There's a Snake in my Coop!

There’s a Snake in my Coop!

We started raising hens this past Spring and they recently started laying eggs. One day, we went to gather eggs and saw a huge 5 foot black snake. Now, I know that there are some snake loving people out there, and had this snake been somewhere else other than my coop, we would have let him be. But he simply did not belong in my coop and he was not invited to have a dinner of fresh eggs! So, he had to go! Chris grabbed a rake, and persuaded the snake to leave.

There are many things in life that are good and can even serve a good purpose. The snake, in other parts of the shop, kills rodents that kills rodents that destroys stuff. Drinking wine is a good example. A small amount has been proven to have medical benefits. Too much wine, however, begins to hurt the body. 1 Corinthians 6:12 says All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

Like the snake in my coop eating my eggs, there are many things in our lives that just aren’t profitable, and they are mastering us. It may not be a specific sin, but you know it isn’t good for you...maybe it’s that show you watch, book you read, or music you listen to. Maybe you drink just a little too much. Maybe you ‘need’ a relationship that isn’t healthy. Whatever it is, God wants to help you not be mastered by anything. He wants you to have freedom and power to remember that while it might be lawful it just isn’t profitable. Is there a snake in your coop?

New Beginnings

Chris has accepted a position with Hartsell Psychological Services based in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. He will work with their school-age therapy programs as well as general counseling. This job will work right along side what we do with FreshWater, supplementing each other. Through Hartsell, Chris works as an independent contractor. He currently works with 30-40

students each week. Because of the school setting he works in, the availability of his clients are dictated by the school schedule. With FreshWater,Chris has been seeing clients 2-3 nights a week. Neither position could stand on it’s own. Both together provide powerful opportunities to shape many lives. We appreciate our FreshWater supporters and the vision they have to see people who need help and provide assistance for the fees they can’t fully pay. Thank you!

Updates, Thank You’s and Prayer needs
FaceTime
Have you heard of it? Through the iPhone 4, you can have face to face conversation using a wireless internet connection. We’ve been able to utilize this technology to provide counseling to someone across the nation from us!

Prayer Needs
Pre-marital counseling sessions are one our favorite types of sessions. Recently, 2 of ‘our’ grooms were deployed. Please pray for their safety, and their wives and families. Also, one of those young men became a Dad for the first time, while deployed.

Thank You’s

I want to thank Prairie Grove Christian Church for hosting the Men’s Encounter weekend that encouraged several men including me. FREEDOM! We also want to thank them for their support of FreshWater.

Weeds in My Garden

Weeds in my Garden!

For this first time ever, we have 2 beautiful gardens that are growing remarkably well. We have tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, zucchini, squash, peppers, onions, herbs. A little bit of everything.

We also have bugs, birds, squirrels, chickens, rabbits, and weeds!

This is not a new analogy, but I’ve been reminded lately of how our lives are so similar to a garden. We want a beautiful, fruitful life. We see others with a seemingly beautiful life and think that it ‘just happens.’ Well, I can tell you from first hand experience in both gardening and life, that it’s not that easy.

But I’ve noticed something that makes gardening a little easier. When pulling weeds, if the ground is dry and hard, it is virtually impossible to remove weeds. They hold on tight and usually end up breaking when I pull on them. However, if I pull the weeds right after I’ve watered, when the ground is good and saturated, the weeds come out with relative ease. You may see the analogy already. In this ministry, the primary weed we see in the lives of virtually everyone we talk to is the weed of doubt. Doubt that God could really love them, that we have infinite worth in His eyes. Doubt that we have anything of significance to offer the world. And similar to crabgrass that spreads and replants itself in numerous areas of my garden, the weed of doubt affects our jobs, our marriage, our families, and every relationship we have.

The good news is, there is a way to remove the weed! To remove the weed of doubt, one has to saturate themselves in the truth of God’s word, the truth of His love for us, imperfections and all. And I mean saturate! Not just sing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ to yourself a few times. Saturate! Read the Bible, listen to Christian music. Surround yourself with Jesus-loving people. Get help if you need it. Talk to your Pastor. Join a Bible study. Contact a ministry similar to ours. And just to clarify, we don’t do these things to earn God’s love or make him love us more. We do these things to remind us of how much he already loves us, each moment of every day.

In my garden, I have to pro-active to prevent problems and react quickly before problems get out of hand. I spray hot-sauce all over my tomatoes to keep the critters away. I pull weeds. I water. When I wait til there’s a problem, it’s too late. I will lose produce. In my life, I have to be pro-active to prevent problems and react quickly before problems get out of hand. And unlike my garden, where I am typically working alone, we are never alone in life.

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If you don’t already, please consider supporting FreshWater as we work hard to teach people about God’s love for them and about how to daily live in the reminders of his love. Help us as we saturate more hearts with God’s love, helping them pull weeds and showing them the beautiful fruit he has placed within every heart.