John 16:33, says, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world."

This past week I was blessed with the opportunity to work out in the country all week. I am not a morning person! I usually tell people that, "I will be there at the crack of noon!" If I'm up before 10am, there had better be lots of fish involved! I was able to drive down one of the prettiest stretch of blubonnets I have ever seen. I was excited to be driving out to the job before noon. It was nice to drive and talk with God about "things" and where I fit in and stuff like that. It was during one of these mornings that I had the chance to reflect on life and think about what is really important to me. In my wandering, I let my mind go too far and my pondering turned to worry. It was really nice to remember this verse and hear God tell me that He has overcome the world!
Today is my birthday and normally this isn't a big deal to me. This birthday is pretty special though. In November of 2008, after being diagnosed with throat cancer I was told to get my affairs in order because I didn't have very long. This birthday, according to some wan't supposed to happen. God is good and with Him all things are possible. By the grace of God I am still here and enjoying my beautiful girls and my wonderful life! My oncologist told me how he loves to be wrong, then he challenged me to prove him wrong. I knew I couldn't do it, but I knew that God is bigger than any illness including CANCER!
This week I pray that you let those words ring true, "take heart! I have overcome the world"...God Bless

Tony

"It is Well..."

It is Well with My Soul...

Horatio Spafford was a 43 year old lawyer. He lived in a north side suburb of Chicago, with his wife Anna and his five children. In 1871 his only son died. A few months later, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 consumed Spafford's real estate investments. He lost his entire life savings.
Two years later, Spafford and his family decided to take a vacation to Europe. However, Spafford was delayed by last minute business. He sent his wife and four daughters on the S.S. Ville Du Havre as scheduled, promising to follow in a few days. On November 22, 1873 the ship was struck by an iron sailing vessel, and it sank in twelve minutes. 226 people were killed. When the survivors of the shipwreck landed in Europe, Anna Spafford cabled her husband, "Saved alone. What shall I do?" Spafford immediately left Chicago to bring his wife home.
In the midst of his sorrow, while sailing near the place of his daughters' death, he wrote the words to the hymn..."It is well with my soul."
In Spite of their tragedy, in 1881 the Spaffords moved to Jerusalem to meet the needs of the people. Through their service the Spaffords were able to share Christ with the local Muslim and Jewish communities.
When was the last time we stopped and thanked God for all we have? Today was a very odd day for me. I began my day visiting with a good friend who has been given a few months to live and ended the day with several teenagers singing about being a "generation that seeks God first..." God has plans for all of us, but sometimes I wish the path was a little more obvious...Let's all pray this week that God will reveal something to us that's brand new and makes us excited about who He is all over again! God Bless...

Tony

Matthew 19:14..."Let the little children come to me..."
The Lord blessed us with a beautiful day yesterday! We had the opportunity to go outside and the girls were able to run, play, and scream all they wanted. We hid eggs since friday and the funny thing is, they weren't tired of it by sunday! It never got old to them. It shed some new light as to why Jesus wanted the children to come to Him. If we come to Him as children, we don't tire of Him, we just want more of Him. At one point the girls were watching us hide the eggs and they were just as excited when it came time to look for them! God wants us to search for Him on a daily basis. I wish everyone could have seen the expressions they would make as they found an egg. It was priceless. God has laid out many blessings for us. They're scattered throughout our life. I hope that I am as excited when I discover one of these blessings as the girls were each time they found an egg!
My prayer for us this week is that we get excited about discovering who Jesus is in our lives and each time we discover something new about Him, I hope we share it with others!

Tony