2011 NC Family Encouragement Weekend
Recently the Lord blessed our family with the opportunity to host the 2011 NC Family Encouragement Weekend Conference (FEW Conference) with the Wilkes and Staddon families!! As we all labored together to make this vision a reality, it was a delight to watch the Lord pull everything together according to His perfect plan!
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
The Lord’s ways truly are far above ours, and His plans for the conference once again surpassed our imaginations! The “Conference Team” discovered that when we willingly offer ourselves to His service and surrender our will completely to His, that He loves to take our humble offering and turn it into something beautiful – of real value.
Throughout the weekend, attendees heard biblical teaching, fellowshipped with like-minded believers, and participated in Christ-honoring worship through song. During a game time for the young people on Saturday, older children were given the opportunity to disciple little ones. Special family prayer times allowed fathers to lead their families in a time of searching their hearts, confessing bitterness, and seeking the Lord.
We praise our Heavenly Father for the work that He was doing throughout the weekend! We pray that each family walked away from it encouraged to press on toward Christ-likeness by spending more time in His Word together and striving to build strong, lasting relationships within their homes.
Soli Deo Gloria!
A special challenge to all who attended:
“He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ…” Philippians 1:6
“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of Whom thou hast learned them…” II Timothy 3:14
To see other reports and pictures, please visit:
Chosen Vessel
The Master was searching for a vessel to use;
Before Him were many; Which one would He choose?
“Take me,” cried the gold one, “I’m shiny and bright.
I’m of great value and I do things just right.
My beauty and luster will outshine the rest,
And for someone like you, Master, gold would be best.”
The Master passed on with no word at all,
And looked at a silver urn, narrow and tall.
”I’ll serve you, dear Master, I’ll pour out your wine
I’ll be on your table whenever you you dine.
My lines are so graceful, my carving so true,
And silver will always complement You.”
Unheeding, the Master passed on to the brass,
Wide-mouthed and shallow and polished like glass.
”Here! Here!” cried the vessel, “I know I will do,
Place me on your table for all men to view.”
“Look at me,” cried the goblet of crystal so clear,
”My transparency shows my contents so dear.
Though fragile, am I, I will serve you with pride,
And I’m sure I’ll be happy in your house to abide.”
The Master came next to a vessel of wood,
Polished and carved, it solidly stood.
”You may use me, dear Master,” the wooden bowl said,
”But I’d rather you used me for fruit, not for bread.”
Then the Master looked down and saw a vessel of clay,
Empty and broken it helplessly lay.
No hope had the vessel, that the Master might choose
To cleanse, and make whole, to fill, and to use.
“Ah! This is the vessel I’ve been hoping to find.
I’ll mend it and use it and make it all mine.
I need not the vessel with pride of itself,
Nor one that is narrow to sit on the shelf,
Nor one that displays its contents so proud
Nor the one that thinks he can do all things just right,
But this plain, earthen vessel, filled with power and might.”
Then gently He lifted the vessel of clay,
Mended and cleansed it, and filled it that day.
Spoke to it kindly — “There’s work you must do!
Just pour out to others, as I pour into you.”
–B.V. Cornwall
When Life Becomes More Than You Can Stand…
… kneel.
Every day we face trials. Some are bigger than others, but all tend to stretch our faith, cause some pain, and test whether or not we really believe that the Lord governs each little area of our lives!
I was flipping through one of my old journals this evening and “stumbled” across some excellent notes from a message from Mr. Scott Brown we listened to on one of our trips last summer. I hope these are a blessing to you seek to trust the Lord as He sends each struggle into your life today. Remember that each one is a specially-designed tool for conforming you into His image!
“Trials are God’s gateway to far better things for your life.”
“Suffering is often the only way to victory.”
“Mighty trials, responded to in a righteous manner, will make you into a mighty individual for Christ.”
“The Lord often disguises blessings as disasters.”
“Your trials will either make you, or break you.”
“The kind providences of God often arise out of our worst failures and disasters.”
“Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.” Ecclesiastes 7:3
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
Judas and the Door
Jesus said, "I am the Door."
While we know that it was God’s sovereign plan for Jesus to die for our sins, and that some will be saved while others reject Christ, we also have to recognize that we are responsible for our decisions. Although God planned every detail of the world, Judas wasn’t forced to choose to betray Christ, and his story should be a fearful warning to those who think they can live in their own strength.
A chosen few were picked by God
To walk beside His Son on Earth,
But one man of the honored twelve,
Refused to see the Savior’s worth.
What went through the schemer’s mind
When silver clanked into his hands?
How strongly Satan’s greed took hold
And tightened its enslaving bands!
The stage was set, the night was dark,
To veil the traitor’s treach’rous deed.
God withheld His mighty pow’r,
To let Satan’s plan succeed.
What searing guilt the apostate felt
When his murderous act was done!
His screaming conscience took his life;
For he’d betrayed God’s perfect Son.
He stood for three years at the brink
Of Grace’s free, o’erflowing Well;
But he who kissed the Door of Heaven
Spends eternity in Hell.
Still the Tempter lives today
Within the hearts of wicked men
Who will not turn to Christ for help,
And lack the strength to fight their sin.
It was for all that Jesus died –
He bore our punishment in full
That we might have eternal life,
Beloved by God, forgiven, whole.
We’re just as faithless as the man
Who his Lord and Friend betrayed,
If we turn from Jesus and ignore
The redemption price He paid.
The power of the Evil One
Was crushed when Jesus gave His life;
He broke the curse of sin and death —
Our vict’ry through His sacrifice!
You’re given opportunity,
And although some will still rebel,
Do not kiss the Door of Heaven,
Yet spend eternity in Hell.
Wild Savage Adventures…
… while Dad and Mom were away!!!! Ha ha ha! :):):)
Anyway…
This weekend Dad and Mom were gone to the Wilds for their Overnight Sweetheart Getaway! 🙂 If we had been there, we would be telling you about what a fantastic time we had, the powerful messages we heard, the delicious food, all the stairs we climbed, the thrilling ride on the famous Giant Swing… and much, much more… But since we weren’t there, you’ll have to hear about that some other time, and for now, be content with an overview of the activities that took place on the home front.
To say the least… we had a delightful time!! It seems I am continually being reminded that time with my family is immensely precious… something not to be taken for granted because it will not last forever! The message we heard on Sunday following all of the adventures (which I will recount for you in a moment) called us to remember relationships: first of all, with Jesus Christ, and second, with our families. Relationships are of upmost importance. If you think about it, that is the one thing that separates Christianity from all other “religions.” Christianity is based upon a personal relationship with the God of the universe, rather than how we can try in our own strength to be “good enough” to measure up to His righteous standards. Thus, the focus is on Him, not on us. The parallels to be drawn from this regarding the family are amazing, for the only way to have a truly good relationship with someone is to be constantly thinking of them, not ourselves. This is a conviction to me even as I write it, but may we always have this “others focus,” and look for ways to bless those the Lord has placed around us!
With those thoughts in mind, one of the highlights of our time together was heading outdoors to be wild savages, or at least, to do our utmost to reach that lofty status. 😉 With painted faces, braided hair, ponies, a “pale face prisoner,” and some good-ole Injun grub, we made our way to our secret hideout in the woods and succeeded in building a wigwam – of sorts! Talk about memories!
Some other memory-making activities that took place were experimenting with our own version of Mocha Freeze drinks, reading The Island Queen by R.M. Ballentyne, making dozens and dozens and dozens and… LOTS of cookies to freeze for the upcoming FEW Conference, and sleeping in late. 🙂
“Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
So, I would challenge you to get out with your family and make some memories together… lasting ones. You won’t be sorry!
Treasures… in the Form of Sisters!
Well, before we have to write an “Update 3,” we had the brilliant idea that we’d just better keep up with all that’s going on around here!! 🙂
Last week we had the spur-of-the-moment and DELIGHTFUL experience of having the Wilkes ladies here for a couple days! Some of the guys came south for a farm show in TN, used us as a hotel, and brought the ladies with them to keep us company! For several days, we just lived life, including school work, celebrating Hannah’s birthday, evening visits from Mr. Traylor – a business associate of Daddy’s and now a great friend of the family, and Jennifer Jennings, also a good friend of ours, house cleaning, afternoon rest times, an overnight visit from Jon Hynes, and even a tea party!… All of this (and so much more!!!!) took place with the extra special blessing of having four extra special ladies around. Sisters, both biological and adopted, 🙂 are such treasures from the Lord! Words fail to describe the beauty of our time together… but I can’t give bunches of pictures to help out because sadly, the ones from this are few due to the absence of one camera during the visit and the loss of the shots from the other! But praise be to God that we have memories (and journals :))…
But I will leave you with the reminder to truly treasure the times you have with your sisters, both biological and your sisters in the Lord! Learn from each other! Disciple each other! Laugh together! Talk… for hours! Make fun and unusual memories!
The bond of love that will be created is priceless!
“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment…” (Philippians 1:9)
“And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another… to the end that he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13)
A few more pictures from the times when the guys were in…
Update… Part 2
By the time you’ve finished reading this post, you should be well-informed as to what we’ve been doing…. At least for a few days…. until we go off and do something else. 
Sometimes you just never know what we’ll do next…. in fact, sometimes we don’t even know what we’ll do next. Who knows, we may decide to take a trip to the moon!! (Well, that is a little “far out” – literally, and there aren’t any plans right now to do something that drastic…. but then again, you just never know… 
)
The Monday following Christmas, the Staddon family came for an all-too-short visit. It is hard to accurately put into words everything that happened. There’s an old saying that goes something like, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” so we’ll just show you the pictures. 
Next on the schedule was a trip to Bainbridge, GA to visit Grandmama (Dad’s mom) and “Uncle Fudge.” Long-time friends of the family, “Uncle” Bill and “Aunt” Peggy Chapman, who we hadn’t seen in three years, were also there.
We had been asked to sing in two churches down there, one pastored by one of Dad’s science teachers, and our aunt, uncle and cousin go to the other. Both services went really well, and we praise the Lord for the opportunities to minister!
We also did some hunting while we were down there, but unfortunately did not have the opportunity to pull the trigger, except on a couple of armadillos. Oh well…. maybe next year….
We are disappointed to not have any pictures of that eight-point buck, or even a nice doe, which we were really hoping to see…. but we do have some pictures of the times that we weren’t in the woods. It was truly a wonderful time to visit with friends and family for a few days!!!
We were home for a couple days, and then friends from Atlanta, the Barnes family, came for two days. And it was a great visit! We even got to go sledding… with snow and real sleds.
Whew! Now I think you have been pretty much updated… oh and two weeks ago all of us had dentist appointments, we got a foot of snow, and Mom and Dad went away for the weekend and left us kids home with a friend. This week we’ve had more doctor’s appointments, and day trip to Greenville, and more company… life moves on. We look forward to what the Lord will bring across our path in the days to come… and hopefully we won’t fall too far behind in our blogging!
Update…. Part 1
Well, it has been a while since we’ve posted anything. The Lord has opened several doors of opportunity for our family, and with any opportunity comes responsibility. It has been a busy winter season, but it is definitely well worth it!!
Enough introduction…. here’s a brief summary of recent happenings….
We were blessed to be asked to present a Christmas program at a local church in early December. It truly was a blessing to fellowship with other believers!
The Hynes family came for a brief visit at the beginning of December. We had a delightful visit with them, which included snowball “fights” and photography talk, and many games of Checkers.
Next on the agenda was a much anticipated trip to Louisville, Kentucky to minister in music at Landmark Independent Baptist Church. It was a fabulous trip, leaving us uplifted and encouraged. Matter of fact, we had such a wonderful time, that we neglected the camera, and ended up with a select few pictures. Oh well… the memories are still sweet! Here are some of the pictures we did get… 
We got home from Louisville on December 20, and quickly began doing last minute Christmas preparations. We also went to a Christmas program at a friend’s church, which was very well done, and a huge blessing! On Christmas Eve, we sang at our local nursing home, then went caroling through our neighborhood. Christmas day was quiet, but very restful, allowing us to focus on the Reason of Christmas and to enjoy time together as a family.
Part 2 coming soon!
Wahoo!!!
Titus was given “Wahoo” for Christmas, and he quickly became one of the favorite toys!!
Terri Schiavo – Have We Forgotten?
If you have not read the previous post, entitled “Life,” click here and read it first.
Currently, our family is smack in the middle of a trend that is sweeping violently through the house: cleaning out! Mom got a new book for Christmas that has motivated us all to evaluate how much stuff our home can really hold before it busts at the seams, and how much of this stuff we really need.
Well, yesterday I was organizing a low shelf in my room that, for all too long, has been forgotten and sadly neglected. To my surprise, several of the articles at one end belonged to me! I found several old notebooks… one with my coloring pictures from way back (well… maybe not that long ago :)), one with my Hunter’s Safety Course notes, and one with papers from a Bible study we girls had done. This last one held something within its binder that I had completely forgotten about: a letter, written in early 2005, that I had never sent. Now that I’ve seen it again, I remember sitting on the floor in my room one night, busily writing this to a good friend. The letter read:
March 28, 2005
Dear ______,
Hi! How are you doing? I’m doing great! Did you have a good Easter? We had a great and beautiful day, which helped me to constantly remember why we really have Easter.
I have a prayer request that is very important: Terri Schiavo, a lady from Florida, is being starved to death. She has major brain damage, and some people say she is just human waste. She doesn’t need any life support, all except for a feeding tube, because she can’t swallow. Her husband (who is very wicked) says she wouldn’t want to live like this, but there is no written document that says Terri said that. Her parents want to take care of her, and another lady offered her husband a million dollars if he would just hand her over to her parents, but he refused it. The Supreme Court ordered her tube taken out, and she has been starving for 10 days. Daddy said that she would probably die this week, but I know that if it is God’s will, He will spare her. All the people who are ordering her to die and the doctors and nurses who are wrongfully carrying out the order, are committing murder. A court law says that a judge can’t order murder, and that’s exactly what they are doing, even though they don’t view it as murder. Please have you and your family pray for her, as well as for her broken hearted parents.
Write back soon!
Love,
Kathryn
Like me, has the memory of the unlawful murder of Terri Schiavo been lost in your memory? When Daddy first came home, in 2005, with the news about her, and read us an article about the scenario from the Vision Forum website, it left a huge impact on me. I was 10 at the time. I wrote this letter to my friend, who was 11, but never sent it because, after having my parents read it, they told me that this was making national news and she probably already knew. Looking back, I’m amazed at God’s hand in even something so small. I would write the letter and stick it into a notebook that would get lost amongst many others on an unnoticed shelf, and then find it right after writing an essay on life, and shortly before the 6th anniversary of Terri’s tragic death.
So, have you forgotten the immense value that our Creator places on human life?
How should this reminder affect your actions?
It’s time for those who profess the name of Christ, the Giver and Sustainer of all life, to take a stand for it once again.
