Urgent prayer request

Oftentimes, we find ourselves asked to pray for someone we've never met. That happened to me today, and this one particularly touched my heart. The second grade teacher of one of the children of a family in our church has a pressing issue that is very serious.

I just don't know how I would respond if this was concerning my precious daughter. Please read, and then please pray.

I got the following email this morning:

Lane,

Could you add this to tonight prayer request? Adam's second grade teacher from last year is having a very difficult time with her daughter. I would love to get the word out! Terry and I are so sad for this family.
Thanks.
Vesna

Family and Friends,
I am sending out this email to everyone on my email list imploring you to pray for a little girl named Claire Lane. Claire, her big sister, Olivia, and their parents are in for the fight of their lives right now. Here is her story:

Claire was diagnosed with the flu this past Saturday (9/26/09). She was taken back to the doctor yesterday and was admitted to Texas Children's because xrays showed full blown pneumonia in one of her lungs. Her lung collapsed, and last night, sweet Claire suffered a heart attack. BOTH of her lungs are filled with fluid and she is on a vent to keep her breathing. As I write this, I have learned that the doctors are preparing to do another procedure to attempt to drain her lungs. Her parents have been told that if her body does not start fighting the infection, she has less than a 5% chance of survival.

Please pray for this God-loving, people loving, sweet family. The Lanes are a wonderful family and have touched many lives, including mine. As a mother, I cannot imagine how Lali must be feeling to see her baby girl suffer so.

Please stop what you are doing and lift Claire Lane up to the Lord. Please ask Him to restore Claire to health, to bring strength and clarity of thought to her parents and sister.

I believe in a merciful, loving God, and I believe in the power of prayer. Please pass this on so that He can hear our prayers for Claire.

Thank you and may you be blessed, -- Jill

Oh, Happiness

I think this may be my new theme song. This is off of the new David Crowder Band album "Church Music". We don't talk about grace enough. This song reminds me that grace is there, its free, and its for everyone.

When I listen to this song, I feel like it should be the song playing as we all enter into Heaven, kind of like the song that plays with the end credits of a really good movie.

Read the lyrics below:

Oh, happiness
There is grace enough for us
And the whole human race

Oh, happiness
There is grace enough for us
And the whole human race

From the full streams
Of Your care
All who come
Begin again
Hard or friend
Rich or poor
All who need
Need fear no more
Such a thing to give away

Oh, happiness
There is grace enough for us
And the whole human race

Oh, happiness
There is grace enough for us
And the whole human race

All regrets
Let go, forget
There's something that
Mends all of that
Such a thing to give away

Oh, happiness
There is grace enough for us
And the whole human race

Oh, happiness
There is grace enough for us
And the whole human race

Sound the church bells
Let 'em ring
Let 'em ring
For everything can be redeemed
We can be redeemed
All of us

Oh, happiness
There is grace enough for us
And the whole human race

Oh, happiness
There is grace enough for us
And the whole human race

Life Groups and Lasagna

Last night, Life groups began meeting again for the school year at the West University Church of Christ. Our Life Group consisted of 8 adults and 4 children under the age of 16 months. It was WONDERFUL. We enjoyed having everyone over to our home, and enjoyed the discussion based on our sermon that morning.

I have been tasked with being in charge of our Life Groups as one of the many areas of my ministry. This is my first endeavor into leading Life Groups as a whole. We have 5 groups in our church, and one of them is an experimental group that is basically outreach only in nature.

If you would like to get a copy of our Life Group study guides, I prepare them weekly and then stick them on our website at www.westuchurch.com, and they are located weekly on the home page under "News and Events" You can get to this week's by going HERE.

Last night, after our Life Group met and discussed and prayed, we had a meal of Lasagna prepared by my wonderful wife. While eating, I looked over at Josie (who was also enjoying a meal of Lasagna), and just had to take this picture:

Seriously, She's Gorgeous...

Tears Still Fall...

It has been 8 years.

I was about to step into my third period class during the first year out of college in my teaching career. The sixth grade students entering into the classroom had no clue what had just happened. How was I supposed to handle this? How was I going to tell these students that our nation, America, land of the free, was under attack.

No one had any clue whether or not there would be more attacks. The day continues to haunt me, and so many others.

40 dead in Pennsylvania in a flight that never made it to its final terrorizing destination.

184 dead at the Pentagon, a building that is massive beyond imagination, with a memorial that is moving to the heart.

2752 dead in New York City at "Ground Zero", where people fled a city reflective of a "B" grade monster movie. It was a nightmare coming alive.

This morning, as I sit and watch coverage of the memorials taking place at these three sites, tears still fall.

I did not know any of the ones who fell dead that day. I did not know anyone directly affected by the attacks. I just listen to the words of the family members today, and ache for them. My soul sits inside of me and shudders as each of the names of the fallen is read.

May we see, during this time of great divide in our nation, that we are strongest when we are brought together. May we put aside the partisan politics and quit arguing over so many petty things, and be joined together, not only today, but for all time.

This is the greatest country in the world. We have survived so much at our tender young age, and God has continued to bless us. May we turn back to Him, and once again be "One nation, under God".

God bless the families, friends, and co-workers of all those affected by this day 8 years ago.

Saving in September: Turning Over a New Leaf

I'm so wasteful.

Then again, most American's tend to be rather wasteful. My problem with waste often seems to relate to buying food. My eyes have always been bigger than my stomach. However, I am wasteful in other area's as well.

I have for a long time been a Dave Ramsey fan. He simply teaches that you should live below your means, not accrue debt, and if you have it to pay it off as soon as you can.

Living that way, my wife and I are proud to say we haven't had a car payment in about 4 years. We paid off her student loans about 3 years ago. My student loans are a bit larger, however (gotta love going into debt to get a degree to work in a church) and we have not tackled them like we should.

In fact, when we first got married, we made a decent salary, and bought a whole lot of crap. We went out to eat a lot, we bought a lot of clothes, toys, etc that we didn't need. We probably could have paid off my student loans with all the playing we did with the money we made.

So we refer to that as our "stupid tax", and are trying to remedy that now. Our goal is to try to pay off my student loans by the time the new year rolls around, but realistically it will probably be around March of next year. That means we will be living below our means, living on less than we make, and throwing a big chunk of our income towards that debt.

So here's a few things we're going to stick with in September:
1. A budget. We've had a budget for 6 years now, but we've never really stuck with it, rather, we've used it as a guideline.

2. Cash. We don't have credit cards. We never have, and hopefully we never will. I don't have a problem with other people having credit cards, I just know that we would probably buy a lot more with them if we had them. We do use our Debit cards a lot, and I've realized we spend a lot more when we do. We don't even think about it, we just get stuff and pay for it with a piece of plastic. We are going to use the envelope system, and we're going to make it work.

3. Eating out is reserved for Sundays, and maybe Wednesdays. Sundays are hard for us to make it back to the house, plus, we enjoy hanging out with our new friends. I have had a bad habit of going out to eat for lunch A LOT. Its just so easy, but it also kills the wallet and the waist line.

4. Water. When we do go out, Kristen is real good about getting water. I, however, always tend to get a drink of some sort. A soft drink at most restaurants costs between $1.50 and 2.50, and I never look to see how much it costs, I just get one.

5. Brown bagging the lunch thing.

I know that this will be hard, because we've been somewhat wasteful when it comes to our money. After I sat down and crunched some numbers, I was floored as to how much money we spent eating out, and wasting money on things we don't need. The goal is to pay off the loan, redo our kitchen, and then start paying off the house.

Things will get in the way, and Murphy will move in for a while, but we're going to do our best to act our "wage".