Toy runs and Biker
Every year the Fellowship Riders take off to a children’s home to take them gifts. It is a real life orphanage here in the great state of South Carolina. Some of these kids have been in this home for over 10 years.
Our rides normally consist of about 10 different biker groups that come together to share a day with the kids. We sing, eat, Santa hands out gifts, and then we give the kids rides on the bikes. They love it! Remember that the scriptures says to not neglect the widow and the orphan. Take some time out this next year to spend some time with the fatherless and the widow. Blessings and Merry Christmas!
Facebook and social networking
It is amazing how you life can get sucked into a vortex of social networking! I almost breathe FB. It is becoming like air to me. Everytime I logonto the computer, I will log in and see what all my friends are doing. Then I will check and see if there is anything happening on my “virtual” Island! Bejeweled is addicting…computer crack is what I call it! I refuse to Twitter all the time. I think I have linked it to my FB profile, but I do not remember. Myspace is old school, and emailing is only done through buisness needs. I think I own a phone, but I am not sure. I really feel like I carry around a small type writer. Texting is the newest thing! My daughter was actually suprised when I told her that I got my first cell phone when I was 22. She has friends in her class that have cell phones and they are 8…8 years old!!!! I can’t believe it, but then again I am not suprised.
I bet you if they come up with some social page for for Christians to post things and check out videos and have Bibile studies, post prayer requests and online worship services they could do it…Oh wait a minute…they do hae that too! When we all just be comfortable with living life and needing less? I long for simple, but I do not want to get there quickly…I need to be weened! Could you imagine all our comforts be removed from us in 1 day? WOW…stop me while I am not too far gone.
Thankful for the service of Doulos
Many people around the world has received the news of MV DOULOS. She was built in 1914 and came to the ministry of OM Ships in the 70’s. Over the past 32 years of ministry, the Doulos has arrived in hundreds of ports and welcomed over 20 million people on board. We learned just last week during her Dry Dock, that she will be unable to sail past December 31 of this year. We were not expecting this sudden end, eventhough we were aware that her time was short. Now, with around 280 people on board and others that were planning to join in February, we have to re-evalute what the future looks like as a Ships ministry with 1 ship in service instead of 2. Our main concern right now is the crew and we are doing everything we can to care for them as they walk through this journey with us. Please pray for the families and crew of the Doulos and the minstry of OM Ships as we seek wisdom and direction from the Lord. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news…Our crew are beautiful people and the Lord has great things in store. Thank you Lord for allowing our family to experinece a glimpse of what the Doulos has been a part of for over 30 years. Thank you Lord for the Leaders, past and present that have led the community on board. Thank you Lord for the Legecy and History of the MV DOULOS. Thank you Lord for the impact that the Doulos has made for your Kingdom.
Bridgetown Barbados
Captain Dirk Colenbrander (Netherlands) welcomed attendees to the Official Opening in Barbados which featured a Parade of Nations that paired crewmembers of different countries together, such as Mexico and Chile, the USA and South Africa. This illustrated the thought expressed by Director Gian Walser (Switzerland) who said “there could be peace among individuals, there could be peace among families, communities and nations”. The Honourable Mr. Patrick Todd, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, who was the Guest of Honour, expressed his hopes. He said that the crew of Logos Hope will positively impact Barbados through literature, quality educational programmes and through providing assistance to persons in need while also setting an example. “Logos Hope represents a micro-community and is a clear picture of what a larger community should and can be,” he said in summary.
When I was in High School, I served on the NC district IMPACT team and we went to Bridgetown, Barbados for a summer missions trip. I would love to have been on the Logos Hope while she was there. I remember a young child named Iesha when we were ministering with the Nazarene church there. I would love to know how she is doing and what God has been doing in her life. Pray for the continued ministry of OM Ships as we sail into the ports of the wolrd to share the good news of Jesus.
Small world
I am currenty at Southern Weslean University for their 2 day Mission focus. Normally there are many mission organizaion at events such as these, so I am always excited to meet new people. Well, today I met the President of MTEE who was the boss of my Mother-in-law. She served with MTEE for many years and now I met her boss. Also, The Dean of Education here at SWU served with MTEE and went to one of our partnering churches. Hilarious!!! It has been great meeting these wonderful servants of the Lord.
Doulos in Drydock
Doulos has sailed from Vivo City, Singapore’s largest retail destination, to Drydock World for yearly repairs. The book fair closed and was converted to an out-door Dining Room for the hard-working crew. Electricians, welders, engineers, deck hands, and more, use their skills to help keep this old lady in shape. A new school and a more customer-friendly book fair lay-out are a few of the many projects being done during dry-dock in the next five weeks. Metal Fabricator Collin Diplock (Australia) who has worked in quality service and quality control commented, “I have been involved in ship-building for many decades and came to volunteer on Doulos during dry-dock for personal therapy. I can’t just sit around the house or I’d go crazy!”
AWESOME DAY
Lynches River has become the place for biker baptisms. Tommy (guy in the red shorts) is a good friend and now the Pastor of Biker Church USA in FLorence. What a great blessing to be with him as he baptises some of the people he has been discipling and others that he is joining on their journey.
The simple truth!
We should not work and strive so hard to be something God never intended us to be. His desire is for us to be conformed to the very likeness of Jesus. I think, because we have been taught so much about what it takes to be a Christian, that we put in front of our lives this false image of who God wants us to be. He desires that we accept His love for us, and then just reflect that to other people. God is love and we are created in His image. The only way that we can truly know we are saved is through accepting what Christ has done for us on the cross, dying for our sin and taking the punishment upon Himself, believing that it came from a loving God and then love others. I do not know where it says in he Bible about being “truely saved”. I do know that it does say that whoever calls on the Lord will be saved. It also says that the ‘works” of God is to believe upon Jesus. You can’t be any more saved than when you first make the decision to believe and accept His love for you. I do believe that we can grow in our knowledge of Him and through that the Holy Spirit begins to transform our lives and enable us to reflect the true nature of Christ. I think we just need to quit trying to be Chritians and just start accepting God’s love and then give it away. Know that today, you are deeply loved by God and He is capable of loving the unloveable areas in our lives!
Bringing knowledge
“In Port of Spain we are expecting to receive 12 containers plus some deliveries,” said Book Fair Manager Daniel Vaupel (Germany). “It will be a lot of work to sort out everything but I think it is worth it.” He is confident in his team, now fully staffed with people moving from other departments and through new volunteers who joined the ship in Scarborough. The book fair will get three containers every week while in this port; one from extra stock that was on Doulos, two from the UK and 9 containers from the USA. Each container weighs between 20 to 30 tonnes and contains thousands of books. The team will unload and store this huge amount of material in preparation for what is expected to be the busiest port so far based on previous experience.
Preach this message…
Jesus says in Matthew 10 to Preach this message: the kingdom of heaven is near.
What do you think it means to preach the Kingdom? Is it about the spoken message or is there room for our lives to preach a message as well?
I believe that we need to be about proclaiming the good news. Our lives can be an overflow of the message that is in our hearts. When we are moved by the impact of the kingdom in our hearts, we will distinctively share that verbally. We also have to remember that it is the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of man. It is giving credit to the Lord for all He has done and is doing. The danger is to live a good life but never telling anyone why. Kinda like worshipping creation rather than the Creator. Anyway, what do you think?
