Serious.Life Magazine - December 2008

SPIRIT | MONEY | FAMILY | HEALTH | Special Sections: ADOPTION | SCIENCE DECEMBER 2008

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The serious pursuit of a fulfilling, contented and happy life.

Bradley Walker Campground Ministry Magazine Monday

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inside features inside features 28 editor editor readers.talk readers.talk serious.life serious.photos 38 serious.life serious.spirit serious.money serious.pho serious.family serious.spir serious.health 44 serious.extras serious.mon serious.fam serious.hea serious.extr

8 serious.photos

Great photos and captions submitted by our readers.

12 dear.brent

Brent answers a question submitted by a reader

14 serious.spirit

Joey + Rory = Authentic

Authentic music and authentic lives are the hallmarks of this up and coming country duet.

Spiritual growth, answers to life and personal maturity.

18 serious.money

Each month we talk about personal finances and good money management.

22 serious.family

Great families, great relationships and great stuff about living life!

24 serious.health

Find out how to live healthy, be fit, enjoy life and take care of yourself.

Bradley Walker

He’s been called “once in a generation... if you’re lucky”. We sit down to talk with Bradley to find out why.

Living Faith: The Bakers

In our “Living Faith” series this month we visit with Don and LaVon Baker about their RV campground ministry.

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All sorts of great stuff, different topics, humor and your content.

Are you a writer or photographer?

We are always looking for people who want to contribute high quality content and photos to the magazine. Shoot me an email if you’re interested: editor@seriouslifemagazine.com

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A Letter froM THE

Well, I get to issue my first “oops” for this magazine.

It would probably be a big deal had I not already experienced enough “oops” for ten lifetimes. So it just doesn’t pack the same punch as it did when I was younger and less messed up.

The serious pursuit of a fulfilling, contented and happy life.

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Editor-in-Chief/Designer Brent Riggs Copy & Proofreading Carolyn Hill Terri Williams

Contributing Writers Steve Cummins David Dolan Jim Nienhuis Russ Weir

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In a comic twist, he told me I should not “equate him” with what he wrote... he was just being provocative. Huh? Don’t equate someone with what they write publicly in the first person? Only a New Ager could get away with that kind of psychobabble.

Well you CAN equate me with this statement: if you bought Pavlina’s book, throw it in the trash... I did. Don’t promote him, don’t recommend him, don’t waste your time reading the tired old New Age nonsense on his website. My bad.

LIVING A

Brent Riggs

Editor-In-Chief

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Box 14, Washington, OK 73093 All rights reserved.

He had some decent ideas in his book, but what I discovered digging through his blog AFTER publishing the story (bonehead!), that he is as anti-God/Christianity as you can get.

He wrote an insulting public diatribe that labels Christians as immature, idiots, morons, simple-minded and childish. Not only that, he is neck deep in the occult, spirit channeling, astral projection and yes, thinks he (and eve ryone) is god. No surprise there, that is the lie that Satan started with in the Garden. He has routine contact with “Jesus”. He told me he’d say hi for me.

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The serious pursuit of a fulfilling, contented and happy life.

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Cover Photo Brent Riggs

Last issue, I did a story on Steve Pavlina. I had read his latest book, and one would think you’d have a pretty good idea about someone after reading an entire book they wrote. I ASSUMED from his book what his worldview was. He disguised his core beliefs effectively (on purpose?). I was wrong, wrong, wrong.

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Having fun and getting dirty before church. (townsendgirl.blogspot.com)

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Teton Majesty Getting a picture of the Tetons from the top of another nearby peak.

(Brent Riggs)

Grandmother and her

beloved puppy shortly

before she went home to be with the Lord.

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Grandma & Okey

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serious.life serious.photos serious.spirit serious.money serious.family serious.health serious.extras Fun on the Slide

Having fun on a sunny day.

My hope is in Him alone.

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(holdingfasttoyou.blogspot.com)

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Autumn It’s that time of year and the leaves are

incredible with color.

Sunset A beautiful sunset

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on the lake.

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serious.extras dear.brent

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Dear Brent, While I think much of what you say about “courting” makes sense, how realistic is it for the majority of singles out there of all ages? Also, what is your opinion of the online dating sites (match.com, eharmony, etc...)?

MG. - Orlando, FL

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I agree that courting is hard today for ANYONE, but any single of any age, all by themselves can choose to “court” without all the formalities of parental involvement.

In other words, just enjoy being friends with no romantic involvement until you are ready to marry… then “court” in a very structured way (with a specific purpose) when you decide you are ready to find a marriage partner, (as opposed to “dating” where romance and sexuality is experienced as a means to an end, not in specific preparation for marriage).

“Dating” or “courting”… it’s not the term that matters, it’s the INTENT. Most importantly, avoid the “emotion blindness or distortion” that sexual stimulation causes in evaluating a person for marriage. Most people get physically involved almost immediately, even if just kissing and hugging. That physical adrenaline goes a long ways to distort your view of someone, often to our peril.

My suggestion to singles, is to avoid physical contact with romantic potentials in

What is your question for Brent?

Send it to: dearbrent@ seriouslifemagazine.com

the first phase of courting (or dating, call it what you want), until you decide they are the person you want to marry. Then you get a REAL look at who they are without the hormones clouding the issue.

Even after engagement, physical contact should be careful, cautious and light so as to minimize temptation and continue to get to know the “real” person… and to reserve the physical expression for the appropriate time: after marriage. This is God’s plan NOT to “keep us from having fun”, but to MAXIMIZE our relationship and marriage experience.

Most people think that avoiding the physical contact is “ridiculous”… why? Because it is simply bred into our society that “testing the waters” is part

of getting to know someone.

You have to see if you are “compatible” physically.

Hogwash… that’s just sexual immorality trying to justify its existence. “Dating” as commonly practiced is pretty much OPPOSITE of what God would have for us. Remove the physical contact, and what you have is FRIENDS. As for dating services, I’ve known several couples who have met through eHarmony and have great marriages. I’ve not heard much else about the other services other than the term “meat market”… they seem to be the typical “hunting grounds” for sex and “dating”.

From what I’ve gathered, eHarmony seems to be serious about matching people for marriage, and the other sites are more about finding a “date”. ~

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serious.photos serious.spirit Forgive Until It Hurts serious.money serious.family serious.health serious.extras

By Brent Riggs

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orgiveness hurts. Why? Because you are taking the pain of being wronged onto your own shoulders, releasing that burden from the person who rightfully deserves it.

Jesus said love your enemies, pray for them and bless them YOUR ENEMIES. Ever done that? It hurts! And if it doesn’t, then most likely you were only mouthing some hollow words. Loving someone who has only hated you, hurts. Praying for someone who is tormenting you, hurts. Blessing someone who only seeks to make life miserable for you, hurts.

Have you ever thought about how absurd the Lord’s command is?

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Absurd from the worlds viewpoint; absurd apart from God. Think about it. Someone hates you, hurts you, betrays you, steals from you, disparages you and mistreats you... and what does Jesus say about that?

Enemies... Pray for them. Love them. Bless them.

Are you kidding me?

Seems unfair doesn’t it? We not only get to be hurt by our enemy, we get to have a double dose of difficulty when it comes time to love and bless them... regardless of their response or whether or not they have asked for forgiveness. Why

would Jesus ask us to do this?

Whenever I contemplate something from God that seems “backward”, I can immediately assume a few things based solely on what I know of God’s character:

• He has our best interest at heart because God is love • It is the perfect requirement because God is perfection • I will be happy about it eventually because He makes all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose • It will bring me emotional and spiritual peace because God gives peace that is beyond my understanding • I don’t have to worry about my enemy “getting away” with evil because the Supreme Judge of the Universe will right all wrongs and punish all wrongdoing

(continued next page)

By Bob Walters Perhaps the Bible’s simplest book to understand is Proverbs.

It plays well to any crowd … everyone wants to be wise. And Proverbs is, front to back, advice on wisdom: How to get it. How to keep it. How to recognize it. How to increase it. How to apply it. How to share it.

Proverbs is 31 chapters of wisdom one-liners.

It also gives nearly equal time to fools: How to be one.

How to recognize one. How to avoid being one.

Nothing else in the Bible is so secularly clear, so spiritually uplifting, and so humanly convicting all at the same time. Proverbs is a close-up look into a brightly-lit wisdom mirror.

The hardest thing about reading Proverbs is its common construction of couplets that tug us in two directions at once, e.g.: “The wise do this, but a fool does that.” Gosh, some of those first ones make me feel smart; and

too many of the second ones make me feel dumb.

Proverbs insists that we are down-to-the-bone honest with ourselves. You can’t fool Proverbs.

In our everyday lives too often we confuse wisdom with simple book-learned knowledge. Too often in culture we see people praying at the altar of rationality and logic.

Knowledge, rationality and logic are good, but it’s wise to

Lean not on my own understanding?

I shudder at the thought of having nothing but my own understanding. at least occasionally consider that they are manmade. I think, therefore I am. That is Descartes, not the Bible.

Proverbs tells us that true wisdom comes from God and resides in faith.

A dear friend advised me, in a time of emotional confusion, to consider Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Lean not on my own understanding? Before I was a believer, I couldn’t imagine.

As a believer, I shudder at the thought of having nothing but my own understanding.

I think, therefore I am?

That’s rational.

I think, therefore I pray.

That’s wise. ~ Blog: believerbob.blogspot.com

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First, and foremost, when

Proverbs 30:6-9 - Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar. Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die): Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches— Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God.

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Forgiveness points to Christ

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We can start with those assumptions simply because they reflect the character of God. Beyond those things, can we see any benefit from loving our enemies, praying for them and blessing them? Or is it just some exercise in selfsacrifice and suffering? What happens for us personally when we forgive (love/pray/ bless) our enemies, those who mistreat us, misuse us, abuse us, lie about us and seek to inflict harm on us? Let’s take a look....

Spiritual Growth > Truth > Eternal Perspective

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we forgive our enemies, Christ is glorified. We point people to Him. They see our actions and wonder how we can possibly respond to hate with love. Does this mean that our enemies are going to see us, then immediately be convicted and see the error of their ways? No. Our forgiveness may have no effect on them at all. It might even enrage them. But that doesn’t change the fact that Jesus is proclaimed through the very Christ-like act of forgiving our enemies.

As well, you just never know who is watching.

Friends, family, your children, co-workers... any number of people may be redirected towards the Savior by seeing or hearing about an act of true forgiveness. A forgiving heart points to the Lord who can change hearts.

Spiritual Growth > Truth > Eternal Perspective

satisfaction if they knew you were bent out of shape in your bitterness towards them.

Forgiving our enemies allows us to move on with our with our lives. You can bet they

there were some who claimed to be Christians who would not forgive Paul; a shame when you consider that God forgave them, but they couldn’t forgive a fellow human being. It’s no

are moving on with theirs, no matter what we do.

different for us today.

Forgive your enemies; bless them; pray for them... the door of reconciliation and restoration will be wide open.

Who knows when someone will step through it.

Unforgiveness only hurts us.

The other person could probably care less.

Forgiveness heals us

***News Flash*** Unforgiveness in our heart only hurts us.

-----------------

Brent Riggs is an author, mentor and Bible teacher. For Bible teaching and answers, visit his ministry website at www.seriousfaith.com

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Well, there’s certainly many more benefits that I could write about. Forgiveness is a very extensive topic. It is the foundation of our relationship with God. He forgives us of our sin giving us a hope of eternal life instead of an eternity separated from our Creator.

Forgiveness was the need that Jesus died for. There could be no forgiveness for us without His shed blood.

God created man. Man sinned. Forgiveness would be the only way man could be reconciled to God. So God did what it took to make forgiveness possible. Think about that the next time you are tempted to withhold forgiveness from another person... even your enemies. ~

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It does NOT inflict the revenge on our enemy that we so long for. Most likely, they could care less, don’t think about it, and have not even the slightest care that you are twisted up over what they did.

In fact, many of your enemies would just get an extra dose of

Loving your enemy keeps the door open for reconciliation, no matter how remote the chance may be. Hating them and seeking revenge kills that opportunity completely. No matter what we may do to each other here on this earth, the fact is we are all going to end up one of two places: heaven or hell. How magnificent would it be if one of your enemies, through your example of forgiveness, ended up in heaven with you because you chose to love when hate was deserved? (no Arminian or Calvinist emails, please; just take it in the context I’m trying to communicate) Do you think that relationship would enjoy an extra touch of sweetness throughout all eternity?

Our beloved Apostle Paul is a great example of potential reconciliation. He murdered and imprisoned Christians with great zeal. And yet, the friends and families of those he murdered left the door of forgiveness open after his conversion to Christ. I’m sure

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Forgiveness heals our own heart from the sickness of anger, bitterness and emotional stress.

Forgiveness opens the door to restoration

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By John Barnett

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David had dark thoughts and uncontrolled emotions.

He loved the Lord, but all the stress of his terrible plight had drained him of peace and joy.

As we continue to study David’s Psalm 13 confessions, perhaps you can identify with how deeply wounded he felt.

My mind seems so troubled: How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? (v. 2a, emphasis added). David was swept away by his emotions, which is a common experience. He couldn’t calmly reflect on God’s faithful hand in the past so that he could be comforted by trusting the future to Him. David had ruminated so long on disaster after disaster that he was feeding on the dark thoughts of hopelessness. So he cried out in anguish again, “God, I can’t stop these feelings of dejection

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and abandonment!”

Usually, there are some clear causes for these feelings David confessed: emotional temperament, physical weakness, and “let down” are often at the root of discouragement. David was probably of the temperament that is more prone to discouragement.

As Lloyd-Jones writes in the opening pages of his monumental book, “foremost among all causes of spiritual depression is temperament.”

James Boice says that “A plunge into disquieting thoughts and emotions can be caused by physical factors—illness, for example.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was one of the greatest evangelical leaders of the [nineteenth] century, but he suffered from severe bouts of depression. Why? The main reason is that he suffered from gout, marked by painful inflammation of the joints and an excess of uric acid in the blood. It was common in the [nineteenth] century, and it drained Spurgeon’s energies.” At times of illness or extreme fatigue, we are more vulnerable to the devil or our flesh trying to push us down.

A weak time called “let down” often follows great events. For example, after Elijah’s great mountaintop experience, he felt so low that he was ready to die.

But God took him away to a quiet place to feed him, refresh him, and meet with him (1 Kings 18–19). It is helpful to remember that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours …

(James 5:17a). Even Jesus retreated from the crowds after big events

like the feeding of the 5,000 and preaching campaigns because He needed extra time alone with God to refresh and renew His life. Since Elijah, Jesus, and David all needed to exercise care to protect themselves from let downs, we should not be taken by surprise when we face similar experiences in our own lives.

My life seems to have lost God’s victory: How long will my enemy be exalted over me? (v. 2b, emphasis added). David soulfully concluded, “It’s no use. Saul is going to win. He has all the troops, resources, and time he needs. He will end up destroying me!” So, once again, David cried out in anguish,

Spiritual Growth > Truth > Eternal Perspective

hope, and not the pits. In verses 3–6 of Psalm 13, he looked to the Lord, who alone could rescue him: Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep

God’s Word and say to Him, “Open Your Word to my heart again. Let me cling to Your truth. Help my unbelief!”

David prayed, “Restore me!” (v. 3c). David needed God

of death; lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him;” lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved. But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me (emphasis added).

David prayed, “Look at me!” (v. 3a). He felt that God had turned His back on him, so He asked the Lord to turn around and consider him by paying attention to how much he was hurting. When I am overwhelmed, my sweet wife Bonnie will come and sit down to talk with me. If I do not respond, she says, “Look at me, Honey.” She then gently puts her hand under my chin and lifts my face up to look at her eyes of love and smile of comfort. That is how God wants to encourage us as well.

He says, “Look up at Me, My child!”—and when we do, His eyes of love and smile of comfort beautifully minister to our wounded spirit.

David prayed, “Answer me!” (v. 3b). He felt that God had stopped talking to him, and he wanted God to hear him.

This Hebrew word for “hear” literally means “answer.” David was asking the Lord to let him hear His voice just as he did in former days. When we face times like that, we need to take

to enlighten him because he believed that he was going to die, and never be king. Thus he asked God to do what He had promised. When we are discouraged, we should boldly say to the Lord, “You promised to never leave me, so I need to sense Your presence again!

You told me that You loved me to the uttermost, so I need to sense Your power again! You said that You would comfort me, so I need to sense Your peace again!”

Think on this: To be abandoned means that once you were not. For the true child of God, there is always some awareness of this truth, regardless of how deep his or her depression may be. We may be depressed even to the point of feeling utterly abandoned, but the fact that we even feel abandoned means that we really know God is there.

To be abandoned, somebody actually needs to abandon you.

Because we are Christians and have been taught by God in Scripture, we know that God still loves us and will be faithful to us, regardless of our feelings. ~

DAvid felt God had turned his back on him.

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David survived his cave times by choosing to live in

John Barnett has been teaching the Word of God for 31 years and is currently the Senior Pastor at Calvary Bible Church in Kalamazoo. Email John: jb@dtbm.org

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“God, I am constantly defeated!” Most of us probably do not have literal human enemies, at least not serious enemies. But if you are a Christian, you do have one great spiritual enemy who is worse than any human enemy imaginable. This is the devil, whom the apostle Peter compared to “a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).6 The devil [is] the adversary of our souls. He can use our temperaments and our physical conditions. He so deals with us that we allow our temperament to control and govern us, instead of keeping temperament where it should be kept. There is no end to the ways the devil produces spiritual depression. We must always bear him in mind.

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serious.spirit serious.money The Low Down serious.family on Low Payments serious.health serious.extras Low or No Down Payment

By Brent Riggs

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ow down payment, low monthly payments. Nothing down, minimum monthly payments. No money down, no payments until next year.

Let me ask you a question.

Do you think retailers and dealers make these offers because they care about you and just want you to pay as little as possible for their goods?

Do you think there is a reason they structure financing in such a way so that it makes it “affordable” to you RIGHT NOW? Do you think they have a profitable reason to allow you a low down payment, and minimum monthly payments?

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Why do you suppose they offer this? Because they want you to get the best deal, right? Puh-leeze.

C’mon… how many times have you walked away from a salesman convinced you got a “great deal”?

Offering low, or no, down payment is a way to get people to buy impulsively when they simply do not have the financial means on hand. It is a way to get people to COMMIT their FUTURE to the creditor. “We can’t get yesterday or today’s money… but we can get what you make tomorrow.”

Low Monthly Payments

Out of the goodness of their heart, we are offered the lowest monthly payments possible, right?

The terms are extended to longer periods of time, years and years.

Payments are delayed for months or even a year. Why? By allowing you to have “low monthly payments” you are more likely to buy NOW, more likely to buy MORE, and more likely to buy something without really thinking about the long term.

By allowing you to have “low monthly payments” creditors are assuring that the principle amount of the loan is paid off very slowly, thus maximizing the amount of interest you pay (as well as late fees, service charges and other penalties).

The Overall Effect

Because you are using very

Personal Finances > Debt Reduction > Stewardship

There is only one good payment plan: 100% down, no monthly payments. little down payment, the creditor will probably charge you a higher interest rate right out of the gate.

Not only will you start with a higher interest rate, you will be paying it on a LARGER beginning principle amount. Even if you don’t get charged a higher rate, you’re still taking out a bigger loan which is more profitable to the creditor.

By making the smallest monthly payments possibly, you maximize the amount of interest you are paying while making sure the principle is paid off as slowly as humanly possible, if at all.

It’s not uncommon after interest charges, late fees, and other penalties to have your principle stay the same, or even grow. The overall purpose is clear: • Attract people to buy regardless of their ability to afford it, or financial discipline • Make it easy to buy even when you don’t have the cash in hand • Get people to buy NOW rather than waiting (giving them time to reconsider) • Get people to commit FUTURE INCOME to the creditor • Maximize the size of the loan • Maximize the interest rate, fees and penalties • Minimize the amount of repayment so that the principle is slowly or never reduced.

Folks, learn this lesson: CREDITORS DON’T OFFER YOU A “DEAL” BECAUSE THEY GIVE A CRUD ABOUT YOU. THEY OFFER YOU A “DEAL” BECAUSE IT MAKES THEM MONEY… LOTS AND LOTS OF MONEY. You are committing your future income production to them. They are HAPPY to give you something NOW in trade for a lucrative portion of your income LATER. There is only one good payment plan: 100% down, no monthly payments. ~

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By Steve Cummings

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ll of us have passed a house before with a sign in the front yard that read, “Home For Sale.”

Each time I pass by such a sign I say to myself, “They’ve got it all wrong. They’re not selling a home, they’re selling a house.”

However, I sometimes find out later that the couple living in the house is getting a divorce, and they’re just selling and dividing up everything.

Then I think to myself, “Maybe their home is for sale. Evidently it’s already been sold.”

These days when some people say, “I’m going home,” all they find when they get there is a house.

Instead of being a haven for mom, dad, and the kids to live and love together as a family, it’s often nothing more than a motel, a fastfood establishment, or a place to sleep and change clothes before rushing to the next activity. For some, it’s more like a prison cell.

For others, the house keeps getting bigger while the home keeps getting smaller, until one day an empty large house stands “homeless.” Think of that, a “homeless house.” Can you imagine such a thing? Sadly, it happens every day, somewhere.

Standards by which families have been traditionally maintained, have become an oddity instead of the rule, and the home is being undermined.

So how do you advertise a

home for sale? I guess you would advertise it a lot like you advertise a house or household items for sale. You get a sign that says, “Used wife for sale” or “Used husband for sale” or “Used kids for sale.”

They’re sold like yard sale items.

You paid a lot for them initially, but you are basically giving them away now. There just may be more homes for sale than houses and who is the “realtor” in these kinds of transactions?

Is your home for sale? There will always be someone willing to buy it cheaply. We know the typical market value of the typical house, but what is the market value of the typical home?

I am thankful for all those families who are committed to keeping the home together and off the market. May you remain steadfast in continuing to do this. You are making the greatest contribution to our society that you could possibly make because, as the home goes, so goes the nation.

I heard an economist say recently, “The housing market is one of the best indicators of the overall health of our nation’s economy.” Instead, let me suggest that the “home market” is the best indicator of a nation’s overall well-being. ~

Steve Cummings is a full-time minister and life strategies coach, who conducts family and communication workshops, instructing people on how to improve all aspects of their interpersonal relationships. Email Steve: steve@tusculum.org

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serious.money serious.family Children Without Bitterness serious.health serious.extras

By John Barnett

W

e should pray that our children will not resist or become bitter in trials.

“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:30-32)

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God uses trials as one of His three very special tools to shape our lives into Christlikeness. The other two tools are God’s Word and prayer. It is easy to love God’s Word and prayer; yet, rarely will someone love trials. But if we resist the troubles and trials of life, and become angry at our circumstances and those who hurt us, we will miss one of the greatest tools God uses in our lives.

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Staying angry about life and refusing to forgive those who hurt us causes a dangerous weed called bitterness to grow, take root, and gradually choke out our life. A heart filled with anger and hatefulness grieves the Holy Spirit. When grieved, God’s Spirit won’t bear fruit in our lives. Though His Spirit cannot leave us (because we are sealed until that day when Christ returns to take us home), we are emptied of joy and blessing.

Bitterness hurts the bitter person the most. Bitter people act like their father, the devil, treating others as he treats them. A soul consumed with bitterness denies our Father in heaven who loved us even when we were His enemies. The way out of bitterness is to remember the cross of Christ. There the power of sin was broken. Because of this, the once bitter person can confidently say: I no longer have to allow myself to be hurt. I no longer need to get even. I am empowered by God’s grace to see His hand even in people and events that hurt me. Here are simple ways to teach our children to not become embittered.

We must teach them these three timeless truths: 1. Adversaries are placed in life by God. David and his son, Solomon, recognized this scriptural principle: “Let him alone, and let him curse; for so the Lord has ordered him” (2 Samuel 16:11). Later on in the life of David’s son we see the divine record of where adversaries really come from: “Now the Lord

Marriage > Parenting > Communication > Recreation

A heart filled with anger and hatefulness grieves the Holy Spirit. raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was a descendant of the king in Edom” (1 Kings 11:14).

2. Bitterness is deadly.

For that reason, God commands us to: “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by

this many become defiled” (Hebrews 12:14-15).

3. Trials are vital. Those who respond in humility to being corrected and refined by God are being further conformed to Christ’s image: “...count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

But let patience have [its] perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking

nothing” (James 1:2-4).

That is the end result of trials: maturity, completeness, not lacking in anything of spiritual importance and value. “After you have suffered for a little while,” Peter assures us, “the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, ~

This article is an excerpt from John Barnett’s Book: Joy of a Word Filled Family. Visit www. dtbm.org to purchase the book.

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serious.family serious.health Are Your Skin Products Safe? serious.extras

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hen you are looking after your skin you need to be certain that what you are putting on your skin is safe. In other words what you do put on your skin needs to be so safe and natural that you should be able to eat it.

But in the real world when it comes to skin care products that are available there is no real level of purity and there are always some kind of preservatives that are needed to ensure that the products have some kind of shelf life. However there are some companies that do strive to ensure that their products are as pure and as healthy as possible.

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Always remember that what you are applying to your skin does enter the bloodstream. So if you are using products that are full of chemicals, then as well as presenting some kind of potential risk to your skin, there is also a potential risk to your health also. Let us be serious for a moment and consider all the chemicals and toxins that you are being exposed to. The human body can only do so much in eliminating so much from the body and when a toxin overload does exist, then this can have major implications for your health.

So what can you do in order to make sure that what you are applying is actually safe? Well you can start by looking at the ingredients that are listed and when

Fitness > Healthcare > Diet > Lifestyle

One of the most notorious ingredients is Parabens. you do, no doubt you will be confused as to what the cream or lotion that you intend on buying actually contains. You can make the choice a little simpler and to look out for certain third party approval such as the Soil Association here in the UK. This will tell you that the bulk of the ingredients that are being used are safe and will not present a risk to your skin or to your health.

But you still need to be aware of certain ingredients because they can be found in other products that you might be using such as that of your shower gel, bubble bath, hair shampoo and in some cases even your toothpaste.

One of the most notorious ingredients that is often found in many and often the best skin care products is that of Parabens. There is actually a group of these ingredients and they are generally used to act as a preservative in order to give the products a very long shelf life.

There is a lot of debate surrounding this particular ingredient as research does show that there is some kind of link between this and certain illnesses especially that of cancer. Do not trust any skin care products that claim to be natural and yet contain parabens as an ingredient.

Most of the big brand companies that you are familiar with will use parabens

in their skin products, even though they are aware of the dangers that are related to them.

The reason that they are being used in simply down to cost, and because they are very cheap to produce, it means that more products can be manufactured and then sold to the consumer.

Forrest, Louise “Are Your Skin Products Safe?� http:// ezinearticles.com/?Are-Your-SkinProducts-Safe?&id=1729330

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Joey + Rory =

I

am dialing a number on my phone and it starts to ring.

Meanwhile, a possum and a cat have started a knock down, drag out fight outside my window when she answers my call.

“Hello?”

“Joey, hey, this is Brent with Serious.Life Magazine.

Please ignore that sound in the background. There’s a cat and a possum killin’ each other outside my window.”

Most other interviews would have ended right there with a click, but what I got instead from this cover-model-beautiful singer was, “Darn things. The only good possum is a dead possum.” My kind of folks.

How I arrived at this phone

call is a unique story for me. I was writing one night and had a ball game on the TV in the background. I kept hearing a commercial every half hour or so with the most velvety-honey voice and perfect harmonies… kind of Allison-Kraus-meetsEmmylou-Harris-with-a-touchof-Dolly-Parton.

Having sung all my life, often in ‘a capella’ groups, the clarity and simplicity of the vocals got my attention. It was a Christmas commercial but not a traditional holiday song. The third or fourth time it came on, I found myself immediately stopping, mesmerized by the music and this soft chorus that was like a lifetime of sweetness rolled up in one voice.

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By Brent Riggs

AUTHENTIC

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Can You Duet - Performing as a duo for the audition of CMT’s hit series, Joey and Rory share a televised kiss.

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says. “Some of the songs are inspired by our lives, some of the songs just show up, but overall the songs on our album are songs that matter to us and say what we want to say.”

“Do they come to you as a whole song, like a light bulb going on, or do you have to work through them step by step?” I ask Rory who is the primary songwriter of the two.

“It’s a little bit of both.

Each song has its own story. (continued next page)

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little background, check out “About Joey Martin & Rory Feek” included on the next page.

While you’re reading this, I’m gonna go out and shoot that darn possum. ~~~~~~~~~~ Your music has such a feel of authenticity, and the songs are so rich in story line… what is the inspiration for the songs?

How do you think of the stories and topics?

“Well, it’s really just done on a song by song basis,” Rory

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Never has a TV commercial launched me on a mission, but I found myself searching Google trying to find out who this duet was. If they weren’t famous already, I was sure they would be some day.

(Now that I’ve met them, I hope everyone finds about them eventually).

The commercial was for Overstock.com. The singers were Joey Martin and Rory Feek known publicly as the country duet, “Joey + Rory”.

In reality, they both sing, play and write but have publicly evolved into the singer (Joey) and the songwriter (Rory).

There’s still an awful lot of people out there who love pure, simple, beautiful, authentic music that smacks of America’s heartland, and this was the real deal… a husband and wife duet, living on a farm with a dog and a cow, running a country diner. Cowboy boots, overalls, a one-horse town and a sunrise wake up call to feed the animals testify to the authenticity of their lifestyle, music and message.

I was very grateful to have them respond to my email and agree to do this feature for Serious.Life. They are OUR kind of people, and I know you’ll be blessed as well when you get to know them. For a

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About

Joey Martin & Rory Feek

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Authentic artists share a gift for communicating truth; truth mined from their own life experiences and expertly spun into threeminute, melodic vignettes. Vanguard/Sugar Hill Records artist Joey + Rory, the husbandwife team of Joey Martin and Rory Feek, is among that rare breed of talent that lives and breathes what they write and sing. This duo, deeply rooted in a classic country sound, draws listeners into intimate, close-knit community with the debut release The Life of a Song.

Twelve songs, seven of them co-written by Rory and Joey, comprise the colorful landscape where this couple is perfectly in its element: scuffed cowboy boots in “Boots”, dusty rodeo arenas in “Rodeo”, laying down the truth in “Cheater Cheater” and enduring love in “To Say Goodbye”. Backed by some of Nashville’s finest acoustic musicians, Joey + Rory bow a standout disc that is as personal as it is plausible.

While her distinguishing vocal talent, influenced by Dolly Parton and Connie Smith, rivals the competition on country playlists, Joey communicates with a more nuanced delivery.

Rory, a former Marine and decorated songwriter with chart-topping hits by Collin Raye, Blake Shelton, Clay Walker and others, compliments Joey with tasteful guitar work and subtle harmonies.

To any onlooker, the humble Rory, in his daily uniform of overalls and work boots, is the obvious match for the down-to-earth Joey. The honey-voiced Joey is a throwback to old school female country entertainers in her standard attire of western-yoked shirts, Wranglers and belt buckles. She’s as at home onstage or at the Pottsville, Tenn., farm she shares with Rory and his two daughters.

After migrating from Indiana almost a decade

ago, Joey worked with her second love, horses, at an Equine vet clinic while trying to establish her own foothold in the music industry. After a brief, disappointing stint as a Sony recording artist, where they recorded an album with her but never released a single, Joey opted for a slower pace. In 2006, with her sister-inlaw, opened a restaurant named Marcy Jo’s Mealhouse not far from their home.

From the refurbished, clapboard mercantile in the heart of the couple’s tight-knit, rural community, mornings commence at 4 a.m. Joey, when she is not on the road gigging with Rory, still bakes bread and pours coffee for friends and customers at Marcy Jo’s. After the lunch shift, she hones her music at the couple’s 1870’s farmhouse, while Rory pens hits on music row at his publishing company, Giantslayer Publishing.

Over the course of their six-year marriage, Joey and Rory’s musical talents have often intersected. “Joey’s musical gift completes mine,” Rory says, “her voice makes the words I write come to life.” Joey, recalling the first time she heard Rory play his conversational tunes about small-town life and simple faith, says, “His songs felt like home. That first night I saw him playing at the Bluebird Café, he was speaking my language. Those were the only kinds of songs I wanted to sing,” she says.

With Joey and Rory pursuing independent music careers, the pair’s musical paths converged serendipitously this spring, after a friend suggested the two throw their hats, quite uncharacteristically, into the ring for Country Music Television’s (CMT) nationally broadcast reality contest for duos, Can You Duet.

Rory, a Kansas native who’s first writing gig was for legendary (continued next page)

Joey + Rory, cont’d.

Sometimes they flow right out; sometimes we spend a day and get most of a song and the rest comes later,” Rory explains. “Sometimes it’s six months later before the final content is completed.

My writing process is a little different than most. I don’t

start with a flushed out storyline or idea. Most of the time I just have an opening line or phrase and sit down with a blank sheet knowing that it will take off into something great. It’s a fun way to write.”

“Yeah, I agree. I do a lot of my own writing the same way, and part of the excitement

About Rory & Joey, cont’d...

(continued next page)

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used to play, I’d never heard them on the radio,” she recalls.

Rory shared a similar back story, as his father’s biggest, unrealized dream was to be a country singer. When Joey grabbed a guitar and started in on Jim Reeves 1950’s gem, “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You,” Rory was enraptured. “My dad played and sang the same 10 songs his whole life, and ‘Have I Told You Lately’ was his favorite. It’s the only song that was sung at his funeral. I had been in Nashville for seven years, and no one had ever played, or even mentioned, that song. I knew in that moment we were supposed to be together,” he says.

The duo’s debut, produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Carl Jackson (Alison Krauss, Merle Haggard), reflects the collective heart of Joey + Rory. “We’ve been writing songs about our lives together for the last few years, and this is perfect timing because we have songs that are uniquely ours. We’re not just telling a story, but telling our story,” Rory says.

Fan favorites, culled from Joey + Rory’s Can You Duet run, will also be part of the October release, in addition to new tracks penned by Shawn Camp , Patrick Jason Mathews and others. “Cheater Cheater,” the buoyant and brash anti-“Jolene” is the duo’s first single. The industry-poking “Play The Song,” with which the couple auditioned for the show, also made the cut, in addition to a soulful stripped down, waltz rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird.”

“This is a special part of our lives and love story--just like the restaurant is a part of Joey’s life, and just like songwriting is a part of mine,” comments Rory. “The reason we have the plus sign between our names is because at first it was Joey. Add me in there, and the combination just feels right I guess. You know, it’s great to do what you love for a living, but it’s a whole different game to get to do it with the one you love.” ~ -- Lizza Connor Bowen

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songsmith Harlan Howard’s publishing company, was apprehensive. “When I came to town in ‘95, I put all my singing dreams away,” he says. “I quickly realized it was a beauty contest, and it was a game I wasn’t willing to play, and one I wouldn’t win,” he notes. On the show, however, with Joey right by his side, Rory was emboldened onstage. “It was like singing at home around the kitchen table, except we were in front of millions of people each week on TV”.

When the curtain went up, Joey + Rory’s natural chemistry instantly hooked fans and critics. Executives from Internet retailer Overstock.com saw the pair perform and signed Joey and Rory to be the new faces of their of the company’s forthcoming re-brand and national ad campaign. But it was celebrity judge Naomi Judd who championed the act from its first audition. Joey and Rory credit Judd for imparting these poignant words of wisdom: “Not matter what anyone tells you…

Never change what you’re doing.” “That was the moment that cemented [the collaboration] for us,” Rory says. Joey continues: “I grew up singing [The Judds’] ‘Mama He’s Crazy’ with my mom, and I had so much respect for Naomi. She confirmed everything we already felt-- that God pointed us in this direction on purpose--and she put her stamp of approval on it.”

Moments of clarity like these have been guiding the pair all along. Joey says she knew, from the first song she heard him sing, she was going to spend her life with him. For Rory, destiny came into focus a few months after meeting Joey and was similarly was ushered in by a song. The two were swapping musical influences one night when they stumbled upon common ground. Joey was telling Rory about the songs, all vintage country standards, she grew up hearing her father play on his twelvestring. “They were all old songs he and Mom

is wondering where you’ll end up with it,” I reply. “I was reading your cut sheet explaining each song on your album and ‘To Say Goodbye’ really has special meaning to me since we have a daughter with Leukemia.”

Rory responds, ”I know

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Joey + Rory, cont’d.

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what you mean. I was listening to it yesterday just bawling my head off. Joey and I wrote that song with another guy, and even though I’ve heard it a hundred and fifty times, it still impacts me even more now than when it first came out. I think this song has a tremendous opportunity to make an impact in people’s lives, and that is what Joey and I want from our songs.

We’ve experienced plenty of loss in our lives, and everyone has someone they wish they could go back and say goodbye to or spend plenty of time saying goodbye to right now.”

You have a natural joy and love for each other that is obvious. You see people ruined by “celebrity” but that doesn’t seem to be something that would happen to you guys. As you get more and more popular, do you think about how it could change you and how to protect what you are now?

“We think about that all the time,” Joey confirms. “One of the things we do at the end of the day is talk about and try to remain genuine and ‘real’.

With the exposure from the TV show and the commercials, we’re experiencing a time where our privacy is starting to diminish and we can’t go anywhere without people recognizing us.”

“More than anything, that becomes an accountability factor for us because we know people are watching to see if we really are what we say we are; is our walk genuine? Do we treat people with kindness? Is our life consistent with our

RORY: “The reason we have the plus sign between our names is because at first it was Joey. Add me in there, and the combination just feels right I guess. You know, it’s great to do what you love for a living, but it’s a whole different game to get to do it with the one you love.” message? Part of having a little popularity is that people pay attention to make sure you aren’t hypocrites. For Rory and I, being married and doing this together, it helps too that we can challenge each other to remain grounded, always remember what got us here, and that at any given

moment it can all disappear.”

One thing that really caught my attention is that your music returns to genuine American country roots. Is that on purpose?

Did you set out to do that or is it just natural? Will you stick with that style in the future?

“ I think the country acoustic sound that we have really chose us, we didn’t choose it,” Joey explains.

“Growing up, that’s all I sang; that’s all I heard; that’s all I

music and that’s really all that we want to do. We think there is a big void out there for this type of sound, and lots of people want to hear it.”

I ask, “Has anyone ever

knew. I’ve always been drawn to great lyrics and great songs.

So there’s really not a chance in the world that we would go with another type of music just because it’s popular.

That’s not something our fans have to worry about. Someone who buys our album doesn’t have to wonder if we will go in a different direction based on the market. We know that people are drawn to us because of our traditional

mentioned to you names like Randy Travis and the whole idea of a new movement taking country music back to traditional sound and lyrics?”

Joey answers, “You know, there was a huge movement back in the 1980s with people like Randy Travis and Mark Chestnut… and, uh…”

Rory chimes in,”It was called the New Traditional Movement. Nobody outside of us yet has mentioned it, but

my manager and I have talked about it privately. There have been very few movements in my lifetime back to the roots of country music except for the 1980s which was a big one and lasted for a while. That’s kind of what we’re shooting for and not just in commercial country music but also in the independent country music world where we hope the music will be more pure and less commercial. We would love to be part of a swing back to authentic and traditional country music. We try to encourage others like our friend Bradley Walker who also loves this style of music.” (Editor note: See the feature on Bradley Walker in

we would love to be part of a swing back to traditional country music.

(continued next page)

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Joey + Rory, cont’d. this issue of Serious.Life Magazine.)

“He has a tremendous life story, and we recently made a video of one of his songs that we think has a great message and will really impact people’s lives. We are all cut from the same cloth. His faith is strong like ours, and what’s important to him is the same thing that is important to us.

Musically, he is very similar to us and so we are not just trying to lift ourselves up in the industry but also hoping to bring along others who have the same type of music and message. We think there are plenty of other people who feel the same way we do, so if we are to have our

moment in the spotlight, we want to make the best of it and help as many others as we can.”

You have deep roots in what really matters in life.

What are your spiritual

years back with me, just as a solo artist, and there was song on it called ‘That’s Important to Me’. That song really gave a summary of my perspective on life which talks about at the end of the

IF WE GET OUR MOMENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT, WE WANT TO REACH PEOPLE WITH A GOOD MESSAGE.

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backgrounds and beliefs?

“I was raised in a house with five kids,” Joey responds, ”and we grew up in church learning to treat people the way you wanted to be treated.

We were raised as Christians and taught to always do our very best.” She goes on, “What we sing about is really from our heart and genuinely is what we are all about as people. We did a record two

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Life of a Song - Husband and wife duo Joey + Rory bring their beautiful harmonies and songwriting skills along with their joyfulness and authenticity to country music lovers everywhere.

day, what really matters are those things we really care about in life: people, friends, relationships…”

“The spiritual aspect of your lives comes out in songs like ‘Heart of the Wood’. Do you guys have plans to do any music that is specifically Christian or gospel in the future?” I wondered out loud.

Joey continued, “You know, I’ve always wanted to do a gospel record, and people have asked me about it. I grew up singing hymns and traditional Christian songs in church and listened to my mom singing the harmony parts, so gospel music really strikes a chord with me personally. Out on the road, I hope that what I sing touches people in a real way. In the future, I’d love to do a gospel or inspirational album.”

“I think one of our things,” Rory adds, “is that Joey was raised with a background where she really knows a lot of those traditional gospel songs… me, not so much, but we both feel certain there is tremendous opportunity for ministry in the world that we travel in. With songs like ‘Heart of the Wood’ and ‘Love the Hell Out Of Him’, those are ministry songs for us in the sense that the message is not by accident but part of a bigger picture of what

The Real Deal - Joey and Rory share their farm with a dog, a cow, a truck and for good measure, Rory’s VW bug.

SERIOUSLIFEMAGAZINE.COM

Christians are not immune to divorce and heartache.”

Rory jumps in, “Just about 30 seconds ago, an e-mail popped up on my screen while we were talking that is exactly what we’re talking about. It says, ‘Dear Joey and Rory... I don’t know that you will ever see this but on the off chance that it does get to you, I feel obliged to write.

My sister married her high school sweetheart who she has known for 21 years. They have been married for 15 years and have three children, 12, 10 and 6. Two weeks ago, she found out her husband (continued next page)

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minister to them because they are touched by something that is very common in people’s lives today. Even though it is an upbeat song, we know that countless people are touched by the pain of broken relationships and unfaithfulness. This kind of song allows us to reach into the lives of people who may never otherwise listen to music that has a message of faith.”

“Yeah, and that includes a lot of Christians too,” Joey says. “Everyone makes mistakes and we all strive to do the best we can, but tragedy can hit anyone.

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we want to accomplish with our music. Those are not blatantly Christian songs and we believe that subtlety is very powerful because it allows us to get a message to someone who otherwise might not listen to ‘religious’ music. We do feel like our music IS ministry and that is the only reason we have been given this platform. We are not trying to come across as perfect but as real people with real lives who struggle with real problems.”

“Believe it or not, the song ‘Cheater Cheater’ has really given us a lot of opportunity to relate to people and

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Joey + Rory, cont’d.

that I wanted to reach out to you, to respond, and I knew this was the right thing [the magazine article]. We would love to learn more about what you are doing and your work.

We look forward to getting to know you and your family better. And we’ll be praying for Abby.” (Abby is our threeyear old who is fighting Leukemia.)

I have to admit how refreshing that was. I’ve been doing interviews and stories for years for various magazines, and I’m used to the fact that 10 seconds after the interview is over, they won’t remember my name. And really, that’s okay, because the story is about THEM, not me. I have to admit though, Joey and Rory are the kind of folks I hope to remain genuine friends with over the years, so it felt really nice to have them express such a kind sentiment as they headed out the door into a busy schedule and a growing career.

And that, my friends, is exactly why I wanted you to know about them. They are worth knowing. ~

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was having an affair with their youngest child’s kindergarten teacher. Her husband is a teacher at the same school. He now wants a divorce, and she was completely blindsided by the whole situation. My sister is a terrific Christian and has faith that God will see her through this. My wife said that she saw your ‘Cheater Cheater’ video and I burned it onto a CD and sent it to my sister. For the first time in a long time she called me, not crying but laughing. She keeps it on hand for when she really feels low and found it odd how God can use music in such funny ways, even songs about ‘no good white trash ho’s’. Please realize that your music is touching people and thank you for how this touched us.’”

“Wow, that’s amazing,” I reply. “Don’t you love getting messages from people when they say something you wrote or did really helped them in a meaningful or life changing way?”

“Yes, we do,” Rory says, “but you know, it’s interesting that as we travel across the country promoting our music, and in particular, the single that is out now, ‘Cheater Cheater’, we have found that through the Bible Belt section of the country, a song like that is not well received and isn’t seen as part of any ministry effort because it is not overtly Christian. Here’s this crazy, silly song that is kind of offtrack from what we normally do, so we get a little bit of resistance about it from the Christian community because of its humorous response to a cheating spouse. Yet, we know that it touches lives of

people who are struggling simply because so many people relate to difficulties in marriage. When we do receive e-mails like the one I just read, it confirms to us that our vision and what we are trying to do is on the right track.” ~~~~~~~~~~ At that point, Joey and Rory were putting on their well-worn boots and needed to hit the road. As we exchanged goodbyes, they said something to me that just confirmed the unselfish authenticity of them both.

Here I am just a guy wanting to do an interview about them, someone they barely know and who offers little to them in the sense of furthering their careers or bringing them success, and yet, Joey and Rory said this to me as they left...

Rory: “We’ve enjoyed talking to you, and as soon as we get to slow down a little bit, we look forward to reading more about you and your family.”

Joey: “Well, your e-mail to us really meant a lot. It moved me and touched me in a way

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By Brent Riggs

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A Little Change, A Lot of Heart

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‘ve had the pleasure of getting to know Bradley Walker and do the following interview.

You might want to read the “About Bradley” over on the next page, and check out his video (www.brentriggsstuff.com/ detail.asp?submissionid=192 ) to make this part of the story more meaningful. We speak of things in the interview that are explained in his bio, and also about the video. I hope you enjoy getting to know this young man as much as I have. He’s the real deal. ~~~ My first exposure to you was the video, “A Little Change.”

Let’s start there. Tell me how that song and the video came about…

The song was written by Carl

Jackson, Mike Ward and Jarrod Ashley. Carl produced my CD, Highway of Dreams, and he is a dear friend of mine. He is one of the truly great songwriters in Nashville. Carl asked me one day to listen to this song that he just wrote as we had already begun to look for songs for my album. I fell in love with the song immediately and the message it contained.

We go through a pretty rigorous process of choosing which tunes will go on an album, and that song just stuck with us the entire time. When we got in the studio, the song just took on a life of its own, and we were really proud of how it turned out. I feel very fortunate that I was the first person to cut that song and get to call it my own.

About a year ago, I met Joey Martin and Rory Feeks, and we struck up an instant friendship that has only grown since then.

Rory really loved this song and felt like a video was something he wanted to do just to help me along. It’s the type of song when you listen to it, you get this mental picture of what is happening as you hear the lyrics, and we felt like that was the direction to go with the video. So Rory wrote out the treatment as the producer, and we just went out and did it. We shot it in the springtime between Columbia and Nashville, Tennessee, and in downtown Nashville. Another

About Bradley friend of ours donated his time and shot the film while Rory directed it. That’s how we ended up with a great song, a great video, but most of all a great story.

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Do you mind me asking about your muscular dystrophy? In our imagedriven world today, in what ways, if any, has muscular dystrophy hindered having a music career? Has that unique aspect about you actually helped draw any attention or open up opportunities?

Before he got his recording contract, Bradley Walker had already performed on the Grand Ole Opry, appeared on national television and sung at some of America’s leading bluegrass festivals. One listen to Highway of Dreams, his stunning Rounder Records debut, explains why: Bradley Walker is simply one of the greatest young country singers alive. He belongs to a tradition that includes such outstanding stylists as Vern Gosdin, Merle Haggard, Mel Street, Gene Watson, George Jones, Lefty Frizzell, and Keith Whitley, all of whom he cites as influences.

“It’s not like I’m on any kind of campaign to bring back traditional country music,” says Walker. “It’s just that this is the kind of music I love, the kind of music that makes me happiest. I’ve been singing this way all my life.”

Backed by some of Music City’s greatest acoustic players, under the direction of producer, singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Carl Jackson, Walker turns in one breathtaking performance after another on what is easily the finest country-bluegrass disc debut of the year. The message song “A Little Change,” alone, is enough to alert you that you’re in the presence of a master vocalist. The twin-fiddle waltz “He Carried Her Memory” is utterly heartbreaking, while the yearning “Lost At Sea,” the classic-sounding weeper “Love’s Tombstone,” the bluegrass rampage “I Shoulda Took That Train,” and the moving gospel outing “We Know Where He Is” are

so assured, so emotionally complex and beautifully phrased, that they sound as if they come from a seasoned veteran rather than a newcomer.

“He really is one amazing singer,” says producer Jackson, who has worked with everyone from Emmylou Harris to Glen Campbell. The GrammyTM award-winning Jackson’s resume includes sessions with Ricky Skaggs, Jim & Jesse, Garth Brooks, Vince Gill and many other greats. But he reserves extra praise for this new stylist.

“Bradley is a special person, as well as a talent,” Jackson continues.

“He is an inspiration to all of us,” adds Rounder Records co-founder Ken Irwin. The fact that Bradley Walker drove alone from his hometown of Athens, Alabama to Nashville for these recording sessions is itself a wonder. He was born with Muscular Dystrophy, and has been in a wheelchair his entire life. But this young man is as fiercely independent as he is musically gifted. He built his own home in Alabama, designing it for maximum mobility and comfort. He is also completely at ease in his customized van, and has been working a day job ever since his high-school graduation, in addition to singing and traveling to festivals regularly.

“My whole outlook on life is that if you’re able to get out and work, then do it,” says Walker. “My parents always encouraged me to be able to do things on my own. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it hadn’t been for them.”

That’s true in more ways

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I gave our readers a sneak peak at that video and got a tremendous response.

Do you think this song will trademark you as a man with a message?

I hope so. I don’t think that would be a bad thing as a storyteller and a guy who loves songs. I’ve grown to really appreciate songs with deeper meaning. So much about music today is really more about a good beat and imagery rather than substantive lyrics. The thinking today goes that no matter how lame lyrics might be, if that sticks in your head, we will throw a rhythm behind it and slap it out on the radio.

I’m more about songs that have a good message but may not even have a chorus or the same line in it twice. I’m looking at a song right now for my next album that I don’t think even repeats one word but tells a great story. That’s the kind of music that I’m really drawn to and want to record.

By Robert K. Oermann

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Probably a little bit of both.

It’s maybe hindered me some and opened up some doors.

For me personally, I’m a pretty upbeat guy and I don’t really dwell on the negatives of my physical limitations. In today’s environment of commercial country music and how image driven it is, my condition might make it a little harder to break into that world, but that’s what we’re trying to do right now with this video. I think country music is a little more hesitant to embrace what we’re trying to do, but Rory will argue all day long that I’m wrong about that. Bluegrass and its audience seemed to be much more accepting of things that aren’t mainstream, or artists in a unique situation. It’s a lot less commercialized and it seems to be more about the music and less about image.

I can see that people have reservations or hesitate when they see me come onstage and wonder who is this guy in a wheelchair if they don’t know me. I always tell people that my goal for those people who have doubts and reservations is that when I start singing, I hope for them that the wheelchair just disappears. I want people just get wrapped up in the music and the song because that’s what I’m all about.

Tell us about your involvement with the Celebration of Life CD… That project is really really special to me. It surrounds a bluegrass festival that is held

every July called Musicians against Childhood Cancer. A dear friend of mine, Darrell Adkins, and his wife Phyllis promote bluegrass music in the Ohio area that people knew about for years as Frontier Ranch. Their daughter Mandy came down with cancer in her early 20s and passed away I think in the year 2000. Darrell and Phyllis spent the last year of her life down at St. Jude’s. After she passed away, they were going to stop promoting bluegrass, but all of their friends and the artists encouraged them to turn the festival into a benefit.

So they created a nonprofit organization called Musicians against Childhood Cancer and held this festival every year that has grown into a four-day event. A lot of people refer to it now as the Bluegrass Classic in Ohio, and all of the proceeds go towards childhood Cancer.

I’ll sing at it every year for as long as I’m able and as long as

I’m invited. It’s usually the last full weekend of July. (Editor’s note: I think we may just have to do a story on this festival in a future issue. Find out more here - www.bluegrassclassic. com) The project, Celebration of Life, is a two CD set of the live performances from the festival.

Each group performs a one hour set only one time each year. So if you do the math, there’s a lot of music to choose from. The CD is a collection of various songs performed over the years and won the 2006 IBMA Album of the Year. All of the proceeds benefit St. Jude’s.

I know you have a lot of stories that surround your singing. Tell us one of your favorites about a place or event where you’ve sung.

Well, something that I thought would never get as much attention as it has was when my friends in the band, IIIrd Tyme Out, gave me my

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than one. Parents Tom Walker and Sherl Putman both loved music deeply. The radio played constantly at home and they always had plenty of records around. Tom sometimes sang, and Sherl once worked in a record shop. Their son was born in 1978, and was singing not long afterward. When he was 3 years old, his folks took him to a local Oak Ridge Boys concert. Backstage, the tot sang “Elvira” to the quartet, beginning a friendship that lasts to this day. “Everyone in town knew that I sang, even as a very young child,” Walker recalls. “When I was 4 years old I went on stage for the first time. From the age of about 7 or 8 onwards, I would sing in talent contests, in dance halls, at churches, just anywhere.”

Trips to Nashville were common. When he was 10, his family brought him to the Oak Ridge Boys’ fan club party.

This time, he sang “Elvira” with the quartet. The group was so impressed that the following year he was invited to appear on the national cable show Nashville Now with the Oaks. “We did that Nashville Now show in March of 1989, and the folks at the Muscular Dystrophy Association somehow caught wind of that appearance. They contacted us and wanted to know if we could recreate what we had done on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon that September in Las Vegas. The following year, MDA sent a camera crew to my home, spent three days with us, filmed my story and aired a Biography-type profile on the Telethon.”

All the while, his personal musical outlook was growing.

“I started out playing dance halls not long after I graduated from high school in 1996. One of the guys in the band, Ray Edwards, played lead and steel guitar in our country band, but would also play the five-string banjo on a couple of tunes each night. He knew I loved his banjo playing, so when we’d leave on Saturday night, he’d take me out to his truck and play me some bluegrass.

Aside from the first generation stuff – Flatt & Scruggs and Bill Monroe, mostly – the first ‘newer’ band I heard was J.D. Crowe & the New South, their classic 1975 recording.

Then it was Lou Reid, Terry Baucom and Carolina. Ray would introduce me to this music, and I’d go home and listen to it all week. He later turned me into a big fan of Jimmy Martin’s music as well.

That was a time when country music was really starting to change and to move away from traditional sounds, and I fell in love with bluegrass.”

Walker and Edwards formed the Trinity Mountain Boys with brothers Tim, Scotty, and Kirk Terry, the nephews of fiddler Gordon Terry. The band debuted at a bluegrass festival staged in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1998.

“We were just what they called ‘Weekend Warriors.’,” he says. “We did it just for the love of the music, and if we could make enough money to cover gas and expenses, well so much the better.” Former Sawyer Brown member Bobby Randall spotted him at a bluegrass festival and asked him to come to Nashville to sing song demos. This was Walker’s introduction to the

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first opportunity to sing at the Grand Old Opry back in 2002.

Before I went, my aunt told me that she wanted me to put my foot down in the circle at the middle of the stage at the Opry.

That circle is made from wood that was brought over from the old Ryman’s Auditorium stage where all of the great singers of country music have stood like Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and folks like that. The circle is just a symbol of country music history and legend. It’s a big deal to get to say that you stood in that circle.

I remembered what my aunt said when I got up there on stage and without saying anything (I wasn’t really trying to do something people would notice), I just reached down and slipped my foot off my wheelchair platform and put my boot down on that famous circle. Several of the guys in the band noticed what I was doing, and without saying a thing they understood what was going on.

They knew why I was doing it because they understood the significance of the stage and the history it represented.

That whole incident wound up being part of newspaper articles and magazine stories and just kind of took on a life of its own. When IIIrd Tyme Out is asked about special moments in their music, they often tell this story and how special the moment was to them. That will always stick with me is one of my favorite memories about performing.

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another person or group you sang with.

I’ve been blessed to sing with a lot of other artists and groups, but when it comes to mentioning probably the most special I have to say The Oak Ridge Boys. They have been huge supporters and dear friends pretty much my whole life since I was a kid. I met them when I was about four years old, and even at that age I could sing their song “Elvira.”

Back in 1989, they asked me to make my first national television debut on the old show Nashville Now that was hosted on TNN for years by Ralph Emery. The Oak Ridge Boys were guest hosting that night and asked me to come on and sing. So at 11 years old, I sang a solo, “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind,” then I got to sing “Elvira” with them.

Something else that was neat about that night was that Lorrie Morgan was on the show. One of my music heroes growing up was her husband Keith Whitley. I got to meet him a few months before he passed away, and that was really special.

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And finally, a memory about something that involved someone who was listening to you sing.

One person certainly comes to mind. When I did Nashville Now, they told me that I could take a moment while on national television and say hi to someone if I wanted to. So I put a shout out to my grandparents who were not able to make the trip to see the show and mentioned their

names and that they were from Athens, Alabama. It was just a quick moment that went by in a flash and I really didn’t give it much thought after that.

A good while after that, I’m not sure exactly how long, my grandmother gets a call one day from a lady in North Carolina named Donnie. She had seen me on the show that night and remembered my grandparents’ name and where they were from. Now this was back before the Internet and computers and before you could look it up and find just about anybody, but with my grandparents names and where they lived, Donnie tracked them down and gave them a call trying to get a hold of me. Over the years, we got to talk many times and she became just the dearest friend and supporter. She was a very very special person in my life.

She sent me birthday cards and gifts and would call just to check on me and see how I was doing. I never actually got to meet her face-to-face which made it especially sad when I finally got a call from her daughter to let me know she had passed away. Her daughter wanted to let me know how special I was to her mom, and I really regretted never having the chance to meet her in person, although I look forward to meeting her in heaven.

I can still remember her voice clearly because she had that very distinct Eastern North Carolina accent. She was just the sweetest lady in the world and just loved my singing and my songs. We

had many years of keeping in touch, and she will always be one of the most special memories I have of people that came into my life because of my music.

Some of your music has some obvious messages about life and what really matters. How would Bradley Walker be defined spiritually?

I consider myself a very spiritual person, but I don’t like the word religious because of all the baggage that comes attached to it. To me there’s a huge difference between being spiritual and religious. I’m a lifelong Christian, a Southern Baptist, and grew up singing songs like “Amazing Grace” in church. I can remember at three years old singing the Chris Kristofferson song “Why Me Lord,” and gospel music still has a big influence on what I do. We always try to do some gospel and inspirational songs at each show. What I love about bluegrass and country music is that to a certain extent you can still incorporate messages of faith and lyrics that have a spiritual foundation.

How does your faith and beliefs affect your music and your pursuit of a recording career?

For me I just think you always have to be true to who you are and never stray from your core beliefs and principles. Fame, fortune or popularity, whatever you want to call it, should never change who you are, the way

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recording studio. In 1999, The Trinity Mountain Boys self-produced their album Breaking New Ground.

The bluegrass community embraced the young performer, and Walker was soon traveling farther and farther from home to be near the music he loved.

The Atlanta-based bluegrass group Lost Horizon invited Bradley Walker to become its lead singer in 2001, so he began commuting to Georgia for rehearsals. The group took second place at the SPBGMA convention in Nashville that year, and then Lost Horizon was invited to Los Angeles to appear on the Jerry Lewis Telethon. Walker believes his performance of “Big Spike Hammer” was the first time bluegrass music was presented on the long-running annual telecast.

His circle of musical friends widened, and Bradley could soon be seen sharing the stage with bands like IIIrd Tyme Out, Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, The Lonesome River Band, and other bluegrass headliners. In 2002, the members of IIIrd Tyme Out invited him to appear with them at the Grand Ole Opry.

After he motored his wheelchair out to center stage, Walker took his foot off its pedal to rub it on the legendary circle of wood from the Ryman Auditorium. Then he sang the Jimmy Martin classic “Drink Up and Go Home” and drew a standing ovation. He has since been on the Opry several more times as the guest of Alecia Nugent and stars such as Vince Gill and

Mark Wills.

“My whole family has always been very encouraging, wanting me to follow my dreams and go after it, but with a realistic side, too.” In 2002, Walker went to work at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in northern Alabama.

He is a material analyst there, supporting warehouse inventory and purchasing. But music is never far from his thoughts.

He was honored in September 2005 when Bluegrass Unlimited magazine published a Bradley Walker feature story, headlining him as “The Next Great Voice of Bluegrass Music.” The Nashville Scene once hailed him as “the best singer in bluegrass today not yet signed to a record deal.” That would soon change.

Bradley Walker came to many listeners’ attention via “When It Comes Down to Us,” a duet with Alecia Nugent that appeared on her 2006 Rounder Records CD A Little Girl…A Big Four Lane. Next, his rendition of “Sugar Coated Love” was included on the allstar compilation Celebration of Life: Musicians Against Childhood Cancer, a double CD benefiting St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Now, at last, we have a sublime solo CD to savor. “I guess the caliber of people I am working with is just starting to hit me,” Walker reflects. “I had no idea that anything like this record deal would ever come along, and being able to work with Carl Jackson is a huge honor. I feel very blessed to have made so many friends through bluegrass music.” ~

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you conduct yourself, or the way you treat people. A lot of artists sometimes forget who and what got them to where they are. First and foremost I’m a music fan. I know how it is to stand in line for hours to get a concert ticket or an autograph. It’s the fans who get you to where you are, and if you have any success, you sure can’t forget how and why you got there. If I ever have a chance to be ultra-successful at what I do, I always want to make sure that the powers-that-be don’t change me into the image that they want, but rather I stay true to who I am and what I believe.

It’s gotten to the point now where they want to mold you into a certain type of look, and sound, and image. Often you see people who become popular because of a sweet, good and wholesome personality, and a short time later they become so overtly worldly that you don’t even recognize them. Female artists in particular are often transformed into something extremely sexually appealing to try to make their music that much more appealing.

That’s one thing I love about Joey and Rory. They are the type of artists who will stay true to who they are. You know Joey is a very beautiful woman and she would be a perfect candidate for the industry to transform into an artist who gets by as much on sex appeal as musical ability. In fact, sadly, there are a lot of female artists today who get by a lot more on sex appeal than talent. That’s just the world we live in, but Joey and Rory are authentic and grounded. They will stay the

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way they are, and I want to be that type of person to.

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Look ahead 50 years… how would you finish this sentence: When people look back about Bradley Walker the singer, the man, I want them to see…

Musically, I’d like to have the kind of career and legacy of someone like George Strait who is just the definition of consistency and longevity. I want people to say that Bradley Walker was a person who put out great music year after year over the course of a lifetime.

You really don’t see that much anymore and there are just a handful of artists who are going to be able to make that claim.

I think part of that is because guys like George Strait and Alan Jackson don’t change. They just write songs and put out music and say here it is.

As a person, I just want to be known as somebody who was always good to people, always remained the same. The people I like to hang around the most are those who are the same no matter what circumstance you see them in whether private or public. What you see is what you get. It doesn’t matter if they’re the President of the United States or the cashier at a convenience store, they are genuine and real in every situation. That’s the way I try to be and that’s the way I want people to remember me. I hope people remember me as a good person who made a difference in people’s lives and who took the blessings he was given and did something with them in his life. ~

Viewers Respond to Bradley’s Video: A Little Change We put Bradley’s video up on the blog (www.brentriggs. com) and asked readers to respond. The messages were heartwarming and insightful.

•Posted By: Bob There’s so much that can be said about Bradley Walker’s “A little change”. I know that in the past I have been guilty of judging others based on their “appearance”. In the video, there are two surprises for us. First, we discover that the old man has a Bible in his paper sack instead of the bottle we assume is there. And second, we discover that the very talented Bradley Walker is wheelchair bound.

We assume that the old man is a drunk and can’t be trusted.

We also assume that Mr. Walker must be able-bodied because of his talent. What we really discover is that we have biases and preconceived notions and ideas about people based on outward appearances. The shame that I have felt in the past because of my own judgmental attitude once again welled up in my heart and mind. I am grateful to have been reminded again that I am no better than any of God’s children. God is not interested in our outward appearance. He is interested in the condition of our hearts and our souls. I pray that God will help me to look through His eyes at others.

• Posted By: Joan This young man gives a wonderful testimony in this song.

I hope he writes more songs with

messages. He reveals the attitude of Americans who have no regard for anyone but themselves. Satan causes hearts to be self-centered with no compassion for others. If this does not wrench your heart, I believe you have no love for Jesus there either. Jesus’ way is simple; find Him. • Posted By: John It reminded me of the time my wife and I were driving through Tulsa, Oklahoma. We were off on a side road and as we approached the stop sign, there in front of us was a man, obviously down in life with a sign “work for food”. I know what you’re thinking, but I’m a firm believer in what Jesus said, “Give to him who begs from you, give and do not refuse.” Our two boys were in the back seat...ages 10 and 11 at the time. After I pulled over and got out to give him what I could and we drove away...I began to cry uncontrollably. I responsed to the weight that the Holy Spirit had put on my heart. I had to stop and pray...I did so out loud and couldn’t help but think of the impression it was having on our boys. Praise God! • Posted By: Carey Tears in my eyes...

• Posted By: Derek (age 12) I like this song a lot. Bradley Walker is a great singer. At the beginning of this video, I thought this man was right about the use of his money. I was thinking this homeless man would use it on alcohol. But once I saw the homeless man take out of his paper sack a Bible, I realized I

immediately in front of me as I exit my building’s garage where there are always 1 or 2 homeless.

A short drive later I pass three major organizations that minister to the homeless - City Union Mission, KC Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army. Again, an abundant opportunity to do good…as I pass by.

Between the city where I work and my comfortable suburban home, I drive under an interstate bridge and look up to see 4 or 5 (sometimes 8 or 10) people who call the area at the top of the concrete embankment and immediately below the road bed, their home.

We are told not to give money to the homeless as they will just buy liquor or cigarettes or even worse, drugs. But…maybe the sack they hold contains, not a bottle but the Word of God? Maybe they have truly fallen on hard times, especially in this difficult economy we all face. Maybe the next time I’m at the store I should buy a few cans of pop-top foods, non-perishables that don’t require a can opener and some plastic spoons. That way, instead of worrying about giving money for liquor, I can obey God and give food to someone in need.

So, they stand on the street corner, sometimes with a sign, simply asking for “A Little Change.”

Quiet, non-threatening, always seemingly at peace whether anyone gives a dime or a damn.

• Posted By: Staci This was a great video. I used to work down the street from 8th and Broadway. I remember giving change out when I was able, but I also remember being judgmental.

Now, I am a foster mom and I work so hard to bring change to my children and their parents.

This is the change I should have been sharing all along. It is amazing to think our life is so complicated but that someone on the street may have it so simple and right because of their trust in Jesus. I can only pray that the change that I am spreading I also put to good use in my life and trust Jesus with my family, my kids that go home and their families.

Thank you for sharing. This was beautiful. ~

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etc., in the city, and in some cases, I gave some change and at other times I ignored. This video highlighted the concept of giving and serving to the least among us is obeying God. It made me realize how guilty I am, more often than not, of not obeying God in serving others. Showed me my selfishness. Secondly, he sang well and at the end of the video when you saw him in a wheelchair, the first thought was he’s disabled, how can he sing so nicely and so humbly. It made be conscious of how much I view people in narrow boxes and don’t look at the whole picture.

• Posted By: Charisa Great Video...as a child whose parents made bad choices, there were times that the only food we had in our house was food brought by a kind man at a local church (that my mom did not attend). Instead of being judgmental (which he had reason to be, he brought us food. Are there times that we give money and it isn’t used for what we intended? I’m sure..but if God asks us to give money and nudges our heart as we go by, we need to obey and that’s that. He will hold us accountable for obeying..not for how the person we give it to spends it. The key point is doing what God leads us to do....and being open to that...

• Posted By: Jill This video is another example of God’s grace and mercy. How He never gives up on us and calls to us. How He doesn’t see us through the eyes of judgment but as His children perfect, holy and pure fearfully and wonderfully made.

I wonder how many people stop to see the angels walking among them daily - the ones who ask them for a small piece of God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness and love? I wonder how many people remember what it felt like to be judged at one time in their life and not be understood - only to need the person they are judging the most to learn the lesson held within the others heart?

• Posted By: Dennis Living and working in a large metropolitan area, each day I pass by, and more likely than not ignore, many people in need.

One such area is a city park

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thought wrong. I was feeling guilty just about my thoughts.

Then, after I saw the singer was in a wheelchair, I felt a burden on my back. I realized that so many times we judge people by their appearance instead of their heart. We give up so many opportunities to love each day. We grow accustomed to thinking that homeless people are all real bad.

But this video uncovers the fact and reveals the truth that all of us are sinners and are in need of the great Savior, Jesus.

• Posted By: Bruce I loved the story in the song . In the line where he looks in his rear view mirror I felt the image was a reflection of him . It hit home how I have in the past tried to ignore a homeless or down & out person that is going through hard times.

What I felt when I was listening to the song was the old man could very easily be me . We are so self absorbed in our lives . When the old man pulled the item out of the bag and it was the Word,his smile reminded me of contentment, a sense of peace and joy. Another powerful message was that Bradley himself is handicapped and is in a wheelchair . He used his voice as a gift from GOD to share a powerful message . Bradley lets his actions in video comprise the story that GOD loves us all .

• Posted By: Cheri WOW!!!! This hit me in the gut as well as the heart! I became friends with a man 15 years ago that had just became a quadriplegic from a diving accident. He was in his early 30’s then. This past June, he died suddenly after having an infection. Through the years, I can’t begin to tell you what this man taught me about life and the simple things we all take for granted! This song...this man....simply an inspiration. I always try to deal with people by thinking first “what if I walked in their shoes.” I also always tell people, remember that Jesus was a carpenter. We can learn many lessons in life by the people that live around us! Thanks for sharing this....Amazing.

• Posted By: Michael First off, the topic haunted me, as in my early years working I traveled a lot by car and was often accosted by window washers,

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Living Faith: Don & LaVon

T

The RV Chaplains

his month we want you to meet Don & LaVon Baker who have a very interesting ministry story we know you’ll enjoy hearing about.

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Tell us a little bit about how you grew up… family life, who influenced you, your spiritual background.

Don Baker grew up in the Pauls Valley, Oklahoma area. He was saved at eight years of age in a revival meeting, graduated from Maysville High School as Mr. Basketball, and was recruited by several colleges to play college ball, but the Lord had different plans for him. Don suffered a “destroyed” ankle which still gives him “fits” to this day. God saw fit to get Don into the Navy where he survived

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basic training and survival training and went on to serve three tours in Viet Nam. Don married Joan in 1968, and they had one daughter, Stephanie, born in 1972. Don went to work for the 7-Up bottling plant in Waco, Texas, and was soon plant manager and worked in that capacity for four years.

Following his success with 7-Up, Don went into business with a friend at Motive Power Industries, an oil field related company in Oklahoma. Success followed Don’s hard work and success-driven mentality until the “crash” of 1984. Not only did the oil business crash, but Don’s heart health crashed as well. He spent eight days in a coma, 30 days in ICU, and was in and out of the hospital for a year.

Diagnosis: congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy.

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LaVon Baker, born in west Texas, lost her daddy when she was four, “acquired” a new dad when she was five, grew up in central Texas, was saved when she was nine years old over a rub board and wash

tub with her mother (humble beginnings), graduated from Blooming Grove High School, attended Navarro College for two years, and married in 1969. (whew—there’s a story behind every coma.) In 1975, her marriage ended in divorce after the birth of two daughters, Leslie (1972) and LaNae (1974). She was raised in a Christian home and was influenced spiritually by her mother, but for the major portion of her young adult life, LaVon struggled between running her own life and allowing God to run her life. In 1979, she re-married thinking she had found marital bliss, but not so. LaVon threw herself into raising her daughters, who also suffered through this marriage, as best she could. There were good times, there were times of denial, and there were bad times. In 1995 this marriage ended with the suicide of her husband.

At the time of her husband’s death, the family was attending Country Bible Church in Kaufman, Texas.

CBC was the first pastorate

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into the surrounding homes and apartments to bring many to a saving relationship to the Lord as they ministered to their physical and spiritual needs.

Due to Joan’s illness, Don resigned his pastorate in the fall of 2005. On Oct. 9, 2005, after two painful months battling pancreatic, lung and liver cancer, Joanie went home to be with the LORD. The next months were lonely and painful for Don, and he wanted to quit everything and didn’t think he could go on. But, guided so gently by the Holy Spirit, he decided to go on another mission trip to Mexico in an effort to “feel” re-connected to God, yearning to hear once again from the LORD. He would like to say he went to minister there, but in truth, he went to find new meaning and purpose for himself. God was waiting for him there.

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In 1985, Don, still thinking he could do it all, built a lucrative vending business.

However, in November of 1990, God got Don’s full attention when the doctors told him, on yet another of his hospital visits, “We’ve done all we can do for you.

Short of a heart transplant, with no guarantees, you have six months to live.” By this time, Don’s fortune, home, cars, everything was gone to pay bills and he and his family landed in his parents’ small lake home at Texoma, next door to a Baptist pastor.

It was with this pastor and friend that Don fell on his knees and totally and completely gave what was left of his life to the LORD. The LORD opened His arms wide and said, “Welcome back, my son.” Don refused a heart transplant, and a pacemaker was “installed.” Don has served the Lord in many ministries in both the Tulsa & OKC areas, including to the indigent, the elderly, the poor and hungry, and in Mexico since that time of spiritual renewal. He was ordained as a deacon at FBC in Noble, Oklahoma in 1995. In 2001, he was licensed and in 2002, ordained as a minister. Don & Joan planted Faithway Baptist Church on the east side of Norman, Oklahoma, going out

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Living Faith, cont’d.

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position of Chip Ingram, now a well-known Bible teacher in Atlanta, Georgia. Chip was a profound spiritual influence in LaVon’s life. By this time, Leslie had just graduated from college, and LaNae was beginning her senior year at OU (playing basketball), so LaVon moved to Norman, Oklahoma to find a new start. In the summer of 1995, she started attending Noble FBC where she met Don and Joanie Baker in Sunday School. They became great friends, and the Baker’s were wonderful to LaVon during this healing process. In fact, that whole SS class just “adopted” her and were Jesus to her, pure and simple. In 2000, LaVon left Noble FBC and began worshipping at Wildwood Community Church in Norman with LaNae and husband.

She was growing and had found contentment with her LORD and her life, only seeing her FBC friends occasionally.

And then she received the mass-email from Don Baker regarding the passing of Joanie. Shock was an understatement as everyone took for granted that Joan would out-live Don. After all, he was the one with one foot on a banana peel and the other in the grave.

When Don returned from Mexico in January 2006, he and LaVon met for dinner at Red Lobster for Don to talk about Mexico and how God had met him there. That was the beginning of a new kind of relationship for Don and LaVon. LaVon fought it for a month or so, but knew in her heart that God had brought them together. She “surrendered” to the love of

the LORD and Don, and they were married on May 5, 2006.

“We both know that all of our life experiences are tools in the hands of God to be used to encourage those He brings into our life.”

At what point did your life take a spiritual turn?

When did you become committed to your current beliefs?

Obviously, for Don, it was when he died in the ER and was revived to learn that he only had six months to live; when he lost everything and realized that without God in control of his life, it was all for naught. “I had been given a second chance and I wanted to get it right the second time around.”

For LaVon, the major spiritual turn was during a family crisis in 1984. “ ‘God, I trust You’ became a daily reality to me.”

Our lives have taken many spiritual turns, but the current path began, obviously, when we got married. God had given Don a heart for the RV ministry for years and he had served on the board of directors for Christian Resort Ministries, Int’l for seven years prior to our marriage.

After a year of being the pastor at Macomb Baptist Church together, God released us to be chaplains to the RV community. We sold our home and sold or gave away our “stuff,” purchased an RV, and the rest is history. We’ve been committed to Jesus for a long, long time… more and more with each passing day as He supplies grace and faith.

Tell us about your work.

Most of this question is covered in #1 so we will talk about our “work” here.

Regardless of where people find themselves, working or retired, at home or traveling, life goes on. People still have problems, still get sick, still have families, still have relationships, still need to minister, still need to serve.

It’s the same in the RV world.

In this ministry, the only thing that we have laid aside is the administrative part of the church “building.” We call what God has called us to as “getting out of the box.”

But we still love on people, counsel people, encourage people, visit people in the hospital, feed people, clothe people…. You get the idea. We do, as God supplies, what He has commanded us to do in His Word.

With CRM Int’l, not only do we serve as chaplains to the RV community, we look for ways to start different ministries in the communities where we serve. In Branson, Missouri, the Free Medical Clinic of the Ozarks opened in November this year after a year of watching God take the vision He gave us and grow it into a ministry that will serve the Branson community.

Both the employed and unemployed with no insurance are receiving health care and the Good News at the FMCO. The Branson medical professionals were thrilled with the idea of a free clinic, and to prove it, 20 doctors, 40 nurses, two administrators, two pharmacists, one chiropractor, the local hospital, a hospital in Springfield, and a full board of directors have all volunteered services and equipment to make FMCO a reality. Many have given money to pay for the building, and many have gone through CRM chaplain training so they will be ready

to volunteer when they are scheduled to serve. FMCO also serves as a co-op for those who need food and/or clothing.

Now that we are in Coffeyville, Kansas, for a few months, we see the need here for the same type of free clinic. Don has already met with a local pastor to get feed-back. The feedback is positive, and Don will meet with that pastor again Monday, Dec. 1. On Thursday, Dec. 4, Don and the chairman of the board from FMCO will meet with the local ministerial alliance to “plant this seed” in Coffeyville. It is so exciting to watch God work and pull everything together to meet the needs of a community in

Tell us about your family now…

We now have “family” all over the United States and Canada due to the answered prayer: “Dear Lord, increase our boundary.”

Both our mothers are living in the Norman area. Don’s mom is 78 and living on his sister’s property. LaVon’s mother is 90 and living alone in senior housing with sweet neighbors next door and LaNae (granddaughter) a few blocks away. LaNae & Mike Price have two children, Lydia, eleven in January, and Blaine, seven this month. Leslie and Khalil live in Texas (Round Rock and Waco… pray God will sell the house in Waco so they can be together

crisis.

As we travel to Arizona to serve as chaplains in Casa Grande until the end of April, 2009, Don is already praying about the possibility of a free clinic in that area.

We’ve spent time in the local emergency room… we know there is a need there.

CRM Int’l is also developing an orphanage ministry in Somalia and Sonora, Mexico.

Recently, the Biker Chaplains, a group of motorcyclists, have contacted CRM Int’l and requested to partner with us and have their new chaplains go through our chaplain training.

As you can see, CRM Int’l is an “outside the box/out of the comfort zone” ministry.

in a house in Round Rock and Khalil can move out of the Express Stadium) and have two children, Emma, five, and Camden, two this month. Stephanie and Rick live in Bixby, OK and have five children, Dillon, 17, Kristina, 17, Madison, 14, Taylor, 13, and Logan, 6.

Even though we sometimes miss holidays and birthdays with them, they all are very supportive of the ministry God has called us to.

did not see, and God used Charlie to prod Don into ministry. Hance Dilbeck, pastor at Noble FBC was used by the LORD to encourage Don to use the gifts that God had given him. When Hance left FBC, Don stepped up in an associate pastor role and filled in the gaps until the next pastor was called.

Mike Napier, pastor at Noble FBC, was instrumental in stretching Don and planting in him a vision for missions as Mike drop-kicked him into his first mission trip to Mexico.

From this experience, God planted Don in an apartment ministry that stretched Don even further out of his comfort zone, and God proved His faithfulness with blessings beyond words.

Her mother, her preacher grandfather, Chip Ingram, Don Baker and other friends and Bible teachers have been influential in LaVon’s life. “The most instrumental being Don, who has placed me in a position as his wife and partner in ministry that I have never experienced before. For the first time in my life, I feel the respect and honor from my husband and partner… what I think matters to him.

I am honored to serve with him. To be loved by a man who loves the LORD makes all the difference in the world, and that fact motivates me to be lovable… I want to make it as easy as possible for him to make the choice every morning to love me all day long.”

Even though we sometimes miss holidays and birthdays with family, they all are very supportive of the ministry God has called us to.

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You must have many great memories and

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Name a couple of people who have been most influential in your life, and why?

Charlie Baker, pastor at Southern Hills in Tulsa saw something in Don that Don

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Living Faith, cont’d.

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Last word… what advice, encouragement or lesson would you like to leave them with?

Don: “Domine Quo Vadis?” =

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Over the course of your life, how has your view of life and people changed?

Since spiritual maturity is a process, how can our view of life and people not change?

We see life as a blessing and an opportunity to serve others. We see people as either a fellow believer that maybe we can encourage as they pass through this world or we see them as a potential fellow believer and pray that God will use us to help them come to know Jesus Christ and experience the joy of a relationship with Him. We are all sinners in need of grace and we are His creation, therefore, He supplies the grace we need.

“LORD, where are you going?”

And the Lord replied, “I am going to Rome to be crucified anew.” In our heart, the emphasis is on asking the LORD where He’s going and what He’s doing, with the desire in our hearts to go wherever He leads and do whatever He asks. What is taking place within us when we submit to follow Him anywhere? We are crucified anew in that we died to ourselves, we sold or gave away “stuff” and we follow where He leads us. The most rewarding life is the life lived completely by faith, not because of what we may have given up or sacrificed to follow Him, but to watch HIM work and provide and bless.

We are learning new blessings everyday in this walk of faith, and it is glorious.

LaVon: James 1:2-5 --- Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

[Domine, quo vadis? is a painting by the Italian Baroque painter Annibale Carracci. Dating from c. 1602, it is housed in the National Gallery, London.

The work shows St. Peter in the moment in which, while walking on the Via Appia from Rome, Christ appears to him (St. Peter) asking: Domine, quo vadis? (“Lord, where are you going?”). There is also The Church of Domine Quo Vadis?] ~

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stories... can you share one or two of your favorites?

So many memories and stories, but the one that first came to mind happened in Arizona last winter. We were serving as chaplains at a RV resort, of course, where the average age was 60-something. We love our grandchildren and miss them very much, so we were thrilled one Sunday morning to see a little eight-year-old girl in the church service with her grandparents. Little Anna was visiting from Tucson for the weekend that just happened to be the weekend before Valentine’s Day. LaVon had made a nice Valentinetype bulletin and had even picked out “Jesus Loves Me” as one of the songs to sing… an odd choice for a 55-plus group, but God knew who would be there. As, I always do regardless of the sermon topic, I spoke of Jesus, the cross, His resurrection, His ascension and explained His plan of redemption for all who would see their need for salvation as sinners and ask for His forgiveness as they believed in Him. During the closing prayer, I asked anyone who did not know Jesus Christ to pray for forgiveness of sin and ask Him into his heart… paraphrasing here.

After church, we had a brunch in the cantina across the hall from the big hall where we have church, and as usual, I was the last one into the cantina. I sat down on a stool, and soon little Anna walked up to me and asked me to sign her bulletin. I took it from her, pulled my pen out of my pocket and then it hit me. I asked her why on earth she wanted me to sign

her bulletin, and she said, ‘Because I asked Jesus into my heart.’ Well, I’m a little slow, and I said, ‘That’s great.

When did you ask Jesus into your heart?’ and she said ‘Just a few minutes ago when you asked us to pray.’ Well, I grabbed that precious little girl, who was beaming from ear to ear, hugged her and asked her some questions to make sure she understood what had happened, prayed with her and then I told her I would be thrilled to sign her bulletin: ‘Anna, today you became my sister in Christ.

Bro. Don Baker.’ Our prayer was that this 55-plus crowd would see the faith of this child and follow in child-like faith. Praise God, during our time there some did, and we knew that God had used us in a wonderful way there.”

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Helping & Serving

Where There is Vision; There is Provision

By Angel Weir Before even writing this blog post, I can say that it is truly among my favorite posts EVER! A year ago, God sent me on a journey to Ethiopia. I met Hannah - a woman who inspired me like no other. A woman who just followed God’s call. Where most of us would say “Impossible … who am I,” Hannah says “Where there is vision … there is provision.”

Click here to see the video of Hannah’s amazing ministry.

WHERE THERE IS VISION

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DECEMBER 2008

I was impacted so deeply by

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her story of taking in one child after another off the streets.

She is providing them a home, a family of foster siblings, food, clothing and, so important, EDUCATION. Today, Hannah cares for over 160 children with little consistent outside support. THAT is about to CHANGE! Hopechest and Red Letters Campaign just returned from Ethiopia where we identified 8 orphan communities with over 750 kids who would benefit from the Children’s Hopechest community - to - community sponsorship model.

THERE IS PROVISION

Just Released - Powerful Video of Ethiopia Vision...

As Hannah said, “Where there is vision, there is provision!” Some of us had a vision for supporting Hannah in her incredible work. Some of us had a vision of bringing support for Kolfe orphanage. Tom Davis had a vision for bringing future to 1,000 children in Ethiopia.

Well … guess what, I want to show you the provision (watch the new video: http://www. redletterscampaign.com/ blog/2008/11/where-there-isvision-there-is-provision/).

To date, it appears that we have four of these communities sponsored already. It brings tears to my eyes to see Hannah’s orphanage on this video and to realize that God has taken this experience full circle. Also, keep an eye out for Moses’ Orphanage - the community that the Red Letters Campaign community is sponsoring. Today, we already have almost 60 sponsors, but we have room for more. Also, we’d love to sponsor another orphanage if we get enough sponsors.

If you want to be part of this, you can still send an email to Amy Bottomly at amyde63@ hotmail.com It’s time to stop saying, “Impossible … who am I.” Discover your vision. Claim your provision. Make a difference where you feel called to make a difference! ~

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The Reality of Modern-Day Child Slavery

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back to you with a million dollars and you will not have to struggle like this anymore.”

She also promised that Michael would be taken care of and treated like a king at his new home in Japan. The exchange was made. A child for $60.00.

A poor boy turned to “king” in a matter of minutes.

Read the rest of Michael’s story here: http://marisabanas. theworldrace.org/index. asp?filename=michael-angelo Maybe God is calling you, like he’s calling me - not with stirring visions, but just a slow, steady nudging. I keep getting hints that something isn’t right in the world and that I am part of the answer. “You mean Jesus is the answer,” people keep telling me. Of course. …But last time I checked, I no longer live; Christ lives in me. So, where does that leave us with our well-meaning religious responses? ~

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home. Most of the bottom level is rotted out and can’t be used.

You get up to the top floor by climbing a slippery ladder and once you get up to the top, you realize that this family literally has nothing. Each child has one shirt. Some don’t even have pants. The baby’s bottom is diaperless and the severe rash has bubbled his skin over to look like a think crust.

Michael spends all day alone in the house with the baby and his other 2-year old brother while his father and mother go out to try to find work so that they can eat. His older siblings are left to govern themselves and find work.

When the pimp came to the door with a picture in her hand, the family thought that their luck had changed. She promised them that by giving Michael to her they would become rich. She said, “At the age of 20 Michael will come

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By Jeff Goins Before all the election hooplah monopolized the blogosphere, I read a story a last week about a little boy who was purchased for $60 in Asia. While we’re debating how much Sarah Palin paid for her campaigning outfits, atrocities like this one are happening on the other side of the world, and I can’t help but feel one emotion - shame. Where is the justice?

God help our hard hearts.

Here’s a chilling update about child slavery from Marisa Banas, a missionary on the World Race: Navotos is a community of 10,000 people who live on top of tombs in a graveyard in the Philippines. Michael lives in the part of the community that is raised about 12 feet off Manila Bay’s polluted waters.

All 9 of his family members live in a 2-story makeshift squatter

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Magazine Monday

Each month we choose blog posts that are submitted for MAGAZINE MONDAY and publish them, unedited, just like it appears on the blog. If you would like to have something from your blog considered, visit www.seriouslifemagazine.com and look for the MAGAZINE MONDAY link.

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DECEMBER 2008

Adopting an Older Child

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Blog: Voice of Adventure http://thevoiceofadventure. blogspot.com/2008/06/adviceon-adopting-older-child-rlcblog.html (Angel Weir) Question: If you adopted an older child (age 6+), what advice do you wish you had been given or would give yourself to someone considering this journey?

Wow.... well this is a tough one. Answering questions about this for me has been walking a tight rope.

First- I am just now out of the thick of things and able to look back on the big picture.

We have had Zoe home for 1 1/2 years. She was 7 when she came home.

Second- I have wanted to be certain of Zoe’s feelings on what she wants me to share and what she wants kept private. I feel more confident on this now.

Third- many of the things we experienced I considered normal and fully expected. So I didn’t share them cause they

didn’t surprise me. However, I am realizing these things may be something that was unexpected for someone else.

My heart is to share in any way I can to help others on this journey.

So here goes.... How do you put all this into one little post.

I guess if I was gonna have to give one piece of advice you must know when adopting an older child it would be this.

If you are going to adopt an older child it will force you to get over yourself. I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just the

truth. You are going to have to get that it’s not about you. It really isn’t.

Adopting an older child was one of the most amazing and life changing experiences of my life. It turned me inside out and upside down. It rocked my world and changed my heart. I would consider our transition with Zoe very good overall.

That doesn’t mean it was seamless. For about 3 months Zoe had major melt downs every week or two. Her longest one lasted about 7 or 8 hours.... weeping, yelling, kicking,

Want us to publish a post from your blog? www.seriouslifemagazine.com/yourblog biting... yes the Zoe you know and love. I had to learn that it wasn’t about me... it was about my heart condition and about a precious little girl who had lost everything.

When she screamed at me that she hated me and wanted to move back to Guatemala... I had to know deep inside that it wasn’t about me. It was about her being afraid I would send her back. She was going to leave me before I could leave her.

When she told me I wasn’t really her mother it wasn’t about me. It was about her not knowing whether I would always be her mother or whether I would leave her like everyone else.

When she sunk into herself for hours and wouldn’t even

look at me it wasn’t about me. It was about her hiding from her own pain.... trying to escape into herself.

When she lied about things that didn’t even matter it wasn’t about me. It was about her using survival skills that kept her safe and fed when she was in Guatemala.

When she hit me and told me she didn’t want to hug me it wasn’t about me. It was about her not knowing how to receive comfort.

When she had a major melt down weeping session in the middle of a store and I had to practically drag her to the car it wasn’t about me. It was about fear.... FEAR... FEAR! When I couldn’t remember it wasn’t about me I ended up in a ball in my bed weeping-

asking Russ how I could do this. When I couldn’t remember it wasn’t about me I couldn’t feel the bond I wanted to feel with this wounded little bird.

When I could remember that this wasn’t about me through my frustration- I could handle it better. I could talk to her about what was really going on. I could call her on her fears and watch her melt in a sweet little puddle every time. Suddenly my ferocious cat was a purring kitten thanking me through tears for understanding her fears and not making it about me. Suddenly my heart was melting with hers and she was mine. Deep in my heart I (continued next page)

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serious.health serious.extras loved this girl with something deeper than I understood. She is my own personal miracle.

My Zoe is not one dimensional. She was a wounded and deeply afraid and angry girl. She is healing.

Her melt downs got further and further apart and shorter and shorter. Now they happen seldom and usually don’t last long. Now I seldom make them about me.... my heart adores her and I know she adores me too.

Zoe is one of the most amazing people I have ever known. She is an inspiration for me. I love her deeply.

She is kind, loving, helpful, compassionate, fun and just plain wonderful. She has made me a far better person because of who she is and what she has taught me. I can’t picture any other child being more perfect for our family. She is woven so tightly into the fabric of who we are. She is a part of us. She IS us. I am so thankful I was able to figure out that it wasn’t about me. If I hadn’t learned that lesson I would have missed out on the treasure of who she is.

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DECEMBER 2008

A Country Drive

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Blog: I’m Ghana Adopt http://imghanaadopt.blogspot. com/2008/02/country-drive. html Okay ... it’s time to tell you a little about our drive in the country ... or, rather, all the way across the country.

How fast would you drive on this “nice country road”?

Yes, I know, some of you like

high speeds and may not necessarily follow the speed limit. But, if you don’t know me very well, I am someone that closely follows the speed limit. If it says “55”, I set the cruise control right on 55. If it says, “70”, I set the cruise control on 70. However, if the speedlimit says, “80”, I still do not go over 70. That’s my personal speed limit and I do not see a need to exceed that limit.

Well ... there is no speed limit in Ghana and our driver did not happen to share the same personal convictions as I do.

On the first day of travel, we were told it was a 12 hour drive. I assumed, since we needed to drive a 4x4 that the roads would be poor, and therefore, we would not travel a great distance during that time, but that it would, rather, just take us awhile to travel a few hundred miles.

If we drove 40mph for 12 hours, we would cover 480 miles. Well ... I wasn’t too far off on the mileage ... it is 810 km from Accra to Bolgatanga (which is 503 miles). However, I did not calculate the hour it would take us to get through the city of Kumasi, nor the many, many villages that you drive through that you have to actually stop to pay an 8 cent toll. Nor was I able to calculate the many delays due to road construction, etc...

We were also told that it would be dangerous to travel at night, so we must leave at 5:30am and arrive before dusk. After driving for awhile, I assumed that the reason to

not drive at night was because of the very large potholes that suddenly appear, the stretches of road that suddenly become dirt roads, and the cows and goats that use the “highway” also. After our return, we were told that the reason not to travel at night was due to the armed bandits that stop cars, rob people, and shoot them.

Hmmm ... good thing I didn’t know that at the time.

Back to that first day ... while Jim played in the backseat with the children, I learned what it means to “pray continually”. After just an hour or so, I wondered if it would be possible to actually pray for 12 hours straight. These are some of my other ponderings that day ... #1 Why would God bring us to Africa to rescue 3 orphans, only to leave 10 new orphans at home? I did not believe that would be His plan, so I believed in faith, that somehow we could actually survive the trip North. #2 When Sarah asked, “Why do we need to use seatbelts” I thought, “Yes, why? If we get in an accident we will all die anyways.” #3 “How many people die in car accidents each year in Ghana?” Upon arriving in Bolgatanga I saw a HUGE billboard giving those figures, according to the region, ... but we were driving too fast for me to read it. #4 “What would our driver do if he were to hit one of the vendors standing next to the road, as he cruised by?” We had been told that if you do get into a accident you leave

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Bolgatanga right at 5:30, exactly 12 hours after leaving Accra. We were still alive. And, I found that I actually had quite a respect for Alex, as, despite the speed, I could see he was a VERY skilled driver.

Day 2 ... today, I thought, would be a nice peaceful drive, as we had a much shorter distance to go. After several hours, we took the turnoff to Mole National Park and the road immediately turned into red dirt. The next sign said, “86 km to Mole”. Hmmm ... how fast would Alex go on a dirt road? I thought that this might cause us to be in the car for several more hours, as when I drive on dirt roads I

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stretches. Even in the best areas, I would NEVER have driven more than 55 mph.

However, as I mentioned, our driver did not hold the same convictions. Being in the completely prayerful mode that I was in, I could not quickly calculate the difference between kilometers and miles. However ... at 120 kph, I thought we were going a bit fast ... at 130 kph, I kept reminding myself that we had to arrive before dusk ... at 140 kph, I closed my eyes, held on, and prayed harder ... at 150 kph (which is, if you have not done your calculations ...

93mph) I regreted opening my eyes long enough to look at the speedometer.

Well, we arrived in

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the scene quickly and then report yourself to the police; because, if you stop, the local people will bring much more punishment than the police would. Did that mean that they would beat and kill our drive, and leave us sitting in the 4x4 by the side of the road? #5 I wondered how long all of the burned out cars on the sides of the road had been there. Were they this year’s accidents, or maybe just this month’s?

As you can imagine, it was not a very peaceful drive for me ... especially, since I could see the speedometer. What do you do when you have to arrive before dusk and you have many unexpected delays ... you go faster on the straight

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keep it under 25-30 mph. Not Alex. After only a few minutes, Alex pulled over and jumped out of the car. Upon his return he explained that he had let some air out of each of the tires because the ride would be smoother on the dirt road.

So, I learned a new driving technique from Alex, sure to come in handy if I happen to find a 50 miles stretch of dirt road that I need to travel in America. Alex did slow down for the dirt road, however .... he only went 100 kph (or 62 mph). Serioiusly, by now, I felt completely safe with Alex at the wheel. He was amazingly skilled, and quite careful and cautious, despite the speed.

NOTE TO MY TEENAGERS & YOUNG ADULTS: Under NO circumstances does this give you any type of permission to say, “You felt comfortable when Alex drove 100 mph. ...... “ The main things that Alex had to worry about, out on the open road, were: #1 head-on traffic (you drive in whatever lane happens to work for you at the time) #2 top-heavy vehicles that are leaning precariously, as they pass #3 goats and cows, wandering the roadside #4 people ... young (toddlers by themselves) and old, walking and riding their bikes on the side of the roadway As I said in my last post ... I would recommend the trip for any other adopting parents (or those that just want to travel Ghana). However, I would strongly recommend making

the trip with a personal driver, in a 4x4. We saw several serious truck accidents and a couple of bus accidents. We believe the primary reason for these accidents is the fact that Ghanaians tend to stack things on top of their vehicles as high as they possibly can. There are no highway overpasses, so the sky’s the limit. Serioiusly, many trucks are stacked twice as high as the cab. On top of one of those trucks, we saw a goat holding on for dear life (later ... we saw the dead goat that had somehow hung himself). On another truck, we saw about 10 guys holding on on top of the stack of goods.

The busses, also, stack things as high as can be. Anyone riding on the bus that wants to bring something with them ... it goes on top (even goats). I don’t think they have “luggage limits” here in Ghana. To make things worse ... these vehicles are travelling almost as fast as Alex. So, a low-profile 4x4 is definitely our vehicle of choice. The other vehicles seem way too top heavy for the

combination of rough roads and speed.

Well ... I hope that you now have a good picture of our “drive in the country”. If you are in the area, and looking for a driver, just let us know ...

Alex is your man!

Microsoft Giving Campaign

Blog: Wide Open Air http://wideopenair.blogspot. com/2008/10/microsoftgiving-campaign.html There are few things I love more about Microsoft than the generosity of the people who work for the world’s greatest software company! Every year October is an amazing month because employees are encouraged to give generously to charitable causes and Microsoft will match dollar for dollar up to a certain amount.

Last week I had the privilege of touring 13 impoverished orphanages with Children’s HopeChest in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. On

www.seriouslifemagazine.com/subscribe cause that Microsoft can match! None of us can solve world hunger by ourselves but you can make a difference in the lives of 123 boys living at Kolfe Youth Orphanage or 117 kids at Kebebtsehay Orphan Home in Addis Ababa. Brief stories and pictures below.

Let me know if you’d like more information on other orphanages we saw. Feel free to pass this along to others.

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Kolfe Youth Orphanage After spending just a few hours with the young men at Kolfe Youth Orphanage, I am struck by how polite, engaging and smart they are. There is a spirit among these lost boys that at first look seems unbreakable but I was deeply troubled by the absolute squalor of Kolfe more than any other place we visited. Upon arrival Ashunafi (the group’s apparent leader) and the boys invite us to play volleyball and soccer on a dirt field and the rowdiness of boys rules the day. They are so conversational I almost don’t realize that the orphanage is situated on a trash dump; that every window is broken out of every building except the office; that the only thing more prominent than garbage and glass on the ground is the red dust that covers every square inch of this horrible place. The lone rosebush between rows of decrepit dormitories and brambles reinforces for me that life at a place like Kolfe is destitute and full of thorns.

I see two roads for these

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initially with the communityto-community connection but also more are served over time.

Family. When you leave an orphanage, the kids don’t ask for food but they do ask you to remember their name. Children under the stewardship of a communityto-community sponsorship can experience the blessing of family without being formally adopted. It is about stability, continuity, loving them through letters and personal visits, listening to their hopes and dreams, and walking with them through life. The difference between community-to-community sponsorship and individual child sponsorship is the difference between knowing someone and knowing about them.

Holistic. Serving orphans in Ethiopia begins with meeting their basic needs for survival (food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare) but lasting change requires as much focus on thriving as on surviving. Thriving requires an investment in education, vocational skills development, and help transitioning them from orphanhood to productive adulthood.

In the next 9 months, our goal is to connect 10 organizations with 10 orphanages in Ethiopia through Children’s HopeChest.

Whether you invest in Children’s HopeChest or some other organization focused on this issue, please consider making a generous contribution to this important

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this trip I looked squarely in the eyes of 1154 children who today do not have the privilege of food much less of family.

As you consider our current economic challenges, I implore you to consider the level of your generosity in the context of the world’s 143M orphans living in extreme poverty. Our great leader, Mr. Bill Gates, has dedicated the remainder of his life to the injustice of extreme poverty and I’m asking you to be a part of the solution starting today. The question is not do we have the ability to end extreme poverty; it’s do we have the will.

Over the last year I have been evaluating the three primary models for orphan care: 1) adoption, 2) individual child sponsorship, and 3) an innovative new model, community-to-community sponsorship championed by Children’s HopeChest. My trip to Ethiopia was to personally evaluate the community-tocommunity model of which I have become a huge supporter.

In this model an organization supports a full orphan community with at least three important advantages: Scale. Traditional adoption is a critical element of solving the poverty crisis but the gift of family does not have to be relegated to only those children we can take home.

Today there are 4.8M orphans in Ethiopia. According to the US State Department only 2850 (.06%) have been adopted in the last 5 years and this is the strongest rate among African countries. Not only are more orphans served

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boys ages 12-20. Down the first I see the future husbands, fathers, leaders of Ethiopia.

These boys were amazing!

Down the second I see death. I will occasionally use hyperbole to make a point but be clear that this is not one of those times. God help us if we are complacent in the face of this great tragedy! If you have a heart for seeing boys become men please consider sponsoring Kolfe!

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Kebebtsehay Orphan Home Our day begins at Kebebtsehay (pronounced keb-a-bet-sa-high) Orphan Home. There are 117 kids served by this orphanage and we search for something to do as the playground equipment is in shambles. The kids make the best of it and we finally settle on playing catch with a makeshift ball made from rolled up socks. Some of us offer to buy balls or toys but Sophia, orphanage director, asks that we buy diapers and formula instead. We wrap up catch and make our way to the baby room to get a better understanding of the origin of her request. As soon as we arrive we realize that the workers are up to their eyes in folding clothes and comforting little ones so we offer to help.

Even with four additional sets of hands we cannot keep up with the demands of 20 newborns! I pick up a little girl named Solana as Sophia a does the same with a boy named Abimalech. As I stroke her head I notice that the hair on the back of her head is gone.

And I don’t have to ask why.

Children’s HopeChest is already working to find a church to sponsor this home but Sophia has some fundamental needs right now.

That is why we are going to borrow a brilliant idea from Angel and host a virtual baby shower for Sophia and the babies of Kebebtsehay. This will take a week or so to setup so be sure to check in for details.

His Will, His Way Blog: Forever N Ever N Always http://forevernevernalways1. blogspot.com/2008/08/ his-willhis-way-love-withouthypocrisy.html Ok, grab something to drink this may take a little while.

I’m not even sure where or when I got this ‘Blueprint for Achievement’. Yet, I decided to hang it on my cork board next to my desk, where I look at it many times throughout my day.

All of these I believe go in

accordance with God’s word for how we should live to honor Him. Because when you get right down to it - all of these shine His image and the love of Christ living in us! The first one on the list is most important in our lives as Christians - the world is full of doubters and wants us to doubt right along with them.

The world is full of critics in what we believe about God and who He is. The world is full of glass half full types that keep ‘religion’ of any kind in a box they design that works for them each day. The world is full of all the things this list is saying causes us to stumble and miss the mark to shine what is most important to God - LOVE! It is impossible to live out what He says will show others who you belong to if you are doing the right side of this list above.

A child of God is not a quitter - we endure and persist in His strength to finish the race or goal.

Acts 20:24 But none of

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impossible to say a bad thing against them. Verse 19 literally gets to the heart of God in how we are to conduct ourselves with everyone! Make peace by doing and saying things that will build each other up!

Scott said, when someone is doing something that is NOT sin or doctrinally wrong and you want to discuss whatever it is - we must first pray, pray and pray some more to make sure God wants us to discuss it with that person. Remember God does NOT need us - He may call you to speak to this person about whatever they are doing, and if He does, God will speak through you in love. You won’t hurt the other or tear them down by going to them in your flesh - which has no good thing to offer the other person ever! In Matthew Jesus tells us to live humbly, remember to be meek and lowly in spirit like Him. When we are humble - we know that we have NOTHING to offer God or others.

Romans 12:16 touches on this as well - Be of the same mind toward one another.

Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

In ourselves we have NOTHING to give and do not think of ourselves better than anyone. No matter what you know, how much you give, what you do in life, how you live vs another - we are NOTHING without Him. NOTHING we do accounts for anything if it is NOT 100% to

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we are dead to self, thus our wants and expectations on how things should be don’t and won’t matter. Walking around in a bad mood is selfish and surely does NOT shine the love of Christ to anyone you come in contact with.

A child of God will not gossip because we are called to edify and build each other up! The world does enough criticizing, we as the body MUST love without hypocrisy and NOT use our mouths for evil! (This one convicted me big time in regards to parenting - oh LORD change me first to be the example to them that You desire! “How many times will they do x, y, and z?” I say to myself.

Yet, how many times have I forgotten to trust and simply believe in all He has told me and asked of me?)

Romans 14:19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.

Scott is teaching through Romans and last night he taught chapter 14. Our group all left being deeply touched by the Holy Spirit and convicted on loving without hypocrisy.

We all left knowing that only by the grace of God are we not the sins of another. We must love at all times, say and do everything in love. If we come in contact with someone that rubs us the wrong way, instead of speaking any ill-will about that person, God calls us to pray fervently for them. When we are praying for them, God begins to change our heart about that person, making it

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these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. A child of God does NOT doubt - we believe, walk by faith and trust in His every word.

Romans 14:23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.

A child of God does NOT allow the slumber of the world to over take them - we are called to be awake and alert to the enemies attempts at lulling us to sleep (being kept “too busy” for God, prayer, reading His word and listening to Him). TV, sports, outside activities, etc that are out of balance over family time and Him, are all ways the enemy keeps us asleep and not able to be warriors for God’s glory!

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, A child of God does NOT walk around in a bad mood all day when something bad happens or we don’t get our way - we are to count it all joy and have a thankful heart!

Our bad moods must be kept in check - all thoughts held captive and given to Christ, as we focus on Him and not us or whatever has offended us, etc. If we are truly in Christ -

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I am giving to God. He wants to use the fear of my past to convince me that I have NOT given myself over to God and my trust is NOT in Him. I had to go upstairs to put Naomi to bed and while I was with her I prayed that God would calm my heart as I confessed my sins of unbelief, doubt and lack of putting all of my trust in Him, and still fighting for control in certain areas of my life! I went through the verses that always bring a calmness to my spirit.

I remember that He holds my very next breath in His hands and to not fight the pounding of my heart but to rejoice that I am alive in Him! That these moments show me just how alive I am and I have NOTHING to fear! Sorry satan you will not get the best of me ever again. I know whose I am and He that is in me is greater than you of this world!

Naomi fell asleep in my arms as I sang Jesus loves me to us both and I went back to the bible study - just in time to prayer together as a group.

The friendships that He has brought to us are a blessing beyond measure and we all agreed last night how thankful we are that because of Him we have each other. It is ONLY because of Him that I live!

I hope you will stop by Scott’s blog (http://www. openinghisword.blogspot. com/)and allow God to minister to your hearts as He has so faithfully done with us through the book of Romans.

I will work each day to get up Romans 10-14. ~

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pour out His love so they will desire to come to know Him. We must point out sin in our lives first and ask God to cleanse us - before we ever point out anothers sin! We must point out sin in love! We must correct/reproof in love all to point them to The One who can justify, sanctify and glorify them! Romans 14:8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

Do you see the importance of our relationships all being built by and in His love? We will all be held accountable for our relationships with others!

I am once again reminded that the word all is very important to God! Romans 14:10-12 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

11 For it is written: “ As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.” *Isaiah 45:23* 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Romans 11:36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Last night as Scott began teaching I was being convicted in my spirit of many things.

I sat there and felt anxiety rushing through me and my heart was racing. This happens whenever I proclaim my belief and trust in God like I did the past two weeks. The enemy wants to steal and rob all that

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the glory of God! Romans 4:4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

If we are getting any credit or doing any part of life in our strength, God will not be glorified or magnified in our hearts and lives!

Romans 14:4 Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

This verse was also very convicting - I am a sinner the same as you - saved by His grace. I am no better and even when I believe my sins may look better than others; to God they are sin and our self righteousness to Him is filth!

Our sins are all forgiven and to Him (praise God) we are clothed in the righteousness of His Son - our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.

Why is love without hyprocrisy so important to God - because who are we to judge another? We are in no position to judge anything anyone does - how much TV they watch, the way they worship (hymns vs gospels), how often they go to church, how spiritual they seem to us or not seem to us, how they dress when they attend church (obviously we must call out sin and NOT stumble our brother by coming to church inappropriately dressed!), to how one parents! Who are WE? We must leave things to God which belong to God! We must pray for our brothers and sisters - edify and encourage them in His truths! We must

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Science

The Veracity of James Nienhuis

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Editor’s Note: what follows is a series of answers to questions I asked Jim directly. His books and material about Genesis, Ice Age Civilizations, Atlantis and the Black Sea are simply fascinating, and largely ignored by the academic establishment because he presents irrefutable evidence that questions the status quo of world history and the Biblical account. Ancient civilizations mapping and traveling the globe; advanced submerged cities, proof of the Genesis account... Jim is an expert on this and more. I hope you enjoy finding out more about him. ~BR

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’m James I. Nienhuis, author, documentarian, and lecturer, trained at Dartmouth College, born again at age 26, saw the veracity of Genesis about five years later, after reading Henry Morris’ The Genesis Flood. I’ve been studying the germane subjects ever since, about twenty years now, having written two books and three documentaries, and now blogging at DancingFromGenesis.com.

On my blog I present the compelling evidences that all of the Bible is true, including Genesis, the most accurate

and far-reaching book (in geographic and chronological scope) of any volume of ancient history ever written.

Did you ever wonder why there are 60 seconds to a minute, and 60 minutes to an hour? Why were these base 6 numbers selected? Well, the ancient root of all that is in geometry, which means earth measure, based upon the hexagon form, within the circle of the earth. One side of the six sided hexagon which is the length of the earth’s radius, measured according to the wobble rate of the earth’s axis, anciently known at 72

Get a FREE subscription: www.seriouslifemagazine.com/subscribe years/degree. So the ancients measured time accurately by the earth’s wobble rate, and thereby, achieved geometry, which means earth measure, embodied in the dimensions of the Great Pyramid of Giza, proving that the purposeful intelligent design of the universe was harnessed by the ancients to measure this world of ours. This allowed the ancients to rapidly navigate and settle all around the world in

the centuries after the Tower of Babel, which was ongoing during the Ice Age, when the now deserts of the world were well watered by much rainfall.

used a base six number system. I had been studying the “precession numbers” in many ancient legends and architectures - base six

I deduced the ancient mapping finding by recalling from fourth grade that the ancient Sumerians (Chaldeans)

numbers - I decided that this must be the link to ancient geometry. Applying the six sides of the hexagon to the wobble rate, the precession, of the earth’s axis, 72 years/degree, I was able to demonstrate how the ancients determined the radius length of the earth by that wobble rate. This provides the numbers of geometry for our modern nautical mile mapping system, which is based on solar transit time measure, not by the precession time measure as practiced by the ancients, to calculate the length for the ancient royal cubit, which is a subdivision of the radius length of the earth.

You can read more about it here: www.IceAgeCivilizations. com - Article #2. This fact is significant for obvious reasons. Keep in mind that this young earth creationist solved this ancient riddle, bringing much distress to mainstream scientists because young earth creationists, according to the mainstream Darwinian scientists, have no brains.

Almost totally ignored by mainstream scientists are the hundreds of submerged ruins’ sites in many parts of the world, perhaps two hundred sites in the Mediterranean for

VERACITY: ADHERENCE TO THE TRUTH; CONFORMITY TO FACT OR TRUTH; ACCURACY OR PRECISION

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example. They are ignored by mainstream academia because the submerged megalithic and brick structures were obviously inundated by the sea level rise with the end of the Ice Age. Current teaching is that this occurred circa 10000 B.C., but structures such as those now submerged, with quarried block walls, and stone plazas and temples, began to be built circa 2500 B.C., so it’s plain why the mainstreamers don’t want to talk about this.

They obviously have greatly erred in their estimation of when the Ice Age actually ended, circa 1500 B.C. which is, not coincidentally, when the Biblical Exodus occurred.

This timeline comports with the timeline of Genesis, not surprisingly, with the Ice Age having been caused by warmer oceans in the aftermath of Noah’s Flood. The global Deluge was caused by the eruption of the “fountains of the deep,” circa 2400 B.C. (and when the oceans had cooled to about today’s temperatures, the Ice Age ended).

Mainstream scientists ignore this evidence because it exposes the fallacies of their sample dating methods, Carbon 14 for organic material, and radioisotope dating for rock samples, both of which are based on unknowable presuppositions.

Diamonds, coal, and oil, show measurable carbon 14 contents, meaning that they were formed only thousands of years ago, not millions. With the compelling young earth

10,000 BC? Or 1,500 BC?

creationist evidence (such as the submerged megalithic ruins), and the causation of the Ice Age by paradoxically warmer oceans, combined with the growing knowledge that the dating methods are seriously flawed, the Global Flood Model (according to the Genesis timeline) starts to really look good. This is a huge embarrassment to mainstream academics who have invested their careers and billions of dollars in their dogmatic Darwinian approach to ancient earth history.

Christians have allowed themselves to be trapped by the Darwinists, allowing them to say that Christians don’t believe in evolution, implying we are ignorant. But, we do believe in evolution, per se, natural selection within syngameons (kinds) of animals, just not in the Darwinian concept that primordial goo began to morph and become you and me over hundreds of millions of years of random change. The best thing Christians can do in debate is

quickly point out that we do believe in evolution (per se), but not in Darwinian evolution (“goo to you”).

What I have brought to the table for young earth creationism (the ancient mapping finding and the relevance of the submerged ruins to the actual time of the end of the Ice Age) will continue to be the thrust of my research and teaching. I’ve laid this out in my two books and three documentaries. I hope for bigger productions, Television and perhaps the big screen, demonstrating what life was really like circa 2000 B.C., during the Ice Age. It was much rainier in the nowdesert regions of the world and the sea level was about three hundred feet lower than today. About 25 millions square miles of now-shallow seafloor was exposed dry land, and most water was tied up in the ice age icepacks. Some great movies could be produced about the ancient navigation and settling of the world by

www.seriouslifemagazine.com/subscribe the likes of Atlas (a son of Sidon, son of Canaan) and Ham (also known as Cham, Khem, Chronos, Chiron, the father of Canaan). Fascination films could be made about the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza, designed by the ancient mapping methodology, when Egypt’s climate was more like Alabama’s, not the parched desert of today’s eastern Sahara of North Africa. I hope to flesh out these facts about ancient history through some big screen story-telling from the book of Genesis, which come alive with this understanding of the science involved.

Jesus referred to Genesis history as real history. Not believing the Genesis account, people are effectively calling

the Savior a liar - not a good thing for the Christian. This is exactly what the unbelieving world is trying to do because they know if the Genesis account can be proven false, then they can ask why believe the rest of the Bible. It’s paramount that believers be prepared to give some of the many very rational reasons to believe the Genesis account, rendering the rest of the Bible more plausible to the unbeliever. I’ll be the first to tell you that I became a Believer while still entrenched in Darwinian dogma (trained in it as a scientist). I began to investigate the history described in Genesis according to the scientific record, and as you can see, the Genesis

account of history rings true, nothing to be ashamed of there.

I’d like to thank Brent for allowing me this space in his great magazine, and he has graciously told me we will publish answers to your Genesis and ancient history question in future issues. Send your questions to editor@ seriouslifemagazine.com.

I can be contacted by email through my websites. Thanks again Brent, and I hope this all brings much greater understanding of the Bible to your readers. ~

Author and speaker, James Nienhuis has a B.Sc. in Earth Sciences from Dartmouth College. His blog is www.dancingfromgenesis.com

Sarasvati River Paleodrainage

Imagine the combined riverflows of the Ganges, Indus, and Jamuna Rivers of India, in one river, flowing down from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea off Pakistan, that was the flow of the ancient Sarasvati River of ancient hindu vedic literature, which was said to have flowed so wide that one could not see the other bank.

www.dancingfromgenesis.com Ten percent of ad revenue goes to charities that make a real difference. Click this ad and visit our advertiser.

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Forever Homes

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By Mike Dotson Destiny has seen and experienced more than most little girls her age deserve. At the age of four, her vocabulary list had to include words like foster parent, court-appointed, no visitation rights, and real mommy versus foster mommy.

The story of Destiny and her three sisters is like so many others. She was born into a family who knew little, if anything, about how to care for a newborn or a toddler. But her parents kept having more beautiful baby girls—four little gifts from heaven all within six years.

These girls spent the first few years of their life in limbo, never knowing where they would live and if they would have to learn a new mommy name. Their destiny was charted by other people. They learned quickly, too quickly, that their life wasn’t right. They longed for permanency; they longed for their “forever home,” a place where they would feel secure and know that a frantic, manipulative phone call from their real parents wouldn’t spiral them back into darkness.

They had some good foster parents, and they had some that on the surface seemed good, but they didn’t always feel loved and accepted.

The parents they had for the last two years had done everything in their power to make the girls’ lives full of love, security, and joy. They took all four girls with their dirty clothes and stinky diapers.

They picked up the girls on a hot, late afternoon in August.

The call came from the state; it wasn’t so much a question of if they could take four girls in three hours but, “You need to be in the Wal-Mart parking lot in three hours. There are four girls who need you and need to be out of their home now!”

With three hours’ notice, the couple said simply, “Okay, we will be there.” Not knowing if the girls would be there for three days, three months, or three years they opened their home and their hearts.

The three days quickly passed into three months, and the girls were already starting to re-blossom into the beautiful flowers that God had intended. Soon, birthdays were celebrated, and pictures of the girls began to adorn their home. There would be times when the real parents would attempt to muscle their way back into their lives claiming parental rights. The girls wanted a family; they always wanted permanency, but they also knew that their real parents were incapable of delivering that security.

After almost two years, the state declared the children eligible for adoption. Foster parents live lives torn between

parental rights and well-being of the children that they care for. Most simply, want what is best for the children, who are stuck in the middle of the equation.

The long awaited call came. The Children Services Department of the State, in a dry, pragmatic fashion, told the foster parents that a family had been located. The family wanted children. They, like many other adoptive hopefuls, had tried for years to have children, but had never heard the beautiful words, “You are pregnant!” He wanted a girl, and she wanted four children.

So four little girls seemed to fit the wish list.

The foster parents had to explain to the girls, who they had treated like their own for two years that they were going to move one more time.

Destiny, the oldest, but still very young at six-years-old, always had the knack of saying what was at the heart of every situation. She asked with anticipation and wonder, “Are we going to our ‘forever home’ now?”

The answer was as direct and as simple as the question, “Yes you are going to your ‘forever home’ now.”

Destiny understood her

www.seriouslifemagazine.com/subscribe destiny. She would get to go to her ‘forever home’ with her sisters.

Life lessons are sometimes packaged in the ways that we would never anticipate. Destiny taught me that I, without ever realizing, am a spiritual orphan. I have had spiritual foster parents along my life journey. I have enjoyed love and acceptance from dear people who where not my biological parents. She opened the curtain and let the light of my spiritual destiny shine brightly.

She taught me a principle that our heavenly Father wants us to realize.

The world we live in, the rules that world plays by, and the way the world treats her children is like unfit real parents. The world doesn’t deserve to have parental rights

over you and me. We long for permanency in our own lives.

We, like Destiny, know that something isn’t right.

God longs to give us place and permanency. He longs to make everything right. God has provided foster families here on earth. He has given us Christian church families—people who will love us, and accept us—all the while knowing that we all are only passing through this world.

God is our “forever Father”.

He wants to protect us, to give us eternal safety, and to help us be free from fear. God has a forever home, simply called heaven. Even though heaven may seem distant, it is real and little Destiny, with her intuition, knew a better life did exist out there. He has a place ready for you, ready for all of us.

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He wants to adopt you. He has gone to great lengths with you in mind. You see, to be able to get the adoption through, he had to sign our adoption papers with the blood of his Son. The hows of it all, I am not completely sure about, but I know that he wants to be our forever Father.

Would you like that? God sure would.

The girls are enjoying their new life. They are learning new names, but names that will be with them forever. The “forever home” feels comfortable and secure, just like they had hoped.

The foster parents let the girls go, because they always knew their role. They knew that their job was to love and protect the girls for a season. All the time, they knew that God was preparing the “forever home” for the girls, just like he had done for other children in the past.

God has been thinking about you and me for a long time. He has already prepared a place for you and me. He has earthly foster parents lined up for you. Each family different and unique, just like you and I. There is one name that God wants you to know, it is a name that you will keep for eternity. He wants to introduce you to his son Jesus. Jesus has spent time down here. He knows what the world has done to everyone.

When you met Jesus, you know God. Jesus will take us by the hand to God. He is the front door key to our “forever home”, and he wants to open the door for you. Would you like that? Jesus sure would. ~

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Humor

Church Bulletin Bloopers...

Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa, will be speaking tonight at Calvary Methodist.

Come hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.

Announcement in a church bulletin for a national PRAYER & FASTING Conference: “The cost for attending the Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.

The sermon this morning: “Jesus Walks on the Water.” The sermon tonight: “Searching for Jesus.”

Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the

recreation hall - Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.

Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale. It’s a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don’t forget your husbands.

The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict.

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say “Hell” to someone who doesn’t care much about you.

Don’t let worry kill you off let the Church help.

Miss Charlene Mason sang “I will not pass this way again,” giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

Next Thursday there will be try outs for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions.

She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack’s sermons.

The Preacher will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing: “ Break Forth Into Joy.” A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be “What Is Hell?” Come early and listen to our choir practice.

Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.

Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

Please place your donation in the envelope along with the

Got something funny you want us to include?

Email it to editor@seriouslifemagazine.com deceased person you want remembered.

Attend and you will hear an excellent speaker and heave a healthy lunch.

The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.

The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

pancake breakfast next Sunday.

The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.

The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new

tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: “I Upped My Pledge! Up Yours!”

(From www.danggoodjokes. com/bloopers) ~~~

Bradley Walker

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This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn sing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.

The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the

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Reader Recipes

The following recipes were taken from the “Adoption Cookbook”. The pics are from the cookbok. If you would to purchase it, go here.

Ethiopian Dabo Kolo (Little Fried Snacks) Ingredients: In a 1-quart bowl: Mix: 2 cups all- purpose flour ½ tsp. salt 2 tbsp. sugar ½ tsp cayenne pepper ¼ c oil.

Directions: Knead together and add WATER, spoonful by spoonful, to form stiff dough. Knead dough for 5 minutes longer.

Tear off a piece the size of a golf ball. Roll it out with palms of hands on a lightly floured board into a long strip 1/2

Cheesecake Dip Ingredients: (2) 8 oz. pkgs. Softened cream cheese ¾ c. marshmallow cream 2 tbsp. powdered sugar 1 c. mini semi sweet chocolate chips Vanilla wafers

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DECEMBER 2008

Directions: Mix all ingredients (excluding chocolate chips) until smooth. Stir in Chocolate chips. Serve with vanilla wafers.

Submitted by Michelle, mother of Isabella, Guatemala

S E R I O U S . L I F E . M A G A Z I N E TM

Hot Bean Dip

Larisa, Miguel (Guatemala) and Gabi 74

inch thick. Snip into 1/2-inch pieces with scissors. Spread about a handful of the pieces on an ungreased 9-inch frying pan (or enough to cover bottom of pan). Cook over heat until uniformly light brown on all sides, stirring up once in a while as you go along.

Continue until all are light brown. They will look like flat peanuts, and are served as a snack or with cocktails; and like peanuts, once you start eating them you can’t stop.

Submitted by Beth, mother of Jessica and Sam, Ethiopia

Ingredients: 1 Large can refried beans 1 8 oz cream cheese, softened 1 8 oz sour cream

1 package of taco seasoning 1 8 oz package grated cheddar cheese

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients, except cheddar cheese together in a large bowl until smooth (I use a mixer). Pour mixture into a 9 x 13 glass dish. Sprinkle cheese on top.

Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes, then uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Serve with tortilla chips.

Yummy!

I made this for Anna’s Family Day this year. Everyone loved it!

Submitted by Debbie, mother of Anna, Guatemala

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Ingredients: 1 c. margarine (2 sticks) 2 c. sugar 2 eggs 1 c. sour cream 1/2 tsp. vanilla 2 c. flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt

Directions: Mix well margarine, sugar and eggs and fold in sour cream and vanilla. Mix and add flour, baking powder and salt.

Spoon 1/2 of the batter into a greased and floured Bundt pan. Cover with 1/2 of the topping and then the rest of the batter and rest of topping.

Topping: 1 c. chopped nuts

Got a recipe you want us to print?

Email it to recipes@seriouslifemagazine.com 1 tsp. cinnamon 4 tbsp. brown sugar Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Submitted by Kim, mother of Danni, China

Peanut Butter Cups Ingredients: 2 c. peanut butter 1/2 c. melted butter (1 stick) 1/2 c. brown sugar 2 1/2 c. powdered sugar 1 tsp. vanilla 1 12 ounce bag of semisweet chocolate chips

Crust: 3 cups of flour 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup butter 1/2 teaspoon salt

Blend, press into a jelly roll. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Filling: 4 eggs 1 1/2 cups corn syrup 1 1/2 cups sugar 3 Tablespoons margarine 2 1/2 cup chopped pecans 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions: Blend and pour over hot crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cut into small squares with pizza cutter.

Submitted by Cindi, mother of Marvin

Peanut Butter Playdough Ingredients: 1 cup of peanut butter 1 cup of powdered milk 1 cup of honey 1 cup of powdered sugar

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Directions: Put all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Mix it all up with your hands or a wooden spoon. If it is a little sticky as you stir it, add a little more powdered sugar. Last, you need to roll it in some extra powdered sugar and enjoy!!

Submitted by Taylor, sister of Danni, China

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Directions: Mix ingredients well and pat with hands in lightly buttered 13 x 9 inch pan. Place 1 (12-ounce) bag of semisweet chocolate chips on top of peanut butter mixture. Put in 200 degree oven for 10 minutes. Spread chocolate chips with knife when melted.

Chill until firm enough to cut into bars Submitted by Kim, mother of Danni, China

Pecan Squares

Miguel, Guatemala 75

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Push Your Flywheel Brent Riggs

Real Success In Life and Business

T

Do you know what your personal discipline goals are diet, exercise, study, education - so that you can evaluate if you are actually giving your personal flywheel a daily nudge?

Do you know what your spiritual goals are so that you can discern if your spiritual flywheel is gaining momentum daily?

Learn to push your flywheel a little each day for long term success in all areas of life. ~

SERIOUSLIFEMAGAZINE.COM

discipline and consistent effort.

Picture yourself diligently pushing on a giant flywheel every day. A flywheel is a heavyrimmed wheel that translates energy into momentum and power. The faster it turns, the more power it generates and the easier it is to spin.

Each day you push on that flywheel by doing the right things; you discipline yourself to do the activities that will lead you

The flywheel will turn slowly at first, but it will gain momentum over time.

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closer to your goals and with each action, even small actions, you nudge that flywheel faster and faster.

Early in your efforts, you push hard, and the wheel turns slowly but that is natural; don’t let it discourage you. With each nudge the flywheel picks up speed.

As it picks up speed and gains momentum, the pushing becomes easier and the speed continues to build. It’s like the proverbial snowball rolling down hill.

Keep pushing. Keep doing the things you must do every day to give that flywheel energy. Your little pushes each day result in great amounts of speed and force over the long term because of the “flywheel effect”.

If you are unsure what to do next, consider this: Do you know what your business goals are so that you can judge whether you are pushing your business flywheel every day?

W R I T E U S AT: L E T T E R S @ S E R I O U S L I F E M A G A Z I N E . C O M

oday, people want meteoric success in whatever they do, especially money. In other words, they want it fast, and they want it big, preferably with minimal effort.

In our modern world of “give it to me NOW, give it to me FAST, I deserve it”, we are easy prey for the mentality that success in life, relationships or business should be instant and easy.

That’s not reality. Nor should you want it to be. Success that is fast and easy for all, is no success at all. It’s just status quo. Think about it. If everyone could get it all fast with no real effort or process, then “success” would be redefined as something more than that.

That’s why, as a rule, “success” is typically neither easy, nor fast. You have to change your mentality and expectations.

Real success comes with time,

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