Thankfulness (Kristin)

'Tis the season...to be thankful.  It's sad how this coming holiday is almost completely overshadowed by the commercialism of the one to come.  I wish more emphasis was put on Thanksgiving...on being thankful to God for what this year has brought us, the good and the bad, knowing that our perfect heavenly Father has our lives in His hands and transforms even ashes to beauty. 

We are thankful this year...

for Jeremy and Carol's marriage
for the blessing of new life growing in Kristin's belly (and growing, and growing)
for Anderson successfully completing a rehabilitation program and returning to live and grow with us
for Claudinho's good job
for Paulo returning to the Sombra Road House
for Adilio growing more and more in maturity in Christ
for Jacob's health and joy
for God's guidance and direction in the future of our ministry
for God's provision even in difficult times

What are you thankful for?

Additionally, we would like to invite you all to a beneficiary concert in support of Sombra Road.  Our dear friend, Kristin Turney Jones, has kindly offered her (and her band's) amazing talent and time in order to help us raise needed funds.  The entrance to the concert is free, with donations requested.  Please see the invitation below and invite your friends:

Good Try (Jason)

 

Several months ago Jeremy sent me this email:

Claudinho recently bought a cell phone direct from China. He asked me to translate something from the manual into Portuguese. This is exactly what is written:

You can information and others of the usage writing carry on confabulation. Chat has diagrammed a mark to show at which chat room. Chat function of operation with get to the Internet chat homology.

I thought maybe you could help me out. I know so little about confabulation these days.

I can just imagine the guy who wrote this manual bragging to his co-workers saying, “English - English is practically my first language.  I got this.”  When it comes to cell phone manuals it is not the end of the world if you get it wrong.  The same does not apply to life.   

We have been talking a good deal about Paulo lately, both in our blog entries as well as in our staff meetings.  Paulo thought that, in his own strength, he could be good enough, smart enough, motivated enough, etc. to succeed and achieve all his dreams.  He has come to a point in life where reality has weighed down hard leaving him disillusioned and depressed.  We have been trying to help him see that he has at least three choices: he can give up, he can try harder, or, he can lean on Jesus.  This may seem simplified, but I think that this is the reality.  Paulo is not the type to give up.  However, he, as well as all of us, runs the risk of just trying harder.  It is our prayer that Paulo would not settle for what he can do for himself.  We pray that he, coming to the end of self, would rest on Christ.  We hope that Paulo, unlike the manual writer, would not say, “I got this”, but that he would turn to Jesus in desperation and say with Peter “Lord, to whom shall we go?”  Please pray for Paulo this month.  We believe that he is in a very impressionable period.  Pray that his life would be marked by dependence on Christ.