Bono

I was listening to Focus on the Family on the radio this morning while weeding in the yard. They interviewed Bono. I had no idea he was such a committed Christian! I'm a new fan! One of the things that I really liked that he said was, "A minister once said to me, "you have to quit asking God to bless the things you are doing and start doing the things He's doing because they are already blessed!"

He also appears to know the Bible inside out!

Do Hard Things

For the past 3 days I’ve been listening to a program on Focus on the Family Do the Hard Things about twins, Alex and Brett Harris who wrote the book Do Hard Things.

They are so articulate and so Godly, you would never know they are only 20 years old. They basically are challenging teens to use the teen years as a launch pad to life, not a vacation from responsibility; and they use Bible scripture and real stories about teens from history and also the present day to inspire.

I am obviously not a teen, but one thing they said today spoke right to me. In a question and answer session a girl asked “How do you know when to give up? That it might not be what God’s plan is for you because it’s not happening?”

And one of the young men said, “Seek preparedness not opportunity. Do everything to the best of your ability. Press on. Be faithful in the little things.”

I’ve been waiting and watching for years for something big – speaking outside of my church, writing that book I want to (I even have a title!) and I keep getting drawn into more and more volunteer work through my church: doing the service at a local nursing home, teaching one and subbing for other Sunday school classes, leading a devotion, press releases for the church, serving on church council, being on a district committee, helping with Wednesday night suppers, helping with the youth, leading a 32 week Bible study…

Until I heard him say that today it was driving me a little crazy! All these little things were taking up all my time. How could I ever do anything big? Everybody asks me to do little things, why doesn't someone open the door to something big?

But “seek preparedness not opportunity. Do everything to the best of your ability. Press on. Be faithful in the little things.” If we have an audience of One and He is the one we want to please: then this makes perfect sense!

Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council

My husband and I went to hear Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, speak at Lake View Baptist Church this morning. I’ve heard him often on Focus on the Family, but it was a treat to see and hear him in person.

He was in Hickory for a Pastor’s seminar (tomorrow) where they are expecting 207 pastors. He says it’s time for churches to take a stand because our nation isn’t heading in a good direction. The church needs to move into intercessory prayer to beseech Heaven to move and have mercy on our country.

He told how President Eisenhower’s administration added “One nation under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 and the same administration added “In God we Trust” to our coins two years later. He said everyone rallied around doing it because we were in the midst of a cold war against Russian, an atheist nation, and we wanted to make it clear we were on God’s side – that there was a difference between the US and Russia.

He went on to say, we are now facing an even worse foe and we are taking God out of our country. Doesn’t sound too smart to me!

Here’s The Family Research Council’s site: http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?c=ABOUT_FRC

They are doing good work.