Hello everyone. Hope that you are all well as January
finishes off its final arctic blasts. For our Midwest friends, hey …you chose
to live there. To our AZ friends, hey….. 80 in January is only ok if it’s not
ON its WAY to being 180 as it typically is in The Valley Of the Sun in the late
winter early spring! To our California friends, hey….Texas is always here when
you are ready to move your business and children to a ‘less confused’ state.
And finally to our eastern seaboard friends (including Arnie and his WAY TOO
BIG FSU head) …sorry about all the ice our tropical gulf moisture has been sending
you : ( Hey, we’ll all get through it!
Just have faith!
Speaking of getting through things, the kids are well on
their way down the path to spring break. Angela is on track for all of her 40th
Birthday parties and Mark is down to a 7:30 split time on his mile. A&M
will have our first 5K of the race season this Saturday.
A little fun-thing the local high-school is doing for challenged athletes. Hopefully the high school kids and A&M will get to run with and encourage a challenged athlete or two along the course….looking forward to it.
A little fun-thing the local high-school is doing for challenged athletes. Hopefully the high school kids and A&M will get to run with and encourage a challenged athlete or two along the course….looking forward to it.
As far as the scriptures go, A&M have been spending much
of our devotional time with a series by Joyce Meyer called “Battlefield Of the
Mind” which we both enthusiastically recommend.
If you aren’t familiar with this series, Joyce calls
attention to the fact that we all are engaged within a battlefield of the mind….and
that it is up to us to GET INVOLVED today…right now…to take steps that move us
toward reclaiming our minds for the betterment of our lives, our families and
ultimately for God.
Joyce speaks of Satan being a keen and patient enemy here on
earth. That he studies all of us and knows our weak points. I know that when it
comes to Angela and I, our positions of authority and prestige within the
organizations we serve in separately, can and has brought a ton of Satan’s
cunning devices to bear against our flourishing lives collectively. We are
aware that the eyes that are upon us when we are out in the community or
travelling are not just those from the varied walks of life that we come across…but
also Satan among them…biding his time and waiting for just the right
opportunity to strike at our well established foundation.
This poses a problem.
See the thing is, Ephesians 6:11-12 Tells us to “11 Put
on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s
schemes.” For many of us this can mean
different things. For Angela, it may mean being ever-alert when it comes to a
decision she must make for the district….knowing full well how many lives she
touches with just her signature on something. For Mark it could mean being
direct and resolved in decision making
in order to get to the bottom of why a DOD program isn’t meeting its
objectives for the fiscal year. Or it
could mean something as simple as saying “No” to our kids who want to be able
to watch a “R” rated movie or to hang out with an unsavory crowd. Or it could
mean being polite to someone who is at a different place in their lives that we
come across in the community or out of town.
Being
strong MUST….you see… BRING WITH IT…the capacity to BE KIND to those who are ‘Not
of your tribe’ …..the poor, the broken, the desperate, the infirmed…the list
goes on…
We
think people miss that in today’s society that is so quick to judge something
based solely upon how much “Armor of god” you are able to put on…. Part of that
“Suiting up” means opening our eyes to NOT JUST where Satan IS….but ALSO…where
he IS NOT…so that we can take those opportunities to minister to people who desperately
need it in this crazy world.
Joyce tells us that this type of mental move takes time and
that if you think you can do it overnight, you will HURT yourself more than you
will HELP. The “Little by little” approach to each day is the right way to go
in this case.
We get that…. Angela & I….we hope that we can continue
to get better spiritually and continue to minister to those people both IN our
lives and OUT OF THEM.
Our best,
Texas A&M
