Dewey's Daily Cup

Goood Mooooooooooorning KKIM Family!

May the Peace of the Lord be with You and Yours!!!

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith,
who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning it’s shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Hebrews 12: 2-3

Salina, How wonderful to hear from you! It has been ages! I need some humor here and Salina provided it……….

Clean joke:

A new pastor was visiting in the homes of his parishioners. At one
house it seemed obvious that someone was at home, but no answer came to his repeated knocks at the door. Therefore, he took out a business card and wrote ‘Revelation 3:20’ On the back of it and stuck it in the door. When the Offering was processed the following Sunday, he found that his card had been returned. Added to it was this cryptic message, ‘Genesis 3:10.’ Reaching for his Bible to check out the citation, he broke up in gales of laughter. Revelation 3:20 begins ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock.’ Genesis 3:10 reads, ‘I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid for I was naked.’

Thanks for helping us start off the day with a laugh Salina!!!!

Program Change for KKIM…..You can now hear Gilbert Larson and Friends weekdays at 2:30.

We are so blessed to be able to have Gilbert with us 5 days a week at 2:30!!!

We PRAISE GOD for all that HE is doing with KKIM!

Prayer Need………here is an update from Cheri on Amy’s situation………

Dewey, just to let you and the prayer warriors know, Amy’s mastectomy
is scheduled for 2:00PM California time on Friday. Thank you so much
for your prayers. Please pray for successful, complication free
surgery, quick healing, protection from infection, and excellent
diabetic control during the process…..and as you feel led to pray! I
know she gets through this with the knowledge and sense that she is
being help up in prayer.

COLLECTION FOR RUIDOSO

Dear friends,

In order to help the families and victims of the recent floods in the locality of Ruidoso, New Mexico, the Consulate of Mexico will be receiving from today Thursday July 31st to Thursday 7th of August in its installations the following donations in kind to be transported next Friday 8th of August by the Consulate:

· Bottles of water

· Medicines ( first aid kits and aspirins…)

· Canned food

· Clothes and shoes

· Blankets

· Towels

· Toiletteries ( soaps, toothbrushes, toothpastes, shampoos, etc.)

Any donation may be received at the Consulate:

1610 4th Street NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102,

from 8:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Any of these items may help significantly to these families who are struggling with material loses, and specially, of their dear ones in these difficult moments,

I appreciate very much your attention towards this matter,

sincerely yours,

Gustavo De Unánue

Consul of Mexico

THE MAILBAG IS FULL……..A LOT OF RESPONSE TO THE ARMED ROBBERY WRITE UP I DID AFTER GRETCHEN AND HER CO-WORKERS WERE ROBBED AT THE STARBUCKS SHE WORKS AT………..On New Mexico News and Views this week we have been talking about the revolving door of justice in New Mexico….REPEAT OFFENDERS…..just like the thugs who robbed the Starbucks……It is a huge issue for the State Legislature…….writing legislation that will help this issue is a must!

Hi Dewey,

I like the new look on your DDC. Thank you for taking time from your very busy day to do DDC. It is sad about crime these days. I will keep your children in my prayers. My son was robbed at gunpoint while working in a Subway. My son was 16 years old!!! He wasn’t sure it was a real gun, but he didn’t take any chances. He handed over the money. I told him he did the right thing. I had completely forgotten about that until I read your email this morning. Since he didn’t go the $20 bill drops, because he was so busy (and by himself), his boss back charged him $60. He deducted it from his paycheck. Can you believe that?

Also, thanks for calling the police at that convenience store. Everything helps. It is a fallen world. Thank God we have our Lord and Savior.

Thank you,
Charlotte
Dewey,

You’re right about the cause of crime, Meth, there was a meth house busted just a blk from my house about a year ago, last sat night about 3 am sun, someone fired 6 shots in the house on th corner of my street, no one hurt, but the gun shots woke me up, and then yesterday someone found what looked like a pipe bomb in the front yard of a house about 5 houses down the street from me and when I can home from doing the news yesterday morning, the police had the whole street blocked of waiting for the bomb squad. There was a police car in front of my house with his red lights on blocking the street off. Took them about 4 hours to clean the area. I live in such a nice neighborhood.

There are at least 4 or 5 vacant houses with in a block of my house. Some are for sale, some are not, at least 2 are condemned. I’m surprised “homeless” people don’t break into them and stay there. I hope they don’t hear about them.

Have a blessed day………………..

Frank (The Old Texan) Haley cjf Isa. 9:6

“When the sunshine of God’s love meets the showers of our sorrow, the rainbow of promise appears.”

Glad Gretchen was unharmed. Frankly Dewey the store clerks should all be armed. I think it may have been Atlanta or maybe Jacksonville a couple of decades ago had a rash of store robberies and they put in little broom closet looking things that an officer could sit in and monitor the store. Now not all of them were manned but the thief could not tell if they were or not. The stores posted signs about armed officers may be in the store and after a few of them went to meet the Maker after being surprised by an armed officer, surprise, surprise the number of armed robberies plummeted. The same held true in Kennesaw , GA. when they passed an ordinance requiring every citizen to have a firearm at home and ammunition for it. If one had a religious objection they could get a waiver. But this suburb of Atlanta saw a reduction in crime the first year of nearly 90%! It is like Bastiat said in his book The Law, “When does plunder stop, only when it becomes more painful than work.”

-Chuck

Good Morning Dewey,

I’m so sorry to hear about the horrible experience Gretchen went through. That happened to my daughter a couple of years ago at a Carl’s Jr.. It’s dangerous times and unfortunately according to scripture will not get any better. Praise the Lord for His hand of protection. It reminds me of His divine protection of the children in the wilderness … cloud by day and fire by night!

Please give my love to Michelle during this time of grief. I pray that her dad is with the Lord and is in His perfect joy and peace. I pray that perfect peace for Michelle and her children, too.

Dewey, the free Messianic Conference at the Double Tree Hotel this past weekend was incredible! There were over 500 ministers, pastors, rabbi’s, Messianic Believers, etc … in attendance. I wish you could have joined us. I believe they will be back next year with even more teachers and speakers, Lord willing.

How are your baseball games going? … still hitting them out of the park? 🙂

PRAYER REQUEST
For Manny Maynez who just this week got diagnosed with an inoperable kidney cancer. Pray first for salvation. Thank you Dewey and KKIM family!

Blessings,

Cindy

Oh, Dewey…

(Re: Your “Daily Cup” of 7/30/08, below)

God bless your/our children! My own family and I just returned from a beautiful vacation in green, gorgeous Rhode Island, where my fiance’s family lives. Granted, Providence is your garden-variety ‘big city’ with it’s due measure of crime, corruption, etc. But where we were, in the southern part of the state, it was gorgeous – and so peaceful! People actually leave their doors unlocked! Their keys in the car – and sometimes even idling in the parking lot while they run in to whatever retailer to conduct their business! I was embarrassed to find myself so shocked. Children play in the street and casually stroll – alone – to their various points of interest around their neighborhoods.

It was such an eye-opener. We couldn’t help but marvel at the difference, and how much we had modified our own behavior. Out of habit, we found ourselves locking doors and cars, clutching our wallets close and being hyper-vigilant about so many things that were simply non-issues there.

Then we return home to read the story in yesterday’s paper about the little girl my own daughter’s age, home alone, struggling frantically to get help on the phone while a repeat-offender literally helps himself into her home! God guide and protect all of our children as this is certainly every parent’s nightmare!

As we examine these things, one thought comes to my mind – we can help! We have the power of the Holy Father! And as His children, we must remember to seek Him in all things. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philipians 4:6, NASB)

Therefore, in light of your timely message (God works powerfully through you, Dewey), I would like to propose to our brothers and sisters that we commit to pray, as a group, starting now and ‘without ceasing’ for our community, and for the safely and well-being of all of our precious children. God moves in each of our lives and builds our faith by lovingly responding to our humble cries. And while I don’t doubt that every one of us already holds our children high on our list of prayer topics, our voices can only find more blessing and favor by joining our hearts and minds in the name of our Lord Jesus.

Futher, I would like to propose a special night of prayer this coming Tuesday, August 5th, as it has already been designated as the “National Night Out” (America’s Night Out Against Crime – http://www.nationaltownwatch.org/nno/). You can also contact a neighborhood organizer in your area by plugging in your zip code where indicated on the website. There’s even a special Ice Cream Social in Nob Hill that night, organized by Albuquerque’s ‘Safe City’ team (www.safecityabq.org). By clicking this link, http://www.safecityabq.org/html/SafeCityNNOannouncement.pdf, you can see a full-size flier for the event. Please feel free to print or email it and pass the word.

Great and extraordinary change has always begun with everyday, ordinary people – and God. We, who know Him and hold close the flame of faith within our hearts should capitalize on this opportunity to engender change by appealing to our Holy Father and inviting His assistance for our community and our children. Dewey, with His help, I know we can make a difference. And so I extend this invitation to our brothers and sisters to call on our Father and, “by prayer and supplication and with thanksgiving”, ask His help to support, protect and fortify our community, as well as restore the Lord’s grace and peace within our homes and families. Together we will celebrate the Lord within our hearts and our homes, and throughout our beautiful city. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray.

Yours in Christ –
Grace Cordova

I received this from a friend today and thought I would share. I pray that it doesn’t offend people on their “political views” but it is important for others to know.

Andrea Harp

Dear Friends,

As I was listening to a news program last
night, I watched in horror as Barack Obama made the
statement with pride. .”we are no longer a Christian
nation; we are now a nation of Christians, Jews,
Muslims, Buddhists, . . . As with so many other
statements I’ve heard him (and his wife) make, I
never thought I’d see the day that I’d hear
something like that from a presidential candidate in
this nation. To think our forefathers fought and
died for the right for our nation to be a Christian
nation–and to have this man say with pride that we
are no longer that. How far this nation has come
from what our founding fathers intended it to be.
I hope that each of you will do what I’m doing
now–send your concerns, written simply and
sincerely, to the Christians on your email list.
With God’s help, and He is still in control of this
nation and all else, we can show this man and the
world in November that we are, indeed, still a
Christian nation!

Hmmm… I do have some thoughts (my thoughts may agitate some who view what Joel does differently than I do), but I don’t spend a lot of time into Joel Osteen anymore. He definitely is a skilled writer and speaker, as well as a shrewd businessman. He says some good things … but seems to try to avoid some topics to not commit on a stance/belief so he can appear all inclusive. I consider Matt 7:15 & 22 when I have watched and heard him (Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves…Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?) …I remember the story of the serpent in the garden…saying some truths… There is a bit much push to “judge not”, perhaps sometimes misapplied. If we are told to discern or beware or make a good choice… we MUST judge the fruit to make a wise assessment. We are told that what comes out of the mouth reveals the heart of a man (Matt 15:19). When Larry King asked Joel if you can go to heaven if you are Jewish, Muslim, or don’t accept Christ, Joel said, “…I don’t know.” That is scary! If he is a believer then he DOES know that Jesus is THE Way, THE Truth,20THE Light…only through His work on the cross and our acceptance of it can we share in the Hope of Heaven. He also said that he knows the people in India love God even though he doesn’t know much about their religion… The god they (speaking generally of India practices) love is not The One True God, because they don’t believe in Jesus… For Joel’s position, he should be black and white on those topics…the core of our faith. Shame on us for not letting our yes, be yes and our no be clear… he wouldn’t even say an atheist will go to hell IF they die in their rejection of Christ… just overflows in not judging… manipulating vulnerable people’s emotions for his own success/purposes. I know he issued an apology when there was a barrage of questioning and criticism from Christians and it was getting media attention. From what I have seen and heard… I don’t trust the man and I think he is dangerous to needy souls, ultimately. Yes, he does say some positive and encouraging things that are good; that can make us feel really good. I will quit rambling… g’night 🙂 Because of Jesus, Karen in Elkhart

A testimony about Trust By, Karen Rowe

Isaiah 30:15

“This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:

“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”

Trust as defined in the dictionary:

Reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.

Confident expectation of something; hope.

June 2008 testimony:

Last month, we took a road trip out West to Yellowstone . The trip all the way to Colorado was wonderful, until we left Fort Collins , CO to finish this trip by way of Wyoming .

The part of Wyoming that we had to travel though was desolate. There was absolutely no civilization for miles and miles and hours and hours. There were times that we didn’t even see another car on the road for a very long time, maybe hours, or at least it seemed.

We had no cell phone service for the majority of this 11 hour trip across Wyoming ! It literally felt like we were the only 5 people for hundreds and hundreds of miles.

It was intimidating and lonely in a way that I had never experienced. I didn’t realize how much that I needed people! I always considered myself as pretty self sufficient to survive just me and God, family and a few close friends, but I really didn’t know how much I needed or missed seeing people!

Dead in the middle of Wyoming , the thought came to me, literally, “What would we do, if we broke down?”

At the end of our vacation, we had to face driving through Wyoming a 2nd time!

We actually passed through one town that had a sign of a population of 10! That made us laugh after all this driving! The elevation was higher than the population. People out there had to rely on each other! God 1st, I hope, but living out there, people need people. You could tell winters got rough by the snow blinds and evidence that roads were meant to be closed in high winds or heavy snow. We all need people…it is evident everywhere we go and there are lonely people out there…

Many miles after that, dead in the middle of Wyoming , the worst happened! We broke down very close to the same area, where just a few days earlier, I had wondered “what we would do if we broke down?”

We had a tire blow out on the camper!!! No cell service and no one in site for miles as far as the eye could see! We got out of the truck to evaluate the situation and found out fairly quickly that we didn’t have a lug nut wrench that would fit the trailer tire!

It actually felt like the worst had happened on an already way too long of a trip! We just stood there trying every different kind of wrench that my husband had. It was not long when a police officer pulled in behind us. I have never been so happy to see blue lights flashing behind me! It was really a miracle in it self that she was there, she was just on her way home and told us it can be hours between patrols out there.

However, she couldn’t help either. She was very nice and really felt bad that all she could do was offer us to call for help! She gave us 2 options: 1) Call a wrecker, which would take up to a couple of hours to arrive or 2) drop the trailer and drive to the nearest town, buy a tool and double back to change the tire…

Neither of those options felt good because the nearest town was over an hour away just to get there, which also meant over an hour back in the hopes that the nearest town would have a store selling the exact wrench that we needed …and we would still have to change the tire and hope for no more problems with tools when we returned.

In spite of this, we chose the 2nd option and we were thinking about dropping the trailer, not knowing how far ahead we would have to go…and that is exactly what we would have done, if we had forgotten to pray…

With no other cars in site as the Police car left, it felt like she was leaving us all alone and I could tell that she had that sense too, but I told her, “it was okay, that God had us here for a reason and HE would take care of us” and then she pulled away.

Although neither of us knew it at the time, Robert and I were both in a mindset of trusting God at that moment.

Robert was on one side of the camper praying about what to do, as I was on the other side praying, as we were united in the same feeling of concerns. I paced back and forth a couple of times and then I prayed, “God we need your help a little more than usual right now. Please send us help.”

I carried my son to the side of the road to wait on a car to flag down. Got into position and couldn’t believe that I saw some cars coming from way down the road. It was a feeling of great hope! Compared to the other day, it seemed like a miracle to us just to see cars!

As they got closer I started flagging, but they just drove by! I couldn’t believe it! Then I saw more cars and flagged desperately at them again, but they too just drove by, pretending that they didn’t see us…but we were the only thing to look at out there…Although, I thought it was a miracle that there was even traffic at that moment…I couldn’t believe how many people just drove on by!

We had a total of 4 cars stop, including the police car, out of maybe 10 or 15, including a couple of big trucks. I would have thought that truckers would stick together like boaters or motorcycle riders, but both of these trucks just drove by. I thought well maybe they can’t stop because of a company rule or something??? I was puzzled at the lack of compassion.

Then the 1st car stopped; a woman! She really tried to help, but she had no wrench that would fit either. So she left, but the fact that she took time out of her already long day to even try to help meant a lot to us!

I got a little more desperate at this point and sent the girls to flag on the right side and I took my son to the left side of the road to flag cars. Who could pass up kids stranded in the middle of no where asking for help was my plan…apparently a few!

I remember a black SUV passed by, just like all the others, but this one would be different! As he went by, I prayed for him and the others who didn’t stop to offer help; I just couldn’t believe that no one would offer help! He went by, but then he backed back up!!! At the same time, another car pulled in behind us!!! We were overjoyed!!! And full of hope!!!

I ran up to the passenger side window and told him our need. I could tell that he really didn’t want to stop, and he was hesitant to admit that he had a wrench at all. He was rushed, stressed and just wanted to finish his own trip, but something had made him stop anyway. I could tell that he tried to drive by, but something inside of him couldn’t do it and he came back! And something inside of him made him pull out that wrench!

Turned out that the man in the SUV, not only had the wrench that fit the trailer tire, but he changed the tire for us!!! My husband is capable of changing a tire and works very hard, but this man just came in and took over!!! He kept telling my husband who was trying to help, “No, I have got it” and wouldn’t take his help to change our own tire!!! He was driven to do this good deed for us and I believe that God had spoken to his heart. I could see a change in that man after the tire was changed…something humbling. We were all blessed that day and God had a purpose in it all!

Then as he was leaving, not only had he changed our tire for us, but he gave us his wrench!!! He said that he wanted us to have it! He would not take any money and all we could do was thank him and tell him how much it meant to us!!! And we thanked God for blessing us with this help!

The 3rd car was there for a reason, I don’t know why, but I could just sense that they needed something…more than us. Maybe they were there just so they could see how God was helping us??? Only God knows all that.

But what God showed me in this blow out was that I wasn’t trusting in God like I was supposed to be all of the time. Remember my thought, “what would I do?”

We found out that “We couldn’t do much of anything” and we found out that God can do the impossible!

From that prayer, God brought us help and had us back on the road in less than an hour total! God humbled my heart that day. All of the sudden, my heart didn’t feel so heavy with dread and burden, I felt light and just happy to be in the moment…resting in God!

To keep that moment, we have to trust God in all that we do! And we have to lean on HIM when it seems impossible…just simply to know by Faith, God is near!

Don’t wait on a blow out to know that we can trust people too. God showed me that we need people; we need each other and we can be trusted.

We cannot let the few cars that drive by; or the few people who hurt us ,or who are dishonest define who all people are!

We can listen to our heart; God in our heart; the Holy Spirit and know who we can trust!!! Believe in God and trust in HIS people.

I hope that we can serve God well in being a witness in faith and trust in a way that pleases God. I encourage us to pick up the Bible and learn more about Trust and trustworthy for God.

Titus 2:9

“Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”

Love in Christ,

Karen Rowe

Let me leave you today friends with this…………………

“It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness….” Abe Lincoln

God Bless you all, Dewey Sharon and family

Please join us at Heights Christian Church tonight at 7pm for a special prayer service for our Military Men and Women. and their families.

www.deweysdailycup.com

www.mykkim.com

Good Morning KKIM Family……..
Last night the Starbuck’s where Gretchen(Our daughter) works was robbed at gun point……….I have to tell you that sadly I was not surprised. Nobody was hurt but what an emotional ordeal. Police where able to chase the two robbers down as they crashed their getaway car. Gretchen does not know what to think. I told her I cannot believe that my kids are growing up where armed robbery is just part of another day at work. Lars is going to start work at Hollywood Video today and works the late shift, so we are very concerned. What has happened here in Albuquerque like many cities in the U.S. is REPEAT OFFENDERS…….in jail out of jail..in jail and out of jail……..the revolving door of justice…….70% of crime in Albuquerque is linked to METH. The other night after softball I stopped in 7-11 and got in line to pay and this young man looked at me and wanted to talk and he smelled of beer…..and he told me he loves Albuquerque because in Sandavol County everybody knows me and I just got of jail….he and his 6 buddies had pulled up in a car and were coming in the store one by one trying to get the clerks to sell them more beer……….but the clerks would not and the one told me that she was going to go out into her car and get her can of mace……..I told her to stay put and I would call the police……..I feel that these companies need to provide their workers more protection..like at least one security guard. By the way the car load of drunks got away before the police got there (They cannot be everywhere, just down the road they had stopped a truck with 2 drunks in it) I followed the car for a bit before they got onto me.

Our prayers go out to KKIM’s Ministry Representative Michelle Archuleta whose father Andy passed away yesterday. Please keep the family in your prayers. It is so tough to loose our dad…….so please keep Michelle and the entire family in your prayers……..Michelle’s children will miss their Grandpa very much.

Please pray for Michael Ramos who is in the hospital with internal bleeding and the Doctor’s cannot find out what is wrong. Michael is the host of the Credit Corner on KKIM.

1 Peter 3:12 says……….

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and HIS ears are open to their prayers.

Do not worry about tomorrow. Matt. 6:34

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such city, spend a year there, buy and sell , and make a profit”
whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. James 4 13-14

From Rob and Karen Rowe………..

What Do We Sacrifice for Our LORD? By Rob and Karen Rowe

Here’s what the Bible says:

Isaiah 53:11

“After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”

1Samuel 15:22

“But Samuel replied: ‘Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

What sacrifices do we make daily to our LORD?

Is it our time, our money, our compassion; listening. Is it spending time mediating on the Word of God, which is also a privilege?

Here’s what the dictionary says about Sacrifice:

The surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.

Here are some of my thoughts that I have to share:

Sacrifice, or even a willingness to sacrifice is perseverance in God and Christ IS our strength to endure.

I’d like to hear some of your thoughts on sacrifice…

Love in Christ,

Rob and Karen Rowe

I notice that the good old handshake is dying…Not many people shake hands anymore……..or whistle while they work……..I was whistling the other day and Sharon said to me, Honey do you remember when people used to whistle all the time while working and having fun??? I found this………
If handshake is history, what takes its place?
By Joan Morris
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched: 07/09/2008 12:01:00 AM CDT

Please bow your heads in recognition of the passing of the ancient and venerable handshake.
In frail health for years and often seen only at formal occasions or when thanking bank managers for loans, the old grip-and-grin guru finally succumbed earlier this year when the president of the United States was photographed doing a chest bump and a possible future president exchanged a dap with his wife.
It was the final blow to a tradition that has been on the wane since the advent of the leisure suit. But while expected, it nevertheless came about in such a surprising way that we’re still reeling and considering what will step into the breach.
Let’s take a look at the possibilities.
THE DAP
Origins: The “dap,” aka the fist bump, seems to have been born in the muddy battlefields of the Vietnam War. The original version includes lots of other movements, but time has distilled the dap to a vertical or horizontal fist bump.
What it means: Patti Wood, an Atlanta body language expert and author of “Success Signals,” says the dap conveys a sense of determination and power. After reviewing images of Democratic presidential candidate Barak Obama exchanging a dap with his wife after learning he had enough delegates to claim the nomination, Wood thought their dap conveyed a sense of being ready to conquer and unified in their quest.
Raise your hand as if making a traditional handshake, but curl your fingers into a fist. Keeping the arm parallel

here is the latest from Frank Haley on the Ruidoso flood……….
Ruidoso, — Close to 15-million, that is reportedly the dollar estimate to re-build parts of Ruidoso washed away by flooding last weekend. Ruidoso city officials say it could take up to a year to repair the damage. Several bridges were washed away, and hundreds of homes were destroyed. Many campers are still stranded near Bonito Lake but rescue crews in a Black Hawk helicopter should have them rescued later today.
And get this…………….
Lost land: Midwest flooding strips region of valuable soil as sand, silt pile up in fields
By DEANNA MARTIN, Associated Press
July 27, 2008
MARTINSVILLE, Ind. – Jim Lankford’s corn crops used to stretch to the White River. Now the river has stretched itself through his crops.
The river eroded a new route for itself during June’s flooding, a channel with steep 12-foot banks at the edge of some of Lankford’s corn fields about 30 miles southwest of Indianapolis. The flood spread rocks in other spots, making it look as if Lankford planted soybeans in a gravel road. Elsewhere, silt is piled up like sand dunes and uprooted trees still litter cornfields more than a month after the floods.
“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen in my life for this area,” the 62-year-old farmer said.
The flooding that swamped large areas of the Midwest took with it some of the region’s most valuable resource: soil.
Now farmers and environmentalists are at odds over what to do with erosion-prone land — take their chances planting crops on marginal land in hopes of good yields and high grain prices, or plant trees, native grasses20or ground cover that act as a natural flood buffer.
The floods may have caused up to $3 billion in crop losses in Iowa and $800 million in crop damage in Indiana, according to estimates from agriculture secretaries in those states.
Erosion damage is harder to tally.
In Wisconsin, flooding damaged about $2.8 million worth of conservation structures, such as dams, levees, ditches and waterways, said Don Baloun, a farm conservationist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service in Madison, Wis.
Some land in Illinois is still submerged.
“It could be fall for some of our counties on the Mississippi River before we see what kind of damage farmers did experience as far as erosion,” said Donald King of Illinois’ USDA’s Farm Service Agency.
Erosion robs farmers of the nutrient-rich topsoil their growing plants need.
“It takes thousands of years to form one inch of topsoil,” said Jane Hardisty, Indiana’s state conservationist. “Within a day, we lost it. It’s just devastating.”
It’s also an issue downstream, where sediment diminishes water quality. Scientists think the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico — oxygen-depleted water off the Texas-Louisiana coast that can’t support kill marine life — is likely to be worse this year partly because of the flood runoff.
States have set up programs to keep their soil. Missouri, for0Aexample, has nearly halved its rate of soil loss since the mid-1980s, when it dedicated a special tax that generates $42 million a year for soil-conserving practices such as terraces, retention ponds and grazing rotations.
The conversion of row-crop land to pastures over the last 20 years in northern Missouri also has helped conserve the precious few inches of top soil left in that part of the state, said Bill Foster, who heads the state’s soil and water conservation program.
“If we lose very many more inches of soil, we won’t be farming,” Foster said. “It’s critical to keep in place.”
The Farm Service Agency’s Conservation Reserve Program also helps. The $2 billion-a-year federal program pays farmers not to plant crops, instead returning land to its native state. That saves an estimated 450 million tons of soil each year.
However, that program isn’t without controversy. Environmental groups recently sought a federal court injunction to stop hay production and cattle grazing on some conservation land. A judge in Seattle ruled that the USDA did not conduct an appropriate environmental review, but said a reversal would be unfair to farmers and ranchers counting on using that land.
Conservation program officials announced earlier this month that farmers in flooded-damaged areas of 16 states could graze livestock on conservation land to help them cope with rising grain prices and flood damage.
“Our CRP land is vital to the balance we promote at US DA between production and preservation,” Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said. “I commit this resource knowing that we must redouble our conservation effort at every future opportunity.”
One of the program’s founders, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., wants to also allow farmers to plant crops on more stable conservation land.
Environmental groups say there are risks to opening up conservation program land to planting. Marginal land planted with ground cover or trees acts as a natural flood barrier, said Sara Hopper, director of agricultural policy for the Environmental Defense Fund. Planting crops could mean less protection against floods, she said.
“It’s going to make a bad situation worse, particularly over the long run,” she said.
Lankford, the Indiana farmer, faces a difficult decision for his flood-damaged land.
He could replant corn in an effort to make money off the field, but that would take cash to rebuild a breached levee and haul hundreds of truck loads of topsoil to replace his lost land. He could also consider the conservation reserve program, or he could simply abandon the affected field.
Another big flood could come again next year, he said, or not for another hundred years.
“Traditionally, farmers are optimists, and I know I’m that way. They always think ‘Well, next year will be better,'” Lankford said.
“You know there’s risks. Sometimes it’s worse than you think.”

Yesterday I had a long talk with Pastor Steve Smotherman of Legacy Church here in Albuquerque about the Prosperity message of Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer………What do you think???

Here is a write up that I found on AOL………….

Joel Osteen preaches the virtues of prosperity — for himself as well as his congregation. A look at the man who may well be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the slumping economy.

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Who will save us? Who will lift us up from crushing credit-card debt and resetting mortgage payments and impending foreclosure, from increasing gas prices and decreasing health-insurance coverage? We are a nation stumbling through our worst fi nancial crisis in a generation and our worst housing market in a lifetime. And so we come, seeking gentle salvation, inspiring prayers, steadying words, soothing notions, and calming thoughts that will allow us to become, in Joel Osteen’s words, “victors, not victims.”

We are in Greensboro, North Carolina, making our way into the downtown arena through the hot, buggy air, to worship with the pastor who will save us, the man anointed, by one of his congregants, as “Reverend Feelgood.” Sixteen thousand will file in this evening, as have millions more to coliseums, concert venues, and baseball stadiums around the country — all, in a way, his churches. (View a slideshow that tallies the budgets of some of the biggest churches.)

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Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston has an average weekend attendance of 45,000 and an annual budget of $72.6 million.

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We are a diverse, representative swath of troubled America: families struggling under debt, husbands and wives seeking reconciliation, young couples on first dates, children dragged by pious grandparents who promise them popcorn and BibleMan action figures. It is religion as escapism, criticized throughout the Bible Belt as “Christianity lite” or “prosperity gospel.” But this murmuring crowd, slouching toward a kinder, gentler salvation, is a more telling indicator of the state of our union than consumer durables purchased or capital goods ordered. Unemployment they know; they don’t need to wait for the Bureau of Labor Statistics to publish a monthly number. O, but come to Joel, lift your hands to Jesus, banish your negative thoughts, and you can find in these dark times a beacon.

If, in this country, there is great hurting, then Osteen is here to soothe that suffering. He does not wish that pain on any of us, and the sight or thought of it will bring forth from him great torrents of tears — his eyes clamped20shut, his fingers pressed into narrow eye sockets, his lips pulled back over pink gums as he grimaces. The crying has become a visual touchstone of an Osteen sermon, the born-again equivalent of James Brown’s pre-encore collapse from “exhaustion.”

Joel feels our pain and has made himself wealthy (reportedly earning $13 million for his last book advance alone) and his church prosperous ($75 million and counting in annual revenue) by urging us to let go of it, to turn it over to God, to accept God’s favor so that we may be as prosperous as Joel.

There was always a strain of American Puritanism that pointed to Scripture as justification for asserting that wealth is somehow godly. But ever since evangelical Christianity separated from the mainline faiths in the early 20th ­century, some preachers have gone further and linked their focus on personal piety to financial success. The big-tent revivals of the 1930s promised the dust-bowl destitute the possibility of finding Jesus and their next meal just by listening to a fire-and-brimstone message. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, televangelists like Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart made prosperity gospel big business, capitalizing on that era’s economic uncertainties to win over a new generation of acolytes, before those ministries were brought down by scandal.

Osteen is one of a new breed of televangelists — Joyce Meyer, T.D. Jakes, and Creflo Dollar are also rising stars — who are preaching a less sanctimonious, more inclusive message. His chur ch is in that part of the economy that thrives in troubled times, that can count on full pews when wallets are empty and an ever more receptive audience if we do go into a full-on recession.

Osteen hasn’t necessarily tailored his message for the downturn. Instead, he has continued his feel-good preaching, his exhortations to focus on the positive and banish negative thoughts, his reminders that God wants you to have a good job, a beautiful home, and decent cash flow. His vast ministry has become, in effect, shelter from the storm. “God wants you to have a big life,” Osteen reminds his flock. “That is his blessing. God has a big dream for your life.”

We live in a time of miraculous congregations. Osteen’s Lakewood Church, in Houston, is the largest in the United States, with 45,000 regular weekly attendees and 7 million more tuning in. His television show is the most-watched inspirational program in America and is seen in 100 countries around the world. He has sold 7 million copies of his two books, ‘Your Best Life Now’ and ‘Become a Better You.’ Podcasts of his sermons are downloaded 4.5 million times a month. He preaches to more than 15,000 people at a time in the basketball arena turned sanctuary that is Lakewood Church. His pulpit stands near the spot where Hakeem Olajuwon helped the Houston Rockets win two consecutive N.B.A. titles. But the Rockets, who have since moved across town, never put as many people in the seats as Osteen does.

Osteen will tell you that his20success is a result of Gods favor, that his message is God’s message, and that all that he has achieved is a blessing from God. Clearly, he is more than just an inspiring pastor; he is also a master marketer and — pardon me for saying this, Joel — a damn good chief executive.

He presides over an empire that takes in tens of millions of dollars a year and has been growing at a boom-time pace. (Though Osteen gives a significant portion of his book and CD earnings to the church, his take is still ample enough to allow him and his family to live in 5,000 square feet of leopard-skinned luxury in one of Houston’s tonier neighborhoods.) Rough economic times, Osteen believes, make the business of saving souls that much richer. “I would think that our message would have increased relevancy in a time of economic uncertainty. I think people want to know that God is taking care of you. As it gets darker, I think the brighter message shines.”

Joel’s father, John Osteen, was a pastor who dissociated himself from the Southern Baptist Church to start his own congregation, Lakewood, in an abandoned feedstore in 1959. It was John who started the family march toward a more gentle Jesus, focusing on the goodness and love of God and downplaying the Old Testament anger and wrath. One of John’s prevailing themes, and the underpinning for much of Lakewood’s current message, can be found in one of his sermons: “It’s God’s will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty. It’s God’s will for you to pay your bills and not be in debt. It’s God’s will for you to live in health and not in sickness all the days of your life.”

Joel is the second youngest of six siblings, and the one considered least likely to take the pulpit. To say that he was a quiet child would be an understatement. The diminutive boy — he would grow six inches after he graduated from high school — was easy to underestimate. As his lifelong friend Johnny McGowan says, “On the basketball court, guys would take a look at Joel and say, ‘I’ll guard him,’ and then Joel would go right by them.”

After a year at Oral Roberts University, Osteen dropped out to return to Houston, in part to care for his mother, Dodie, who was then recovering from cancer (a miracle regularly cited at Lakewood Church). He then married his wife, Victoria, and took a formal position at Lakewood, helping out with the television show and the design of the platform, as the stage around the pulpit is known, and eventually becoming the producer of Lakewood’s Sunday service. “Victoria would kid me because I would spend four hours adjusting a light,” Osteen says. “I learned you can’t separate the message from the presentation of that message.”

It was perfect training for a 21st-­century televangelist. Osteen developed a keen understanding of the television market — time slots, lead-ins, cost per rating point — and to this day can tell you the top stations in most of his major markets. So passionate was he about the medium that he invested $2 million of Lakewoods money for a stake in a television station, KTBU, in 1998, and an additional $6 million for the remainder in 2005. The independe ntly operated station would turn out to be a wise purchase, returning $32 million when Lakewood sold it in 2006.

Even as he was making his father’s church more successful than ever throughout the mid-1990s, Osteen quietly grew frustrated with his father’s reluctance to expand as aggressively as Joel would have liked. “My dad didn’t have it in him. He just wouldn’t feel comfortable with that.” (In fact, Lakewood’s rapid expansion has put it $45 million in debt, thanks to a $75 million bank loan that is still far from being paid off.)

Running a Megachurch
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Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston has an average weekend attendance of 45,000 and an annual budget of $72.6 million.

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Nevertheless, though three of his siblings were actively involved in the ministry, Osteen never considered taking the pulpit. “He was so uncomfortable onstage,” recalls Phil Cooke, a producer and consultant at Lakewood. “He was very uncomfortable in public. He always loved being behind the scenes.”

One Sunday, Osteen agreed to deliver the sermon. He doesn’t know why and to this day asserts it was a kind of divine intervention, “a strong feeling of God” that compelled him to say yes to his father after saying no so many times. The story is often told of how Osteen gave his first sermon on January 17, 1999, as his father, who was suffering from kidney failure, lay in a hospital bed listening to it over the telephone. John Osteen passed away less than a week later.

Joel Osteen’s ascension to the pulpit was fraught with uncertainty. He was so nervous about taking over the ministry that he canceled the time slots he had purchased for his father, assuming that no one would want to watch the telecast anymore. Victoria vetoed that. “You call them back right now,” she told him. He did and stayed on the air. At first, Osteen20explains, he just wanted to maintain Lakewood’s 5,000-person congregation. It soon became clear, however, that not only was the congregation not shrinking, but the television audience was actually growing. Osteen was proving himself a natural, more personable than his father, easy on the eyes, with a kinder, softer voice.

While Osteen’s message wins over the moderate masses, he has become anathema to more-traditional Southern Baptists. His appearance on Larry King Live in 2005, during which he waffled as to whether heaven was barred to Jews, Muslims, and atheists, was posted on YouTube as proof that Osteen doesn’t embrace the Gospel. And while Osteen is steadfastly Christian, he defers to God on the more contentious issues, recusing himself from condemning gays, for instance, or women who have had abortions.

Spending time with Osteen and his team, one can sense their discomfort when issues that could anger more-­doctrinaire Christians are raised. Don Iloff, his brother-in-law and chief of communications, almost winces when I ask Osteen his views on intelligent design versus evolution. “I believe that God created it all,” Osteen says as he stakes out his usual middle ground. “I don’t know if it’s six literal days or 6 million years.”

Osteen’s message of prosperity doesn’t always go over well either. Fellow megapastor Rick Warren has called the idea that God wants everybody to be rich “baloney.” And some conservative Christian ministers have been quick to dismiss Osteen as a lightweight or, worse, a heretic. Osteen adamantly believes that “God wants to give you your own house,” explaining, “He’s not having financial difficulties. He owns it all.”

Much of the criticism of Lakewood, no doubt, stems from resentment at Osteen’s ministering to the largest and most financially successful church in America. He certainly makes an easy target, with the talk-show-host grin, the gelled hair, the bleached teeth, and the jocular manner. But there is no denying that his message, and his marketing of that message, is getting out to the world while so many other pastors are preaching to empty pews. Osteen dismisses the notion that he has watered down the Scriptures to win over worshippers. “It’s who we are,” he says. “The accessibility of my message doesn’t bother me a bit. Look, we deal with people who are fighting cancer, fighting to save their marriages, dealing with the death of loved ones. I don’t think they need to be beaten down. And I think the success of the message in the marketplace is because we are optimistic, encouraging.”

Phil Cooke, a longtime colleague and the author of Branding Faith, says, “Oprah has a brand, Nike has a brand, and Joel Osteen has a brand. Joel has made his brand the inspiration brand.”

In person, the 45-year-old Osteen is certainly both optimistic and encouraging. As he sits in the family suite after Sunday services, taking a break before heading up to the editing bay, he has the calm, gentle gravity of a man who never raises his voice and never has t o. Everyone leans in to hear Osteen. With his too-small eyes, a sharp nose, and thin lips with parenthetical dimples on each side, his long, drawn face is like a happy, joyous, and free version of Munch’s Scream. In his preacher’s slacks, yellow tie, and blue striped shirt, he has a disconcerting habit of seeming to run out of words before finishing his sentences; the effect is that you’re always left hanging, waiting for another word that might or might not come.

“Have you read ‘Good to Great?'” Victoria asks me at one point, referring to the phenomenally selling business book. “Joel is a level-5 leader. He knows there is more than one way to get to a point, and he lets his people get to the point their way. He’s a true level-5 — great delegator, great empowerer, great big-picture thinker.”

Osteen’s boldest brainstorm was leasing the Compaq Center from the city of Houston in 2002 and investing $98 million to renovate it. For Osteen, who had always put a premium on the look and feel of the church, renovating and refitting a basketball arena as a sanctuary was both a great opportunity and a daunting challenge.

The scale of the renovation — a five-floor office annex, two 30-foot waterfalls, and a children’s facility capable of hosting 5,000 kids while their parents are in the main sanctuary — was a logistical challenge better suited to Halliburton than a house of God. Osteen’s brother-in-law Kevin Comes, the chief operating officer and a former construction executive, was the20point man on the project, but like almost all of Lakewood’s top executives, he deferred to Osteen: “Joel made the decision to do it right the first time. We gutted the place and started over.” Osteen was consulted on almost every major decision, responding with his usual quiet nod when he was presented with, for example, the new lighting scheme or platform design.

The resulting church is a modern technological marvel and perhaps the most family-friendly worship venue in the world. Kidslife, the $25 million children’s facility, was designed by a group of former Disney staffers and provides care and religious services for the children of parents attending Lakewood. It has the look and feel of a giant version of a McDonald’s play area, only with neon lettering that refers to a verse in Philippians on the walls.

Such a sterling facility is the logical extension of the Osteen brand. Last year, Lakewood generated $76 million in revenue, which amounts to just over $1,600 for every member of its congregation. Its take includes $44 million donated directly by congregants, who are asked to give 10 percent of their gross income; $10 million in product sales and sermon tapes; and $13 million brought in through direct-mail solicitations, up from about $6 million two years ago. The church’s greatest expense is the TV airtime it buys: $22 million last year to broadcast the show in more than 100 markets, a 10 percent annual increase in spending that is easy to justify. “Cutting back on airtime would be l ike saying we won’t be sending any trucks to deliver our product,” Comes says. An additional $13 million goes to administrative costs and salaries, and $9 million a year is spent on facilities and maintenance.

Osteen hasn’t drawn a salary from the church since 2005. He bought his own home, for $331,500 in 1994, and pays to have his kids homeschooled. The considerable income from his books and related products (there were 19 spinoff calendars, daybooks, and inspirational pamphlets from his first book) goes to Osteen, who gives much of that — ­people inside Lakewood say more than 50 percent of his income — to Lakewood ministries and other charities. That still leaves O steen with plenty of “God’s favor.” The operation — the TV time, the basketball arena, the worship events staged across the country — should all simply be considered as, Comes points out, the delivery system for getting the product, Joel’s message, out to the marketplace. The goal of Lakewood’s 350 employees is to facilitate and spread that message. The return is measured in souls saved and lives changed. “We’re always looking for ways to get our message out there more efficiently; in that way, we’re no different from any other big brand, a Coke or a Starbucks,” Iloff says.

But it takes revenue to win souls, and within the organization are constant discussions about how to most efficiently package the message. Osteen’s podcasts, which are free, consistently rank in the top 10 on iTunes, and Comes wonders aloud about how to monetize that. The team is not shy about dreaming big — and commercially. “We sit and try to imagine what our program would look like with a Coca-Cola logo on the front. We’re just looking into it,” Comes says.

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Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston has an average weekend attendance of 45,000 and an annual budget of $72.6 million.

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Still, when it comes down to “message versus revenue,” Comes says, “message always wins.” At Lakewood, message and revenue tend to work in blessed harmony. Duncan Dodds, Lakewood’s executive director, took the podium recently in Greensboro to make a few announcements before Osteen, the choir, the entertainers, and the rest of the Lakewood team began their Night of Hope. “We have great worship at Lakewood,” Dodds told the crowd of 16,000 still settling into their seats, “and that worship is for sale on CDs out on the concourse level.”

One hears certain words repeated constantly by the Lakewood team. Meals, services, meetings, and even sm oothly flowing traffic over on I-45 are described as awesome. The goal of every operation, sermon, television production, and even expenditure is excellence. And the ultimate purpose of all staffers is to spread the message. That message, functionally, serves as Lakewood’s core product. Sure, it is repackaged into books, CDs, DVDs, Bible covers, scented candles, cross necklaces, JESUS FREAK T-shirts, and coffee mugs, but those are all just ways to deliver the message.

The Osteens, like so many American families during the recent real estate boom, spent the better part of the past decade buying, renovating, and selling homes, and became so proficient in the process that Osteen and his wife were able to skip hiring a contractor for their last renovation and go directly to the subcontractors to complete their mansion. Coming off the boom, during which the average American dwelling doubled in size, the Osteens’ digs are more modest than one might guess. The house is decorated in a rococo style that Victoria has called “French” and Osteen calls “fancy.” Their son, Jonathan, 13, and daughter, Alexandra, 9, are homeschooled, in part because their parents’ schedule requires that their weekend be shifted to Monday and Tuesday. During breaks in their lessons, they can play in the elaborate treehouse or the fenced-in rabbit pen behind the house.

As the actual weekend nears, Osteen rises at 5:30 a.m. to work on his sermons, which he delivers twice weekly. Osteen labors over them, speaking the words aloud as he types them into his computer. He considers the writing, shaping, and memorizing of his sermons to be the single most important part of his job. The message supports the whole enterprise, and he frequently turns to God to guide him when the burden of Lakewood, his success, or the scale of the church and business threatens to overwhelm him. “It’s just in me, God’s favor, faith, and hope.”

He believes, resolutely, in the value of the product he is crafting in his office on those quiet mornings. “Very rarely will you find a company that produces a widget where everyone is mentally and spiritually into producing a better widget,” Osteen says. “There’s a purpose behind what we’re doing. We believe in our widget. We’re doing more than giving people a good time or a better toothbrush, because it’s hard to put in your heart and soul and sacrifice so much to make a better toothbrush.”

Being backstage at a Joel Osteen worship event is remarkably similar to being at an N.B.A. game or a rock concert. Beefy security guards tell you where you can and can’t go. Crew members chow down on a buffet laid out by a local caterer and bark into walkie-talkies between bites. At some point, black Town Cars head down the long, curving driveway into the belly of the arena and drop off the pastors and performers, who retreat into private suites. The night is a celebration of music, state-of-the-art visual effects, and, of course, Christ. Lakewood spends a great deal of money attracting top gospel and Christian=2 0talent, and music minister Cindy Cruse-Ratcliff leads a team of Grammy Award winners, including gospel singer Israel Houghton. It’s a thumping occasion, with people dancing in the aisles and even the security guards singing along to “Come Just as You Are” and “We Have Overcome.” Osteen’s entire family is in the act. His mother, wife, and children often play parts in the service. But it’s Osteen himself we have come to see. He wins the crowd over with wholesome jokes and inspires with his sweet-voiced message. The sermon today is based on the notion of “hitting the DELETE button when you have those negative thoughts.” He urges us to banish that voice telling us, “I’ll never get that great job. I’ll never meet that special someone. I’ll never get married.” Hit the delete button, he urges, and reprogram your mind. “Just one inferior thought can keep you off balance and away from your God-given destiny.”

The crowd is eager, multiracial, and well-intentioned. We want to hear good words, have uplifting thoughts, be inspired by a positive message. Who doesn’t? We are here to escape our worries, or even better, to overcome them with hope. These are uncertain times, and we all feel the pangs of doubt. Can we pay our mortgage? Will we keep our job? When will we finally achieve the plus-size life we have been visualizing? Listening to Osteen, it all sounds so easy. Delete those negative thoughts. Focus on the positive. We are victors, not victims.

The highlight of every service is when Osteen ask s those who are willing to turn their lives over to Jesus to stand up in the vast arena and make their commitment right then and there. It is an inspiring moment, filled with raised Bibles and palms outstretched to heaven; Osteen and some of the congregation are in tears. If we have been suffering, if we have been in pain, if we have dealt with financial insecurity, then this standing up, this raising of hands to heaven, this simple vow of faith, Osteen assures us, will start us on the road to wellness and prosperity.

For a moment, as the choir sings, “When the battle is over / and the fighting is done / we’ll lay down our armor / the victories all won,” and the orange, red, and purple stage lights are flashing, and a halolike luminescence surrounds Osteen as he promises to free us from our fears, to lift us above our doubts, to lead us to prosperity and joy, I think about my own worries, my debts, my career, my woes.

How tempting it would be to just stand and turn my will and life over to Jesus if, in exchange, I will be led down a righteous path of prosperity, taken in hand by Jesus, and Joel, and delivered to my gilded acre of the American dream. Yes, yes, why shouldn’t I stand? Because who am I not to want to be saved? Who doesn’t need a little bit of Joel in their life, tonight, every night, forever, leading us from this dark place to our promised land? Together, hands joined, shoulder to shoulder, we will march forward into our glorious future . Delete the negative thoughts, Joel preaches. Yes, yes, delete them.

What do you think??? Drop me a line radiodewey@aol.com

May the Love of Christ be with You and Yours this day and always……….Dewey Sharon and family PS Please keep us in your prayers.

Good Morning KKIM Family! May the Peace of the Lord be with You and Yours!!!

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

How are you going to serve the Lord today?

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Many have asked me who to vote for when it comes to electing our next President and other leaders that are up for election…………

We can turn to our Lord and the Bible…………Paul sets forth a good model………..

Titus 1: 7-8

“Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless——-not overbearing, not quick tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplines”

This is all about Character………This is not just for leaders for our Country….for our families, Church, Schools, businesses.

When we read GOD’S word…….and pray to HIM……….then we will know who to vote for.

Gilbert Larson reminds me that the Bible is our book of instruction……….our milk.

John 15:5 says………..Without ME you can do nothing. Is GOD with you?

Daniel……..knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God. Daniel 6:10

Your Word is very pure, therefore Your servant loves it. Psalm 119:140

I want to encourage all of us to read our Bibles prayerfully………..and let the word of God absorb us………

As Eugene H. Peterson said, “Showing up at Church once a week and saying a hearty AMEN is a lot easier than engaging in a life of daily prayer (and reading of God’s word)

They cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and HE saved them out of their distress. Psalm 107:19

My Mother loved the Psalms……….

Blessed are those who…………..seek HIM with the whole heart! Psalm 119:2

Let us SEEK the LORD together each day ………..Let us commit to reading HIS WORD everyday………Let us commit to PRAY to HIM many times a day.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8

Rick sent this in…………………Thanks Rick!!!

WHEN I SAY I AM A CHRISTIAN

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not shouting “I am saved”
I’m whispering “I was lost”
That’s why I chose this way.

When I say …”I am a Christian”
I don’t speak of this with pride.
I’m confessing that I stumble
and need someone to be my guide.

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not trying to be strong.
I’m professing that I’m weak
and pray for strength to carry on.

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not bragging of success.
I’m admitting I have failed
and cannot ever pay the debt.

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are too visible but,
God believes I am worth it.

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I still feel the sting of pain,
I have my share of heartaches
which is why I speak His name.

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I do not wish to judge.
I have no authority.
I only know I’m loved.

Author Carol Wimmer

Prayer needs……………

We need to pray for the people in Ruidoso New Mexico area. As floods waters have done so much damage………over 700 Evacuated now……….An Adult and a Child are missing. Over 200 homes have been damaged. Gateway Church of Christ has been the biggest shelter for folks.

The Hatch, New Mexico area (Chili Capital) has had a lot of rain and the rain has severely damaged this years chili crop.

Please for the folks at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church as a gunman killed two people in the Church yesterday. The Church is located in Knoxville. Seven others were injured.

Please pray for Pastor Jesse Dompreh as he is headed to Africa.

Here is an update from John Robb…………..

Dear Friends,
Hundreds of Christ’s people are meeting in Hilo, Hawaii for the All Pacific
Prayer Assembly. They come from 14 Pacific island nations and are here to
seek the Lord for His transformation of their region. Today is the last day
of our time together. It has been a time of great joy with colorful,
vibrant dancing, singing and times of prayer together for this region and
the rest of the world. The leaders ask that we pray the following for their
region:
1. That the churches of the Pacific islands and beyond will understand
and practice the message of God’s glory so that “the earth will be
full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover
the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).

2. That the Gospel of the Kingdom will bring transformation to the
nations of this region and their institutions, so there will be an
awareness of God’s judgement and the need for public righteousness,
and that the right people will be elected to serve in government.

3. There is so much Christian nominalism in the region and so there is a
great need for the 4 R’s of repentance, reconciliation, revival and
restoration.

4. That a mighty children and youth in prayer movement will arise in
these nations. This has been a special focus of our time here. The
children are “God’s secret weapon” like the small sticks of kindling
wood that get the bigger logs burning. May the Lord use them to
restore the fire of revival to the islands that once experienced it!

Another prayer concern comes from the state of New Mexico in the USA where
the New Mexico Prayer Transformation Council is hoping to bring a team of
Mexican and Spanish church leaders to repent and ask forgiveness of the
Indian tribal leaders (19 Pueblos) that still feel the woundedness of what
happened centuries ago at the hands of the Spanish conquerors who carried
out acts of atrocity, subjugated, and enslaved the native peoples in the
takeover of their land. Please pray for special favor with the Indian
tribal leadership as this approach is made to them by one of our native
colleagues. We hope that this time of reconciliation can occur at the end
of next month, but there are obstacles that have arisen that need to be
overcome.

Please pray for the U.S. presidential campaign which is in full swing that
the Lord will raise up the person of His choice to be our next President.
We cannot afford to get the wrong leader at such a crossroads in our
history. This is a crucial time for the USA and many feel that our nation
has entered a time of God’s judgement and purification. May we listen to
Him and allow Him to correct us, giving us a new vision as a people!

Thanks so much for your prayers.

A warm “aloha” from Hawaii,
John Robb

Thanks John………Wish we were in Hawaii with you!

Yesterday in Albuquerque the State of New Mexico unveiled a 6 foot tall granite monument at the New Mexico’s Veterans Memorial in Albuquerque. The event marked the 55th anniversary of a cease-fire that ended hostilities in the Korean War July 27, 1953. How many of us knew that?

Here is Karen Rowe……………..Thanks Karen!!!

Good Morning. I wrote this a while back in “Train Whistle.” To me, it is a gift from God and I have wanted to share it ever since. It has been on my mind lately and I feel like today is the day that God helped me share this. God is good!!! It was written in personal form for each person to receive.

PS…every time that I write, and you notice … I am thanking the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in my heart; a way of honoring them in the writting. I share this with you so that those (…) 3 little dots can be a humble reminder to all of us to remember to thank Him, each as One, but individually.

I hope that you are blessed!

Love and Prayers, Karen Rowe

Serving By His Amazing Grace! By Karen Rowe

I made a choice to be nice today…

I served God in a humble way

I made a choice to smile today…

I served God in a humble way

I made a choice to turn from gossip

Instead I chose to do a good deed …

I served God in a humble way.

I made a choice to love

I made a choice to forgive and forget…

I served God in a humble way.

I made a choice to yield to an insult

I made a choice to walk away

I made a choice to choose God’s words …

I chose to serve God humbly today

I made a choice to let them go

And now I choose to just ‘let it go’…

To rise above …by the hand of God

To forgive and forget releases me so…

I served God in a humble way,

So why does it feel that He served me today?

I feel so free the burden is gone…

…The one that weighed me down for so long.

My reward is great because I listened to God

I turned from the fight and walked in His light.

God led me, not as a coward, far above that…

Humbly I received His grace and His righteousness filled my heart!

I made a choice to be honest and pay…

I made a choice to tell the truth …

I serve God by my choice…

I need His love to grasp His Grace…

I honor God when I choose to obey.

I just want to serve Him every day!

I made a choice to follow Jesus

I made a choice to take the time…

I heard my heart and stopped this time…

I made a choice to tell another about God’s love;

They gained the knowledge of Jesus and were saved today…

I served God in a humble way!

I hope to be humble in all that I do…

I hope to do what Jesus would do…

To serve our Father with the love for another…

It is an honor and a pleasure to learn from our Savior

How sweet the joy…

How beautiful the blessing …

With a humble heart, I thank God that I can serve God today.

God and Me

May Christ be with You and Yours, Today and Always, Dewey Sharon and family

www.mykkim.com

www.deweysdailycup.com