Just a thought! Reading through Proverbs these last 39 days has impressed just how abundantly available WISDOM is for all of us. It is ours if we are wise enough to reach out for it!

Today Hug Your Children!!

Today Becky & I received a call from a couple we haven't heard from in many years. They were our closest friends following college when we worked for the same company. One of the most exciting calls we ever got from them was when they called and said, "we met a friend of yours and His name is Jesus". They had come to know Jesus as Savior following a trip to New Mexico to visit us. We had prayed for them for years. That was many years ago! Today was a great renewal of our contact with them, but with that also came the saddest news we could ever hear. Their daughter died at 32 years old. What a shock! The Lord is bringing them through it and they are leaning on Him!

My thoughts jumped to my own children, I thought of Eric's blog about his children and I just paused and thanked God for our children and grandchildren and praised God for His gift of them to us!!! Hug your children today and if that is not possible, call them and tell them you love them.

Life is short and we need to use every minute wisely!

The death toll from a powerful cyclone that slammed into Myanmar was raised to more than 22,000 people on today. An additional 41,000 people were missing as a result of the cyclone. My connection with Myanmar is through a mission trip taken by the church I served before I came here, praying for a missionary who was there and connected with Southside and I believe Rusty Wheelington has been there. Through this and reading, I know that only 4% of the country are Christian. Most practice Buddhism. Using those figures, less than 1,000 of those killed were Believers.

As I read the account of the tornadoes here in the Midwest and the South, even the destruction in North Texas, and death associated my heart goes out to the people affected. When I read about death, the first thing that crosses my mind is, "did they know Jesus"? Next my mind jumps to the question, "what can I do"? Then God says pray. I am reminded of a verse most of us have memorized, Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose".

For Christians, this verse contains perhaps the most glorious promise in Scripture. It is almost breathtaking in its magnitude. It encompasses absolutely everything that pertains to a believer's life. But what about those who aren't Christians? The verse is not for them. What do we do? I believe that we pray for God to use these tragic happenings for others to come to Christ. We would probably be surprised if we knew how God used our moment of prayer.

So what can we do. PRAY and SHARE CHRIST WITH OTHERS.

Following what I have challenged those who attend Southside to do during the 61 Days of Faith I began the journey all over again to read Proverbs. These last 3 mornings as I began to read Proverbs over for the second time, I have wondered how the insights I wrote down from last month in my journal would be compared to this month. I am amazed as I go back and read what I recorded last month and how that they are so different. It shows me how God gives me different insights from the exact same Scripture. It shows me how the same Scripture can speak in different ways to me. His Word never changes, but His insights do. He gives me what I need when I need it! Oh the AMAZING WORD OF GOD!!! How I love it!

Proverbs

I pray that all who are reading in Proverbs are getting as much out of it as I am. This morning I read Proverbs 29 and one verse that caused me to praise the Lord for where He has brought me, not that I have arrived, but I have come so far. It also served as a reminder to keep before me. In my journal I wrote the following:

Verse 11, A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control. "This is what keeps me from losing it when things go wrong. Being called a fool by God got my attention and has kept it. I am thankful to God that He has brought me past loosing it when angry. I was a fool for so many years! Praise God for His forgiveness and deliverance!"

I think about where I was many years ago and how far God has brought me and what He has taught me. My anger was internal and expressed externally. I vented my anger at the expense of others. I remember many years ago reading this verse and it has stuck with me all these years. It was God telling me I was a fool. What a motivation!!! That got my attention and has kept it all these years and caused me to work on not venting anger. I began to read about anger and what it can do to a person, health wise. This verse had as much effect on me as if I had been a smoker and I read that it caused cancer. Excessive anger is worse than cancer. Anger causes marriage break ups, separates frinds & family, people are spending their lives in prison because of a moment of anger and the list is endless. All of this has keep this verse in my mind all these years.

I am thankful for all the teaching, the reminders and the wisdom of Proverbs and for the benefits from reading and applying it to my life. I just want to keep growing!

61 Days of Faith
Since I have encouraged those who attend Southside Church to read Proverbs each day for 61 days beginning April 1, I have been using this for my Quiet Time. It is the first time in several years that I have read Proverbs day by day. I have read a one here and there by the day of the month method we are using now, but not every day. In doing so now, it has been a joy for me and once again shows me that there is so much that I can apply to my life and make it easier. Reading Proverbs encourages me to to do as the title of my blog shows, I want to grow spiritually more and more. The more I grow in Him the more I want to grow! My Quiet Time and applying it to my life does help me to grow in Christ!

One day since I began reading proverbs stands out and I want to share it. This is part of what I wrote in my spiritual journal on April 14:

"As I read this morning, the dominate thought in my mind is to be all God wants me to be, by living according to the wisdom He gives me. I see several things to avoid in this Proverb that will give me longer life. I see the reason why God gave so much wisdom to live by in all of the Bible. I just need to apply all I know and learn! I pray that my children, grand children and their children would live by the wisdom that is found here in Proverbs as well as all of Scripture!

All of this just keeps reinforcing that the Bible is the Handbook For Life!" Thanks Lord for Your Word and how it guides me."

I put this in the e-letter this week What a joy it was to minister along side you Sunday afternoon at Sunset Terrace. As I understand there were 157 who registered for the door prizes and about 30 without name tags, so that is 187 people. There was about 80 Southside people! I was so excited to see all that took place Sunday afternoon. It was certainly an all church effort! As Senior Pastor, I want you to know what a joy and how proud I am to see everyone "pitching in" to make this happen, to see everyone working side by side, and to see you mingling with all the people and staying to clean up. On behalf of staff and the Missions Leadership team THANKS for all you did to make this ministry a success. There are so many to thank! For those who couldn't attend, but prayed, THANKS! From a personal note: As I stood with a group introducing myself, one child said, "I have one Daddy whose name is Jerry too, but he is in jail." She began to tell me why he is in jail. I put my hands on her head to comfort her and she put her arms around my waist and hugged me. It brought tears to my eyes and I could say no more. I could tell you about a hurting teenage girl who poured her heart out to Kim Porter and me and other ministry opportunities, but I am sure you had ministry opportunities also. Thank you for stepping out of faith and doing what God wanted you to do. Praise God for all that took place! In His Name,Pastor Jerry

I am thrilled to see Southside people have this much interest in missions. What a great turnout of our people and the people of Sunset Terrace! We have taken 2 international mission trips in the last 2 years. They were great and I am glad I got to be a part of both. Yet I am glad to see us do local missions as a church. Because we had so many people involved and seeing everyone work together made it special. I believe that the results will be know only in Heaven. Today in staff meeting, we talked of doing it again maybe this fall and how we could follow up between then and now. If you have any ideas let me know. Ministry like this makes me proud to be Pastor at Southside!