Prayer: Joel Noland

Dear friends,

Many of you know our good friend, Joel Noland, who came on staff earlier this year to help with sound & production for the Worship Ministry. Prior to coming on board at Harvest, Joel served in the military as a Marine Sergeant in Iraq for 3 tours of duty which he completed in 2006. It was through these times that the Lord drew Joel to Himself in a genuine relationship through Christ Jesus, followed shortly by promptings to pursue full-time technical ministry.

Part of Joel's military contract included the possibility (up to a few years after he completed his duty) to be recalled to active duty.

Earlier this week he was down in Kansas City getting screened for possible recall, and last night we received news that he is indeed being called back to war.

Isaiah 46:9-10 - "I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.'"

This is especially difficult as Joel has been settling in to civilian life -- a new job here at Harvest, recently engaged to girlfriend Allie Liu, and going to school part time at Columbia College.

He will be receiving exact orders in the coming weeks and will be leaving for Iraq no later than end of February 2008.

It's in moments such as this that we are strongly reminded of God's sovereignty and of our constant need of His strength and peace.

Joel is just one of many that have given so sacrificially for all of us to know and enjoy the benefits of our free society.

Would you consider putting this situation at the top of your regular prayer list for the coming months?

It would be a great encouragement to Joel and his family and all of us.

Please pray for:

• Joel's safety and God's continued protection and favor.
• Peace, strength, and comfort for Rory and family and Allison through these times
• Joel's strong witness for Christ in the coming difficult circumstances
• Joel's quick and safe return when he leaves
• Adequate staffing help here in Worship Production Ministry while Joel is away

"Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!"
- Psalm 24:8

"Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand."
- Psalm 20:6

Prayer Request

Please pray for my blogging friends Steve McCoy and, more specifically, his wife, Molly. She suffers from a condition called "Chiari". There's plenty of explanation here. But, please pray for her surgery today (the 13th).

Ethan Breakfast Prayer: May 20, 2007

"Jesus, you are the king of all kings. You are the greatest person on our planet. Amen."

Intercessory Prayer: a beginner's guide

Here's something fun to do next time you do some traveling!

Step 1) At any store that you see business cards, pick up the LEAST SENIOR employee card that you can find. "Assistant to the Assistant Junior Pastor" would be awesome.

Step 2) Put three or four of these cards in your wallet.

Step 3) Fly home.

Step 4) Over the next week, whenever you go out to lunch or anyplace else, enter the cards in every drawing that you can.

Step 5) Wait for heaven.

Because my opinion is that God thinks this is hysterical. Imagine this situation.

PERSON 1: Hello, Enterprise Rent-a-car.
PERSON 2: Hello, this is Mike from Panera Bread. Is Alex there?
PERSON 1: Alex who?
PERSON 2: Alex Sinclair. He's this month's bagal winner.
PERSON 1: He's parking the economy cars. Can I have him call you back?
PERSON 2: No need. Just tell him to stop by the Panera Bread in Arlington Hts for his free bagal.
PERSON 1: Where's that?
PERSON 2: On the corner of Evergreen Road and Northwest Highway.
PERSON 1: In what city?
PERSON 2: Arlington Hts., silly.
PERSON 1: There's no Arlington Hts. around here. . .

O.K. - you're getting it. The next day, Alex gets a call from Payless Shoe Store, then Dollar General, and then Taco Bell.

Alex's boss wants to know when he went to Illinois. Alex thinks he's going to get fired. He prays to God that he doesn't.

Mission accomplished. Prayer.

Lessons From Dark Corners

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I went through a pretty aggressive period in my life where I took quite seriously Paul's admonition to "KEEP WATCH ON YOURSELF." I charted all of my quiet times over a three year period into a spreadsheet, and discovered the following things about myself. (Any of these true of you, too?)

(1) I stink at bible reading. My mind (O, wretched man that I am) can often simply be a pipe, where the water of God's word goes in one end and right through. I mind needs to be like SOIL: thirsty and soaking up what the Lord has to say. So I invented my daft scheme.

(2) I need a plan. Often, after finishing a book, I would take a week (or, shamefully, more) off. As a general rule of thumb for me, if I'm unsure of what I'm supposed to do NEXT, I don't do anything.

(3) I tend to only read my favorite parts. Looking at my reading carefully, I found that I tended toward a pattern of rereading familiar, well-loved passages of scriptures over and over again.

And again. Seriously.

I love myself some Philippians, Pastoral Epistles, and Psalms. Then, well, start up 2 Corinithians, . . . then back to Philippians.

(4) I love new stuff. I discovered new stuff (new ideas, new pens, new bibles) caught my attention for about ten days. Maybe this is foolish, but I take advantage of this in myself and began to budget QUIET TIME STUFF with my money. About once or twice a month, I'll purchase something (new journal, new book, new bible cover) to take advantage of this part of me. When I discover a rut, I sorta gave up on beating myself up. I constantly invent new systems to keep my values happening. In my prayer life, I've done prayer lists, prayer journals, prayer cards, out-loud praying, prayer partners, night prayer, morning prayers, on-line prayers, prayer folders . . . you get the picture.

When I find the PRACTICE slipping, I change the PLAN to keep the PRIORITY high.

(5) The whole thing is the bible. I can remember specific times of careful study in Ezekiel, where my eyes filled with tears as the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. It's the Bible, after all. Even the parts that never make it into "Scripture Memory Songs."

Anyways, please take this post as a plea to BE HONEST about yourself. The ways we think, the ways you interact with God are so important.

prayer: Liberty class

sorry for all the super fast posts: we just need a lot of prayer right now.

Pray for Meredith Andrews, Andi Rozier and me as we speak to a class of 80 this morning about worship. The class is full of people going into full-time music ministry. We've been asked to describe our church and ministry . . . pray that God would be glorified.

Liberty update: Monday morning

First session is done. A pretty cold welcome from the students. They warmed up as Pastor James got speaking.

Hosea 6

“Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.”