daddy!” She said, turning away with embarrassment, but a shy smile played at the corners of her mouth. Over the past month or so I’ve…
Good Friday morning to you! It’s hard to believe that it’s Friday and I’ve been so negligent in updating you on our trip. Hopefully you’ve been seeing some pictures go up on Facebook. When you are out of internet access from 7 AM to 6 PM, it’s hard to discipline yourself to pull together an update! So let me give you a little summary of each day. On Monday the team went to Garden Blossom orphanage, a state run orphanage…
Dear GLCC Friends and Family, News is trickling down here about the tremendous day you all had at church today- a wonderful spirit of worship, a great sermon (how could it be anything but great with P. Bob preaching?), an incredible outpouring of generosity to the tune of $185,000 and counting, and then an awesome all-church supper. From the very start our slogan or tag for this month long generosity emphasis was “paying down the mortgage to free up money…
f your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. Matthew 18:8 Late last night I turned on the TV to catch the Republican primary results from Michigan and Arizona before I went to bed. As I was flipping through the channels to get to CNN, I stumbled…
Psalm 62:8 Trust in [God] at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks at the Benedict house with the throttle wide-open for ministry and life in general. So last week my wife gently approached me to mention that we weren’t talking enough. Always a bit defensive with these types of conversations, I think I said something like, “Well, that’s news to me, aren’t we talking…
Mark 1:15 “The time has come” [Jesus] said. “Repent and believe the good news!” I was talking with Lance Utne, one of our 10th grade class shepherd, last night at the Patriot/Stonewall boys basketball game. He shared a humorous story from teen Sunday school this past week. Every week the senior high youth gather for a time of group instruction and then break out into various small groups for further teaching and discussion. Now, I was a youth pastor for…
Hebrews 11:39 & 40 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us… Every day I heat up this car and never get any benefit out of it at all!” This is what my oldest son Josh told me this morning as he exited the still-fridged car at 6:59 AM to enter the campus of Stonewall Jackson High School. He’s absolutely right, but let me explain. Josh…
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may … grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ [and] that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:17-19 Well I’ve had some overflow moments this week. Have you? For the past few Sundays we’ve been talking about “overflow” in the morning worship service. God pours into us his healing presence, guidance and provision and…
Habakkuk 2:4 But the righteous will live by his faith! Sally Hagenhoff forwarded me an email last week that I can’t get out of my head. It’s from Jacques Rancourt, the discipleship pastor over at Manassas Baptist. I suppose it strikes a cord with me because our family has pursued a special needs adoption from China and we know the uncertainty of that process. But it’s more than that. Jacques’s words strike at the heart of the toxic and smothering…
1 John 3:17-18 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. Sunday was our annual “Operation Neighborhood” Christmas Spaghetti Dinner. This is the third year we have had this ministry event which pairs GLCC families with families who have benefited from our food pantry throughout the…