Friends!

Sometimes I get so busy that I forget some of the most important things I have learned over these last years. I remember a man old enough to be my father tell me that “we never have enough time to do the things we think we should do – but we always have enough time to do what He wants us to do.”

It is easy to fall into the rut of “doing” rather than “being.” Real life is an art, and no matter how we cut it, investing time in loving, kind relationships pleases our Creator. Each of us should be able to snapshot our days, weeks, and months at any point in time and be able to articulate what our relational life looks like.

When we know and love each other well – life is just richer. This is true at almost any station in life: single, married, in the thick of parenting or the transition time of teens – and even beyond. It is good to sit with friends who share our values and talk, pray, laugh, and sometimes weep.

My friend Paul sent me this quote his brother-in-law sent him. I have been thinking about how profound it is for the last several weeks. Perhaps you will enjoy it as well.

“There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence (and that is) activism and overwork….The rush and pressure of modern life are a form of violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of our activism neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.”

Thomas Merton

Awakening prayer can be summarized by the words found in Luke 10:2. Has the Lord God motivated you to faithfully pray for an awakening in our city? If you didn’t get a chance (or would like to stay focused on Awakening prayer) listen to this link about Hezekiah from a few weeks ago. Awakening in Hezekiah.

Your update on giving:
Beginning Cash Balance as of September 1:     1,785
Giving this month to date:                                 12,554
Cash balance available
to pay this month’s budget obligations:            14,339

This means we are 6 or 7 thousand dollars from our monthly goal with one Sunday of giving remaining. Please pray! (and give)

WORD

We hope you are enjoying the “8 Great Epochs in the Fabric of Time.” I am amazed how the scriptures are so woven together! It is so dramatic when the Son bursts upon the earth scene – shining the glory of the Living God. Beginning next Sunday you can view each Sunday’s teaching on the Fox Creek site.

NEWS

Father/Daughter at Morningstar this Friday and Saturday. We will be there by 3 or so. Bring your own food. Grill will be fired up from 5-7. Campfire at 8:30. We stay through lunch.

Directions to Morningstar.
HOW TO FIND US:
– I-35 South (to Osceola) OR 69/65 South (thru Indianola) to Highway 34.
– Go east to Chariton – Take 34 bypass around Chariton
– Outside of Chariton you will see Red Haw State Park entrance
– Continue on Highway 34 for 3.5 miles from that entrance
– Take a right (south) for 5 miles on gravel
(you can see Russell water tower in distance – over railroad tracks)
– Shumann on mailbox – we are fire number 42402 – bridge over river is too far!)
– Go into driveway – you will see a gate into a field – use your gatekey here
– Follow this farm lane to its end – you will see a grey cabin
My cell 515-240-2995 – Takes about an hour and twenty minutes from DSM

PRAYER

- for Jack and Janet Benjamin as Jack continues treatment for cancer
– for Diane Neff at home with her ailing father (for revelation)
– for Barry Lane as he deals with serious health issues (Missouri)
– the gals involved in the Esther study that they would see God
– for our young families as they establish spiritual marriages and families
– for our Fox Creek prayer vision for an awakening in our city
– for our elders in keeping focus on what God is requiring from our Fox Creek Family

With the camps behind us it means your summer is in full swing – summer schedules, family-building opportunities, time away. Thanks to everyone who made Day Camp and Camp Morningstar rock this summer!

With the turmoil and craziness in our country and the world, it is important for us to not give in to fear. “Perfect loves casts out fear” and these are times that call for courage and not timidity. Don’t hesitate to “call upon the Name” of the God of Heaven for your own household’s needs as well as those of our nation.

Please be diligent to pray and give toward the work that our local body is contributing to the Spirit’s effort in Des Moines. It is easy, especially in tough times, to constrict rather than expand our Kingdom vision. Diligence “in season and out of season” produces fruit in the honor of the One who deserves everything from us!

Continue to pray for: those out of work or concerned about their jobs, Julie Richard’s recovery, Jack Benjamin’s medical issues – that the Lord would restore what is being stolen – and the things that come to mind when you think of our brothers and sisters at Fox Creek!

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” – Paul in his letter to the Ephesian