While many of you get up to an awesome Christmas morning filled with Joy, Peace and Happiness I will be laying down in my bed watching CNN and reflecting on the family I don’t have. I will once again ask God why this must be the life He has chosen for me to live and for the 13th year in a row He will yet again respond, “My son, I love you, I am proud of you, but where I’m taking you –you must learn not to lean on anyone for help but me. I want you to myself; I want you not to feel completed by anyone else but me. For I have giving you life –for I have kept you, and no one can take you from my PERFECT love. Trust me my son, no one can ever love you the way I do. I am yours and you are mine. No one can snatch you from my hands. I am jealous for you. I am Jehovah Shammah.” And once again I will respond in tears and in joy because the words of affirmation from a Father are better than silver and gold.
All this brings me to my final thoughts, as believers “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” –James 1:7 my question becomes, how are you making a difference and impacting the world today? Pastor Doug Sauder from Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale proposed this question, “Can one person really make a difference in the world? The answer is a resounding YES!” Take a look at Jesus, Moses, Paul, David, Joseph, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., or
Maybe you’ve heard this story before. A young boy walking along the beach throws a starfish back into the ocean. An older man approaches the boy and asks him what he was doing. The young boy replies that he is saving the starfish brought by the tide. The older man looks up the beach and sees thousands of starfish and asks what possible difference this effort could make. The young boy smiles as he throws another starfish into the surf, and says,
“It matters to this one.”
“We all have the power to make a difference for one person. Our seemingly insignificant impact on a problem can have a great impact on a single individual. But I believe this story contains a veiled, more dominant message. It is the inspiration of the one factor. The boy throwing back a starfish can inspire thousands to do the same. Small becomes BIG. One becomes thousands…” -Pastor Doug Sauder.
WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING TO DO?...
For Michael and Ivey Ketterer (Worship Leader within United Pursuit Band) was adopting 5 incredible children and one is a Special Needs child with an incredible BIG heart on top of the awesome young lady they already had. To Ivey it was "Living out my dream of being a world changer. I was made to be a world change so I started with 5 boys who had a hard future ahead of them." | For Karriyma Bintu-Raqib (A Broward College Student) was loving them. "I really loved interacting with the kids and just making them laugh. Also, I feel like I can relate to those kids because I was them at one point. My mom used to go to single parents events at Calvary and they'd watch over me and I also went to Big Brothers Big Sisters! So, it was just awesome to play with them, pray with them, and just be an older sister and a positive example" | For "Me" (Former Foster Kid who was born in the System) Is, serving twice a month at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale within Family Ministries. Once the doors are open i engage with about 20-40 kids who have been abused, neglected or abandon or kids who just come from a single parent home. But telling each of them how much I love them, expressing the perfect love of Jesus Christ and teaching them the right way brings Joy to my heart. I know their pain, I know. |
"A simple guy living a BOLD life for Christ" -Francisco Nelson
Important Links:
http://www.calvaryftl.org/ministries/family/
http://www.calvaryftl.org/ministries/big-brothers/
http://www.4kidsofsfl.org/
http://www.childnet.us/portal/