The Tree of Life, by Tamara Crull from Park Plaza Church, Tulsa Ok.

Have you ever sat under a tree without any particular purpose but to just sit there? Sound strange? I might suggest it becomes something you do frequently. Why? Because great things happen around trees.

Can you imagine a tree which offers life? God could. In Genesis 2:9 God created the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. What about a tree that offers a chance for success? Psalm 1:3 offers a description of such a tree:"He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields it's fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. What ever he does prospers."

Trees can also attract God's voice. For example, in Genesis 18:1, the Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre in the form of visitors. These visitors brought the good news of Sarah's future pregnancy. In Exodus 3:2, the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses through a burning bush soliciting his leadership. Both Abraham and Moses received messages from God near trees.

Finally, trees reflect the need for Christ and His purpose. Zaccheus, in Luke 19:4, climbed a sycamore fig tree because he needed to see Jesus. Shortly afterward, Jesus was crucified on a cross, a cross made from a tree, in order to offer us eternal salvation.

Trees offer a place of rejuvenation and rest. They allow for prosperity and posterity, opportunities for achievement and means of support. Most importantly,they offer you a chance of a new beginning through Christ. With His arms outstretched, nailed to the cross, Jesus gave His life for you.

I encourage you to find your tree and to just sit there, be silent, and know that God is there and is in control. What is He asking of you? A rededicated life? To be a fruitful Christian? A future mother? A strong leader? A support to a friend? Whatever it may be, have confidence that God has something special planned for you.

Sometimes I disgust myself!

http://mwanza.blogspot.com/

Starbucks:In the people business serving coffee. Linderman's: In the people business serving Jesus.

Will you please take time today to read my friends blog. I know we cannot physically lift their arms, but spiritually we can. Please join me in being an Aaron and Hur for the Linderman's, their team, and their hearts work in Africa. May your prayer in the name of Jesus pour over and through them a strength, peace, joy, and a continual refreshing hope as they live out Jesus in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Thank you for taking this time. They are very dear to us! Your effort will bless them, and bring glory to our Lord.

Exodus 17:12 When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.

Dear Quile's

Yesterday Danny went into Stanford Emergency with Pain... After hours of waiting and testing he is having emergency surgery this afternoon for testicular Cancer - the removal of one testicles!!!! Please pray!!!!!!!!!!!Please send the request to anyone who you think will pray with us! Thanks!!

God takes us deeper and deeper into a pressing that only leads to Our God,our Savior Jesus, the The wonderful Holy Spirit! We need His peace, strength, wisdom, and prayers & that after surgery NOTHING else will need to be done! No chemo/radiation, "Please Lord!!"

He is our strength, our Savior, our Shepherd!

Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's." 2Chronicles 20:15

XOOXOXOXOX, Love to you all!

Annie

Danny is 21 yrs old. He and John(our son) were really good friends when we lived in Cali. Their entire family has been an awesome source of joy, strength, and faith building friendship for our family. We have been so blessed that God has surrounded us with deeply committed friends to encourage and strengthen our walk with Him!

I am so thankful for their faith, which they allow God to refine daily, to fill us with a compelling hope to continue to walk strong with the Lord(even when it seems bleak and dark) Please keep our friends in your prayers!

Some of you who were here at LakeCities our very first Sunday got to meet Their oldest son Chris. He came to encourage us our first day here. They are just a dynamic family! I have added Danny's blog link in my links over to the right. I hope you have a chance to visit his blog. "The tornado known as Daniel"

I love you guys and hope you are encouraged by their courage!

HEY...TODAY REALLY IS THURSDAY THE 13TH!

Thirteen ways God blessed me this week

1. A healthy, beautiful family (Joel, John, Laura, Emily)

2. Celebrating 21 years of parenting an outstanding son..John

3. Not having to worry if we were going to eat

4. Shelter ( a beautiful home)

5. Plenty of clothes

6. Open communication with my 3 children and husband

7. Truly sincere friendships

8. Some really rich prayer time( so so so glorious to my soul!)

9. Opportunity to be part of a majestic VBS! (Thank you marvelous VBS leader and company)

10. The three families I invited to VBS came to VBS!!!! YIPPPEEE!

11. E-mail, cell phone, long distance services to keep in touch with family and friends far away

12. He has given me strong will against sweets! WHOO HOO!

13. A job at Starbucks, I start July 24th

Happy 21st Birthday John!

You are an AMAZING SON! We love you endlessly!! It is such a treasure to watch you continually grow into a Godly man! You bring so much zany joy to our family! We love to sit and talk with you for hours, and truly do enjoy your nutty clips and movies you want us to watch with you. Thank you for placing the bar at God's level and standing strong for your purity vow. We are proud of you. You are truly a precious gift from God! May you continue to allow Him to lead you.


Luke 22:32
Jesus said, I have prayed for you...that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.

Thirteen sweet things I wanted to ingest since June 25th, but haven't!

1. These Jelly Belly jelly beans
2. Blue Bell's Homemade vanilla ice cream-milkshake(I made everyone else in the fam one)
3. Some of our yummy cereal
4. Cheese cake sample at Costco
5. A dark milky way candy bar
6. A box of milkduds
7. Lindsay's baby shower cake(No help from Paige)
8. Rollo's at Kathy Halbert's house
9. Pancakes
10. Funnel cake
11. A bite of Emily's ice cream bar from Costco
12. A vat of vanilla pudding with cool whip
13. One of those Reeses peanut butter cups that Paige had today at church

HAPPY 4TH of JULY!!

Yesterday was one of the best fourth of July's I have experienced!

Our church got to host it's first annual pancake breakfast for the entire town of Trophy Club!It all started when a large amount of us (over 60)from church gathered about 5:45-ish at the church. We had such a blast making orange juice, pancake batter, filling syrup bottles, serving pancakes, clearing plates, serving Starbucks coffee,(donated!) looking for knives(a crazy story!) and so much more. The two main things we did at that pancake breakfast was getting to serve wonderful people as an awesome family team, and visiting with many wonderful people most whom we had never met!

The town also had a 5K run and then a FUN run for the kiddos. The route had them starting and ending at our church. WOW! We were so very blessed to have such an honor! We were so thrilled that God allowed us the opportunity to experience this blessing.

It was suppose to end at 9am, but people just kept coming. It was really spectacular!

We estimated to have served over 300 people. SO amazing! They kept telling us thank you for such a wonderful gift. Oh, the pity for them...I truly believe we were blessed more than them!
You see, our church is made up of many many people who have hearts overflowing with love.It physically hurts to keep it contained, and unspent. So naturally we just love the opportunities to give it away!

Our church also got to have two floats in the parade. Yippee! It was a nice parade. We handed out water bottles to our floats, then decided to pass some out to the other floats. Yeah, well turns out I DO have a depth perception problem! I managed to get my right foot run over by a rather large trailer/float filled with lots of people.

I couldn't believe it! I was handing out water then all of a sudden I felt the tire and all the weight it was carrying(trailers aren't light folks!) right on top of my foot. So, I politely asked if they could back up, so I could get my foot out. Well, after what seemed like an hour... He backed up a little, but not enough to yank my foot out...so I say again "oh, can you please back up, your still on my foot" Yeah, well, then he just slowly moved forward(I'm sure because there was a back up of the other floats behind him) right over my entire foot. All I could think of was, My foot is being broken right now! Then, wow it doesn't really hurt that bad to get a broken foot, well, at least not like this.

I really thought it would have hurt worse, but it didn't! I never even really limped. It is only bruised looking. I suggest everyone who plans on getting their foot run over by a parade float to run out and buy ASIC'S running shoes! They protected my foot from getting broken. I should do commercials for them.

Well, it was pretty humiliating! I'm real sure they are having a good laugh at my expense! Of course that can't be good for me trying to get that job with the Town of Trophy Club. They were all there to witness it. I can't even remember who's float it was. They all probably think I'm an idiot. well....

The craziness of it all, was Joel stressing that I was going to get my foot ran over when I was handing him a water bottle! He was so worried, and kept saying,"Honey watch out! I don't want you to get your foot run over" Yeah, yeah, yeah! Okay, okay! More humiliation when I told him (you know someone else would have!)

Anyways...On with the day! After the parade, we went back to finish cleaning the church. Then Joel, Emily, John and I went to the free hot dog lunch. Our very own Greg Lamont (a newly appointed political figure) (Jenny, remember twas the night...by Larry? ) grilled the dogs for us.After lunch (around 1 ish)Joel fell asleep and at about 3ish Emily fell asleep, John went to see Superman, Laura buzzed around then started getting ready for the evening festivities, and I have no idea what I did till it was time to head down at 5:45ish(probably still in horrified shock that my foot was run over in front of the world)

After Tim and Nathan McNeil, Lindsey and Elizabeth Ponder arrived we all headed down to the community pool. That's where we did carnival game duty from 6-9 pm. That was a blast! They had all of our game booth's side by side, so we got to interact with each other. It was SOOO much fun watching the kiddos try to ring the bell with that gi-normous sledge hammer! That was the booth I helped at.

At like 9:30-ish the lights went off and Laura sang the National Anthem(she sounded wonderful inspite of her strep throat, and swollen tonsils! Then THE FIREWORKS! They were beautiful and the music played along was beautiful. The whole evening was enchanting!

I LOVE THE 4TH OF JULY!

Thank you to all our soldiers for blessing us with freedom! I love you and am proud of you!

They really make manuals for everything, I think...

Last night I started reading a book called Underground Manual for Ministers' Wives, by Ruth Truman. Not sure what it will do for me, so I will keep you posted. She seems to be a witty, funny and talented writer.

It has a very retro looking cover and her photo on the back is clearly from the 70's. Probably because it was copyrighted in 1974

I have no idea of the quality of content yet, but it did come complete with a warning label.

Warning: Contents in this book may cause anger, laughter, or heartburn. Readers suffering from stuffed-shirtism should avoid this product. In case of accidental ingestion, large doses of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 should be administered Q.I.D (have no idea what that stands for) Readers, any ideas?

Well, I hope all of you have had a great start to your weekend. I pray you are all walking strong, close, and joyfully with the Lord!

Hey Connie...You and Ronnie are crazy! I love you and was thrilled to talk to you guys the other day! I know you both are behaving at ACU!!! I'll make sure to keep referring people to y'all in the Education Dept. Ha Ha Ha! I miss you guys and look forward to visiting with you guys soon. Don't forget...Next time you are anywhere close by, call me!