Look out, Kansas City!

I have a car!

1995 Honda Civic

Have I mentioned lately how good the Lord has been to me? He is good to us all, no matter what happens to us in our life! I have this car paid, no monthly payments or anything! Praise the Lord! He is great and greatly to be praised!

A Concert with the Stevens Family

"Yes I know, yes I know, Jesus' blood can make the vilest sinner clean.."

I sat on the front row of my church, camera in hand. It was a Wednesday night, and we where sitting listening to a family trio, the Stevens family, sing.

"I've got a mansion, just over the hill-top, in that bright land where we'll never go old..."

They had said they sung a mix of Southern Gospel and Contemporary, but as I sat listening to their first two selections of the night, I was beginning to figit a bit. I mean, I grew up on this type of music, but the rest of my church.....well, I'll put it this way. My boyfriend wonders why I don't wear earplugs while singing on the worship team. I was thinking, "Surely ya'll coulda started out with something more, well, upbeat?!?!"

Now don't get me wrong, they're harmony was perfect; flawless. I was enjoying it. But what about the others?

OK, rule number one. Never assume. Got that? Good. It is always a bad thing to do. Something I tend to do all the time, sadly. All right! Whew! Got that one outta the way!

Now on! Then they sang another! I started thinking, "Wow, this is really awesome!"  Here's the ending....

I really realized that night how much I really missed listening to more of a variety of music. I miss having a Sourthern Gospel radio station to listen to.

I really liked this song. It's truly unique.

One thing I really like about this trio was their abilty to maintain their stage presence even though we didn't exactly have a house full that night. I believe that is a mark of true professionals.

Last, but not least, we had an awesome altar call. It was really nothing terffically wonderful in a sense, but the Lord really dealt with me and touched me. There was such a sweet spirit, the Holy Spirit in that sanctuary!

Anyway, afterwards, I met Erin Stevens.

She is such a sweet soul! We were able to talk and share a lot and we had a really good time! Poor Erin, I think I talked her ear off! lol

So anyway, the next time you're faced with a decision to do something different and out of the ordinary, do it! I think so often we think and even live in a box and we live in a rut! We need to break out of it and do something different and see what God can do!

by Maria Rice

My Graduation....

YAY! I'M OFFICIALLY GRADUATIED!

I truly had a wonderful Graduation! It was so good to spend a little time with my family and friends; a lot of them drove a long ways to get up here! I love them all, you all, to death! Thank you for always supporting me and loving me! :)

Orginal, or a copy?

This last Tuesday and Wednesday, we went to Adat Yeshua, a Messianic Jewish fellowship, to hear scholar and author Daniel Gruber speak. I always enjoy going to Adat Yeshua. It always challenges me to search deeper in the Scriptures to discover God's truth. Dan Gruber, a true scholar in every way I'm sure, brought some very interesting thoughts to the table.

One of the things he said that still sticks in my mind is this statement;  "Everyone starts out life as an orginal, but ends up a copy."

Chew on that for a while! Think about when a baby in born. It's so precious and innocent, untainted by the peer pressure and drama of this world today. Soon, it begins to grow up. It learns how to talk, walk, eat, and do everything like his parents and siblings do. "Ok," you say, "That's true, but he's still not a copy!"
Move up about 6 years. He's in kidergarten. Not a lot of pressure yet, but there's a little.
Fast forward.....high school. Peer pressure, all the things you have to deal with in public high school. I'm not saying all kids become a copy of their peers, but look around at most. People in general are afraid to be themselves. They're afraid of being rejected.
Now, don't get me completely wrong here. I don't mean we're not to listen to other people and just be however we want to be!  The Bible says in Romans 12:1-2 that we need to present our whole lives to God and to be completely transformed by renewing our mind. By doing that, we become who God wants us to be, which is an orginal you! God doesn't create copies! We can try, some times without even realizing it, to make ourselves into copies by trying to be like our peers. But that is not what God wants us to be. The Bible said, as Dan Gruber said many times the two nights I heard him speak, that His thought's are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. Ever wonder why we just can't understand why things happen a certain way. Well, that would be the reason! God's way of doing and thinking is not even close to ours! So what does God think about everything? How do we figure it out. We in ourselves can't, but by the Holy Spirit that lives within us, we can! Praise the Lord! I'm so thankful for the Holy Spirit! The Comforter has come!

by Maria Rice