E-Fellowship Rally

Proverbs 25:2 "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings."

Hopefully some of you read the post below that Sam wrote, surely you did. My heart is grieved and I feel like this is a call to action. This group is big, real big and I think we ALL need to take a leap of faith here and help this family out. I've been trying to convince myself to not send a check for the last 48 hours but I can't convince myself to not take any action. My proposal is that we all throw a check in the mail (regardless of the amount, 1 dollar will do). Let's see what happens, don't get caught up in any thoughts other than the idea that some action/money is better than none. By doing this we will give God a chance to blow our minds with what He can do. Let's help put this family under a roof. To Sam's credit he is too shy to ask for any help from us because he probably doesn't want to be seen as a burden but I don't have an issue with asking. I really think this is a call to action from the Lord. Once again, don't talk yourself out of this or sell your contribution short, just do it in faith, $1 will be a great contribution. Please send any contributions to the below address. If you haven't read what this is for please read the post under this one on the home page. Blessings.

P.S. The above scripture I believe is saying that we need to act in faith and not always figure things out before we act. Trust what the Holy Spirit tells you.

Sam Marsonek
21226 Preservation Dr.
Land O Lakes, Fl 34638

Comin' Outta Retirement

Fellas,

I've been on the shelf a long time now, but I've continued to read and stay challenged by everyone's emails. So I thank you guys for staying committed. A lot has happened in my life over the past six months.... The Plant Panthers won our second straight championship this past Dec, while 12-15 of the players continue to come to a weekly bible study/homeless outreach. A few days after the quake in Haitii, myself and former teammate Brian Reith headed down to lend a hand......not enough time to write all that God did. My baseball team, the Cambridge Christian Lancers are dominating fools(remember the name Peter Miller) as we make our way to the state playoffs but more importantly am seeing young men's faith grow daily. Oh yeah, lil Mason James(or Makenna Ruth) Marsonek is in the womb right now gettin lose. Kristens about five months pregnant and we are all jacked up on Mountain Dew!

The real reason I decided to write was to share something that happened to me and a few of my football guys from Plant last night. As we were in downtown Tampa, takin Subway orders from some homeless folks, we came across a young woman. After talking to her awhile she professed to be a believer and in a short time, began reciting scripture. Then a young boy, about 16 yo 6'3" 230lb, came strollin up to us. Come to find out, it was her son..... We spent the next 2 hours hangin out with this mom and her son. We learned that Maria worked the lunch shift from 11-3, while Jacob attended Middleton HS, where hes tryin out for the football team. Well, I ended up giving them a ride back to where they are stayin, a storage unit about a mile from downtown.....Can you imagine trying to attend HS, let alone play football livin like that???? They didnt actually sleep in the unit, its only 5x8, they slept outside of it on the concrete. Needless to say my heart was crushed, as were the three other guys who came with me. But before we left that night, we made some vows..... One of the guys was going to meet Jacob twice a week to help tutor, another is responsible for gathering clothes and shoes, and the other is now raising money for food. My end of the bargain is to find them a place to live.... I would just like to ask that you guys pray for guidance and assistance while we try and provide physical needs for Maria and Jacob. Thanks!

Competing for His Heart,

Sam

Designated to Triple-A

As I was sitting in my hotel room on Wednesday night, I came across some articles online with quotes from me earlier that day explaining my reaction to being designated back to Triple-A. The quotes (some misquoted) seemed lacking of any real substance and gave no definition whatsoever to how I was feeling at that moment. Perhaps, I am to blame for the way I apparently came off but often times a reporter is simply looking to get a quick story from someone rather than getting someone's story. I, myself, am more interested in people's stories rather than simple stories about people. That being said, here is the real answer to how I felt upon hearing about my designation. I'm sharing because I find it worth sharing.

To simply say that I was disappointed would be a pretty significant understatement. I held back tears the best that I could as I explained what had just happened to two of my teammates waiting for me as I returned to my locker to pack my things. I was discouraged at the thought of calling my wife and informing her of our upcoming descent on this roller-coaster ride of professional baseball. I hated and feared the sadness that might be felt by my friends and family back home who were so proud to see me in that big league uniform. This was supposed to be my year. I felt like a failure. From sitting in that office hearing the news, to packing my things in the clubhouse, to laying in bed that night in my hotel room, I had so many questions that I wanted an answer to and so many thoughts streaming through my mind. However, for some reason, and to my surprise, all of these thoughts and questions seemed to be faint echoes buried deep in the back of my mind. I could barely hear them on account of a much bigger Voice making its presence known. A Voice telling me that "everything is going to be alright", "I've got plans for you, and you are going right where I want you". I knew who it was and I was so grateful to feel God's presence. Immediately, I felt the peace of God which transcends all understanding guarding my heart and mind. I felt strength that I didn't know I had and that is why I felt the truth should be heard.

Praise God my Father in heaven for moments of adversity because it is in these moments in which I get to tap into that extra strength that only God can provide. God's grace is sufficient for me and His power is made known through times of weakness. That is why the apostle Paul claimed that he delighted in times of weakness because when he was weak, he felt a strength that only God could provide. Praise God for days like Wednesday because it is on days such as these that I get to fly my flag of faith which glorifies my God in heaven which is my purpose here on earth anyway. So I stand today comforted by a God in heaven who cares for me and loves me unconditionally. A love that was clearly displayed through the sacrifice of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on that cross to save me from sin and death and lead me onto righteousness and life. Baseball promotions and demotions don't define me. So whether it be from the tallest mountain or the deepest valley, I will continue to shout praises to my King.

May God be glorified,

- Terry

Bow Down!

Romans 14:10b-11 "For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. 11 It is written: "As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God." NIV

Philippians 2:10 "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord." NIV

There is a lack of responsibility these days and we all fall into the trap of living life to shed ourselves of responsibility. Think about it. You push to graduate so you don't have to go to school ever again, you work to retire so you never have to labor again. We reply to questions using vague terms so we're not held accountable, we ride the fence on issues because we don't want to be offensive. Have you ever noticed that we say "responsible for" and not "responsible to"? Here is my point: we have been called into existence, we have been called into responsibility, stand up and be accounted for. We can't hide any longer, we never could anyway, God has been watching. Let's live our lives always being accountable and not hiding behind the curtain in the dark. Live with integrity knowing that daily these efforts will continue to transform us. Yes these little daily efforts weigh heavy on the state of our Spirit. Live this way because every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is God! Be certain of your own salvation and get on the train of sanctification that cleanses us daily. We've made the right choice, like Baj (Jeff) said "He's coming back", the Word is clear on that. Living a life with a healthy fear of your Daddy keeps you from indulging in sin that can kill you so why not live a life responsible to God so that we may have life. Oh did I mention that the life I speak of will be eternal? Whoopsy!

Godly humility

What's up y'all? One of the attributes of Jesus that we have been discussing is that of humility. Humility, or the act of being humble, is found all over the Bible. Mainly with Jesus. We all know the story. Jesus humbles himself by agreeing to step down into the ranks of a fallen and sinful world so that He can die for our sins. Jesus knew the horrible death that he would have to endure and He knew he would be betrayed by Judas. He could have stopped it at any time, but He didn't. He could have called forth an army of angels to stop the soldiers from crucifying Him, but He didn't. Jesus knew that a perfect sacrifice had to be made to cleanse us of our sins. He knew that a lambs blood was no longer sufficient for a mans sin. The sacrifice had to be perfect, and it had to be human.... it had to be Jesus. Jesus signed himself up for that. An almost unbelievable act of humility.
What about us though? God has given us talents. All of us have things we do well no matter how small. When I was growing up I thought being humble was telling people I wasn't good at something when I knew I was. Here's what I know now. God has blessed us with talents, and I think He's proud of what He's created. I bet you that when He gives us talents He wants to be glorified with them. God wants us to realize that He is the strength behind our success. When we do well, we should realize that He is the reason for it. We should not be ashamed of the things God has blessed us with. God is our strength. By having a Godly view of humility we are pronouncing to the world that even through our success we are a creation of God. Thankyou God for Your continuous blessings on my life. Help me to remember that it is Your strength that propels me, and not my own. Help me to realize that when times are tough it is You that can bring me through it, not myself.

-waino

Let Me Pray About It

"Ya, I hear ya but let me pray about it." -unknown-
"I've been really convicted of making an adjustment in this area but I need to continue to pray about it, God will make it clear and then I'll move forward." -unknown-

Have you heard this before? Are you the author of lines like these? I've been guilty of this before and today I heard a man in my bible study lay this out. Mind you that this is when God led Moses down to the Red Sea with all the Jews. They were sitting there like "yo what do we do now, were trapped, dang Moses, you're a terrible leader." Moses was saying "have faith and pray." Here is what God said.

Exodus 14:15-16 "Then the Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground." NIV

Exodus 14:15 "Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stop praying and go." LTV

Have you ever put off doing what you're pretty sure God wants you to do because you're too scared or too comfortable in your sin? I really don't think God makes the decision clear for us all the time. Many times it requires our obedience to step forward in faith and after a step or two we start to see that God's will was in it. All too often Christians can use the "I need to pray on it some more" as a cop out, we have to be careful of this. I'm not saying it's bad to "be still" or to "pray for an answer", we just need to know when to move. Here is some wisdom from my tee-ball coach, "you can't steal second with your foot on first." How's that for knowledge? We have to be bold sometimes to step out in faith and flex our muscle.
Be blessed my friends, He is risen and is coming back.

For God So Loved the World...

When tough things like the loss of a loved one or something bad happens we naturally ask ourselves why things like that happen. I think we've covered this topic several times before but I wanted to point out one more thing. And, tomorrow is Easter Sunday, the celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ rising from the tomb. Resurrection Day as you might hear it said. So the next time someone asks why did God allow this or that...remember that our LOVING AND MERCIFUL God sent His OWN son to die for our sins on the cross. Being a father of two beautiful girls this hits me extra hard. I cannot, for the life of me, imagine sending one of my babies to die for such a motley crew like us. Our God loves us and our Savior is ALIVE. Tomorrow we should remember the amazing sacrifice that freed us from our sins. I love Easter eggs and all that but lets make sure we keep our eye on the ball to what Easter is all about. Easter is about Jesus. It's about Jesus who suffered to make payment for all our sins. It's about Jesus conquering death on the third day just like it was predicted in prophecy. When that tomb opened and Jesus folded the napkin He told us he wasn't done yet (thanks Jules), and He continues to work in us every day. Happy Easter guys. Just remember how special a day it actually is.

-waino

He gave His only begotten son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life

Do you pray for more faith?

Sup fellas, let's rock! Luke 17:5 says, "The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith!" Ya'll ever pray prayers like that? I'll be the first to say I know I have. I mean, these are Jesus's dudes who were with Him for over three years, watching Jesus heal people, cast out demons, and raise the dead, but yet they still asked for more faith....really?? But Jesus was telling His disciples that they didn't need any more faith, and that just a small amount will move mountains. The little that they had could do much, but they were not using it.

To me, it's almost like when you pray for faith, you are praying to believe. And, I don't think you can pray to believe. Either you believe or you don't believe. Such a prayer is almost based more on unbelief than it is belief, and therefore would not be answered. Instead, faith grows as the Word is taken into our lives and acted upon. Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." Faith comes and increases as we hear and believe the Word and put it into practice.

It is not the size of your faith that counts, it is the size of your God. If you believe, you activate heaven. So, if you wanna increase your faith, increase the intake of the Word of God. What you know of the Word becomes the limit of your faith because you can believe only what you know. So, this is where church, Bible studies, e-fellowship, etc. plays its crucial role; covering all aspects of the Christian life in order to understand how God operates in every area of life because we want to have faith in all those areas.

trying to die to myself,

-tmart

Why Did Jesus Fold The Napkin

I got this from Blakes Pops and it rocked me, I've never heard this before.

Why Did Jesus Fold the Napkin?
Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?
I never noticed this..... The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin. Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, 'They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where they have put him!' Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple out ran Peter and got there first. He stopped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying to the side. Was that important? Absolutely! Is it really significant? Yes! In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.. Now if the master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table.. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm finished.." But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because..........The folded napkin meant, "I'm coming back!"

AND SO HE SHALL.

Treasures In The Sand

Matthew 6:19-20 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."

I remember as a kid digging a big hole and burying my favorite truck in it. I stood over the ground where the hole was, after just filling it in, and felt so accomplished. The next day I tried to dig up my truck and to my horror I couldn't find it. I was heartbroken, "man, my favorite truck is gone", what was I to do. The next day I was playing with some new toy, resurrected from the pile of misfit toys that I had abandoned for new ones over my brief couple years as a toy aficionado. I say that to bring to our attentions the fact that possessions never seem to be as big of deal as we think, they all wear out. Funny how things can seem so important but once they're gone we can easily live without them.

How about our reputations? Can that be seen as an earthly treasure? I loved being a professional athlete and there were times when I feared life after the game because my reputation and status wouldn't be as important after it. I also was guilty of fearing the idea that I might not make it to the big leagues and be seen as a failure to my family and friends. Now that I've made it to the other side I can honestly say life is good and all those fears were a lie. Life after the game can be awesome with family, good friends, and especially kids. Worldly reputations are fleeting, the relationships that have been continuing on after my playing days have been with believers who impacted my life for eternity.

This might seem a little scattered but the important question is, where is our treasure? Where is our reward? The answer is that our treasure is Jesus and He is our reward. Were all called to step up.

Confidence... King David Style

Here's something that I've been thinking about lately and I wanted to share it with yall before the long season. Anytime you're having some doubts or not trusting your abilities you can turn to King David. Be prepared to get completely fired up though. Here's what we know. We know that David was blessed with bravery from the time he was just a tot. When he was a young shepherd David defended his sheep against man eating predators. In fact David was attacked by a bear and a lion, and crushed them both times. His weapon of choice was a sling that he could fire with deadly accuracy. When his people were brought up against Goliath and the Philistines David volunteered to go to battle for his people against the 10 foot giant when nobody else wanted to fight him. In fact, David couldn't believe nobody else would fight Goliath. Here's something that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of the story of David and Goliath. We all know the story. David takes his sling and fires a stone hitting the Giant, Goliath, in the forehead so hard it killed him. Now, if you turn back a few pages you'll see that David went to the river and picked out 5 smooth stones. Why five you ask? It wasn't so he had backups for Goliath. Goliath had four brothers and he thought that after he killed Goliath his brothers would come get some too. David trusted in God and told the Israelites that the Lord would protect him. He also looked the giant right in the face and told him that He was fighting in the name of the Almighty God. He called his shot when he said he would chop Goliath's head off (and he used Goliath's sword to do it). If that was me I woulda grabbed like 30 stones just in case. David, needed only five. Five stones for five kills. That's confidence, and that pumps me up. So when you're trying to make a pitch or drive the ball or even trying to accomplish almost anything, you should use Davids example. He wasn't concerned with missing. He wasn't worried about not getting the job done. He was confident in his ability and trusted in God and God's awesome plan. Somebody please make a movie about the life of David so Hawksworth and I can stop dreaming about it. Good night

-waino

Sub for Jules

Hey guys, Ben asked me to drop a quick one on here for him and we both agreed on the topic or should I say request. God has put it on our heart to ask all members of this blog for any prayer requests you might have. Ben and I have exchanged prayer lists before and I kept his in my wallet for a long time. If I had sometime at a red light or killing time in the clubhouse... I'd crank out his list. It gets my mind and heart off myself for one thing and it also is pretty awesome to see God answer prayers right in front of my eyes. He does ALL the time and prayer is our greatest weapon as Christians. Not sure why we take that for granite or can't find time? Let's go. So please drop some requests on the comment sheet and lets pray for each other fellas. One gets answered let us praise Him on here and talk about it. Thought it would be pretty cool.

Blake

Jesus...No Coincidence

A lot of yall in this group have read the Lee Strobel books such as The Case for Christ, The Case for the Creator, Cross Examination, etc. Well, recently I read Cross Examination. It's a short book, sort of a cliff's notes (52 pages) about the evidence behind Jesus actually being our Savior. In one part of the book Strobel argues that Jesus was merely a man who coincidentally fulfilled all the prophecies. Here's what we know. In the old testament there are 48 prophecies telling of the coming of the Messiah. I won't list them but if you want to see the 48 just type it in on google. Jesus, by the way, fulfilled every single one of the prophecies. Going further, a mathematician named Peter W. Stoner did the math and figured out that the probability of a person coincidentally fulfilling JUST 8 of the prophecies was one chance in ONE HUNDRED MILLION BILLION. You read that number correctly. If you had that many silver dollars they would cover the entire state of Texas to a depth of two feet! So if one of those silver dollars was marked and you dropped a man blindfolded in the middle of the state somewhere and told him to pick up one silver dollar and check to see if it was the marked coin, that would be the odds. One hundred million billion is millions of times greater than the total number of people who've ever walked the planet! And folks, that's just fulfilling 8 of the prophecies. So, how great is the number to fulfill all 48? One chance in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion to the 4th power. So you see, the evidence speaks for itself. When I saw those numbers I was blown away. I hope you were too. But, here's one simple number. Our Savior, is the only One in history to ever rise up from the grave. The only One to conquer death. All those other guys...they're all dead. The old testament laid out the credentials the Messiah had to have, and our Lord is the only One in all of history to meet all the criteria.
Acts 3:18 (New King James Version)

18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

-waino

Brett Carroll on Why God Allows Bad Things to Happen

This message was forwarded to me by our brother Brett Carroll as a response to a post earlier on why God allows bad things to happen to good people...or just people since none of us are good.

Hey everybody,
I just wanted to add my two cents to a recent post by Waino (why do bad things happen to good people), in which, it was a very encouraging message. However, it got me thinking even more about it recently b/c a family friend's son passed away out of nowhere...34 yrs old...found dead in this house...scary, real stuff. I believe Jesus tells us exactly what perspective to have, but I know its still a hard pill to swallow. Whether its death, illness, natural disasters, etc..I want to hear how the KING approached it..
"Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?? I tell you, no!! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them-do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no!! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
This verse is telling us that bad things happen to whoever or wherever when God is telling us to repent. Moreover, daily repentance is needed just as much when good things happen. No matter what our circumstance, tragedy, injury, etc.. we don't know what the next hour may bring, but being in Christ we can work things out looking through a different lens thanks to the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ!!! If your like me, I can get caught up in the daily grind of life or even make life about me and my glory, but when natural disasters or whatever shakes our souls it slows everything down, humbles me, and makes me small again. As Christians, we are called to fight against our flesh that we know does not glorify God b/c the world looks on and there has to be something different about us (not better than)....no one said this would be easy but the Holy Spirit is our helper,guider, and warrior. On sunny, nice days do we look to God with a thankful heart and see his kindness, mercy, and grace that can also lead us to repentance?? Rain or shine, life going good or bad, God is telling us to be ready. Bottom line is my life (sin) deserves the same tragedy here in Jupiter, Fl but thanks to be God and His grace that I can't earn it and that I know where I am going to spend eternity no matter what happens in the next 15 minutes. Thank you Jesus and the blood that was shed.

Lord, thank you for your patience with me, but I realize how important everyday, every minute, is an opportunity to glorify and turn too you for my hope and salvation. I need your grace to get this through me heart and head. Help this group to face the challenges of what life brings through the perspective that you give. Provide the strength to turn from sin that so easily weighs us down. (Heb 12:1). We may not understand it all, but help us to learn and grow to be true disciple makers. You are a sovereign God!!
Christ, the ONLY one that satisfies,
-Brett Carroll

Broken Relationship Equals Broke-ded Effectiveness

Sup fellas, got some more prayer talk.

When Adam and Eve broke their relationship with God, their effectiveness in prayer was also broken. True prayer is maintained through oneness (sp?) of heart and purpose with God. Only then can we fulfill God's ways and plans. See when we pray, we represent God's interests on earth, and this representation requires relationship. You can trace our difficulties to "The Fall" and the resulting fallen nature of man in which we were alienated from God. Even as redeemed believers we need to realize and act upon who we are in Christ and the principles of prayer that God has established, IF we are to be restored to His purposes in the vital area of prayer.

We, and I sometimes, may not think of prayer as being an area in which we need to be "transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans). Myles Munroe states, "since effective prayer has everything to do with being united with God in a relationship of love, having a heart and mind in union with God's will, gaining a discerning mind in regard to His purposes, and exercising faith in His Word, it is a vital area in which we need to be transformed." Prayer really should not be open ended. It should be purpose driven, motivated by a knowledge of God's ways and intentions.

trying to die to myself,

-tmart