God's Design

Hello to all,

What a week! That's all I can say. Have you ever felt so overwhelmed that even free time becomes a chore? It can happen, and let me be the first to caution you against it. Take some time each day to put your feet up. It's incredibly therapeutic.

I sometimes have trouble believing that God knows exactly what's going to happen all the time. When bad things happen, they almost always seem to come from left field. It's almost as if God's up there saying, "Didn't see that one coming, did ya?" Even though He DOES know all, He allows us to go through trials once in a while. It reminds me of the lumberjack who started out the day chopping down trees. Now, for the first part of the day everything was going smoothly. The ax went through the trees like butter. As the day wore on, though, the trees became harder and harder to cut down. The man was swinging as fast and hard as he could, but eventually the trees just stopped coming down as easily as they did before. He told his friend about it, and how he felt he had lost his strength. His friend simply said, "Sharpen your ax." When he finally did, the trees fell more easily than ever. This never occurred to him.

This is a great illustration for us going through trials. More often than not, if we take some time to sharpen ourselves we see that the difficulty wasn't the trial, but how we were approaching it. God let's us go through these to remind us to stay sharp by spending time in His Word and praying everyday. When you get that part of your life right, you'll cut down the enemy and his plans without a problem!

God bless you all this week.

Peace and Love,

Ken and Melanie

Pics and a message

As you can tell we had a great time at the ropes course last Saturday! A big "thank you" to all who showed and helped make it happen.

I was thinking this week as Melanie and I are starting to transition that God sometimes seems so distant. Between waking up at 4 am every morning and everything else that we get busy with, He can seem to be a million miles away. I can tell you for sure, though, that He's right there with you. Always. No matter what. I can't stress that enough. If you feel distanced from Him take a look at what's happening in your life that could come between you and stop it! Do your best to take five minutes and tell God how much He means to you. If you only have that much time don't worry, He understands your life and what you have to do. He knows what's coming five years down the road, so don't think He's ignorant to your current situation! Just spend a few minutes loving on Him. Just ask Him to draw close to you and , guess what, He will! The Bible says that if we draw close to Him, he'll draw close to us. So, as you come into transition in your life, don't allow yourself to get so busy that you forget who's moving you in the first place!

THRIVERS, be ready for some changes in the coming months, as we will be taking the group by the leading of the Holy Spirit to some new and exciting places!

Peace and Love,

Ken and Melanie

Planting seeds.

Howdy,

We had a phenomenal Wednesday night service this week. Thanks to all who attended and laid down the law! God is truly working in the city and bringing people from all corners and walks of life to Him. We should all be prepared to reap what we've sown here this week.

I wanted to congratulate all the Thrivers on a very successful finals week! You can see that prayers truly do get answered.

Today is a bit of encouragement. As I was out standing on the beach, in the dark, praying for our city something occurred to me. And maybe it wasn't something that should've occurred, but it did. What seeds are you planting in your life? I watched the city from El Porto and could only think of the way that it got to how it is now. Years ago, when this area was pastures as far as the eye could see, what were the seeds planted that formed the city we have now? Were they seeds of influence? Maybe. Our area is one of the wealthiest in the nation. Were they seeds of progress? Or of strife? I want to encourage everyone to be aware of the seeds you plant in your lives. The words you say, the way you do things, even how you think directly affect your future. The Bible says that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Make your words, actions and thoughts those of God and not of the world. We are called to be a light and a strength to those around us.

So I encourage you today to take some time and evaluate the seeds you've planted in your life. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you any place in your life where there's any kind of bad seed and uproot it. Replace pain with hope, failure with perseverence, and anger with peace. I speak over you today words of life, comfort and strength.

As always, we love and pray for each of you.

Love and Peace,
Ken and Mel

Treats for Troops!

We were able to ship out our package to Afghanistan yesterday. The box was filled to the brim with bar soap, toothbrushes, coffee, tea, beef jerky, trail mix and all sorts of goodies. The package was sent to 9 airmen in FET 24. The following message was posted from them on 1/31/08:

"We have 9 airmen in our unit and receive packages that we share with other units. We have not received any packages in about a month, but we are well and that is all that matters. Work is busy and we have been out and about on missions, which makes the time go by. Thanks for your time and all your support. - FET 24"