Misdirected Passion?

Check out the article below...Misdirected passion? You make the call...

Super Bowl fans beware: Heart attacks increase during stressful games

Amber's Life

Let me tell you about Amber Donovan Mathenia, a girl Carrie and I went to college with. She was in Carrie’s small group. She was in my sister’s sorority, and she was also in a lip-sync group with me. We were the B-52’s, and we lip-synched to “Love Shack.”

Amber graduated, got married, and then she and her husband moved to Ethiopia to be missionaries. They adopted 2 kids, recently a 6 month old boy (see picture above). She and the kids were back in the States for a while, close to Memphis where she’s from. Last Tuesday, Amber and the kids were driving along the highway when a Dodge pick-up pulled out in front of them. The kids came out okay, but the crashed killed Amber. A 28 year old mother. Gone just like that.

If you’re the parent in this situation, what do you do? How do you respond? Would you be prepared? If you're a close friend, how do you respond? If you're the husband (who was in Ethiopia when he found out) in this situation, what do you do? How do you respond? Actually, you can read his response on his blog--http://www.cold-water-news.blogspot.com/

The great news is that Amber has a relationship with Jesus Christ. She is in heaven worshiping the God who saved her. Over the last week, I have been thinking more and more about how short life is, how real heaven and hell are, and how my gracious God wants to use me as long as I'm here on earth (and that may not be long--we just don't know).

So to all of you who are Christ-followers, PLEASE pray that God would comfort Amber's family. Also, pray that God would use this tragedy to lead more people to treasure Him. To all of you who are Christ-followers, PLEASE make a difference with your life. In 28 years, Amber made more of a difference with her life than most Christians make in 60 years. To all of you who are Christ-followers, PLEASE remember that you only have a certain amount of time to share with others what Christ has done on the cross. As I've heard someone say, "Good news is only good news if it gets there in time."

And finally, to all of you who may not be Christ-followers yet. Maybe you've been wrestling lately with what it means to follow Christ, or maybe you haven't given Christ much thought. PLEASE, I beg you, consider coming to Christ. Turn from your selfish ways, and put all your trust in Jesus, who loved you so much that he died for you. Don't assume that you'll be around tomorrow. Life is short, eternity is long. Think about it. I'll let you chew on these amazing verses which were read at Amber's funeral on Saturday:

1 JOHN 4:9-10 (NLT)

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Community Groups at Peace Community Church

We continued our "Simple" series today at PCC. Here's a little video we showed. Enjoy!

The Simple Life

Check out these stats that I found on a Wikipedia page. According to a recent study for the Center for Work-Life Policy:

• 1.7 million people consider their jobs and their work hours excessive because of globalization.
• 50% percent of top corporate executives are leaving their current positions.
• 70% of workers in America say their jobs are affecting their health.
• Between forty-six and fifty-nine percent of workers feel that stress is affecting their interpersonal and sexual relationships.

Another recent study done by the National Life Insurance Co.:

• Four out of ten employees’ state that their jobs are “very” or “extremely” stressful.
• Those in high stress jobs are three times more likely than others to suffer from stress-related medical conditions and are twice as likely to quit.
• The study states that women, in particular, report stress related to the conflict between work and family.

Needless to say, life is stressful and complicated. That's why we're doing this "Simple" series. I really believe people are starving for simplicity, and I also believe that it's the church's responsibility to help people simplify their lives by focusing on what really matters.

Allow me to beg and plead with you to join us for this life-changing series that we're simply calling "Simple." And please feel free to invite someone to come with you!

5 Questions for a New Year

It's a brand new year, and I don't know about you, but I feel like I have a fresh start. I can put 2007 behind me, and I can hope that 2008 will be the best year of my life. Several years ago, I ran across some great questions that encouraged me to think about how I might make the most of a new year. Consider these 5 thought-provoking questions from Don Whitney, author and educator. And why not make 2008 a year to remember?!?!?!

(1) What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

(2) What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

(3) What's the most important way you will, by God's grace, try to make this year different from last year?

(4) What area of your life most needs simplifying, and what's one way you could simplify in that area?

(5) What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?