Established in Security

Established in Security

            Over the last few years I have claimed a verse of scripture for the year, to inspire and motivate me in my personal life.  These nuggets of scripture have come from my personal study of the scripture and through mediation and enlightenment from the Holy Spirit.  I do not and have not taken these verses lightly, most often sharing them with the church family at Rockford, in hopes of God using these verses in our lives, independently and corporately.

My verse for this year comes from the last phrase of verse 2 of Psalm 40: “[He] set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure.” (HCSB)  As this verse flooded my soul during the last days of 2012, God spoke in an amazing way to my life, challenging me to make sure the foundation of my life was correct and would hold through the storms of life yet to come.

We all agree that the foundation of a house or building is the most important part.  The rooms may be the right size, the common areas may be immaculate, and the design is breathe taking; but if the foundation is not appropriate, the structure of the house is in danger.  A crack or flaw in the foundation, at any point, endangers the house or building and the occupants who reside within.

In ancient days, the craftsman would search through the quarry for a stone which would be laid as the cornerstone.  In our time, this is nothing more than a nice plague made of bronze with a few names of important people who made the building possible or the date and name of the building.  We refer to this as the cornerstone.  Not so in the ancient days…

Once the craftsman found the right stone, he would chisel and prefect that stone, making sure that the angles were right, correct and smooth.  When he was satisfied, he set the stone as the cornerstone, the stone from which all others would be like and ordered.  From this cornerstone he and his workers would set the remaining stones for the foundation, measuring from this first stone every time they placed a new stone in the trench or on the ground.

When I look at the America in which we live today, I am fearful that we have veered from the path for which we were intended.  We have allowed more than enough stones to be laid in the foundation which are causing more problems in the house called America than some care to admit.  For the sake of this article I will not attempt to name all of these problem stones, but I will remind you of a few.

America was established on the Judeo-Christian beliefs which our forefathers brought to this new world, one which would be “One Nation Under God.”  The Bible and prayer were more cherished than anything else; a covenant relationship with God and with each other was of primary importance in the life of the Pilgrims; the first course of action was the establishment of a church house when a community was settled and God was feared.  This is not so in the America in which we live today.  Too often we are challenged with the belief that God is not the only God, that Christianity is a fairy tale and that people are not responsible for each other.  How important it is that we set our feet on the solid ground and make our steps secure.

America today is vastly different from the America that was intended in years past.  While the founding fathers looked after the interest of others, many of those who run our government and oversee the vast nation we cherish, are more interested in themselves than others.  It is a generation of “me, mine and myself;” too many have a problematic sickness called “’I’ Disease.”  Self-centeredness has taken the forefront causing the foundation to be unsure, for God is not the cornerstone on which the foundation is being established.

In America the word for sin is being replaced by many other phrases and humanistic thought, so that there is no feeling of guilt or shame.  What was once a curse and scourge on society is now an acceptable way of life.  It is common, accepted and applauded.  It is no longer hidden or whispered about; it is shouted in the streets and paraded around for all to see.  Oh friend, this is a terrible assault on the foundations of our faith.

Our country today looks more like the countries which we have fought and sought freedom for than some care to admit.  While we have stood as the country for which to model life and liberty; we now are laughed at and scorned.  Many have in past years even said we are no longer a Christian Nation; but they are wrong.  We are a nation which was established on Christian principles and there is a remnant of people who still hold to those principles, but the foundation is under attack and some are looking for its collapse.  We, who are called by His name must not let that happen!

   For these reasons that we see America floundering, we who proclaim ourselves as believers must step up to the plate.  We must exercise our faith, practice our freedom, pray and praise the name of the Lord!  We must allow our feet to be firmly planted on the rock, and that Rock is Jesus Christ!  All other ground is sinking sand!

Through this life verse for this year, I am calling the church and Christians to re-establish themselves in the foundation of faith.  In uncertain and troubled times the hope for success and relief is found in the Word of God, in fellowship with other believers, and in the concerted prayer of the saints.

Let us all join together in Coosa County and make this year a year of change for the glory of God.

Until next time…

We made it!

We made it through and into the New Year!  The Mayans were wrong after all, the end did not come as was predicted with December 20, 2012!  Then again, anyone who attempts to name the date, day, hour or time when the end is to come is wrong every time.

The Word of God says, “But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.” (Matthew 24:36 ASV)  These are the words of Jesus as He sets forth the explanation of end times.  Here He, the Savior, sets forth that only the Father knows the time; no one in heaven and earth can tell you what time the end of the world will come.

In 1988 and again in 1992, some theologian attempted to put a date and time on the return of Christ.  He wrote two rather convincing treaty’s regarding the return of Christ; the who, what, when and where questions seemed to be answered.  He mailed these treaty’s to every pastor and church within the country, attempting to gain some type of popularity.  The problem was that he placed himself in a very precarious place. 

First of all, and most importantly, he over looked the scripture from Matthew 24, placing himself as more knowledgeable than God.  Secondly, according to Old Testament understanding, a prophet who made a prediction of prophecy which did not come true, died.  Come to think about it, we have not heard anything else from this man.  

Jesus was very clear on the signs given to know the end is coming, but never once gave a date or time.  He said, “I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished.” (Matthew 24:34 ASV)  The Apostle Paul longed for that day to the point that he inferred that he would see the day, before his death.  Many a preacher has longed so for the end that his preaching has taken to seeing the end in sight, being transported into eternity without tasting deaths cold tentacles.

            Even though the Mayans were wrong, the author of the books previously mentioned was misleading, and others along the way have attempted to place a timeline on the end of the world, the end is in sight.  Would you not agree?

            Look at the way things are shaping up in the world.  We have evil personified, wars and rumors of wars; troubles in the Middle East, rebellion and debauchery on every side.  Some have said, “This world is going to hell in a hand basket.”  Sin, wickedness, and an assault on the family is common place today.  The removal of Christian principles and practice is not tolerated; God is an outcast in His own creation.  There is more worship of the creation than the Creator than ever before…

            Sure these are the signs of an end time.  Jesus spoke to these things as well:

“Take heed that no man lead you astray. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ; and shall lead many astray. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled: for these things must needs come to pass; but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places. But all these things are the beginning of travail. Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all the nations for my name's sake. And then shall many stumble, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray. And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold.” (Matthew 24:4-12 ASV)

No matter what the so called prophets say, or what is happening in the world today, if we are in Christ, we have nothing to fear; we have no cause for alarm.  As long as we are safe in the hands of Jesus Christ, we will be secure.  We may not know what the future holds; but we know who holds the future.

As I close, it is imperative that I say to you: If you do not know Jesus Christ and the forgiveness He has to offer, believe in Him as the Lamb of God who takes away sin, forgives sin and who lives within you through the power of His Holy Spirit, directing your life.  Confess Hmi as Savior today.

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame.” (Romans 10:9-11 ASV)

Feel free to call if you have any questions. 

God bless you until we meet again…

Teddy Bear Project Put on Hold

Teddy Bear Project Put on Hold

Well, the news from Newtown and Sandy Hook Elementary School caught me by surprise; but in some ways I was not all that surprised.  After helping Savannah embark on a worthy cause, as detailed here on Sunday evening, I found this article from al.com which gave me the chills and a rock in my stomach at the same time.

Newtown sets up task force to handle donations

By The Associated Press on January 06, 2013 at 8:30 PM, updated January 07, 2013 at 1:16 AM

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — Chris Kelsey is the tax assessor in Newtown, but for the better part of three weeks, his job has been setting up and organizing a warehouse to hold the toys, school supplies and other gifts donated in the wake of the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary school.

In this Monday, Dec. 31, 2012 photo, piles of donated stuffed animals await sorting in a warehouse in Newtown, Conn. Tens of thousands of items have been sent to the town in the wake of the Dec. 14 massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, forcing officials to set up an infrastructure to deal with the donations.

Despite the town's pleas to stop sending gifts, Kelsey said trucks have been arriving daily with tokens of support from across the world, some for the families of those killed, others for the children of Sandy Hook, still others for the town.

"A lot of the town's normal business is still on pause," he said. "I have a couple of people still doing assessor's business, and then if they can, open mail a couple hours too. We're all kind of doing what we can to get this done."

A task force has been set up to coordinate the more than 800 volunteers who have been working to sort the gifts, open mail and answer the thousands of emails and phone calls offering assistance.

The volunteers have begun making a dent in the pile of tens of thousands of teddy bears that stretched to the warehouse ceiling. By last week, they had sorted 30,000 of them into small, medium and large sizes, catalogued them and put them in boxes. They are also separating and boxing piles of crayons, pencils, books and much more.

"It's a ton of stuff, and we have an operation just as big for mail as well," Kelsey said.

There are also 26 large moving boxes in the warehouse, each labeled with a victim's name. When a gift comes in specifically addressed to those families, it goes in those boxes. The families have been coming in periodically to empty them.

A toy giveaway was held for all Newtown children before Christmas and some of the remaining toys and stuffed animals have been taken to children's hospitals. The rest will be stored until the town decides where they should go, Kelsey said. He said letters have been sent to each of the victim's families asking for their input. His cell phone is filled with emails from charities across the country.

"Everybody has a hand out," he said. "We're just beginning that process now. The charities suggested by the families will get the top priority."

The work organizing the warehouse is being done by volunteers from Adventist Community Services, a faith-based group that has done similar work after hurricanes and other natural disasters.

"Our thing is warehouses," said the Rev. William Warcholik, a pastor from Rhode Island. "Our specialty is collecting, organizing and distributing donated goods."

The group was paired with Kelsey after contacting the town's volunteer task force. Kevin and Robin Fitzgerald started the group last year to organize neighborhood cleanups following two storms that brought down trees all over town.

"We referred to it as friends with chain saws," Robin Fitzgerald said.

Immediately after the school massacre, which left 26 people dead, people started calling the Fitzgeralds looking for a way to help in the grief-stricken town. Local churches and businesses began getting similar calls.

After meeting with town officials, the Red Cross and other stakeholders, the Fitzgeralds were put in charge of coordinating the volunteer effort.

They started working in their living room with a couple of cellphones and their own laptop computers. Local businessman Peter D'Amico gave them office space. Companies donated computers, Wi-Fi, phones and other equipment and set up a call center. The Newtown Volunteer Task Force now has a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a toll-free telephone number, (855) 364-6600, with eight lines coming in.

"Our mission here is to ease the burden on the town resources, matching people who feel the need to do something with a task that needed to be done," Kevin Fitzgerald said. "This is work FEMA or someone in government would do after a natural disaster, but there is no such thing for this kind of disaster."

The group has been deploying about 800 volunteers to open the town's mail, work at the warehouse and connect potential donations with the correct fund or organization.

Liz Eaton, 70, who lives in the village of Sandy Hook, was sent to the warehouse to help box bears.

"People at church have said they needed some help," she said. "And I just wanted to help out."

Others are tasked with returning every phone call that has come into the town offering help.

"We had someone offer 26 granite benches for any memorial," Robin Fitzgerald said. "That's put into a list of what we call escalated offers, so we mark that down and when they decide on a memorial they will know about that offer."

The town originally expected it would take the task force about two weeks to complete its work. The Fitzgeralds said the task force now expects to be working for about three months, possibly longer.

"What we're telling people on the phone now is that if you are holding a fundraiser in your local community, we appreciate it, but direct those resources to your local community, that's what the families want," Robin Fitzgerald said. "About 99½ percent of the time that works. But the other half says, 'We're coming anyway.' And then we just give them the address of the warehouse or here."

                While I was experiencing that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, there was an equal amount of joy which this article brought, as I pondered the dilemma.  America has not let those children and school employees down; we have not forgotten. 

It seems to me and was a shared response my a dear church member on Sunday night that far too often we allow something of this magnitude to take place and after the dust settles we forget.  This was something which seems to happen anytime the media circus dies down and we get back to the regular way of life in our respective areas of the country.

Not true at the moment in regards to Sandy Hook or Newtown.  They are attempting to take care of a massive amount of items coming their way from all parts of the country, as people dig in and reach out with love to those who have been left behind, helping them pull back together and continue on with their lives.  According the above mentioned article, it appears they will be sorting through the items of love for the next several months.

When I shared this situation with Savannah, she was as heart broken as I was.  Not that they had so much stuff; for her it was the thought of the bears being stored away in a cold warehouse, alone and no one to love on them.  We pondered this and I started making calls and brainstorming to see what might be a good course of action for a ten year old who wants to help someone else.

I called my good friend, Mel Johnson with the Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief agency and we spoke of the dilemma.  There is a program they use, whereby they collect a specific type of stuffed animal, prepare an emergency zip lock bag, which they can give to children who have gone through a natural disaster, such as the April Tornadoes of 2011 or Hurricane Sandy.  Again, we are looking at changes in the profile of the ministry Savannah has envisioned, and dealing with a storage issue until the next deployment of this particular ministry of ADR.

There are other opportunities and possibilities for this ministry, and we will explore them over the next few weeks, talk about them and pray about them.  I hope what we will be able to do is some back with another opportunity, something which may benefit our own state and at the same time give us the privilege of helping those who are less fortunate than we are.

Personally, I wish to thank you for your willingness to be a part of this challenge Savannah has placed before us.  Your words of encouragement, calls and offers to be a part of something as big as this could have been, have truly reminded me how precious and sweet you all are.  May God bless you all and get ready we will come back with something else, soon.

JWF January 8, 2013

Teddy Bears to share love and compassion with Sandy Hook

Press Release: For Immediate Publication

JWF 0113

Teddy Bears to share love and compassion with Sandy Hook

In light of the wall to wall coverage over the past weeks of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the numbness of America during the holiday season, some have wondered how they could help the people in Newtown.

            Questions have been coming from all directions, and there seems to be no definitive answer.  Until now…

            Savannah Fuller, age 10 and a 4^th grader at Central Elementary School wanted to do something which would be tangible, a way of reaching out to those who were left behind to suffer and hurt in these days following the horrendous events of December 14.  How is that possible for a 4^th grade student in Coosa County, many miles away from Connecticut?

            “Savannah and I approached Mrs. Sheeley at Central Elementary and Sheriff Wilson on December 18,” Dr. Jeff Fuller, Savannah’s father and pastor of the Rockford Baptist Church said, “and pitched the idea of sending Teddy Bears to the students of Sandy Hook Elementary in time for Valentine’s.  Mrs. Sheeley  loved the idea and Sheriff Wilson was overjoyed at the opportunity to help make the dream a reality.”

            It really is a simple idea.  Savannah will spend January collecting new, plush Teddy Bears to send to Newtown the first week in February.   She plans to place them in a plastic bag, tie a string with a heart attached to it that says, “From Coosa County with Love” on one side, on the other she wants to get students at her school to write their name on the heart, thus personalizing each bear.

Yet, as simple as it sounds, she is already coordinating her project with the leadership of her school, the Middle School and the Coosa County Sheriff’s Office.  Savannah wants to involve as many as possible in her project, so that she can provide bears for every student at Sandy Hook.

            What is her goal?

            “I want to send 500 or 600 teddy bears to those kids,” Savannah says, “so they will know that we care.  They will have a bear, and a heart with a name on one side, and the county on the other, and can hug that bear when they are thinking about the friends and teachers who were killed.”

            She also wants to make sure that the parents and families of the teachers and administrators get a bear as well.  “They might want to keep the bear or they may decide to put it on the grave of their loved one,” said Savannah, “which ever is fine with me.  I just want them to know we love them, we care, and we are praying for them.”

            Each bear donated will be between 6 to 8 inches.  “We could take bears up to 12 inches, but really nothing bigger than that.  Shipping them is going to be a task and it will be better if we have some uniformity,” said Bro. Jeff.

            Donations of new, plush bears will be accepted throughout the month of January.  As of press time, donation boxes will be in the lobbies of Central Elementary and Middle School, the Coosa County Sheriff’s Office and Rockford Baptist Church.  The deadline for receiving bears will be Thursday, January 31, 2013.  There are others who have and will be asked to participate in this project, as Savannah wishes to share in the joy of giving with all who wish to help.  You may contact her at 256-377-4699 if you have any questions.

            “I am so excited about the project and look forward to working with everyone to see these kids get a bear,” Savannah says.  “I hope that I can deliver them myself.  I have asked Daddy if this is possible, and he is working on the idea.”