Praising God!!!

Praise God for two things...(1) God miraculously held off the rain until the last team came back to the clubhouse. Literally!...then the bottom fell out and the floodgates opened (2) the tournament was a complete success. The silent auction raised over $2,100. alone. I can't wait to share with you the actual dollar amount that we will be writing a check to St. Jude for.

This golf tournament was a desire that was placed in a teenage boy, a junior high schools heart after touring St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee back in October 2008. Zac came home telling his parents that he has taken fore granted all that he has in his life because when he visited St. Jude...those kids only had hope and very little else.

It was Zac's desire to host a benefit golf tournament to raise funds for the hospital that never turns one child away because they don't have the money to pay. This is a cancer research hospital founded by the late Danny Thomas. It cost over a million dollars a day to run the hospital. They depend solely on donations for the smallest amounts to the largest.

Brothers of JDC/DCA (JDC=Junior Delta Christians and DCA=Delta Christian Association) is a Christian organization that does community projects, instills principles of helping others, giving back to their community and so many more values...boys from the 7th grade through 12th grade.

The tournament was named "Brothers for Hope St. Jude Golf Classic".

Today, we had a friend's son, Kyler as our guest for this benefit. When he was 9 months old, he was diagnosed with cancer of the retina...which he was born with but his doctor didn't discovered the reason for his extreme pain, crying and irritability which was documented in his chart that he mother couldn't deal with a colicky baby.

Upon his diagnosis, he was scheduled to have his eyes removed the following Monday and this was on Friday. His doctor called them the next morning to tell them that he couldn't sleep all night (which was the prayer of his mother) and he had found a doctor in Memphis, TN who was willing to take him as his patient...they lived in Kansas. These doctors in Kansas told his parents that he would be dead within 6 months...before he was 15 months old.

The doctor in Memphis referred him to St. Jude at 9 months of age and Kyler is just about to turn 13 years old. He has been an active patient since he was 9 months old and St. Jude has spent over a million dollars to keep him alive. Kyler has last one eye and is legally blind in the other but he has a wonderful spirit. He is extremely smart and is in gifted and talented in Marion School District. What an amazing testimony to the wonderful work that this hospital and doctors do for all children with cancer and other childhood diseases.

I am so excited with the turnout, comments about the tournament and the money that was raised for a very worthy cause. It was well worth all the hard work that went into it. It was the first golf tournament and their will be another one next year.

So many people said that the rain will never hold off and it would be rained out...but with God...ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE...including the weather!

Matthew 19:26
But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

What Is Our Testimony Saying?

Don't forget to leave me a comment until February 20th when I celebrate my 1st year blogging.

I am giving away two beautiful wall crosses to two randomly drawn names of anyone who leaves a comment on my blog.

I posted a picture in my sidebar of the crosses.

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Can you remember back to when you were a new Christian and the hunger that you had for God? What was your life like prior to becoming a Christian?

Maybe you were already living a "good" life, going to church and not committing any major "outward" sins for all the world to see. So much so that when you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, it was something that made your family, friends and co-works think...hmmmm, what is different about her/him? She/he seems to have a different attitude, smiles more and/or is happy. Maybe the changes weren't that drastic for you, as it was for others.

You might have been the one that was living a pretty "rough" life that might have included drinking, drugs, sex, cursing and/or worse. When you became a Christian and the Light of Jesus Christ began to shine through you, it was like "wow, look at the change in her/him, they are so different, going to church, reading their Bible, they have been delivered from their addictions, stopped cursing and instead, began to witness to those that were living the same life as you were previously.

Regardless, of which scenario best fits the change that Jesus Christ made in your life, at the moment of salvation, we began to build a different kind of testimony. We began to care about what others thought, how we reacted to stressful situations, we wanted to let others see Christ in us...we wanted to be different. We wanted to be a witness for Jesus Christ that was pleasing to Him.

But, what about after you have been a Christian for awhile...did the passion and eagerness to please God start to wane? Did you continue to serve Christ but relaxed just enough that when the enemy threw a stumbling block in our path that the "old" you slipped through the cracks that the enemy of our souls created?

As Christians and witnessed for Jesus Christ, you can be assured that others are always watching you to see how you will react to adversity. Even when you think that no one is looking or sees you...someone usually does (other than Jesus).

All it takes is one or two slip ups as a Christian to wreck your testimony for Jesus or at least, to cause serious damage to it. The ones that are watching us the closest are usually non-believers. How can we witness to them, tell them that Jesus will make a difference in their life...if we act like we did when we were of this world.

All the right actions and Christ-like testimony can be wrecked by just one or two slip ups...maybe in a moment of weakness. If we repent, ask forgiveness...then, Jesus promises to forgive us of our sins and it is to be remembered no more. He cast our sins into the sea of forgiveness and post a NO FISHING sign there.

But, what damage have we done to our testimony? How easy is it to repair for those who are watching you or those who you have been witnessing to?

Just something to think about today...it has been a question that I've asked myself a lot lately.

Revelation 12:11
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. (KJV)

Proverbs 18:21
What you say can preserve life or destroy it; so you must accept the consequences of your words. (Message)

Have a wonderfully blessed day!