Blood Drive Update

Yesterday's blood drive was a big success! Thank you for taking a few minutes out of your day to come donate the gift of life. It was neat to meet those of you who read this blog and put a face with the name! There were 266 people who donated Thursday and it was a busy day indeed.

As always, I must thank Clarion Ledgeer editorial cartoonist Marshall Ramsey for sharing his artistic talent with all of us for this cause. The t-shirt was such a hit and donors made sure they didn't leave without getting his autograph! Marshall wasn't paid a dime for doing this, but he has a big heart and is all about sharing and giving back, which he does quite well.

Mississippi Blood Services added a new twist yesterday to the blood drive-- a new 2009 Nissan Altima from Deuce McAllister Nissan in Jackson. Donors were able to register for the car and someone will walk away with this car just for giving 1 pint of blood. Now, that's not scary at all! Marshall and I are shown here with the prize.

I hope you have a wonderful, sunny weekend. It will be a big week for our country next week. Pray for America...

Satan's Two Big Lies

The news in the financial world continues to be bleak. We have all been bombarded with companies "downsizing" and the thought of a recession/depression can make anybody depressed!

Satan offers us 2 lies: the forever lie and the never lie. He tells us the negative things in our life will be that way forever. And when we have positive things happen in our life, he wants us to believe that if they ever do change, we couldn't handle it. These 2 lies create fear in our hearts. The truth is, sooner or later everything changes. If we continue to believe God and place our trust in Him, bad things ultimately give way to better things.

When we do have good things going on in our life, they may not stay exactly the same forever. We might go through another hard time, but eventually through Christ, the difficulty will be changed into better times than the ones we had before. Have you ever taken a vacation and while you were trying to relax, you begin dreading going back to work? Satan wants you to feel that things will never change and if you believe his lies, then you won't be ready for the changes that God has coming to you.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, "To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter of purpose under heaven." Sometimes changes are exciting and sometimes they are hard. But Jesus never changes and as long as we keep our eyes on Him, we will make it through the changes in our life.

The psalmist warned, "if riches increase, set not your heart on them" in Psalm 62:10. And Proverbs 27:24 says, "For riches are not forever; does a crown endure to all generations?" When the Bibles tells us not to set our hearts on the things of this world, it means we are not to get too wrapped up in anything in this life. That includes not only our money like our assets, bank accounts, investments, or retirement funds, but it also means our job and our possessions.

We must not get too attached to things. We must always be free to move with the Spirit. There is a season in our lives and when that season is over, we must let it go. Too often we try to hang on to the past, when God is saying, "It's time to move on to something new."

Don't live in the past when God has a new season for you. If God is no longer in something, you will no longer be happy in it.

No Matter What You're Going Through...

I saw a sign outside a church that read, "This world is not my home. I'm just passing through." When you go through a something, you come out on the other side. Psalm 23:4 says, "Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." In this passage, David said he walked through the valley of the shadow of death. In all the situations and circumstances of life, we must remember we are just passing through, but we'll get to the other side.

Even though at times it may seem agonizingly slow, later when we look back at that time, we can see it wasn't really as long as it seemed.

Isaiah 43:2 says, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned or scorched, nor will the flame kindle upon you."

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar. But because they trusted themselves to the Lord, they didn't stay there to be consumed by the flames. They came through them to victory. Daniel was thrown into the lions' den but he came through that experience unharmed.

So while we're going through whatever has come our way, does God really care? Does He hear our pleas for help? Psalm 91:15 says, "When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him." The Lord promises the same protection and deliverance to all of those who put their faith and trust in Him.

Need Divine Intervention?

We all find ourselves needing divine intervention at times. I've talked to several people recently who have various trials they are facing: job layoffs, financial hardships, family discord, health issues......you name it. I've found where God makes several promises in His word. Psalm 91:14-16 says, "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name. He shall call upon Me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation."

God makes 3 promises here: He will be with us, He will deliver us and honor us and, He will grant us long life and will show us His salvation. Pretty straight forward, isn't it?

If God could do a Star-Trek like appearance in front of us, I think He would say something like this, "No matter what you're going through at this moment, it will pass sooner or later. Someday it will be all over and done with. But in the meantime, put your cares and concerns on My back and trust Me to work out everything for the best."

How We React Matters

Last Thursday was a day when I thought "Go ahead, make my life miserable today" was written on my forehead. Every time I got in the car, some was pulling out in front of me. While standing in line at several stores, people would push in front of me. Even the cashier acted like she woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I became tempted to start acting like those around me. After all, it seemed to be working for them, right?

The way we interact with other people--how we speak to and behave toward those we encounter each day--are rooted in our relationship with God. When you consider the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, you may notice that they first describe the relationship between God and man. The commandments begin with loving God, having no idols before Him, not taking His name in vain, and keeping the Sabbath holy. Then the commandments go on to speak of the relationship between people. We are told to honor father and mother, not to murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, or covet someone's possessions.

We see the same pattern in the Beatitudes and in Jesus' response when asked about the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:37-40, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

How we treat others is obviously important to God or He would not have put it as a high priority. He is watching how we react to those we come in contact with every day because they are His children, too. And, yes, they are watching how we react to them as well.

TGIF!

It has been a long week! Each night between newscasts, I've spent emceeing the Brandon High School Beauty & Beau pageant. The school is so big that each night of the week is a different class of competition. Monday night was all freshman, Tuesday night was sophomores and so on. I always enjoy being with the teenagers and their families, but I have missed being with my own family.

You have probably noticed a few changes to the blog this week. One blog reader last week posted that perhaps I should change my picture, so I obliged. And I wanted to share Lilly Faith's six month photo with you. You'll see it on the right hand side.

The commercial to promote our annual blood drive with Mississippi Blood Services will start running this weekend. I promised a sneak peek, so here it is.

This was shot at the Mississippi Agricultural & Forestry Museum's pumpkin patch. When I was asked to sit among the pumpkins on the ground, I didn't mind. But while we were filming, I began to feel something biting and stinging me. Little did I know, I had sat in a fire ant bed! The reason I didn't see the ant bed was because the pumpkin leaves are so wide and the leaves were covering up the bed. If you've never had "ants in your pants", it is a humbling experience and one I don't care to repeat anytime in the near future!

These t-shirts are the most colorful yet and they won't let you have one unless you donate blood. By the way, Marshall Ramsey will be joining me throughout the day at the blood drive on October 30. I bet he'll be willing to sign your t-shirt if you come and donate in the early morning or during lunchtime.

Worry + Faith = 0

In talking to a friend the other day who is going through some problems, I could tell she was worried. Her face and tone of voice gave herself away. After telling me how worried she was, she ended it with "But I'm praying about it and keeping my faith." In one sense, she was as worried as worried could be. One the other hand, she said she was having faith in the Lord. Worry and faith don't go together.

Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God's peace which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

In these verses, Paul doesn't say "Pray and worry." Instead, he says to "Pray and don't worry." So why are we to pray and not worry? Because prayer is supposed to be the way we cast our care upon the Lord. When Satan makes us worry, we are supposed to turn and give that care to God. That's what prayer is. It is acknowledging to the Lord that we cannot carry our burden, so we lay it at His feet. If we pray about something and then keep on worrying about it, we are mixing a positive and a negative. Both of these cancel each other out so we end up right back where we started---at zero.

Too many times, we pray and talk positive for a while, and then we worry and talk negative for a while. We go back and forth between the two extremes. That is like driving down the road going from one side of the highway to the other. If we keep doing that, at some point we are going to be in big trouble!

As long as we are worrying about our problem, we aren't trusting God. It is only by trusting and having faith and confidence in the Lord that we are able to enjoy the peace that passes all understanding.