Thanks again mom's

I would be remiss to simply dive back into the blogosphere if I didn't acknowledge the great mother's out there doing their very best to raise children who will grow into great men and women.  Thank You!!!

Yesterday I got to see a Mother enjoy a very special moment.  For the past several years we've had 3 great young ladies, sisters, in the Xtreme Team that have been an absolute joy to minister to.  Each week we teach lessons, sing songs and pray.  Recently these wonderful children came forward and proclaimed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.  Woohoo...sorry, as a children's minister I get excited about this stuff.  We always discuss with the children what this means and how salvation is an individual choice, accountability of sin, etc...  These girls understood it and had asked Christ to be the Lord of their lives.  In line with scripture the girls were encouraged by their parents to be baptized.  Yesterday, Mother's Day, was that day.  What a wonderful memory for this mom and what a great day for the Kingdom of Heaven and the lives of these great kids.  Be Blessed!

Mother's Day Weekend

Around the Acosta house we don't celebrate Mother's Day!  That's right, we do not celebrate Mother's DAY, we make a weekend of it.  The mother of my children is an incredibly intelligent, beautiful, christian woman.  No matter how often I remind her of this fact, it's not often enough...it never could be.  No, I'm not saying she demands to hear it more often, I say it because it's the truth.  Mothers were crafted by God to be the ultimate multi-tasking creatures.  Like all mothers, my wife can have a conversation with me, a cell phone talk with a friend, update her facebook, cook dinner, discipline the kids, change the cat litter, check the mail and brush her teeth, all at the same time.  It mind boggling.  Forget it guys, you'll never be able to keep up, so just appreciate the gift God has blessed you with.

Let's make a commitment fellas, let's make it our mission to share our appreciation for our mother's and the mother's of our children daily.  Maybe it's just a kind word or a quick note.  You could make dinner or clean something...anything.  We shouldn't just wait for a single day of the year, or a single weekend for that matter.  

Mom's thank you.  You are a gift to be treasured and loved.  I pray that this day serves as a reminder of the love that you have given and illuminates the love that is given to you.  Be Blessed!

Informational post

We've got some really X-citing things going on in the Xtreme Team.  Here's a few:

--All volunteer and staff meeting (May 9)

--Mexico Missions trip (June 10-16)

--Vacation Bible School signup is available online now at www.gcofh.com for this year's VBS "Crocodile Dock" (June 22-26)

--Discovery Camp in Columbus, Tx  (July 16-19)

--Mexico Missions trip (August 9-12)

--Kindergarten and 5th grade promotion ceremony in August

As you can see the calendar is going to be full this summer.  I want to encourage you to be prayerful about these events and about how you can get involved.  

One special prayer need will be for Miss Vicki Harcrow who will be traveling to India in July to teach churches how to plan, develop and begin a great children's ministry.  She will be there for 2 1/2 months and has been preparing for this opportunity since January.  We're proud of Vicki and know that she will represent her faith, Grace Church and the Xtreme Team in a great way.  Let all glory be to God!

For all of you who serve each week, THANK YOU!  Please take a moment in the near future and thank someone ministering to kids!  Be Blessed.

Yellow Fever

So yesterday I got a yellow fever vaccine in preparation for an upcoming trip to Africa.  It got me thinking about why people get vaccinated.  It's to prevent contracting a disease that will cause great harm to our bodies.  We try to do all we can to ensure that we aren't faced with a diagnosis that was truly preventable.  It begs the question, "How am I vaccinating my spirit and my mind?"

The way vaccines work is that a tiny portion of the disease is introduced to your body so your body understands how to fight it.  We have to know what it is we are up against, then respond to it.  For our children and for ourselves, we know what we are up against.  This world makes available to us many things that are not healthy for our spirit's and mind's.  Drugs, pornography, violence, adultery, the list goes on of things that are a mouse click or cell phone call away.  

So, how can we vaccinate against these things?  It begins with understanding that whatever you plant in your spirit and in your mind will grow.  It's like the perfect garden, God designed it that way.  Secondly, make conscious choices about what you and your kids will watch, listen to and participate in; don't just go with the flow, choose this day...  And finally, make agreements within your family about how you will support and communicate with each other about the stuff you're exposed to.  These things may help vaccinate your family from some of the diseases in this world that are not physical.  Be Blessed!

The enemy of truth

The enemy of truth is a lie, but another adversary is speculation without education.  I've been intrigued by speaking with and listening to many "informed" people who have the scoop on the H1N1 virus or swine flu.  I've heard everything from "man, don't eat any pork products...it's in the meat!" to "it's a conspiracy, there's no such thing."  I guess what troubles me most is that people jump to conclusions because they've "connected the dots" or worse still their uncle's third wife's cousin once knew a guy who dated the grandmother of his best friend's sister who worked for the CDC in 1980 and they have it on "good authority" that...

With the universe of information that is so readily available, why don't we seek answers for ourselves.  Why don't we proof the stuff we hear against truly reliable sources.  We challenge the children of the Xtreme Team to learn the art of learning.  To test information and see if it holds up against reliable sources.  Here's a link with good information about the current swine flu outbreak, check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_swine_flu_outbreak , there's many others that are great also, check them all out.  

I encourage people regularly to not Panic but Pray!  Let's pray with our kids, our friends and our neighbors for the health and well being of all who could be potentially affected by this affliction.  Let's seek first the Kingdom of God, then seek to understand what is causing all of the fear and hype.  Let's be responsible with our knowledge and more so with what we don't "know" but "think."  Be blessed!

Scar tissue

3 years ago I "blew up" my knee.  I tore, in some fashion or another, all 3 major ligaments and broke my femur bone.  After surgery, and lots of really good medicine, I began an extensive rehab program.  The goal of the rehab was to strengthen the muscles around my knee and to "break up" all the scar tissue.  You see, scar tissue is the remnant of the injury.  If left alone it will harden and cause a loss of mobility in the joint.  The process of breaking up scar tissue is excruciating.  I've come to realize that the people who help with this process are called physical therapists, I believe they should simply be known as sadists (just kidding for all you PT's).  Anyway, scar tissue never goes away.  It remains and must be dealt with from time to time.  It's never any fun, but is absolutely necessary to maintain function.

Scar tissue of our heart and spirit is just as real.  Sometimes we have to remember to "break up" the scar tissue of our past and it's rarely any fun.  Thank God for His grace and His ability to help us get beyond the restrictive nature of scar tissue.  Even our children have to deal with it.  Maybe someone's hurt them at school, or a friend has betrayed them or maybe they've had some real difficult times at home.  All these things leave a remnant behind.  Remember to pray for and with your children and with those you see regularly.  Help them shatter the scar tissue that would immobilize their lives.  You can be a tremendous blessing to kids, so in the words of Nike..."just do it!"  Be Blessed!