Pics from Ethiopia

Was supposed to share these through Delivering Hope but am currently in Pike County Ohio and forgot the info to get into the site so this is my attempt to share what pics I've seen so far through this site.  Hope everyone can see them okay, enjoy, and may Dad continue to bless you all richly!

 Drew and Jaime with some of our Ethiopian family

 Cole in Ethiopia

A mother and her child that our sister Gretchen gave some candy to

 Jaime with one of our Ethiopian brothers

 The groom of the Ethiopian wedding they attended

The bride

Delivering Hope Homeless Outreach: May 26, 2011

We can make plans, but Dad’s purpose will prevail…..Proverbs 19:21

Thus went this particular evening of family business in Chillicothe, Ohio.  We always tell others if you are looking to be a part of a predictable ministry, what we do may not be for you.  However, if you want to be a part of an awesome movement of Dad, come join us!  And this evening was proof positive of that. 

We began in the parking lot of the brown building where we always meet.  Since my wife Liz, sister Jaime, and others of my brothers and sisters are currently in Ethiopia, my brother Jeff and sister Brooke met us here and took my boys for the evening, and I thank them for that. 

Dad’s agenda began to trump ours when my brother Lee and I arrived thinking he and I would probably be the only two going out this evening.  Instead, Dad had prompted four of our sisters, Jami, Catherine, Kelly, and Shannon to join us.  It was great to meet you all, thanks for coming, and you were a true blessing on one of our most awesome evenings thus far. 

After praying as a family in the lot, we headed to Charleston Pike to the woods.  For nearly three months, we’ve consistently went to this sight for someone is camping there who we’ve never met.  For nearly three months, we’ve kept leaving a bag of food there in a tree that someone keeps getting.  And for nearly three months, we’ve consistently introduced ourselves to the woods with the greeting, “Hello?  Is anyone there?” with the woods remaining silent. 

On this evening though, the woods responded back!  This evening, the woods introduced us to a brother of ours named Bob.  He was accompanied by an enemy who hates him and, as a result, had equipped him with a rather large and heavy spiritual back pack full of the pieces of his shattered life, and two large bottles of Cobra to ease the burden. 

By Dad’s grace though, in the name of big brother Jesus, we laughed, cried, and prayed with our brother.  On his behalf, we hog-tied the enemy and helped him begin to empty the garbage in his back pack so Dad could refill it with some food, clothing, and a portrait of Bob as His son whom He loves and in whom He is well pleased. 

From there, we then went to the Blue House where we have developed intimate family relationship with brothers and sisters of ours like Jennifer, Cheyenne, and Danny.  We’ve gotten to know these brothers and sisters so well that we’ve started an extremely informal, yet awesome, Dad-filled small group with them while there.

Having encountered our brother Bob in the woods set us back a bit on when we normally arrive here.  Dad was already there though as Jennifer, Cheyenne, and Danny has already began conducting family time with Him before we got there, which is awesome and what all this is really all about.  By the time we arrived, we did manage to talk a bit about the centurion’s faith, and in that faith we, the Blue House crew, prayed for our brothers and sisters currently serving in Ethiopia. 

Finally, we arrived at our last stop to visit our brothers Greg and Brandon who run a men’s shelter for some of our other homeless brothers.  They had a full house on this particular evening so the ribs and barbecue sauce Lee and I brought, combined with the abundance of men’s clothing and other supplies our sisters brought, was a welcome blessing.

Sound like an awesome evening of blessed family business?  Then join us one evening and don’t feel like you have to come out every time if you can only do it sometimes. 

With that, if you are reading this and either aren’t in a relationship with Dad or aren’t sure of the status of your relationship, please click here, read, reflect, and respond as led to.  If you have any questions, comments, or need more info concerning anything here or on the site, please respond either here, via email, or on face book privately or publicly.  If you make any decisions in response to anything in this article or the site, please feel free to share as led to.  With that, may Dad continue to bless you all richly!

Blue House Fellowship: May 19, 2011

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the UNFORCED RHYTHMS OF GRACE. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.....Matthew 11:28-30

And these unforced rhythms of grace were experienced last evening as we witnessed the religious chains of God being a task-master, fall off in exchange for the embrace of Him being Dad.  He’ll never give us a load too heavy to bear without being there to shoulder it.  He’ll never give us anything ill-fitting for His rules are for our benefit, not restriction.  And in the end, He took the 600+ link chain of law that man forged, and whittled it down to one: Love Dad through loving each other! 

That’s my King! ..... That’s my Dad!

With that, if you are reading this and either aren’t in a relationship with Dad or aren’t sure of the status of your relationship, please click here, read, reflect, and respond as led to.  If you have any questions, comments, or need more info concerning anything here or on the site, please respond either here, via email, or on face book privately or publicly.  If you make any decisions in response to anything in this article or the site, please feel free to share as led to.  With that, may Dad continue to bless you all richly!

Three Bags Full

Then Dad will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.  For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.  I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me."

Then these righteous ones will reply, "Dad, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink?  Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing?  When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?"

And Dad will say, "I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my children, you were doing it to me!".....Matthew 25:34-40

Music for Meditation

For anyone interested, enclosed are three links to where Dad has my family and I conducting family business as of late and I have added these links to the left of this site for future reference:

Love INC

Homes of Hope

Delivering Hope

With that, if you are reading this and either aren’t in a relationship with Dad or aren’t sure of the status of your relationship, please click here, read, reflect, and respond as led to.  If you have any questions, comments, or need more info concerning anything here or on the site, please respond either here, via email, or on face book privately or publicly.  If you make any decisions in response to anything in this article or the site, please feel free to share as led to.  With that, may Dad continue to bless you all richly!

Herd Fellowship in the Blue House

Pastor Tom of the Grove City Vineyard recently shared a message on May 8, 2011 about genuine fellowship.  He described it as sort of a herd mentality, like a herd of cows, all mooin, snortin, and such, all up in one another’s business, chaotic, but with a genuine beauty to it.  That’s what genuine fellowship is, that’s what my wife prayed we’d experience at our first small group gathering tonite at the Blue House…..and that’s what occurred!

The place we’ve officially coined as The Blue House is a somewhat run down blue building located under the overpass on the corner of Bridge and Main in Chillicothe, Ohio.  In it resides approximately 20-25 otherwise homeless people, primarily veterans, and Dad has blessed us with the opportunity to hang with them. 

With that, five of us conducted the first Dad-ordained gathering at the blue house.  This gathering involved two women and three men, of which one of the men was about half-lit, but engaging and in search of and in love with Dad nonetheless.

Our attempted goal this evening was to discuss Psalm 150:6 about letting everything that has breath praise Dad…..and we did!  Most of the time there was two or three dialogues or trialogues going on at one time.  It was chaotic, but beautiful!  We even managed to briefly discuss the designated Scripture and concluded by praying together that Dad would continue to empower us to praise Him even during the chaotic times in our lives…..just seemed appropriate;-)

We devoted ourselves to continuing to praise Him no matter how chaotic life gets, and tonite we did just that!  Tonite, a small band of Dad’s children performed genuine herd-like fellowship with one another, for Him.

With that, if you are reading this and either aren’t in a relationship with Dad or aren’t sure of the status of your relationship, please click here, read, reflect, and respond as led to.  If you have any questions, comments, or need more info concerning anything here or on the site, please respond either here, via email, or on face book privately or publicly.  If you make any decisions in response to anything in this article or the site, please feel free to share as led to.  With that, may Dad continue to bless you all richly!

Yard Selling Liz to Ethiopia

Liz and her sister Sara are having a yard sale on May 14, 2011 from 9am to 5pm at 6901 Crescent Boat Lane, Canal Winchester, Ohio 43110.  All proceeds from this go to sending Liz to Ethiopia from May 25 to June 4.....So please stop in and check it out, purchase to help out, and continue to pray.  You can also donate to the cause through the button to the right to send Liz to Ethiopia.  Thanks and may Dad continue to bless you all richly!:-)

A Love Letter

Dear brother or sister,

You are receiving this because God (aka: Dad) loves you and so do we.  Dad is the invisible, but very real, creator of everything and everyone, including you, and he created you to both love you and be loved by you. 

He created you to have a perfect love relationship with him, which includes the freedom to be or not to be in the relationship.  If you are currently not in a relationship with him or not sure if you are, and have ever done anything wrong you know you shouldn’t have done (we all have), that is the reason you are currently not in a relationship with him and there is nothing you can do yourself to change that. 

Fortunately though, Dad can do something about it, and did!  He loves you so much, He sent one of our brothers, Jesus, to show us how to live the best life possible.  Jesus then died for us for everything we’ve done that separates us from Dad.  Three days later though, Dad brought him back to life as a promise that if we simply believe all this whether we fully understand it or not, and live our lives as best we can as proof of our belief, that He will do the same for us once we die here as well.

If as you read this, you believe all this, then welcome back to the family!  If you want your restored relationship with Dad to grow, then talk to him every day, listen as he talks to you, read his book every day known as the Bible to learn how to recognize his voice more, and then do what he invites you to be a part of. 

One of the best ways to get better at doing all this is to hang out with some of our other brothers and sisters attempting to do the same.  Maybe we are the ones you’d like to hang out with.  If so or if you’d like more information concerning this letter, let us know. 

Love,

Dad and your brothers and sisters