Wake Up To A New You In 2012

Hello Hope Chapel,

I wanted to encourage you as we begin Awakening 2012 time together and let you know I am excited to hear the stories of what God is going to do in your lives over the next 21 days. I am excited and anxious to hear what He will call Hope Chapel to and where He will call us to.

In Gods Word the word awakening is translated as “wake up” and I think that it is awesome to see how God will wake us up over the next 3 weeks.

– He may want to wake you up to a whole new season of following Him in your life.

– He may wake you up to the potential that has been inside you

– He may want you to wake up and face the challenges that have ruled over your life for many years

– Maybe He will wake you up to new possibilities in your walk with Him

– He may wake you up to new relationships He desires you to start or repair

– You may wake up to healing in your physical body, your mind, or your heart

Ephesians 5:14-17 tells us this…..

14 This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

I can’t wait to see what the Lord will wake or awaken us up to as we spend some extra time with Him in prayer and fasting. Join me wont you as we seek Gods best for Hope and for you!

Also, don’t forget there are so many resources on the Hope website www.visithopechapel.com that will help and guide you over the next 21 days.

Let’s awaken our lives to all that Jesus has for us. Don’t miss a thing He wants to give us.

Thanks
Ken

Christmas Poem

 

Christmas Poem Hope 2011

It’s Christmas time with decorations, trees and lots of toys

With Santa bringing gifts to all good girls and boys

With shopping at the malls and spending lots of cash

Lots of parties in your home and even an office bash.

We seem to be in a hurry with so much to be done

There is no time to rest we are always on the run

With gifts to buy and goods to bake and parties to attend

It seems this Christmas hustle will never have an end

But how was Mary oh so calm on that first Christmas day

She heard the angels news and said be it as you say

She never seemed to panic when her life was turned upside down 

Even when the gossip flew and rumors did abound

Conceived by the Holy Spirit but her words fell on deaf ears

The friends and family laughed they joked and many even jeered

She must have heard the whispers as she walked all thru her town

A virgin Ha, they mocked at her with a smirk and then a frown

But Mary trusted God that His promise would come true

And she saw it being fulfilled as inside her Jesus grew

No panic no dispair as she headed for David’s city

She didn’t ask for favors or cry out give me pity

She bore the son of God that day and layed Him in the hay

Where shepherds and their sheep would come to sing and pray

She trusted God with all her heart her life was lived in peace

Real faith she knew was only found in in walking in heavenly peace

So next time you are rushing around from store to store 

Remember our new mother laying on that cold damp floor

She didn’t new presents or a fancy place to stay

Just faith in God and the courage to speak be it as you say.

Pour Yourself Out

I just experienced one of the biggest outpouring of servanthood our community has ever seen.  Thousands of people came together to touch the lives of kids all over our area.  From cleaning up schools to passing out sno cones, these people served and sweated and gave and worked, with nothing in return except the satisfaction of knowing kids would go back to school in places that looked better’ and with tools to help them feel proud to walk through the doors of their school on day one.

I just read a blog of someone who said you can’t get people to serve anymore and it was the biggest reason why he was stepping away from his job as a pastor.  I could make many comments here but will refrain.  Ok, maybe just one.  People love to serve when the project has purpose and will really touch the lives of other people.

There I said it, he is wrong and I am right.  Yes, maybe some people just live for themselves, but I am learning more and more day after day, people really do want a purpose in life and want to make a difference.  Sometimes they don’t know how and sometimes they just need vision, but they want to help.

Oh, and don’t let your wife blog that these same people are bad and they killed your husbands desire.  Oops, that’s another comment by me…….sorry.  Not really.

Just A Few Cans and Bottles

In a little more than just a month we will be trying to touch the lives of as many kids as we can with Project Hope.  We will be giving away school supplies, new athletic shoes, hair cuts and backpacks.  We are hoping that as many as 10,000 kids will get at least one or maybe all of these items.  Most of these kids will be kids who, if they don’t get some of these things given to them, they will not have all they need to be properly outfitted to go back to school.  We could go on for a long time about how kids who feel good about themselves and who have the a strong self-esteem do better in school than those who don’t feel good about being among peers each day.  But since we don’t have that much time, lets just say that we want kids to be totally prepared in body and mind to go to class each day.

So what does all of this have to do with cans and bottles you ask?  Well here you go…..Project Hope is collecting cans and bottles with every penny of the profits going towards new backpacks.  That is a really good idea you say, but you also might be reading and thinking …… how many backpacks can you get with a few cans and bottles?  Well just today the Coke and Pepsi holders that were turned in were enough to purchase 27 more backpacks.  So you see, each beverage container we get really can help out the children of the Lane County area.

So bring them in.  Call and have us pick them up.  Pack up your car, your truck, your SUV, your bike, your motorcycle, your…..OK you get it.  We want your cans and bottles, we want to help many, many kids with your many, many bottles!!

Mothers Day – Mixed Emotions

• Moms are so much fun to celebrate with, laugh with and cry with.

• There are great stories of amazing Moms in the Bible who did things that we should pay closer attention to.

• The life stories of the Mothers at Hope are inspiring also and should be told.   They would give hope and inspire young Moms that they can make it.

• A Mothers job is very difficult!

• My Mom – Lois Brown did a really good job, a really good job!

2010 Where Did You Go?

This is January 3, 2011 and I am still trying to catch up with all that took place in 2010.  Lets review together:

• We saw the Alabama Crimson Tide win the College Football Championship in January and the New Orleans Saints become the unexpected NFL World Champions.  We saw the longest tennis match in the history of the game, the Olympics in Canada and the World Cup in South Africa.  The hated (at least in the Brown home) Lakers win again and the Giants (another team not loved in the Brown home) win the World Series.
•  Haiti crushed by a huge earthquake, miners rescued in Chile.  Crazy times for Tiger Woods, LaBron James, Lindsay Lohan, Mel Gibson and Ben Roethlisberger and a huge oil spill spoils the waters of the Gulf coast states.
•  Closer to home Hope Chapel grows to its biggest point ever, Bella starts kindergarten and Connor starts High School.  Soccer for both kids kept their Mom googling maps to every school and tournament in the state of Oregon.  There were band concerts and parent / teacher meetings, swim lessons and family pictures.  And Sandy might still be the dumbest dog a family ever owned.

So much more could be discussed like the social media takeover of America and the economy that just can’t quite pull out of it.  But it really went fast, really, really fast and the older I get the faster they go.  But one thing is sure ……. I cant wait to see what 2011 will bring.

Holiday Mix-Up

I am very confused…..the calendar says November but I am sitting in a house next to stockings hanging on the fireplace, a tree fully decorated and lit, scented candles filling the air with apple spice and evergreen scents and a show about a dog who saves Christmas on the Hallmark channel.  The only thing missing is the chestnuts roasting on an open fire……and if I give it a few days that will probably be a part of the decor also.

I was called a scrooge by one person and told I am a secret Christmas lover by another.  I went shopping at 3 AM on Black Friday and helped bring down all of the decorations out of the attic so all of these surroundings could actually happen.  So while I put up a good front about not liking the early start to the Christmas season, I must confess that the thoughts of the Yuletide season are comforting.

Memories of a sister who would sneak out and unwrap all her gifts and wrap them back up to see what everyone was getting.  A trip to Salem every year to see my Gramma Dodson and see the Oregon School of the Blind Christmas Presentation.  The Brown family Christmas gatherings in the basement of Emerald Baptist Church with all those cousins and gift exchanges. Finding out that there was really no meat in Mincemeat and smelling pies and other Christmas delicacies being cooked in time for that family dinner.  But most of all giving away, even though those gifts of home made jams and banana bread now seem so simple……good times and good memories.

Take time to enjoy your Holiday Season.

I Just Stood And Listened

Those who know me know I am not real good and just standing still or not being a part of the conversation.  Let’s just say it….I talk a lot and often.  I love to tell stories and have people respond in a way that is emotional and helpful.  But today that all got messed up.

At the Project Hope Community BBQ I was not in charge.  I did not tell people what to do or how to do it or instruct them in any way.  There were others who set up and were in charge and made the calls and I was just standing and watching.  It was kinda uncomfortable. 

Then it happend……one of the homeless ladies came up to me and told me the story of her life and I did not say a word.  She spoke of abuse, drug use, homelessness, husbands, boyfriends, the police (not the band) and a life on the streets.  She said thanks for listening and walked away. Before I knew what to do a very drunk man came up and told me he owned huge plots of land and was very rich and was just using his living on the streets as a cover.  He told me to keep it a secret than hugged me and walked away.

It happened over and over……I need to be a good listener sometimes.  I am not one yet…..but a little closer after today.

Just A Little More

One of the many things I have learned from this marathon training is not to look too far ahead.  Saturday when I started out on a 20 plus mile run, I was looking ahead to the water stations and certain points of interest I would come upon during the longest run of my life.  Some of those things were miles ahead of where I was at the time.  After I got to about mile 17 I began to look at things that I could see just ahead and kept telling myself just get to that point and then concentrate on a little farther ahead.  Then at mile 19 it was just make it to the next crack in the sidewalk, then the next, then the next.

I realized that in life I do the same things, I set goals but don’t get to them or even attempt to conquer them because they seem so big or so far away.  I am learning to look just in front of me.  I don’t want to miss the people who are right in front of me who may help me shape my life, or who I can help out in some way, or miss other opportunities that are right in front of me but I miss because they don’t look like they will help me finish the big race.  I now know, yes, I must have long-term goals, but I also know that it is the little things and people right in front of me that will help me get there.

Don’t miss out on the small cracks in the sidewalk just because you are focused on the miles still ahead of you.

A New Season

It just seems to me like there is a fresh start in so many areas of life for me…….not really sure why but I thought I would put down some of the reasons it feels like January 1st and not the middle of February.

• Nascar Season Begins Sunday (the list could stop here, but I will continue)
• Pitchers and Catchers report to Spring Training next week and once again at least til the first week of the season there is hope for my Reds.
• I am about to embark on a whole new adventure in life that I have not had to do in 15 years…….and thats a good thing.
• I am training for a marathon and running distances that I have never ever attempted in my life.
• PK Park is almost complete and ready to open. (New Baseball Home of the Oregon Ducks)
• I just spent time with some of my best friends that I have not laughed with in years….it was good.
• I am meeting new people at Hope each week and am trying to remember all the names.
• I am addicted to Spice Drops again.

Yep New Seasons are really good!