One Baby Changes the World

Have you ever slowed down to take in the sights and sounds of the Holiday season leading up to the big night of Christmas eve and Christmas day? There is something peaceful about the night during this glorious season. Take some time out and go out for a walk, maybe to your downtown square. Walk in any neighborhood, you will see all sorts of Christmas decorations and lights. On a clear night, the white lights can almost seem to blend right into the night sky. I love the night sky in December. It is so crisp, clean and bright. When I am walking or driving around looking at the lights all lit up, I have this peace come about me, a sort of stillness. And yet a rejuvenation that comes about me. Something stirs inside of me, I feel like God is wrapping his arms around me and giving me a big hug, reminding me that everything is ok. The lights remind me of the story of Jesus, the second Trinity, who gave up his supernatural being to come dwell among us, to walk with us and to be our light, to show us the way. To clear the path, to cleanse us. He could have come to us as a Thirty year old, sort of like just appearing in the flesh, but no, He had to go through a whole cycle, from birth to adulthood. I don’t think we would understand or be able to handle it if it were any other way.

Isn’t it amazing how one baby, born in the poorest and filthiest of conditions can come into this World and turn it complete upside down? Because of this one baby, we are given a purpose, we are given life, we are taught how to love, how to share, how to see the World in a different perspective, and how to put others before self by loving our neighbors. We are given things that I may never be able to grasp. But I do know that because of this birth, I am saved. I will never be alone, and as long as others listen I will share God’s gift to me with others.

Natalie Grant sings a song called I Believe. It is a beautiful song about Baby Jesus. This is part of the song: “Precious Child how can it be that God’s great plan for history would send you to a lonely tree that you would come for one like me? I believe in a cross, I believe He came for one He came for all. Heaven’s Child became a man gave His life for me in spite of all I am, I believe, I believe Christmas lives in me, I believe.

This Holiday season, I beg you to slow down. Take in the sights and sounds. Search for Him, see if you can really find Christ in Christmas. Give someone a hug. Give your neighbor a plate of cookies. Hand write a Christmas card and give it to someone who has done something for you in your life. Go caroling even if you sing off key. Share your faith with someone else. Smile to the casher, if they have a name tag on, address them by their name. Drink coffee or Hot Chocolate with a friend or family member that you feel disconnected to. And most importantly, do not forget to worship the one who loves you more than anything else on this earth. Let this be a Christmas full of joy.

Christmas and the Giving Spirit

This holiday season you will be approached by many organizations with their hand stuck out wishing to be a part of your giving spirit. Many organizations will send out appeal letters suggesting you make an end of year donation for tax benefits. Others will send out letters showing desperation of need, tugging at your inner emotions that are already running high simply because that is what we do this time of year. There’s something about Christmas that tends to make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. We tend to get a little too into the spirit of giving and we tend to be a little less tight with the ole pocketbook in other words we spend too much money and put ourselves into deeper trouble than we were before the holidays came. If we were good stewards of our God given gifts we might be more apt to be in the Christmas spirit of giving year round. ..

So what does stewardship mean? I looked up the definition of the word on dictionary.com and here is what it said: stewardship is a person who manages another's property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others. We are all stewards for God; Jesus tells us that everything on Earth is God’s. So according to the definition of steward we are the managers of God’s stuff. It all belongs to God, our talents, treasures, gifts; knowledge God blesses us with so many gifts. All he asks us to do is to be good managers of his stuff. When you are a good steward, you worry about best fruits to go to God first.
God puts resources in our lives and we do not use as suggested, are we ripping off God, how do we rob God? We do it every day. We tend to put off giving; oh I forgot to write a check out before I left the house for church. I will get it next week, and then the next thing you know a month goes by and you have not given your first fruits to God. Excuses are easier to do than to stick to a plan. The government has it right, automatically take out the taxes owed before you even get a chance to make up an excuse. Shouldn’t God be the same way.No. We should love God over state. He dosent care if you give once a month, once a quarter or even once a year, as long as you are giving from the heart, and you are giving routinely. Should we tithe? Yes, we are instructed to do so in the bible. What doesn’t matter is how much it is about the devotion. In 2nd Corinthians 9:6-9 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times; having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” What we learn is that the giver should be cheerful, the giver should give regularly, and the giving amount should be felt…”Sacrificial giver”

So let’s take a look at stewardship again. “One who manages another’s property or financial affairs” how do we go about being a good steward? I think the following should be considered before giving a dime to any organization or church or individual:

Things to know before you Give
1. Is the ministry Biblically faithful?
2. Is the ministry lead by qualified leaders? Should not give resources to church or ministry that does not have qualified biblical leaders…Are they competent? Are they doing their Job efficiently?
3. Is the ministry well organized in using stewardship of money? Outside Council and accountability
a. Do you appreciate qualified competent leadership?
b. Do you see yourself as a steward to support our ministry with your God given gift?
c. Do you give your first fruits? First and best
4. Does the organization or person tithe?
5. How is the organization or person doing financially? What is the average giver amount? And the number of people that have given to the organization this year?
6. How can you give? Money, Gifting
7. How much should I tithe? 2 Corinthians 8 and 9
a. Is it regular
b. Sacrificial - according to Paul Sacrificial giving doesn't have to hurt but need to feel it
c. Giving is to be cheerful - the only way to be cheerful is to see Jesus…Jesus is a giver

To sum up everything, this Christmas season you will be asked for money for different reasons from different people. I ask you to think about the organizations, do your research before giving a dime. Search your heart, does the group fit into your lifestyle and beliefs? Once you have a sound mind I ask you to please give with a cheerful heart, and consider giving year round not just once during Christmas because you are feeling joyous and are in a giving mood.

Notes from Sunday Morning talk

Good morning Grace Church, wow what a short journey it has already been. I am proud to announce that God is alive and strong in Honduras. Many many great things have happened this past year, two name a couple, Mercy International established our first church building in Agua Caliente, not only is it our first church in the mountains, it will be our staging area to send teams further into the mountains to reach the unreached. No one else has such an incredible in to the territory we call Opalaca Mountains. We want to take you on a journey with us to the Opalaca Mountains.

“When you sit back with a good cup of coffee you are engulfed in the aroma, the taste, the acidity, and body of the brew. You take in all the dimensions of the cup – yet this is only the surface. Swirling beneath are worlds within worlds of culture, custom, ecology, and politics. All of the major issues of the twenty-first century – globalization, immigration, women’s rights, pollution, indigenous rights, and self-determination – are being played out through this cup of coffee in villages and remote areas around the world. The coffee trade is immense, second only to that of oil in its value. It is also complex, with several levels of middlemen removing the 28 million growers in fifty distant countries far from the ultimate consumers, far from this cup.”

“Not all coffee growers look like Juan Valdez, a Latin male with a big moustache and a smile, dressed in clean white linen. Coffee farmers come in all shapes and sizes, colors, and genders. There are coffee growers from all Christian persuasions and from an abundance of indigenous religions, as well as Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. There is even a coffee-growing community of Black Jews in Uganda. Underlying the various coffee cultures are profoundly different understanding of the dance of good and evil, of communal responsibility and personal freedom –Yet what they all share are the common dreams of good health, love, food on their table an education for their kids and a great sense of humor.” – from The book JavaTrekker

That is where we come into play. In the Opalaca Mountains is a very unique simple minded group of people called the Lenca Indians. Mercy International was the first group to reach out and go to them, now we have three pastors living among them. And that is only the beginning. We have a dream that one day we will not have to hike 5 hours to get to the first village in the mountains. There is already a road being cut into the mountains, this road will help us get to our base camp faster and help assist in getting food and materials to the villagers we work with. We have a dream that we will never have to hike a near starved family out of the mountains to get them nutrition and medical care. We dream that one day we will have a church run by local pastors in every village in the mountains. We dream that one day the Lenca women will be educated and will not have to rely on a drunken man, and we dream that the boys will grow up to be Godly men, not cowards who abuse there women and children, and finial we have a dream that one day we will not be needed in the Opalaca Mountains, and we will be able to set our sights on the next location in need of God’s blessing and love. All of this can take place because of this one cup of coffee .

How are we going to achieve these goals? First off, I would like to invite you to our Friday night celebration, we will be celebrating Opalaca Gold Coffee in style. During this celebration we will be sharing with you more information about Opalaca Gold coffee and the people who grow this unique coffee. For this event we have partnered with World Garden a new restaurant opening this week in Bentonville. 20% of the evenings profits will go directly back to Mercy International for future investments with the Lenca Farmers of Opalaca Gold.

Secondly we understand what is laid out before us and we know that it is not a plan designed for one or two people to be involved in. We need you, we need your skills, your creativity, your willingness, your prayers and your financial support for the long haul.

To start with, we want you to know we take our biblical commandments seriously, we are commanded to tithe just like everyone else, so we take and budget out our first fruits and tithe regularly, we support a church in Honduras as well as here, we also are in the market and praying about supporting another missionary. Next we want to give you a breakdown of our financial donors, YTD we have had 52 people give donations directly to our ministry. Of that we have 6 people pledge to support us on a monthly basis. We are running short $700 a month. We are in need of additional monthly supporters. One additional note, most of the farmers that we work with in Honduras speak Spanish, my Spanish is very poor and I am in need of going to Language school for a very long time as Ellen our Spanish tutor can contest, which costs a lot of money, however, I am lucky my wife is learning Spanish much faster than me and will not require near the training that I need. All of that to say, Language School is not part of our monthly operating budget and will require additional capital for us to attend. If you would like to know more about Mercy International, our Friday night celebration or would like to discuss our budget in detail please contact me or Corbett.

Bitterness is a poison

Bitterness is a poison! Unfortunately it runs ramped and is fueled by pride. By the way Pride is the root of all evil and sin in my book. I have recently been down and out and dealing with a lot of pride type issues. I just haven’t been myself lately and couldn’t quite put my finger on the pulse of what was actually going on.

As always when I get down and out I find myself wanting to go walking in the woods. I have done this type of self therapy off and on for years. Any time my cosmic waves were not in line, which seems like daily, I would find myself wanting to go off into the wilderness to think, and pray and get right with God. Usually during these adventures which are what they usually end up being, I would find myself near water. Of course living in the Ozarks this is not too difficult to do. Not too long ago while studying the bible, I had a revelation. God wants us to get away from the hustle bustle of our everyday lives. Throughout the bible God sent people into the wilderness, when they were gone, God would talk to them and reveal to them things that were important. Jesus went into the Wilderness for 40 days, when he came back he started his ministry. The wilderness is a special place in my heart that I do not take lightly. I am not saying that God will not talk to you unless you go out into the wilderness where all the bugs and snakes are, I am sure God will talk to you on the concrete floors of inner city wherever. I think the main point is to remove yourself from your comfortable surroundings and remove distractions. I have found when I do this; I can hear God more clearly. He is always there and always guiding, I just do not always hear, I am too busy doing and not busy listening. That is why I have found it such an important time for me to go get lost in the wilderness. I remove all distractions and get busy with God.

So here lately, I have been very busy with ministry, doing ministry stuff that I have not been getting busy with God. I have been busy trying to do God stuff without God in the mix. When this happens, the gateway for demonic stuff floods in. This is why I have been in a funk lately. The flood gates have been open, and I have not looked for God to shut the gates. My biggest sin that has crept in lately is bitterness. I have always been the one who works my tail off to get things done, and feel like I am just getting buy as well as meeting my family’s needs. Lately I have witnessed others getting things done with little visible work. This of course frustrates the fire out of me, and makes me want to cry out why Lord, why do I do the things I do to get a little when I see others doing little and get a lot. Of course this is selfishness and bitterness. Yea go ahead and throw pride into the mix as well. To be filling like this I am defiantly not walking with the Lord nor is that Honoring God.

So I decided I was going to study bitterness, it was consuming me and I needed it to stop. After spending a couple of days in quite time I was able to piece it together. Once I knew why I was bitter, I needed to understand bitterness better and needed to know how to get over it. In Hebrews I learned that love keeps no record of wrong but bitterness will only dwell from within and fester up and magnify itself until it controls our thoughts and starts controlling our actions. In Hebrews we are told that bitterness is a dangerous root and further more it is poisonous. It is like a disease, like a cancer that can spread throughout the body. One bitter person can take down an entire room full of happy people. It is part of the demonic effects the disease has on humans. In my studies I came across 5 qualities of a bitter person. 1. A bitter person tends to justify their bitterness. 2. They tend to be overly critical of self and or of others. 3. They secretly hope for miss-fortunes of others and when miss-fortunes happen they celebrate them. 4. If one person of a group of people offend, the bitter person can write off the entire group of people that person belongs to. Lets say you are Republican and you do not like the way Bush ran things. So you become bitter and you tend to want to write off the entire Republican Party. Another example would be for a woman to be hurt by one man and to say all men are evil because of the one. 5. Bitter people tend to struggle to see bitterness in the mirror. Lucky for myself, I was able to detect the bitterness that I was dealing with and was able to ask myself the questions needed to fix the problem “With whom and or what am I bitter about? Once I found out the underlying bitterness, I am able to get down to work on resolving my issues. So how do I fix my bitterness? I looked to Ephesians 4:31 there I was told what to do: 31”Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice”. And when you read on to verse 32”Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you”. I am told to forgive the same way Christ forgave us. So sure that sounds easy, to sum it up with two words we can kill the root of bitterness “With Forgiveness” So the question to really ask is, are we carrying around empty baggage that we needed to get rid of long ago. Once the incident happened we need to let it go. If an abuser lays a hand on me, at that moment even though I do not want to I need to forgive him. If I do not release the incident to God, I will allow him to continue to lay a hand on me and continue to violate me in my mind. Out of that grows resentment that turns into hatred that turns into sin that makes us as bad as the one who sins against us.

To remove bitterness is a process, that has to take time. Even if you don’t want to do it, to start, try saying I forgive during your prayer time. Continue to do this over and over. Build on your forgiveness just as we are commanded to do in the bible. To totally end our bitterness we need a deep spiritual cleansing of God. And if that is not enough I then pulled out Mathew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive others 1 their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 6:15 But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins.” That pretty much summed it up for me, “if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins.” I do not want to go down that way. One last quote from the bible on bitterness comes from Proverbs 14:10 “Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy.” This last one was for me, I was suffering from bitterness from within, no one else shared my bitterness, it is mine only mine, I am to blame and only I can fix with Gods help. Welcome to the road to healing wellness. The long journey that is settled between myself and God. I am so glad that God is slow to anger. I would be in a lot of trouble.

Origins of Halloween

In my quest to find out more about the history of Halloween, I came across this article. This is helps answer my question about Halloween as to where it came from. I also found that trick or treating started in the 19th century. It is believed to have started when the poor would go door to door after harvest asking for food in exchange for a prayer for the souls in each house. They called it souling. Now days it is just another holiday the corporate giants are taking advantage of for a quick buck. What would it be like if we still went door to door and started praying for the souls in each house? Hmmm I wonder if the political races would have a different kind of tone?
I got the article below from History.com

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.
The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

Trust in Papa

The plan of God verses the plan of Man, who is going to win? Who do you think? Why do we as humans try to out play, out guess, outwit, and even go as far as lie to the one and only one who created all of us, you, me, the dog that is barking down the street, the birds flying in the sky, and the trees that are changing colors. I have been thinking about several incidents lately where I thought I was better. I thought I could do it on my own, on my terms. Funny thing is I am slowly learning that I should not test, nor play against the creator yet I continue to challenge.

I have heard of countless stories of where God provided after someone did some sort of action that favors God. Of course lately I am hearing of stories and being reminded of stories that involve money. I heard a pastor speak recently talking about money and tithing. When he was in his twenties, his wife was wanting them to start tithing, he didn’t think that college students could tithe, she of course being the better of the two heard God say tithe One Hundred dollars, he said no, she said yes, she won, they tithed out of obedience. That very next day in their small apartment, a One hundred dollar bill showed up on their doorstep. Out of the blue, the money didn’t even have a note with it. Is this an impossible occurrence? No, I have had the opportunity to live the story, as well as heard others tell about similar stories. When I was in my twenties, I was down to my last three dollars, I went to church and had a conviction come over me, usually I would put whatever change I have in my pocket into the collection plate, that is, if I knew that I had more stashed away somewhere else. On this particular day, I only had three dollars to my name. I felt moved to put the money into the offering plate. To go a little more into the story, I was out of gas in my car, no food at my apartment and no job, however, I did have an interview the next day, however wasn’t sure how I would get there, remember no gas in the car. Well, as you already know, I put the money in the offering tray, scared to death, but prayed to God, to help me, I released all of my troubles to Him, I didn’t ask for a solution, but knew that I needed to walk in obedience. At that time it was putting the money into the offering plate and placing my total faith into his hands, in other words surrendered my pride…The day after I put the three dollars in the offering tray, I received my income tax return check. I do not remember how much it was, but it was more than a hundred fold, as God promises. When you remove your pride and give up your offering to God, He will provide, it may be monetary value, it may be knowledge, whatever it is take it, and share your story with others. Make sure pride doesn’t get into the way.

Halloween is not just for kids anymore

One of my favorite holidays is Halloween. Growing up it was a time that I could dress up as something that I wasn’t. Some years I was a serious super hero, Batman, Spiderman, or Superman. I remember how much fun it was to dress up as a Superhero or Villain with a cape…man was I cool. Then I started getting a little bit older, the superhero thing just wasn’t as cool anymore, I had to be something grotesque. Thanks to horror movies, there were plenty of inspirations out there. I was a soldier that looked like death warmed over, a pumpkin head, a vampire; a farmer that looked like the mower ran over and lost an arm, and an evil scarecrow. As I continued to get older the costumes got more intense as makeup was introduced into the lineup. O what fun a teenage boy could have with makeup and not get made fun of. Of course it had to be grotesque and all, but still makeup. I did try one year to be a boy taking a shower in a shower; it wasn’t the easiest costume to wear. (I think the idea came from the Karate Kid).


And then one year…It wasn’t cool to dress up anymore…for a few years at least, then began the adult Halloween parties. It’s the one night of the year that grown-ups can dress up as any fantasy they want and have their persona excepted.


Go shopping in a Halloween store. You will see just as many adult costumes as kids. It is a perfect escape from the adult humdrum. Is it really ok for a grown adult to dress up in a costume and stay at home for kids coming by for trick or treating? I think that is a little extreme and a bit scary itself.


Many businesses hold Halloween office parties and allow, if not encourage, their employees to wear costumes to work as part of the Halloween spirit, at times they even reward this type of behavior. Two or three times I took part of this, even though it felt weird, work is suppose to be a professional place, especially when it is a corporate office. None the less, my team decide they were going to dress up together and as a team. So the first year we dressed up we went as the Adam’s Family, yours truly dressed as Gomez, and yes we had cousin it and Fester too. The guy who did Fester actually shaved his head for the costume, now that is extreme. I know that there were pictures taken, lucky for me I can not find any. We did make a great family, even the judges thought so, we placed first in our division


But most of all, it has also become a social event for donning their costumes and heading to Halloween parties. Whether at someone's home, local night clubs or the office, just about everyone enjoys the Halloween festivities. The most popular years are when Halloween falls on either a Friday or Saturday for obvious reasons.


While traditionally filled with ghouls, goblins, ghost and other scary characters, Halloween night is also a very sexy holiday. Costumes portraying enchanting Witches and seductive Vampires are always a great choice, and let us not forget the Mistress of the Dark herself, Elvira. Its also a perfect time for couples to dress up together as anything they want to be from a Mad Scientist and Nurse to a Playboy and his Bunny, the possibilities seem endless! Every year you'll find new versions of Halloween costumes, from very sexy witch costumes to nurses, firewomen, pirates, you name it! Just as anything else we do, we go to the extreme. Each year has to top the previous year, the sicker the better, the sexier the better, the more risky the better.
And why not, Halloween is the one time of the year that almost anything goes, allowing people to live out fantasies, if only for this one night.


The social freedom of Halloween gives people who are normally stressed out and/or emotionally restrained a chance to "let loose", get spooky, scary, naughty and even sexy without being judged. It's simply an assumed persona for a night of celebration.


Every year more adults are dressing in costumes for their Halloween festivities. According to a 2005 Halloween Online survey, more than seventy-five percent of adults who participate in Halloween are going to wear a costume as part of their Halloween merrymaking.


So what I want to know is where is the Christian costumes, Christians dress up in their religious t-shirts throughout the year. Why do you not see religious themed costumes, maybe they are out there and I have just missed them. After all isn’t Halloween really a Christian Holliday?


I do not remember what the percentage of people in the United States say they are Christians, if they truly were, and truly followed the Laws set forth by Papa and confirmed by Jesus. I do not think that they would partake in Halloween. I am pretty sure they would not dress up as witches, demons and evil angels. Here is what the saddest part is, I am sure that very few of these festive goers will repent, or even think about Papa, no Instead they will let their alter-ego take charge and have fun. And then go to church on Sunday as if nothing happened. I know that I am one of those hypocrites.

So this is where I am led to, Halloween traditionally has been one of my favorite holidays. However I really do not understand what is really behind the whole holiday, the good verses bad. So I am setting out to research and find out more about it. Until the truth is unturned be safe and enjoy the fall festivities.

Oct. 1 Family Update

Hello everyone! We hope you are having a great Fall.

Well, our 50 States in 50 days "goal of completion" is just a few weeks away – and we have a long way to go. We have heard from several of you (some of you are receiving your first Warren Family Update right now) to add you to our prayer team, and we thank you. Here are the states that we have covered, if you can offer others, please let us know: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Didn't get the full e-mail of details? Checkout warrenfamilyadventures.blogspot.com! As a reminder, this is separate from our normal updates, this will be a weekly email focused only on prayer requests and praises for our family and friends in Honduras.

Makenzie just had her 3rd birthday yesterday! Wow. It is crazy how fast time flies. We also had a fun birthday party on Saturday with friends and family, the Tumblebus came, a piñata, cake and ice cream, and of course she got great gifts! Thank you to everyone that was able to participate, as this may be her last one in the states for a while. She had a great time. One of her gifts was a Build-A-Bear that was not yet stuffed. We took her yesterday to fill it, and of course, she had to dress the bear named "Girl Bear", complete with everything from "big-a-girl panties" (as Mak calls them) to hair! See the picture attached, cuz she turned out very cute. She is also becoming a little photographer – she got her first digital camera (look out Drager Photography!)

Andy continues to have some very successful business meetings about the coffee and other upcoming projects. We want to remind you that the coffee should be available online within the next several weeks, and we will let you know the link as soon as we know it. Times are very exciting right now with the coffee, we have gained some great contacts while we have been here, and God keeps providing more every day. He is working on a fundraising dinner for the coffee project, hopefully to happen sometime in November. Also, a cell phone drive for fundraising for us to go to language school in Guatemala and Honduras. The other thing is that he needs a root canal. He has been in pain the last several days, so he is scheduled for Tuesday. We would appreciate prayers for the fundraising planning and his root canal.

My biggest job while we have been here is scheduling. We have had several visits with family, friends, and supporters, and we have a very busy 2 weeks ahead. We have been asked to help with a house/family as the parents are gone for a few days next week, and I have been asked to come back to my old office and work for a few days while they have training. We are still trying to figure out our "travel schedule" – but I haven't been able to get answers from churches as to when to come. Please be praying for God to show us the right phone calls to make.

So, we have started planning for our return to Honduras. We will probably be leaving on November 30th, and will head straight to Guatemala for Language School for a few weeks, and to Honduras for Christmas. Please also pray for logistics to work out for all of this.

We thank you again for your continued prayers and support. We could not do this without you! If you haven't seen, we have updated our website: www.warrenfamilyadventures.com and we have even added a page so you can see exactly where we are. We hope it helps. Feedback would be great!

We love you all. We love hearing from you too!

Because of Him,
Andy, Corbett and Makenzie

PS: Our website and blogs:
www.warrenfamilyadventures.com
http://warrenfamilyadventures.blogspot.com
http://thejavapapa.blogspot.com
-- Warren Family AdventuresAndy, Corbett and MakenziePO Box 10516Fayetteville, AR 72703

50 states update

Update: We have been in contact with several states, at this time we can say that we have 12 states on the books, Thank you to those who have considered joining us in prayer for Honduras, prayer commitment is a scary thing to do, and this is scary times and the scarier the times are the more we need to pray. Please let us know if you would like to be added.

The Bible is a master piece I think that I will never...

The Bible is a master piece I think that I will never fully understand. What I do understand is how easy it is for some people to devote their entire life to studying the Bible; I guess that is why they are labeled the title “Bible Scholars”. I hope to one day be able to say I have an understanding of the intricate ins and outs of the Bible. I would love to have a better understanding of how the Old Testament intertwines with the New Testament. How one story told in the NT matches and references one from the OT. Just think about all of the imageries and codes that oneself could get lost in studying.

On a sad note, I strongly feel that several of the so called scholars get so tied up in the ins-and-outs that they lose sight of what really matters. In John 8:19-21 Jesus declares “You do not know me or my Father”, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” These so called scholars get so tied up in the legalistic views and codes that they truly do not know Jesus or God. They never actually take the time to fully digest the beauty of it all. The Bible is a very beautiful story that gives us the keys to everlasting peace and happiness. If your too busy trying to decipher what the third day means, you might end up missing the bigger picture. (I will talk more about this in a minute.) And not really get to know the one true love we are wired to receive.

One of the biggest issues these scholars face is one of the biggest sins of all. PRIDE. According to Dictionary.com the definition of Pride is: “a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.” In other words blinded by what really matters. I believe that this is Satan’s finest attack against mankind. This is far worse than murder, stealing and so on. I believe that the fall of humankind in the garden was due to pride. Satan uses pride to blind men, and this causes men to reject that which is right and good. Until every knee is bowed and every tongue confesses, pride will run wild through our society. The day will come that pride will be dealt with, the day that Jesus returns. Going back to the scholars, they dig into the bible so much that they think that because they can quote the bible verse to verse and cross reference to other parts of the bible they are Godly men and will go to heaven. Not so fast my friend, there is only one way to go to heaven and it is not by memorizing the bible. It is through Jesus.

Now that I have gone off the deep end, I will get back to what I originally started writing about. I am currently studying the book of John. It is a great read. My pastor when he started to preach on John said he is going to offend some people with the talks, and possibly turn off others. I think that is needed, I call it a reality check.

I have been stuck on John 2:1-11. It is the story about Jesus going to a wedding telling his Mom that he is not ready and turning water into wine. In the past before I knew anything about anything in the Bible, I would read this passage and feel very uncomfortable. I was raised to think that alcoholism is bad and that good Christians did not drink. So of course I would get hung up on this verse thinking why is Jesus turning water into wine and providing the guests with alcohol. Since he is doing this it must be ok.

That was then, now I have a better understanding of the whole story and think that it is a wonderful story full of imagery and mystery and when put together with an understanding of the times we are given a snapshot of Jesus ministry and purpose. The whole story in a nut shell is his ministry. First of all, John 2:1 “on the third day a wedding took place this is probably a reference to the 3rd day after the last recorded events, the call of Philip and Nathanael (1:43-51). An interesting point is that if one does take the events of chapter 1 to fill the first week of Jesus’ public ministry, and as such to constitute a parallel with Genesis 1 (the old creation versus the new creation) then the wedding at Cana would take place on the 7th day (Reference from Bible.org)

So we have two things of interest here, the 7th day and the 3rd day. Another interesting note is that a typical Jewish wedding celebration would have lasted a full week. So the wedding would actually be on the 7th day of the week.

In verse three, Jesus mother comes to Him and tells Him they are out of Wine. If one just reads the Bible they would over look part of his response, just as I did until earlier tonight. His response was “dear woman, why do you involve me”? In that time frame as with now it is not polite to refer to your mother as “Dear woman”. However I believe that he refers her to woman instead of mother is because he has begun his ministry, and because of this he mother is no longer mother but as another woman. He is no longer a child of a woman but a Son of God and no longer belongs to flesh. I think that his response is also a response given to say that he will do what he does on God’s time but not by command of the flesh. All this time it is safe to assume that several of the disciples are with him while this conversation is going on.

Mary goes on to tell the servants to do as he instructs. Because they do, I feel that the wedding is of family, so Mary has deep connections to the party. Jesus instructs the servants to poor water into six jugs, these jugs were used for ceremonial washing. This is where you can start picking the story apart, and referencing wine in the OT in Amos, Hosanna, Jeremiah. All of which the disciples would be aware of the references to the OT through their studies.

My thing is this; I do not want to go to deep into breaking down the passage. The point is in this short passage, within a week of Jesus coming into his ministry, his actions are reflecting his life and purpose on this earth. The wine in my opinion is a symbol of his blood. Because the wine is in the ceremonial washing bins, he is telling them that saving the best wine for last is the only way to go, no one will go after me, and only the best will be through me. If you dig too much you will miss the picture, the big picture. However studying the bible and having an idea of what the actual customs were of that time did help me in understanding what is really happening and made it more real.

Dreams

There I was standing in the hallway leading into a bigger room full of people. I feel a big overwhelming since that I have forgotten something, something that seems at that moment extremely important. I look down and notice that I am barefoot. I can’t go into a group of people to speak to barefoot can I? Wait a minute if that was all that wouldn’t be too terribly bad. However I do not have my clothes on either, just my boxers…Well at least I’m not naked. I must hide before no one notices me, I can’t move, there is nowhere to run. Everyone is staring at me, waiting for me to make a move. All I want to do is lay down curl up and close my eyes. Yes that is it. I do this I can hide from my embarrassing situation…I used to have dreams like this. Not too long ago and almost every night.

This time the dream was different, I was talking to a girl, she knew what all of her grades were before the end of the semester, not to mention she had straight A’s. This was a new thought process for me; I was never good at school, and never wanted to see what my grades were. Much less go to the teacher and ask them for a performance report. My grades were never good in school; C’s if I could even get that at times. So I decided from my conversation with this girl I should go check my grades. She was very convincing that you need to know what your grades are at all times. If you don’t know where you stand, how will you be able to improve? So that made since to me. I went to the teacher and asked for my grades. The teacher laughed, she told me you have to turn in your work to get a grade, look you have incompletes across the board. That is when I woke up.

There are at least 25 different references to dreams in the bible from Joseph to Paul. Each dream had a meaning and an interpretation. I wish I could be like Joseph and summons up a guy to come interpret my dreams. From my own interpretations I would say that I am dealing with anxiety. But what kind and why. Let’s see, I have incomplete work, and many projects that I want to start, maybe I am not doing as much as I could be. “Not wanting to ask for my grades”, that could be me not willing to accept the fact that I am not doing as much as I could be, maybe I’m afraid to ask others for a review. I heard in a sermon the other day that we should all receive checkups from others. Dig deep into our character. We all need accountability partners; I have my wife, but is that enough? Probably not, how many accountability partners does one really need? I need at least three maybe even as many as five. According to the pastor of the sermon we need to do checkups at least weekly

Back to the unfinished work, I have several things on my plate that I have not given my all at. Our 50 states in 50 days, I have not kept up with like I should. Newsletters, updates on coffee, and other business needs relating to coffee. I think I can see what is going on. I too am being spoken to through my dreams. It’s time to wake up and start working, living and having fun. First I need to find another accountability partner, no first I need to pray over everything that is weighing heavily on my heart, then find me that accountability partner.

Honduras 2007

50 States in 50 days

50 States in 50 days – are we crazy
We have launched an endeavor while we are in the US and we need your help. We are building an incredible Prayer Support Team for the Warren Family. Our goal is to have someone in each of the 50 states to be praying for our ministry on a regular basis.
The reason for this new goal is twofold. First, to have people all across our home country to be praying for our ministry and everything that goes along with it. Second, to have the opportunity to hear from our Prayer Support Team, of their prayer needs, and send up prayers from Honduras.
“And, how can I help?” Well, we obviously don’t have contacts in every state. You, however, Do! We only have a few states covered. Would you consider forwarding this to select people across the US and have them write us? We feel like this is going to be a really cool experience, and can’t wait for you to be a part of it. We have listed the states below that we have committed prayer warriors for our ministry, as a guide. If you would like to be one of these, please, write back and let up know. We are serious about this and want you to seriously consider this as well.
This is going to be a fun exercise. How cool will it be to see updates from every state in America praying for Honduras and for the students of Honduras praying for every state? Thanks for your prayers as we build this incredible team of people by October 20th! (And, as we send our updates, we will give you our progress report!)
Arkansas
Georgia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Wisconsin

Andy, Corbett and Makenzie
Check out our family blog: warrenfamilyadventures.blogspot.com

Go Team Goal

50 states in 50 days, that is our goal to raise a team of supporters, at least one person from every 50 states! Can it be done, with God as my spritual guide, my wife's support of not thinking I have lost my mind and a lot of prayer, you bet we can do it.