Power Or No Power!

What a difference a little time can make in someone’s life. I know that most of everyone has electric, heat, and water back by now but there are plenty of people still in dire need of help. It has been a very tiring week for Crusaders Set Free Church. With all the troubles from the ice storm, thousands of people were without all the comforts that we are accustom to. God bless T-bone and Mel for their compassion for people. Webster County was without power until Sunday night. Several families had no where to go for assistance (as many other places). I got an e-mail from T-bone Friday night telling me that they needed help in Sebree (food,diapers etc.) Saturday. By one in the afternoon, we had three truckloads of stuff to take down there to help out the community, not counting the two loads taken the two days before. We got there Saturday afternoon and began to grill hot dogs and hamburgers and sorted out food baskets to distribute throughout the community. We went door to door checking on people and making sure that they had what they needed. Several people refused, saying others were more desperate. Others accepted it graciously. It would bring you to tears seeing some of this stuff. There were some homes that had as many as 23 people in one home (although some refer to Sebree as “Little Mexico” these were Americans as well.) You could see the desperation in their eyes, you could feel that at any given time some were about to explode. When you see 6 and 7 year old kids sitting in vehicles to stay warm and get so excited that they were getting some food because they haven’t eaten for two days, or babies wrapped in towels because they had no diapers you can’t help but to feel compassion for these people. We didn’t go down to pity these people, we went down to show compassion. To show them God’s love. We didn’t go down for our glory but that the glory of God might shine through. I went by my buddy’s house on Tuesday and he, like many others, was without electricity. He proceded to tell me how humbling it was to be without utilities and how he had no distractions and was able to read his Bible and his big book. He is a devout christian and he walks in faith. The next day I checked on him and he was doing well still in high spirits, by Thursday you could start seeing a change. By Friday the change (not for the better) could be seen and heard by everyone. By the time Sunday rolled around he was fit to be tied. Monday he was furious, but then came Tuesday, a brand new day for my buddy, praise God he had electric. After all that, he looked back and said, “You know Deacon, it wasn’t all that bad.” You know, he was right. One thing we have to keep in mind is that we need to prepare for the storm before it happens. Although preparation for a tornado, ice storm, snow storm etc. is very important we also need to prepare for spiritual storms and be ready when the enemy attacks. We need to be prayed up, read up on God’s word, and be willing to fight the good fight. Although we had advance warning for the ice storm, most of the time, we have no warning for our spiritual storm. Be ready for a storm from all aspects of your life at all times! This will not be the last and certainly not the most devastating thing ou will ever encounter. Until next time, God bless, Deacon.

2012 and the Mayan Calendar, What do you think?

The Discovery Channel recently aired a documentary on the predictions of Nostradamus. Throughout the past several years, a lot of his predictions have come to pass. It seems he had an ability to see the future. It seems that the scientific world puts a lot of faith in his predictions and the fact that the Mayan calendar is the most precise calendar of all time. I am definitely no expert on the predictions of Nostradamus or the Mayan calendar. Although it has become a hot topic at a lot of places, it is not uncommon to hear it at the coffee shops, restaurants, at work or even at church. It does make for some interesting discussion and people have a lot of differences of opinion. Let me give my input and thanks to Kick Acts you, the reader, will have the same opportunity. I really believe that it is possible that Nostradamus was able to predict the future. I also believe that the Mayan calendar may have and ending date of December 21, 2012. I also believe what my bible tells me. The one thing about humans is that we need to know how everything works. We have taken the old saying “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” and thrown it out the door. We have taken our faith and put it in man’s hands. I have heard of people cashing in 401k to splurge their money, dropping life insurance, and some are, in their own words, “going to live it up because you can’t take it with you” attitude. Come on people, do whatever you want to do, but think about what God wants you to do. It doesn’t matter if the world ends 2012, if the Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012, or if it ends right now. The most important part is that you have accepted Jesus as your savior and you have that personal relationship that only you and Him can have. My advice is don’t sell off everything you have. If you want to spend something spend more time with God. God bless and give me your opinion.

Deacon

Meet Deacon

First of all I would like to introduce myself. My name is Ernie Lingerfelt, AKA Deacon. Thanks to Chuck for asking me to have some input in this category. Religion, what can be said about it that it doesn’t say for itself? Religion categorizes others by their appearance, religion says you can’t be a Christian if you are not what society says you should be. Religion says that you must become what we want you to be not what God wants you to be. The problem in the church world today is that it has become more of a social gathering than a place of worship. I’m not here to pick on any specific group, denomination, or any club. I feel as a Christian it is my responsibility to accept people for who they are. I attend a motorcycle ministry church in Henderson, KY called Set Free. Yes we are out of the norm. We have been ridiculed for the way we look, the way we dress, and even the way we worship. I know a lot of you out there have at one time or another been ridiculed for your appearance. What about some of you musicians with your long hair? Come on Goths, what about the stares you get? Let’s not forget about my group, the bikers. Religion says we are all wrong, but I say to hell with religion. I say that what we need to do is be who God wants us to be. It is our purpose as a Christian to accept people for who they are just as Jesus does. Let’s let God do the changing from the inside out, our job is to love them and love them for who they are. Religion sucks! Deacon