Cancer Is So Limited

I was reading an excerpt from a memorial service of someone who had succumbed to cancer recently and I think it worth sharing with you.

Cancer is limited:

• It cannot cripple love,
• It cannot corrode faith,
• It cannot eat away peace,
• It cannot destroy confidence,
• It cannot kill friendship,
• It cannot shut out memories,
• It cannot silence courage,
• It cannot invade the soul,
• It cannot reduce eternal life,
• It cannot quench the Spirit,
• It cannot lessen the power of the resurrection.

How truly powerless this and other deadly diseases are. The things that are of real value are totally unaffected. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27

We may fear the unknown and the suffering we may face, but we can, at the same time, confidently face all that troubles us knowing that He waits to take us home with Him for eternity. Cancer is so limited. This world is so limited. Satan is soooo limited. Praise God for His power over ALL things.

Dana Burk

Grandparent Humor

A grandmother was surprised by her 7-year-old grandson one morning. He had made her coffee. She drank what was the worst cup of coffee in her life. When she got to the bottom, there were three of those little green Army men in the cup. She said, "Honey, what are these army men doing in my coffee?" Her grandson said, "Grandma, it says on TV, 'The best part of waking up is soliers in your cup!'" --via housetohouse.com

Making Members Out of Visitors

I was reading an article today that only reconfirms what I already knew--hospitality is essential to church growth. The writer of the article began to notice the correlation between those who had visited at "his church" and those who had become members of his congregation in the past six months. What he found was that of the visitors that had been invited to other member's homes and had "socially" connected with them, had become friends with the members, these ALL eventually became members of that congregation, however, of the ones who had visited and been greeted by a friendly congregation, but never been in member's homes and never connected socially, none of them had become members there.

He stated that George Barna's research indicates that 33% of people who are not in church are open to attending services and that the thing that is most likely to attract them is an invitation by a friend. He further indicates that if hospitality is extended to those visitors, 90% of them will stay with that church! Those are impressive statistics.

It has been said that "People are not interested in a friendly church; they are looking for friends." There is a big difference in the two. The Bible repeatedly commands us to pursue hospitality--do you suppose God knows the connection between hospitality and evangelism?

Dana Burk