Go Out There To Connect

We need to have human connections to be real. This is something that we learn as we go along. If we don't know who lives next door, we are the poorer for it. How can we love our neighbor if we haven't taken a few minutes to talk to that person.

We are commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ to love one another and this is the only healthy way for us as believers. We may not feel like getting invovled. We may neglect the fellowship of believers but we grow weaker and less certain for our own withdrawal.

Wherever we are we need to "touch base" by not only reading the Word of God but also by being in personal connection to our "team" of believers. We are blessed when we hear someone else pray for our needs as they are blessed when we pray for them.

Jesus went around doing good but He didn't do it by himself. He had his disciples, weak as they were.  He had a team and He led them and taught them together. Yes, there were times when he took one or more aside but the norm was doing ministry together.

Do you have a big dream that God has given you to do? Don't think you can or should work this out by yourself. Share it with your Christian friends. If you don't have any: make some. How do you do this? You go to church. You talk to people. And you go have coffee with one or more or you serve in some way in the church and get to then reveal your dream to others.

God wants us connected to each other because we are the body of Christ. A leg or an arm can't do the job. A head or a toe can't do the job but when we all connect together, then we can see something happen in the Kingdom work. Don't give up. Get up and get connected. Start now! You'll be glad you did.

What We Accomplished For 2012

This has been a year of great and impossible forward movement for us.

• God has come through, when we had no funds, to do camp for more than 90 children.

• God provided in an unexpected way for the tutoring program in Redwood City to reopen.

• God kept Verbo church open when the building inspector wanted to close it

• God used our move here to San Jose to jump start a tutoring program at a Korean church for Spanish youth.

• God connects us through our love, our faith, our sharing...but it is not all on our shoulders.

• We have learned the Loaves and Fish lesson. Our little is God's enough because He is going to send the blessing.

My prayer for you:

"May the God of the impossible be very real to you in 2013. May you not faint when you do not have enough in any area for any demand but may you rest trusting that God will take care of you, His beloved child. May you forgive and forget as much as possible knowing that you are forgiven.

May you expect from God, not man, for your every need and see His power as you reach out to share seeds of truth with those around you and serve children.

Joyce Dueker

Compassion In Our Hearts

It is raining hard. The skies are gray in sunny California. This is "winter" for us. And yet driving down the streets at night there are many Christmas lights up which bring cheer and comfort.

Families are gathering. Friends are communicating. And little evidences of more love show up. A woman "adopted" an older 90 year old woman as her mother and was buying her a colorful long sleeved polo "because she is always cold."

Compassion has to do with reaching out beyond our own circle to include and share with others. We as Americans have this heritage of caring for others because of the Christian base of loving others laid down here long, long ago.

We know in our heart of hearts, despite all the materialistic hype, that true satisfaction will only come when we forget ourselves and serve and care for others.

This kind of "other centered" living can only really come as we receive the gift of grace that came down to us in a small package called Jesus. Do you know him yet? Read his story in the gospel of Luke. Jesus is for real. If you want real life seek the one who came to seek and save lost sheep.

Never Alone

One afternoon this week I decided to stay in by a fire. There are always errands to run and one more business thing to care for but sometimes we need to stop.

We just need to pull the plug on action and go into quiet and let ourselves get still. As an hour went by I felt myself slowing down and a restoring process started. I prayed about some things that needed to be voiced in that quiet room. I recalled some "victories" that had been achieved.

I opened the Bible and reflected. Our strength does come from the Lord and like a cell phone needs to be plugged in for recharging, we need to plug ourselves into the presence of the Lord to get recharged for the next steps. No great things were achieved that afternoon.

I lingered.

I rested.

I read.

And as I look back on that afternoon I remember it with special sweetness because I was not alone. As we enter into this holy season may we not miss the moment when God comes to us

Kids Don't Forget

Our president, Patty Cardona and a group from Verbo church in Redwood City recently went to a homeless to give food and gifts. 

After this had been done has everyone was leaving two girls came up and one said. "We know you. We went to your church to camp." 

Kids never forget. One good thing like camp in the life of a child is a huge memory. Kids remember the fun. They remember the park and the food. They remember where they went.

Church becomes a "good place" not something they haven't experience. One girl a few summers ago was trying to tell me what her experience at Touchdown Camp had been: "This is FUN CHURCH" she said. She recognized the fun but she also knew there was much more in our program.

Let us not forget that what we plant we harvest in the church. It is time for all churches to open wide the doors to the community and especially we are to "remember the poor" as we have been instructed to do. Jesus said "the poor you always have with you." Let us get our hands dirty and our hearts filled as we reach out to the poor around us.

The Good Place

Our president, Patty Cardona and a group from Verbo church in Redwood City recently went to a homeless shelter to give food and gifts. After this had been done has everyone was leaving two girls came up and one said. "We know you. We went to your church to camp."

Kids Never Forget. 

One good thing like camp in the life of a child is a huge memory. Kids remember the fun. They remember the park and the food. They remember where they went. 

Church becomes a "good place" not something they haven't experience. One girl a few summers ago was trying to tell me what her experience at Touchdown Camp had been. "This is FUN CHURCH" she said. She recognised the fun but she also knew there was much more in our program.

Let us not forget that what we plant we harvest in the church. It is time for all churches to open wide the doors to the community and especially we are to "remember the poor" as we have been instructed to do.

Jesus said "the poor - you always have with you." Let us get our hands dirty and our hearts filled as we reach out to the poor around.

Thanksgiving

There is a moment in almost every Thanksgiving gathering where a sense of the goodness of God is felt.

For some it is the pies just coming out of the over.  For others it may be a home with family gathering. For us in Project Lost Sheep, we gather to remember that years ago God helped us to become a non-profit.  There were 4 of us plus our advisor who helped us get non profit status in the room.  We met in the library of the First Baptist Church in Menlo Park to sign the papers.  Up to the last moment I didn't know I would be "elected" president.  It was the only job unclaimed and we had to put someone down.

I would like to say we all felt thankful we had just enough people to start but I really think we were all a bit nervous about the the step of becoming official.

We didn't know that we would have a few years of lean times trying to figure out what we were supposed to be doing but we continued together and started to do small steps of ministry. For those of you in other cities who are wanting to do something I would say: Don't wait until you have enough people or don't wait until you have enough funds.  If God is in your midst you will have what you need when you need it, especially if you reach out to the disadvantaged.

We have had some fat years in America but for the last five or so years we have been in a lean position.  Some of us have lost homes. Some have seen our businesses decline. We are learning to pray for each other as well as reach out to our community.  We are learning to be THANKFUL IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.

This is only possible with God's help.  In our own flesh we are very weak and doubtful. This summer we faced a real crisis before camp. We didn't have enough funds to open the camp but we went ahead by faith.  Yes, God came through in surprising ways.  We are thankful that He has not let us down in our personal lives and He has not let us down in our Project Lost Sheep community.

What has happened could not have been done by one of us.  But the few of us God has graciously grown a bit in love and thankfulness. I am thankful to all my Project Lost Sheep friends: you are like family gathering around the table. We will again celebrate thanksgiving together and find more ways to grow in our journeys of faith.

A Walk In A Large Park

It is great to get out and really be above the valley and away. Walking 45 minutes up a long trail over looking Silicon Valley all we could see were the hills, very dry hills, trees, other trails, and other hikers.

This was the way it used to be. Someone with forsight here in the valley in the 70's bought up the land that used to be used for mining and set it aside for a park. This foresight is now a blessing to hundreds who enjoy this large 4000 acre natural park.

Leaders need to see ahead and to plan ahead. Those who are looking at where we are now need to think what we would like to see left and there for our children's children. That is foresight.

I am very happy about the trend of the mega rich to give much of that back into the community. There are truly many places where business forsight can make a difference now and even more in the future.

Let us not just look at our little feet on the path going along in life. Let's lift up our eyes to the hills. Let's preserve some of God's beauty we see around us. Let's realize that life isn't a walk in the park but it sure helps our perspective to get out there in the hills and see how very little everything else is down below.

Thank God for people who planned ahead so we can enjoy this today. Get behind something bigger than your agenda and your little life!