Monthly Archives: December 2008
Question of the Day
Here’s a question a Christian should ask: How can I volunteer or give charity to those in need according to the standards of Jesus? Think of these details of this important question.
1. Where is some hungry person that I can help them get food?
2. Where is someone thirsty that I can offer them water or something to drink in the name of Christ?
3. Where is a stranger that I can show kindness to by helping them get shelter?
4. Where are those that need clothing to keep them warm that I can help provide them with such things?
5. Where are the sick that need encouragement today that I could go spend some time with them?
6. Where are those in prison that I can go see them so they would know that they and their families are not forgotten?
Matthew 25~ Taken from BibleGateway.com.
Why Christians Should Volunteer
Taken from BibleGateway.com
Here’s a Bible passage, the words of Jesus, from Matthew 25, which gives Christians good reason to seek out people in need.
31When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
More Reasons Christians Should Volunteer
Bible passage taken from Bible Gateway
27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this,
To visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction,
and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
As I searched for this verse, I looked for it in context of what was said in James 1. I couldn’t keep from getting exciting about the rest of the verses. It tells others good things to do that go along with verse 27.
Volunteering In The Tulsa Area
There is a website that is called VolunteerCentralofGreaterTulsa.org where you can learn of volunteer opportunities.
Cherry Mash Bars
This recipe is popular this year. This is also my favorite candy bar but it is too sweet to eat all of the time. The good news is there are a bunch of recipes all over the internet and if you can find a good one, it can be altered to your taste.
Here’s a recipe from Cooks.com
CHERRY MASH BARS
1 c. sugar
2 tbsp. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 c. evaporated milk
1 c. mini marshmallows
1 c. cherry chips
1 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 c. peanuts
Combine sugar, butter, salt and milk in 1 1/2 quart saucepan. Boil over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in marshmallow and cherry chips. Spread in 9 inch square pan lined with wax paper.
Melt chocolate chips with peanut butter in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Stir in peanuts. Spread over cherry layer. When cool, cut into squares.
Bell Ringing Tuesday
My second son and I went bell ringing tonight. I could sum up the night with just two letters . . . Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! The weather was cold and so was the giving.
As we stood out there I thought about two kinds of people the homeless and hunters. I imagined a homeless person trying to sleep through the night on a bench covered with a “quazi-sheltering cover in this kind of weather. And then I thought of hunters who intentionally go out in the cold. But they are wise with their dress. They know how to keep real warm.
Before we left I told my son to dress warm. He didn’t really listen. So I brought an extra coat. When we got there he realized he was cold. I went out to our van and managed to find “little sister’s princess blanket.” I wondered how he would respond to this blanket. Would my fourteen year old brave the cold to avoid a really comfy warm blanket? When he saw it in my hands he smiled and grabbed it. He was glad to get something warm. I was nice . . . I also gave him another jacket to put on top of the pastel blue blanket.
I desperately avoid cold. I dressed in three long sleeve shirts, two pairs of socks and my long wool coat with gloves. We stood on the southside of the store entrance. The cold north wind could hardly get to us. We were right next to a neighborhood Wal-mart. Noone was there to bell ring. I contemplated moving there but when I checked it out we just weren’t protected from freezing wind.
We didn’t get very many donations. I went in the store for a restroom break and I think my son ended up getting the most donations of the night. And when the lady in charge came by at the end of the night she told me we could have stayed inside and just greeted people and just not ring the bell. We would have gotten more donations. Oh well, lesson learned.
Linda's Thoughts 