God Bless You: Those who stand for Christ!

Every day in many countries people face persecution and even death for their faith in Jesus Christ.  It is often ignored by the U.N., and the media.  It goes unreported for the most parts.  Right now a Chinese “dissadent” is seeking asylum in the U.S. and away from the persecution and detainment that he faces daily in his home country.  The reason I put dissdent in quotation marks, because that is how they keep referring to him in the press.  In fact, he is a Christian, and a member of a home church in China.  China is a Communist country that has basically ruled Christianity as a crime…and the teaching from the Bible a crime.  The citizens can get a liscense for a home church as long as they teach what the government wants them to…true Christianity is not one of those things…the Bible is not one of those things.  So they imprisoned him for this and speaking up against it.  But in the media we can’t say he is a Chinese Christian Activist, because our media and the world do not want it to be known that Christians are being persecuted for their faith, or that they are being martyred for their faith daily.

This is happening all over the world…yes, even in the U.S.A.!  Here is a link to a video of a woman in Pakistan who has been sentenced to death for professing her Christian faith.  I’m posting it because I want people to be aware, especially here in America, this is where we are headed if we don’t stand up for our faith and what is right.  To be silent is to allow this persecution and the oppression of Christianity.  To speak up is to grasp the power of our Risen Savior and stand with him for what is right.  What is right in this case…to stand up for these fellow Christians and demand that the oppression of the Christian faith stops now!!!   So pray for these souls, demand that the truth be told about their situations, and if necessary stand with them in their fight in whatever way possible!  Just click on “God Bless You” to see the video.

God Bless You: Strengthening our relationship with God.

 

Why Couldn’t They Believe?

As a child I had an active imagination that often would amaze my mother.  I also had the faith of a child that had no problem believing in a mighty God who created the Heavens and the Earth.  Once when I was aroung 4 or 5, when my father was stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi, I was playing below the clothes line, digging a big hole in the ground with a tablespoon from mom’s kitchen.  My mother and one of her friends came out to see what I was up to.  I quickly became annoyed when they asked me over and over what I was digging for.

” Really?  I’m a kid, digging in the dirt, just because it is dirt and I can dig in it!  That was my thought, but it wasn’t my answer.  Instead I finally looked up in their eyes and said…”I’m digging for the devil!”

“Digging for the devil…why?”  Mom looked at me sort of stunned at my answer.

“I’m gonna dig up the devil and take him to church, and get him saved.”

Needless to say, that is an impossibility, but back then I didn’t know that.  I just figured that it would stop a lot of bad things that were going on in the world.  I mean I had faith that God could change the devil’s wicked heart.  I had not seen the devil, nor had I physically seen God.  I just believed that both existed, just like I do today with the faith of a child.  The only difference in then and now…God has proven to me his existence in my own life.  I’ve seen the effects of God on different things in my life and his affect on people who give their lives to him.  I’ve also been proven the existence of Satan, through his affect on people who willingly make choices to sin, and to get involved in witchcraft and other things of the devil.

A part of me is thankful for my childlike faith that has been willing to accept Christ without too many questions.  But there are things I do question from the Bible, like why people found it hard to believe in God even after seeing his miracles.  Really!  How could someone see Jesus heal a lame man…a man they had known to be lame all his life…and not believe in Jesus after seeing the healing?  How could the Hebrews not believe and trust God after seeing the power of God in the sending of the plagues and so many miracles in the wilderness?  It baffles me…stuns me…absolutely makes me question the level of intelligence these people had!  When I read about God’s power throughout the Bible, and the miracles he did throughout the Bible, I just can’t understand how people then would not fall to their knees and simply believe.  All I can think is that much like the athiests of our day, they just chose to live in denial of the truth, and wanted to put a scientific answer to a faith question.

This poem is a result of all those times when, again and again, in my devotion time I would read about a miracle of God, and see a response of doubt and disbelief of the people.  For me, believing is easy, I’ve never doubted the existence of God, or the deity of Jesus, even when I wasn’t a Christian.  I believed in God, but refused to become a Christian because of how the Christians I knew acted which I saw as hypocritical.  But my faith that there was indeed a God, and that Jesus was God’s Son who had died on the cross for our sins, was always there.  I had just not surrendered myself to Christ because I didn’t want to be a phony Christian like the ones I was angry with.  But had I seen the miracles of God first hand like the people in the Bible did, I think I would have overlooked how other people were and believed immediately based on what I saw.  I guess that is where I struggle with disbelief  with God’s Word.  How could they not believe after seeing the miracles?  Here is the poem that came from my disbelief.

Why Couldn’t They Believe? 

(To Jesus Christ, my reason for living and giving)

Why couldn’t they believe

When You provided the sacrifice,

When the burning bush was on fire?

Why couldn’t they believe

When a cloud led by day,

When the fire led at night,

When the Red Sea was opened,

And dry land was in sight?

Why couldn’t they believe

When a star shone in the east,

When the angels sang of glory,

And the night was filled with peace?

Why couldn’t they believe

When the water turned to wine,

When he healed the sick and lame,

And gave sight to the blind?

Why couldn’t they believe

When they touched the Master’s hand?

Couldn’t they tell that this teacher

Was more than just a man?

Why couldn’t they believe

When he raised Lazurus from the dead,

When he drove the demons to the swine

And out of the insane?

Why couldn’t they believe

When He died upon the cross,

When He gave his life for everyone,

So we would not be lost?

Why couldn’t they believe

When He rose up once again,

And rolled the stone away,

When he walked the road to Emmaus,

Or showed the  scars that day?

Why must they see

More signs that He is Christ?

They put more faith in make-believe,

Or in luck when rolling dice.

Why can’t they believe

That he’s the great I Am,

The One who paid the sacrifice,

To free us all from sin?

Why can’t they believe?

By:  Bonita L. Ledzius…copyright 2005

In a way this was a prayer to the Lord, asking him to help me understand why others still don’t believe in him, so that when I spoke to a non-believer I wouldn’t come across as if I looked down on them, or as judgemental, or condescending.  I wanted to understand their lack of faith and trust in God, who I believed in so easily.  Sometimes we need to ask God to help us understand those who are lost, so we can help them find their way back to God.

 

Famous Last Words of Athiests

It was once said that athiests don’t believe in God until the day they die and face the flames of Hell.  Click on the words Jesus Loves You to see a video that pretty much backs that saying up.

Jesus Loves You.

 

Ministério Mensagem – Eu estou contigo – YouTube

Another beautiful song from my friend Rosana Salgado Burright.  This time she is singing in Portuguese but the subtitles for the lyrics are in English.  Her son, Gustavo Salgado is playing the piano.  Enjoy!

Ministério Mensagem – Eu estou contigo – YouTube.

 

Ministerio Mensagem Come Back To My Heart leg port(br) – YouTube

This is a video by a friend of mine…Rosana Salgado Burright.  She is from Brazil, but lives in the U.S. now.  Her family in Brazil with her have a music ministry with many videos on You Tube, where they share Christ in song.  You will be amazed that her first language is Portuguese, and here she sings in English so beautifully.  You should hear her in Portuguese.  She has a beautiful voice and an even more beautiful heart for the Lord Jesus!

Ministerio Mensagem Come Back To My Heart leg port(br) – YouTube.

via Ministerio Mensagem Come Back To My Heart leg port(br) – YouTube.

 

Jk’s Homeschool Choir End-of-the-Year Concert

 

The Beginning of the Concert, Presentation of flags, and Christian Patriotic Music portion.

Last night we attended my daughter Jk’s Homeschool Choir End-of-the-Year Concert.  Their focus this year has been on Missions, and spreading the Gospel.  Every Monday this year she and many homeschooled children meet with the Homeschool Choir Director at our church to learn about music, work on singing and learning to play instruments, and they also have P.E. in our church gym.  They perform many concerts during the year, perform for mission conferences, pastoral conferences, and perform at nursing homes and other churches as well.   They have different groups that they are broken down into such as the elementary age choir, preschool choir, youth choir, mens ensemble, and womens ensemble, along with special groups such as quartets, trios, duets, bell choir, and instrumentals.  Jk has been part of the youth choir which is made up of 5th through 12th graders, womens ensemble, and bell choir.

Jk has a beautiful voice, but is often shy when singing by herself, even though when I led the Children’s Choir at our old church, she would sing solos and duets if I needed her to.  Her Homeschool Director has been working on getting Jk to come out of her shell and have confidence in her abilities, and tonight I saw some of that confidence shine through. Jk loves to sing for Jesus, and I hear her all the time singing in her room, or in the shower, but I think that knowing that mom has a degree in music makes her feel that she won’t measure up, even though I often tell her that I think she has a beautiful voice but that her heart for Jesus makes it an amazing gift that she could use for the glory of God.  She has often seen me sing in church and other things and I think she is afraid that she isn’t good enough.  But she is, and so I have hoped being with another encouraging music teacher would let her see that she is good enough to share her gift with others and use it for God.

Well, tonight was their last concert of the year, and Jk was excited and nervous about it.  I reminded her to look up and smile when she sang, that people want to see her heart for Jesus in her singing, and shining from her beautiful little face.  I was so proud of her, because she worked on her music for a couple of hours today to make sure she had all the words memorized, including the Spanish translation for Via Dolorosa.  Tonight she was focused, smiled, and kept her focus on the director, and the audience, and not only did her growing confidence show, but her love of the Lord Jesus.  I think this year she has taken giant steps to overcome her shyness.  It’s funny because if you give her a script for a play or sketch, she has no lack of confidence.  She loves to act, and is so silly, much like JoAnne Worley, who is a distant cousin of mine (my 5th cousin to be exact.)  Jk does slapstick, loves to do funny voices, and when she is acting on stage she shines, but when it comes to singing…she’s shy.

Well, by now you can tell that I am proud of her, not only for her talents, but because she really has a heart for God, and has since she was born, even more since she gave her heart to Jesus at the age of 5 right in our livingroom, kneeling at our sofa.  She tries always to live following the example Jesus sat, and of all my daughters Jk has a joyful heart, rarely ever looks sad except when she doesn’t feel good.  For the most part, Jklyn is my little angel child, with a few of the normal kid quirks like a messy room, or forgetting to do her chores when I tell her to.  But even then she doesn’t have the normal tween attitudes that are so prevalent in kids in the public schools today.  She is helpful, and basically I’ve been blessed by God to be her mom.  So, yes I am a proud mom of a little angel of God, named Jk.

Here are some of the pics that I wanted to share of her End-of-the-Year Homeschool Choir Concert.  I only wish I could download the video shorts of some of the concert, so you could be blessed by their singing.  Those will go up on my facebook page for the rest of my family to see.

The Homeschool Choir Director welcomes everyone to the Program.

 

 

 

The program began with all the choirs carrying flags from different countries in, following the U.S. flag, the Christian flag, and the flags of all the military branches, while two students in the Homeschool Orchestra played their instruments with the director on piano.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were given a surprise when a video link from Afghanistan was projected on the wall. This active reservist is a member of our church, whose children are also in the Homeschool Choir. Before he left for Afghanistan he sang in the Adult Church Choir, usually standing right next to me...yep, we are both tenors...lol. It was wonderful, because although we could not hear him, he was able to enjoy the whole program...at 3.a.m Afghanistan time. He looked tired, but seemed thrilled to get to see his children sing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a couple of songs by the combined choirs, our elementary age choir took the platform to perform a short musical program. The included a couple of quartet numbers, a duet, and a song with sign language, and did a beautiful job. They were joined by our preschool choir for their last 2 songs. Those preschoolers were adorable!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right after the Elementary choir, the Mens Ensemble took the stage with a surprise, one of the young ladies from the elementary choir joined them to sing a solo along with one of their own soloist. I'm telling you this young lady has a beautiful soprano voice, and she is one of Jk's friends. I had never heard her sing a solo, and I was blown away by the gift God has given her. The mens ensemble followed this song with a few more numbers, including "A Few Good Men" which I love to hear them sing. Imagine if all young men were like these young men of God. What a future this country would have!

 

To transition from the Mens Ensemble to the Womens Ensemble, we were treated to a trombone solo and vocal solo from this young man. He did a wonderful job, and the music was beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jklyn took the platform with the Womens Ensemble. Unfortunately they left the music stand on the stage and Jklyn was standing right behind it, so you can't really see her face in this picture. This choir of young Christian ladies really share their love of God through music. The great thing is the Choir Director assigns older teens as mentors to the younger girls in this choir, to help them learn the music, and to make them feel welcome in the group. Jklyn looks at some of the older girls as if they were her big sisters, which in Christ they are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the end of the concert the whole youth choir took the stage, along with a guest director, while the main director played the piano. Jk is the second girl to the right of the director with the black hair. They did a wonderful program with a mixture of southern gospel and contemporary Christian numbers and some hymns. There were solos, accapella numbers, and a whole lot of musical talent and love of God shown.

 

One of the acapella numbers with the full youth choir.

I didn’t get a picture of the orchestra because it was too dark where they were sitting to the side of the platform, and since the battery on my camara died at the beginning of the program and I was  limited to my cell phone, it was too dark to really get a decent picture.  But they did a wonderful set of Christian instrumental numbers under the direction of our Homeschool Orchestra Director.  At the end of this program they called the parents and grandparents up to join their homeschool child in singing a chorus of “Thank You For Giving to the Lord” and we were all told that they were making a video of this whole concert to send to all the missionaries our church sponsors, to say “Thank You” for giving their lives to the Lord and to Missions.  It was a wonderful program and a great way to close out this year’s mission theme.