Today I had to host our booth at a community event called "Taste of the Hill". It was a food fair type event where restaurants representing different ethnic groups have booths to showcase their food. We usually put a booth at these events so the community sees our name and learn about our services.The original plan was for me to work the booth, and for mommy and daughter to enjoy the event and taste test all the foods. But after a while, my little girl said she'd rather help Daddy! So, I put one of our polo shirts on her (which became a full length skirt on her), gave her a stack of our brochures and she proceeded to stop every passerby and handed them one! I think by the end of the day, she gave out more brochures than anyone of us!! She became the magnet drawing people to our booth and gave me opportunites to chat with people about what we do. I think we might have stumbled upon a new marketing scheme here.... :-)
12 comments:
Alfred,
I "stumble" across your blog. Spent hours going over the blogs/comments. God bless. Church may disappoint you, but God never. Re-commit or re-connect your life to Him and let Him take the lead this time. He is a Good Shepherd. He loves you now and had been for the past 17 years.
amen to above.
: )
we miss you..
http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2008/10/06/devotion.aspx
October 6, 2008
Not Much In Between
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READ: Ephesians 3:14-21
That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. —Ephesians 3:19
In the western panhandle of Texas is a small town named Texline. It had an ostentatious beginning in the late 1800s as a thriving center along a new railroad line. Within a few years, though, most of the shops had closed and the town’s population shriveled to about 400. In 2000, the population was still just over 500.
One online description of Texline says that it has “a city limits sign at one end, another at the other end, and not much in between.”
What a waste if the same description could be given of our spiritual journey! The journey of the Christian life on earth begins at the moment of faith in Jesus and ends when the believer goes to be with the Lord. This raises an important question: What happens in between?
A rich and full life is available to all who believe in and serve Jesus. The apostle Paul prayed that believers would “be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19). He wanted them to know life “abundantly” (John 10:10). But how many of us experience even a small part of the abundant life Christ promised to those who are faithful to Him?
God desires to give us a marvelous beginning with salvation and a great ending in Glory—with much in between. — David C. Egner
Lord, thank You for all that You have done for me.
I commit myself to making the most of my spiritual journey.
I want to experience as much as I can of You and all
You have to offer to me. Amen.
A life given fully to God becomes a God-filled life.
Dear anonymous (x3):
Thank you for your kind words and well wishes. I often say that one thing I have learned is never to take kindness for granted. All three of you wrote out of kindness to me, and for that I truly thank you.
There are a couple of things that I think will be helpful for me to point out. In all fairness, my "disappointment" is not with the church as a whole. It is true that there are many things happening in the church today that I am not comfortable with. But by far, people from my own, I should say, my "old" church have been more than kind to me. My disappointment lies with the very few who made it painfully clear to me in so many words that they feel the church is better off without me. Or, perhaps more accurately, I am no longer "useful", or an "asset", or "good enough" for the church. On one hand, simple math tells me that 3 or 4 out of hundreds is not a bad ratio. Unfortunately those 3 or 4 happen to be people that I have literally entrusted my life to for most of my adult years.
I feel I need to clearly make that distinction. It will be grossly unfair and hurtful to those who had steadfastly remained my friends throughout this whole situation for me to say that I am "disappointed" with everyone associated with the church.
As far as "re-commiting" or "re-connecting" with God, it is NOT true that I became "dis-connected" with God because of what happened. My "feelings" about God is the same now as it has always been. I have simply chosen to be honest about it now. The first comment reminded me of a popular Christian song which contains the line: "Lead me on and I will run after you..." I feel as though that's all I have been doing all my "Christian life": Running after something...some call it "intimacy with God", some call it "authentic experience of God". Call it what you may, but I am done "running". If God wants me, he knows where I live.
Again, please don't let the somewhat "abrupt" tone of my remarks above lead you to think that I am reacting negatively to any of the three commenters. I appreciated the efforts to write, which were obviously driven by well intentions.
To the third comment above. Please forgive me when I say that those words ring awfully hollow to me.
have you ever apologized and fully repented to God?
I found the previous comment very condescending. None of us know exactly what Ah-Lam has gone through. His relationship with God is between God and him. It saddens me to see that professed Christians would show God's love and compassion to others in such a manner!
Listen to this:
"The Church: Who Needs It?"
http://www.insightforliving.com/3/ArchivePlayer.asp?id=1012010&date=9/24/2008
What do ya think?
Psalm 25
A Psalm of David.
1To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
2O my God, in You I trust,
Do not let me be ashamed;
Do not let my enemies exult over me.
3Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed;
Those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed.
4Make me know Your ways, O LORD;
Teach me Your paths.
5Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
For You I wait all the day.
6Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses,
For they have been from of old.
7Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
According to Your lovingkindness remember me,
For Your goodness' sake, O LORD.
8Good and upright is the LORD;
Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.
9He leads the humble in justice,
And He teaches the humble His way.
10All the paths of the LORD are lovingkindness and truth
To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.
11For Your name's sake, O LORD,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
12Who is the man who fears the LORD?
He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
13His soul will abide in prosperity,
And his descendants will inherit the land.
14The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him,
And He will make them know His covenant.
15My eyes are continually toward the LORD,
For He will pluck my feet out of the net.
16Turn to me and be gracious to me,
For I am lonely and afflicted.
17The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
Bring me out of my distresses.
18Look upon my affliction and my trouble,
And forgive all my sins.
19Look upon my enemies, for they are many,
And they hate me with violent hatred.
20Guard my soul and deliver me;
Do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in You.
21Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,
For I wait for You.
22Redeem Israel, O God,
Out of all his troubles.
To the last 2 commenters...
Thank you both for the effort of pulling together the link to the sermon and the Psalm. I would, however, much prefer to dialogue with you and interact with your words and thoughts. Writing and speaking are art forms, and as such by designed is meant to generate different understandings and responses from the audience. For instance, while a sermon may say certain things to you, it may communicate a totally different message to me. Same can be said about a piece of poetry like a Psalm. I say that simply to point out that while I appreciate the thought of sending me "a good word", it may not communicate what you want.
I don't think Alfred was trying not to re-connect with God or whatever. He had been burned out and depressed. He didn’t hear the voice of God and was desperate for sometime. It’s a shame that there was no help he could get. It could be possible that he never even thought about getting help because he was so busy and he had put the church business and other people’s needs before his own. At any rate, I think the whole matter is a very complicated one. I still believe that he is a person of integrity and that he believes in God. Don’t forget, he was once ordained to be a pastor at our church and God had heavily used him and a lot of people had been impacted! I think we should respect him in terms of time and space. His repentance is between him and God. Nobody should judge whether he’s repented or not. Who are we to judge anyway? We are human, and totally fallible!
Furthermore, clinical depression is an illness and things just don’t happen overnight. I’m very, very happy for Alfred to see him smiling with Taylor posing for the picture. It’s indeed the grace of God that he managed to move on instead of staying in the hurtful state, losing sleep and crying rivers over some bad memories......
Should pray for all the pastors. There are a quite a few pastors who have been shot down by the evil one.....
Sibling Wannabe
For the person who wrote about repentence and making apologies....let me just say that it's people like you who gives Christians a bad name, and why some choose to stay away from the church...to be away from self-righteous folks that only know how to judge.
it's interesting that a simple question like "have you fully repented" can stir up so much controversy. it's interesting that people read it like it was a voice of accusation. the question was actually sent out of love and concern...concerned that alfred still feels so angry.
when one requests for forgiveness, God gives it and restores an individual. when we've experienced that love, how can we be so angry at others anymore?
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