Stuff That Matters in Life

Katy’s Weblog

Thanksgiving

Filed under Generalby Joyful

Last Sunday, our worship service included a time for people to give testimony of what they are thankful for. Though it seemed like a typical thing to do on Thanksgiving, the response of what was shared was anything but typical. There were unexpectedly deep and personal testimonies that I was moved to tears.

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When was the last time you Googled a subject? Or went to wikipedia to find the meaning of a word? Or used a Word document to compose an essay?  The computer has been a tremendous resource for my family – from news and blogs, to ebay and free book downloads.

How about providing that tool to children in developing countries?

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project is a worthy cause, whose mission it is to provide laptops to children in developing countries. It’ll give the kids tremendous opportunity for education, in a way they’ve never seen before.

Currently OLPC is offering Give One Get One. For $399, you give one to a child and you get one yourself.

My son would like to Give One Get One. Please help him out by making a donation on his site, click here.

I appreciate your support.

Our friend Richard Yen said this in his email update:

“At a Thanksgiving party yesterday, I met a couple who marveled how well I looked after a heart attack. I asked if they had ever received Jesus as their personal Savior. They were not sure and so I talked to them after dinner. They then prayed to receive the Lord.”

I’ve always admired Richard for his boldness in sharing Jesus with people.

I bumped into a friend at the market last week. I asked her if she had been attending church. She looked guilty and made some excuses. My intent was not to make her defensive, but I suppose that type of question would elicit that type of response. Since my concern is really her spiritual life, I should have just asked her straight. I should approach sharing the gospel more positively instead of skirting around the issue about church. It is not productive, and comes off negative.

Next time, I am going to try Richard Yen’s approach and what my son said to me yesterday. “Have you had the opportunity to received Jesus as your personal Savior? May I share with you how you can?”

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes…”

I was talking to my husband about the concept of “relationship with God.”

He said an interesting thing: For most men, admittedly himself, they have difficulty with relationships with people. It’s hard for them to share intimately and to be in touch with and express feelings. If they have trouble with intimate relationships with earthly humans that they can see and touch, how much more difficult it would be for them to have a “relationship” with God?

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So little time

Filed under Generalby Joyful

It’s amazing how time along with increased maturity changes your perspective about things in life.

If you had told me this when I was young, I wouldn’t know what you were talking about. Life seems endless to the youthful. I remember in my early 20’s driving downhill on a narrow mountain road with a friend…

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You’ve heard of Friendship Soup and Friendship Bread. But have you experienced Friendchip Bag??

That’s right. Friendchip.

Randy was incredibly creative today in coming up with this activity for the kids at church to do. The published curriculum said to get different kinds of beans for the children to make a Friendship Soup for a lesson in sharing. “But I didn’t have any of those items, I don’t know what they are,” said Randy. “So I got different kinds of chips for FriendChip Bag.” He got Ruffles, BBQ Potato Chips, Sunchips and Cheetos for the children to fill a small ziplock bag with the different kinds of chips to share with their friends.

“You can’t eat them! You have to share them with a friend.” That was a tough assignment for the kids to follow. Ethan immediately put his bag in his backpack and said he is going to share with his friend at school tomorrow. I am so proud of him. It was his birthday too.