-- Friday, 8/6/10 -- THE BEST OF INTENTIONS -- Judges 8:27
J.R. & Bonnie Ricks
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Dear Friends,
Well, we knew you guys would not let us down, but we weren’t prepared for the phenomenal response we got to our note yesterday. We both now have new laptops, much beyond what we expected, and we are in the process of getting them configured and ready to get on line. It was only minutes after we sent out our special note about J.R.’s computer dying and the problems with Bonnie’s that you started to respond. We were so humbled and felt so privileged to have folks like all of you among our friends.
As the donations began to come in, it was incredible to watch… because you could see from where the gifts were originated, how it just started in one spot and went completely around the globe in 12 hours. It truly was like watching the mighty hand of God at work as each one of you learned of the need and responded. It started in the Midwest and spread to the west coast and then to the Pacific realm, then Australia and Asia and across Europe and back to the East Coast. It was like as each one read about the need, the response was immediate.
As we watched it happen, tears of joy just rolled down our faces. To know so many of you love and care for us was just an incredible thing to experience. Just to think about it, we had a pretty crazy year of highs and lows, but you have all been there for us. We were just thinking the other day about the fact that the anniversary of J.R.’s heart attack will be August 13th, and on that day, we weren’t even sure that he would be here and able to write this note today! In the last couple of weeks, it seems as though the Lord has started opening the windows of heaven and the blessings have begun to flow out on us. One of the things that was really neat about the response to our need for the new laptops was the fact that nearly 90% of the ones who responded were first time supporters… folks that we had not heard from before. We promise to be good stewards of your generosity and will try to make every penny count. Thank you so much for your outpouring of love.
Because of the change-over of the computers and getting all of the information in place, we’ll have to do our budget report next week after we have everything tabulated. Please bear with us, and we’ll try to have that all completed next week so that you can all share with us the wonderful response that we received.
Again, thank you for all you’ve done. We pray that God will richly bless each and every one of you. We will have a special note that will accompany the budget report next week, so be sure and watch for it with next Friday’s devotional. We love all you guys so much, and you’ve got both of us walking about ten feet above ground!
In service to our Lord,
J.R. and Bonnie
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THE BEST OF INTENTIONS -- Judges 8:27 NIV
Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.
Gideon had the best of intentions. The people had tried to make him king, and he had refused. Instead, he had insisted that the people keep God first on their list. But Gideon wanted to honor God, so he made an ephod from the gold rings of the plunder, placing it in Ophrah, his home town. He had good intentions, but his good intentions went awry. Instead of honoring God with the ephod, he had made an idol for the people to worship!
My mother used to say that the road to Hell was paved with good intentions. Many times in our lives, we have the best of intentions when we get involved in something. But we fail to look to the future. We fail to see what could be the outcome in the long run. We fail to ask God to guide us with each and every step. And our good intentions end up causing a disaster.
Make a commitment today to begin to carefully examine situations when they come into your life. In the middle of seeing all the possible good you could be doing, stop for a moment and ask, "What are the possible negative consequences?" Make sure that your good intentions are followed by good results.
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