A Falling Truck and a New Start for YOU

I took my family on a vacation to Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina. What a beautiful sight, compared to the flat corn fields of Indiana, as we traveled up one mountain and down the next. It was exciting to wind along the mountainside with the mountain dropping off on one side in a steep drop and then climbing straight up on the other side. As we wound our way through the slow moving traffic up one particular mountain road, we were talking about the beauty of the mountains with our kids, Suddenly, up in front of us the semi truck and trailer that we were two car lengths behind began to careen to the left and then to the right and then back again!

We watched in horror and helplessness as we saw the driver trying to regain control of tens of thousands of pounds of out of control machine! As he rounded one turn and then the next, the back of the trailer began to tilt wildly to the side. In just seconds our quiet drive through the mountains went from serene to surreal as we saw the trailer (in what seemed like super slow motion) tilt too far past center and then fall over on its side into the side of the mountain. As the trailer tipped it puller the massive semi truck over with it until both were sliding along the side of the mountain on their side.

We obviously stopped right away. My son and I got out and rushed up to see if we could help while the rest of the family immediately began to pray in the van. The driver was fine albeit, very shaken up, and we were soon back on the road realizing that you never know what may be around the next bend of life. Are you ready? Do you know where you would turn?

Jesus Christ loves you and gave His life for you to spend the rest of eternity with Him in heaven. He paid a penalty that only He could pay (since He lived a perfect life) and if you decide to start a relationship with him by putting all of your trust in Him rather than the things around you, you can be assured of living in heaven with Him someday.

This new relationship with Jesus can change your life. Speak to Jesus (just like you would a friend) and ask Him to start a work in your life today and to begin something new that will transform you and give you joy and hope beyond all imagination. Questions? Visit www.ogbc.net or email me at ogbc@ogbc.net. I hope to hear from you so that you can begin the next steps of this new relationship with Christ.

Here at the Osceola Grace Brethren Church you can find Real People living Real Lives and striving to find Real Answers.

Caught in a Lie

As a young boy my mom used to take my older sister and I grocery shopping with her since we were a little young to be staying home alone. Not to mention that she couldn't trust my sister (just kidding Chris). But we really couldn't stand following mom around Wilts Grocery Store for what seemed like forever. My mom finally agreed to let us go to the variety store across the parking lot to hang out in the toy section until she came to find us. That was great for the first few times but, as usual, we got bored with the same old stuff at the variety store so we asked for something bigger and better. "Hey, mom," we asked, "Can we cross Jackson Boulevard and see the toy section at Clark's?" Well of course the Clark Store was much bigger and had so much more to offer than the variety store; they had bikes and wagons and all kinds of good stuff!

Not surprising, the answer came back "No, it is too dangerous for you to cross Jackson alone. Just go to G.L. Perry's or stay with me."

We thought that we were pretty smart though. We walked over to Perry's and then when my mom was safely in the grocery store, we ran across Jackson Boulevard and visited Clark's for a while and then came back to Perry's before mom picked us up. Pretty slick, huh? Or so we thought.

On the way home mom asked about Perry's and then asked if we stayed there like we said we would. Hmmm. That should have clued us in but we assured her that we had and so then she dropped the hammer on us by telling us that our neighbor had been in Clark's earlier and then proceeded to the grocery store. When she saw mom in the grocery store she mentioned to her that she had seen us at Clark's. As if we weren't in enough trouble, we even tried to tell her that the neighbor must have seen someone who looked like us.

Needless to say, we spent the next several trips following mom around the grocery store. What did I learn?

1. Obey your mom; she always finds out anyway
   
2. Stick with the truth; it is hard to mess it up and…
   
3. Never let your sister talk you into something.
   

Here at the Osceola Grace you can find Real People living Real Lives and striving to find Real Answers.

Staying Warm and Drying Out

The final chapter of the Life on the Street series…

By 7 PM, I arrived at the church. I had no keys so I headed to the back of the property and began making my home for the night. I laid several branches down to rest upon while I made the fire since there was still a foot of snow on the ground. I soon had a fire going but had trouble keeping it burning (I started too small) and so I fought with it for an hour or two. I had one of the deacons concerned to the point where he texted me to say that there were hay bales near the church that I could use. I dragged one back to where I was (about a hundred and twenty yards or so) and then broke it up to make a makeshift bed. Once again I stoked the little fire and thought I would be ok. I put on a pair of my dry socks – when I left the mission that morning I only put on two pairs of socks and held back a pair just in case ( I am a pretty quick learner sometimes). So I was trying to dry things out and get to sleep and keep the fire going to stay warm. I was tucked under half a bale of hay while my boots were drying over the coals. I dozed. Suddenly – a bright light and a poof and I was awake – OH NO…The fire liked the flavor of my boots because it was suddenly licking major flames all around them – a foot and a half high!

What to do – without thinking I reached into the fire and grabbed my boots and tossed them aside – the smell of burning leather and rubber was awesome! They were not completely ruined but now I was awake again! And cold… Soon the fire died down and returned to its passive state and I was freezing and frustrated. A couple of options were before me: One: get up and call my wife and go home to a warm house, shower, food and a bed. Two: Get with it and make the biggest fire you can think of and drag that other bale of hay back here. It's 11:30 PM. I have to preach tomorrow. Dog gone it – this is crazy…

I marched back to where I left the other bale and then to the church dumpster – second time today that I went dumpster diving – I found another newspaper and a couple of little lightweight cardboard boxes that should burn ok. I stuffed the papers in the boxes and the boxes in my jacket and trudged back to the coals with my bale of hay. I then built a small semi-circular shelter with the pieces of the bale and laid a couple of branches over the top. I was shivering because I was so cold at this point and my feet were terribly sore and cold. I found several large logs and made a square "Lincoln log" type structure. I threw every last bit of wadded up paper and the little boxes in the middle of the log structure and stacked twigs over the paper. I then created a TeePee like structure of little branches that were about two to three feet long. If this did not create some real lasting fire then I was done.

I lit it with a couple of the matches I had left and within fifteen minutes had a four foot high roaring fire within a couple of feet of my little hay bale shelter. I then took off my coat and laid it over the top of the structure and crawled underneath. The fire sent heat right into my little shelter and within a few minutes I was toasty warm. After about a half hour, went and found much more wood to keep this thing going and by 1 AM I was stocked with wood and sleeping fitfully in my hay shelter. Every 90 to 120 minutes I awakened and reloaded the fire. My boots and pants and socks all dried as I slept.

At 11 AM the next morning – two apple pies later – I entered the church service, crawled out of a large appliance box on the stage and challenged our folks to "Cross the Line" into someone else's world to bring them to faith. Instead of just throwing a lifeline to them and expecting them to grasp it and pull themselves to safety – we should be willing to step over the line into their world and help them make it to the line of faith. What about you?

Have you ever been left out? Ignored? Have you ever left someone out because they were different than you? Or because they smelled? Or because they were not what you thought they should be?

Have you ever WITHHELD Jesus from someone? You can talk to your friends about school, jobs, families, sports, kids, vacations, colleges, dreams… but why is it so difficult to cross the social barrier of spirituality? I am not asking you to pick up everyone you see along the road or to spend life as a homeless person or to beg for food or dive in a dumpster – I am simply asking you, NO , I am begging you, to be willing to share with those around you about the Jesus that has transformed YOUR life…what could He do in your friend's life?

Stay tuned for more "Real Life, Real Stories and Real Answers" on this blog.