To my Christian Family --- What's God doing for and through you?
Mike Andrews
Hi,
Thought it'd be fun to hear from my Christian Family as to the works
God is Personally doing for each of you and through you. Also,
maybe we could share some of what our various denominations are doing -
what all our parts are doing for the One Body we are in Christ.
What do you think? It would be great to put on this net for everyone
to enjoy.
You've already heard how God has His Hand in the purchase of our new house,
and the purchase of the car. Nice to see that God wants to help in every
area of our lives. Also how He kept us safe on our Canadian vacation:
like the car starting up again after dieing in front of a logging truck
coming at us down the side of a mountain - later found we had a shot fuel pump.
Also found we had traveled the 1500+ miles with a bad water pump, not losing
any water, though the mechanic says the fan wobbled over an inch when he
checked it on our return. [All I know how to do is change the oil and filter,
put water in the windshield washer, and air in the tires - *not* your basic
car buff.] There are many more things, bigger and smaller that
God is teaching my wife and myself about. Growing up is tough stuff.
Your prayers are requested and deeply appreciated. You are in mine.
As for Church - my wife and I are Roman Catholics. We enjoy working as
Eucharistic ministers, and sometimes I get the opportunity to lector.
The Roman Catholic church has changed much in the last 20 years, very much
for the better. As Eucharistic ministers, people get to help the priest
distribute communion during Mass, and take it to the homebound or sick.
Since communion during the Mass is now given in most parishes in both forms,
bread and wine, the priest needs all the help he can get. As a lector,
I get to read two of three Bible passages read during Mass, the priest
reads a passage from one of the Gospels. My best friend
Bob is on the parish council, and our parish has a very active one. The
council makes financial decisions, helps set school and parish policies,
and in general works with the priests to keep things running as smoothly
as possible. And we all know how smooth that can be at times?
Many parishes have activity groups that set up Bible studies [yes,
contrary to popular belief, Roman Catholics do know what a Bible
looks like :-) ; even the different versions], discussion groups
focusing on current topics, joint groups with other denominations
to see our similarities and build on our common beliefs (Jesus is our Lord,
and He is our salvation; we can't earn Heaven, or buy it; and a living
faith will show itself in work for the Lord). Some parishes are
even starting up home groups, to increase the family aspect of Church.
Kris and I are also involved in the Charismatic Renewal, believing that
the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is real, and just as much for today as
when our Lord first sent His Spirit on the Apostles. There are many
parishes with non-denominational prayer groups, Bible study groups, and
some with prayer and healing ministries. I also work with a group
under the legal title of Catholic Evangelistic Outreach. We put on
the Jesus Weekends I've mentioned before. In the past 2-1/2 years
God has put on over 54 Jesus Weekends. We'll go anywhere we're invited,
for free, where the pastor or minister in charge approves and there is a
group committed to do follow up. Everyone on the team is an unpaid volunteer.
The fliers, equipment, etc are all paid for by donations. The head of
Catholic Evangelistic Outreach is Episcopalean, the music ministry is
Episcopalean, Four Square, and Roman Catholic (on occasion --- we don't
have many good singers. This is not a result of being Roman Catholic,
it's just that this bunch doesn't sing so hot. But the way I figure it,
if God wanted to hear us sing with better voices, He'd have given them
to us. So He must enjoy it.), and the rest of the team is
Roman Catholic. It is GREAT! God has put together a real family here.
So there's one input ... how about yours? The intent isn't to show one
upsmanship or anything of the kind. Anyone serving God knows
God doesn't work through perfect people, He works through sinners
like you and me. That shows just how great His Power is, He chooses to do
great things through weak and sinful people; and also shows just how deep
His unconditional Love is, that He chooses to help a weak and sinful people
come to Him to share in His undeserved Blessings. What a God - there is
no other!
God Bless,
Mike Andrews
--
******************************************************************************
God said He would never leave me nor forsake me, and that I am His temple.
A man is what he thinks.
A body led by the soul is only 2/3 of a person : the soul tries to get rid of
the spirit.
A body led by the spirit is a whole person : the spirit works to make the soul
help the body. And a spirit led by God the Holy Spirit is invincible.
*******************************************************************************
ARPA : fluke!p...@uw-beaver.ARPA
UUCP : {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!ptl
John Emery
In article <24...@cal-asd.fluke.UUCP> p...@fluke.UUCP (Mike Andrews) writes:
>
>Hi,
>
>Thought it'd be fun to hear from my Christian Family as to the works
>God is Personally doing for each of you and through you.
First of all, I wish to thank Mike for sharing his experiences with us
and hopefully inspiring others to tell what God is doing for them in
their church and personally.
I would like to share a few things that God has done for me. Much of what
he has done for me has been in my personal life. However he is starting to
open up opportunities for fellowshipping with others.
Of course the first miracle was when he drew to his Son, Jesus. I felt joy
and love in a way that I never knew in my life before. I was living a new
life after I had put Jesus first in my life. It was great.
Now I would like to share something else I experienced in my life: defeat!
Just when I was getting comfortable with my new life, I started experiencing
the life of a born-again defeated christian. I wasn't defeated by doubting
my salvation. I knew I was saved and trusted in God's grace through the
sacrifice of Jesus (This is a story in itself that I would like to share
later).
The first problem I had was that I could not help from comparing myself with
others. I tried so hard not to do the very thing I was doing. I would see
someone who was living apart from God and inwardly I would become angry at
them. I knew that I was a child of God yet I was sinning by what I felt
inside me. I kept telling myself to love the sinner and hate the sin and
that Jesus had died for all sinners as I was a sinner also. Yet inside I
was being defeated. Even among christians, how easy it was for me to
think that they were not living the perfect christian life. Yet I knew that
everything I was thinking was completely wrong. Yet the impulse to think
these thoughts remained.
Another defeat I was experiencing was that of an unfulfilling spiritual life.
My spiritual "highs" seemed to come and go like a rollercoaster. A period
of great spiritual joy would be followed by a period of emptiness. I would
long for the joy I had felt when I first came to Jesus. I continually looked
back to those times and turned to the things that had inspired me: special
songs, certain bible verses, a particular atmosphere. I kept remembering
how much I had looked forward to going to church and how much peace was
present inside of me. Yet these things did not touch me the same way as
they had once done.
Finally I didn't seem to be doing a very good job in God's work. I tried
to show the love of Jesus to others but this didn't always work. I wanted
to be a light through which Jesus would shine. Yet when my opportunities
came I didn't feel quite inspired enough. Sometimes when I knew in advance
I would be in a situation in which I could show what a loving child of God
I was, I would try to inspire myself by praying extra hard to God and just
trying to get in the right mood. It wasn't coming naturally however. I would
give up because I didn't want to seem phony. The charity work that I once
felt in my heart as a joy, became something I did just because it was the
right thing to do.
I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I was always praying to Jesus
to help me overcome my problems of comparing myself to others, of being
spiritually unquenched, of not being effective in God's work. Yet I was not
seeing results. I knew what the problems were and it was my will that
I not do these things which were damaging to my relationship with God.
Here is a sample of a daily prayer:
"Lord Jesus, thank you for giving me the will to live for you daily. Lord, I
ask that you help me to live a life of love. I ask that you fill me with
your love so that I may be a light to others. Help me to overcome my
shortcommings." It seemed that this prayer came up over and over again.
Then I saw the light. The Spirit lead me to the answer. The answer was
shocking: Give Up! Yes, Give Up. In other words, stop trying and start
trusting. Notice my prayers: "Lord *help me* to overcome...". That was
the problem, I was trying to help Jesus do what he promised to do himself.
I thought I had faith in him yet I did not trust him enough to let *him*
to the work instead of me. Yes, Jesus had already won the victory in me.
I, however, was getting in the way trying to do what only his divine power
could do in me. Sure I had enough faith to know I was saved, yet I didn't
have enough to let him work the victory in me. If you would have asked me
then, I would have told you, "Sure I have enough faith in Jesus." But I
didn't.
The victory started happening when I realized the answer: Jesus. It is that
simple: Jesus. He is my life. It is Jesus that I live through and by
concentrating on his presence within me and his power, the victory comes
naturally. God's word states it as a fact and if we don't belive in his
power, we call him a liar. Jesus has not only set me free from the penalty
of sin, but also from the power of sin and the power of doubt. Jesus clearly
said, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave
has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if
the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:34-36). He stated
that he set us free, and all we have to do is trust. Things have started to
change. No longer do I pray, "Jesus, help me to overcome" but "Jesus, thank
you for overcoming and I trust you will continue to do so." Instead of
prayers of grief, they have become prayers of praise. No longer do I try
to get inspired so that I may experience God's love, but I turn to Jesus
and trust that he will give me God's love. And it works, it's great!
Now I continually turn to Jesus as the sole source of victory:
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..."
(Hebrews 12:2). I know now that if I have to try for the victory, it is
not real.
That is one story of what God has done for me. He is now leading me on to
bigger and better things. My faith is expanding to fellowship with others.
Although I'm not sure at the moment where he is leading me, I can see some
exciting times ahead and I trust him completely.
faithfully in Christ,
John Emery
fluke!emery
Mike Andrews
Hi,
Just want to thank John over the net for a great article, but more
importantly for sharing himself an__GoOgLE_
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From: sources...@panda.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.sources
Subject: mod.sources Archive access and Index
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Date: Mon, 11-Nov-85 13:08:02 EST
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Mod.sources: Volume 3, Issue 41
Submitted by: jpn (John P. Nelson - mod.sources moderator)
This is the table of contents for the mod.sources archive as of 11/11/85.
Unfortunately, archive access is NOT automated currently. I am working on
getting multiple sites to maintain the mod.sources archive (~ 4-5 meg), but
this is not yet ready. If you wish to volunteer to be an archive site,
please contact me.
I used to have a mechanism for uucp access to the archive, but I am at a
new site now, and this is no longer possible. I am hoping that some of the
new archive sites will be able to provide this service.
Archive access in Australia is provided by Robert Elz (seismo!munnari!kre),
contact him for more details.
Those on the ARPA net can ftp directly from site seismo (8pm to 8am EST
only PLEASE!) or contact rick@seismo for more information.
Retrieval of just a few modules in the Archives is possible by sending me uucp
mail - I will uucp mail them back to you. If multiple modules are requested,
then I usually request a 9 track tape along with a self-addressed stamped
mailer, (along with a note explaining which sources are being requested) and
I will put the sources onto the tape in 1600bpi "tar" format. I am willing
to consider alternative methods. Note: tapes that arrive without proper
mailers/postage will become the property of the moderator!
Note that I sometimes get backlogged, but if you send mail to me, and don't
get a reply in a reasonable time (two weeks?) then you can assume that either
I never recieved your note, or my reply got eaten. (uucp mail is notoriously
unreliable!) Also, if you expect a reply via uucp mail, PLEASE include a
return address starting at some well known site - especially if you are on
some local network that uses unusual addressing conventions. More than once
I have not been able to reply (and the apparent source sitename was not
in the uucp map!)
Archive access requests should be directed to:
{linus,decvax,mit-eddie}!genrad!panda!sources-request
seismo!harvard!wjh12!panda!sources-request
talcott!panda!sources-request (talcott is an ARPA site)
New sources for posting to mod.sources should be sent to panda!sources.
mail to my old address (genrad!sources) continues to reach me at panda.
Postings are usually processed within 24 hrs.
Tapes can be sent to:
John P. Nelson
GenRad MS 6
300 Baker Avenue
Concord, MA 01742
John P. Nelson, Moderator, mod.sources
(decvax!genrad!panda!jpn seismo!harvard!wjh12!panda!jpn)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 1:
ANSI.C (1 part) Yacc and Lex for 11/12/84 draft of ANSI C
ANSI.bug (1 part) Small bug in ANSI C Yacc grammar
Bourne (9 parts) Bourne shell enhancements (history,tilde,job control)
Smail (1 part) a smart net mailer - front end using pathalias data
UK-1.1 (3 parts) UK-1.1 Sendmail Configuration Package
Xlisp1.4 (4 parts) Lisp written in C with object oriented extensions
bed (1 part) Editor for binary files. Front end for ascii editors
cforth (3 parts) Forth Interpreter written in C
checkin (1 part) editor interface for RCS logs
compress 3.0 (1 part) Compression program better than pack or compact
cpg+mdep (1 part) cpg - C formatter, mdep - make dependency generator
cpg+mdepX (1 part) cpg + mdep updates.
cpp (3 parts) C preprocessor suitable for use with Decus C
cshar (1 part) shell archive builder (shar) written in C
cshar2 (1 part) C shar - improvements
cxref (1 part) C cross referencer
diffc (1 part) contextual diff (diff -c) for Bell systems
dynamic (1 part) dynamic loading code for 4.2bsd
getopt (1 part) public domain getopt(3)
lbgm (1 part) Newsgroup archiving - "lbgm"
newshar (1 part) The Connoisseur's Shar, version 2
newsweed (1 part) Newsweed: a program to delete unwanted news articles
patch 1.3 (1 part) a program to apply diff format output to update files
pcurses (11 parts) Public domain Terminfo/Curses (needs work)
rfc_882 (1 part) RFC 882 - Domain Names - Concepts and Facilities
rn 4.3 (9 parts) rn news reading program version 4.3
rpc (10 parts) Sun "Remote Procedure Call" source code
sendmail.cf (1 part) GaTech Sendmail configuration
uucpanz.7 (1 part) a uucp status program: uucpanz (V7, BSD version)
uucpanz.V (1 part) uucpanz for System V
uuque (1 part) a uuwizard's utility for uucp queue snooping
vnews (7 parts) 2.10.2 Vnews (news reader program)
vstr (1 part) dynamic string package
xfernews (1 part) uucp traffic batching system
xref (1 part) a general purpose cross reference utility
vnews.1 (1 part) Manual page for 2.10.2 vnews(1)
readnews.1 (1 part) Manual page for 2.10.2 readnews(1)
expire.8 (1 part) Manual page for 2.10.2 expire(8)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mod.sources: Volume 2:
Smail1 (1 part) update to smail (in volume 1)
access (1 part) Kernal Hacks for access control lists
basic (4 parts) A BASIC interpreter in C (needs work)
bgrep (1 part) Boyer-Moore based fgrep like program
bm (1 part) much faster Boyer-Moore
bmX (1 part) various bm updates
choose (1 part) a program to select lines at random
compress 4.0 (2 parts) Compression program better than pack or compact
cshar3 (1 part) update to C shar (in volume 1)
makekits (1 part) software "kit" generation script
mdump (1 part) multiple dump per tape utility
pathalias (1 part) New Release - mod.map database path optimiser
remote (1 part) Remote mag tape routines
remote2 (1 part) small patch to remote tape library
rtar (1 part) Diffs to tar to use a remote system's tape drive
runtime (1 part) runtime memory allocation for multi-dimensional arrays
tools (6 parts) Software Tools in Pascal
uroff (1 part) uroff - nroff underlining
uuhosts (1 part) uuhosts - automatically grab mod.map data for later use
wire (2 parts) Wirewrap program.
wm (4 parts) BSD 4.2 window manager + Patches to Curses
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mod.sources: Volume 3: (so far)
Hey (1 part) Hey(1) [from Unix/World, Oct. 85]
LaserJet (2 parts) Ditroff HP LaserJet driver
bm 1.1 (1 part) Ken Yap's changes to bm (in volume 2)
dtree 4.2 (1 part) dtree (directory heirarchy display program) for 4.2
idledaemon (1 part) Yet another idledaemon (BSD 4.2 only)
ieee (6 parts) IEEE Floating Point Calculator (in Pascal)
laserjet (1 part) BSD 4.2+ lpd printcap/spooler for LaserJet printer
match (1 part) match - faster than bm (VAX only!)
mdump2 (1 part) Revised mdump (multiple dump per tape utility)
modnotes (1 part) Notes (1.7 or later) updates for moderated groups
pretty (1 part) Pretty printer in lisp + MC - columnator in CLU
scpp (2 parts) a selective C preprocessor
times.awk (1 part) uucp info from LOGFILE (awk script)
ttyuse (1 part) Creates a Summary of daily Terminal usage
uuhosts2 (1 part) newer uuhosts (too many changes for diff listings)
uuhosts3 (1 part) uuhosts update - extraction works properly again
GaTech (3 parts) sendmail patches/configuration files from Georgia Tech
command (1 part) replacement for system(3).
GaTech.upd (1 part) updates to GaTech - sendmail patches/configuration
help (1 part) VMS-style help facility
TCtoTI (1 part) termcap to terminfo conversion program
sndml.mods (1 part) mods to sendmail to provide translation tables
turbo_tools (2 parts) Turbo Pascal version of "Software Tools in Pascal"
modula_pp (1 part) Pretty printer for Modula-2 written in Modula-2
rename (1 part) rename: a companion to restor(automated inode mapping)
G-format (4 parts) VAX BSD4.2 compiler modifications to use G-format fp.