Let Your Words Be Few

In times like these, we have more questions than answers. The best response, however, is to 'let your words be few.' Things will unfold in time and we need to avoid speculation and drawing conclusions. As much as our curiosity peaks around circumstances like these, we should show restraint and respond with what is needed most: prayer for Dave's survival and recovery and mercy and sustaining grace for Jen and Marissa.


Because of Dave being in ICU, there isn't anything that you can do at the hospital. Only immediate family and clergy is allowed to see him right now. Because of this, please refrain from calling or visiting the hospital until further notice is given.  We ask that you pray for Dave's complete recovery and for the strength of his family. 

The Armorbearers Leadership team (Men's ministry) will have at least two reps at the hospital for the next 2 days, to regulate the amount of visitors from SCCC.  If you could take a time slot for this it would be greatly appreciated.  You may call Ed Earll or Dan Dittman at the numbers listed below.

Ed Earll  314-581-7538
Dan Dittman  314-488-8016

Dave Dickman

Just returned from the hospital. I got to see Dave for a few minutes and prayed for his complete recovery. He is is still in critical condition. Join us for prayer tonight at 7 p.m. There is much to pray for.

Guatemala

I heard from George and the team in Guatemala. They finished one house in spite of much sickness. Way to go, team! Check out their blog for more updates.
http://guatemalablog.projectguatemala.org/2010/01/26/day-4-guatemala-mission-trip/

Urgent Prayer for Dave Dickman and Guatemala Team

• Our friend and brother, Dave Dickman was shot 5 times earlier today. He underwent surgery at approximately 10 a.m. He is out of surgery and currently in critical condition. Specific details of the shooting are not known but police are investigating. Please refrain from calling or visiting the hospital until further notice is given. We ask that you pray for Dave's complete recovery and strength for his family. 
• Several members of our Guatemala Mission team have been very sick since arriving in Guatemala. As well, access to the building sites is very difficult. Please pray for their recovery and strength.

Pastor Shawn & SCCC Staff

Breaking a Fast

For those that have joined us in a 3-day fast, it's very important to consider how you will break it. Often while I'm fasting, I may think of particular foods that I enjoy and want to eat: pasta, burgers, ice cream. This can be dangerous!

I'm not a physician, so I offer the following as a fellow student, as one who has had some good and bad experiences in breaking a fast including having a gall-bladder attack after a 3-day fast.


Remember that your digestive system has gone on complete rest. The organs such as the liver and kidney have continued on a slower pace in an effort to cleanse the body of toxins and putrefied food remaining in your body. So it's important to "wake up" your system gradually.

Breaking a water-only fast
1. Above all, do not break your fast on greasy, spicy foods. This can shock your system in trying to digest more difficult foods. I've known of a few people who had to enter the hospital because they ate such foods after an extended fast.
2. Begin waking up your system with diluted juice and fresh fruit. Eat small servings the first day. Perhaps add servings of raw vegetables later. The broth of potatoes, carrots and a few other raw vegetables will feel good to your system. Don't mix fresh fruit and cooked vegetables at the same meal.
3. The next day consider eating steamed vegetables and/or baked potato (no butter and sour cream).
4. Gradually return to a normal diet.

Breaking a juice fast
1. Breaking a juice fast is somewhat easier. But solid, greasy foods will shock your system. Avoid pizza, cheese, meat for a few days.
2. Eat smaller servings of more solid foods several times a day such as fruit, salad, raw vegetables, steamed vegetables (preferrably less starchy ones).
3. Gradually return to a normal diet.

Blessings as you continue to encounter Him.

Helpful resource for fasting

I thought this resource might be helpful to anyone fasting this week. The "kingdom keys" aspect is an important concept and the tips on fasting with prayer are good too. Here we go!

It's Time to Fast by Pastor Jack Hayford

Fasting Feeds our Hunger

Here we go. Yesterday, we called on our leaders here to begin a 3-day fast and everyone that will to participate in a 24-hr fast. We gave out $1 at the door to everyone in the sanctuary to remind us all that 1 in 6 in the world live on ~$1/day-- an estimated 980 million survive on less than we pay for a cup of coffee. Those dollars will go to help Christians who are hungry in Haiti. This is one reason we fast.

Fasting reminds me of the hunger that many in the world experience everyday. I really have no concept of hunger except when I fast.

Isaiah confirmed this in Isa. 58:6,7 “ Is this not the fast that I have chosen...Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?" When we fast, we share in the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Haiti, India, and Malawi.

As I fast, I have a "growl" from the stomach now and then. It's a reminder of what many others are experiencing around the world.

God and Haiti

Look at the ruins of Haiti. Where is God?? He is the arms reaching through the rubble, the hands giving water, the voice saying, "I am here"

Normal Christianity

What is normal Christianity?

I talked with a friend in our church about prophecy and spiritual gifts. She said she had done a "google search" on a couple of authors and there was some controversy attached to their name. As a result, she wondered if what they had to say about spiritual gifts would be unhelpful.

Anyone who exercises faith in spiritual gifts will be considered “controversial," I’m afraid. It’s unfortunate that so much of the church relegates spiritual ministry such as prophecy or deliverance to something that is divisive and weird. It should be normal Christianity.

That being said, there are some valid concerns over certain ministries that emphasize spiritual gifts too much. Rather than seeing gifts as something that should be normative, these ministries chase after the phenomena instead of the fruitfulness of those gifts. For example, they will "ooh and aah" over the latest prophecy or tongues/interpretation but downplay the multitude of passages in the Bible on the subject of worship, attitudes, greed, heaven, hell, suffering, and relationships.

So, all that to say, that yes, we should have concerns about some authors and teachers because of their areas of emphasis. HOWEVER, they may have information that is worthy of study, but I won't swallow everything they say as God's Word. The symbol that comes to mind is the one I used when we were fishing as kids when a fish swallowed everything---“hook, line and sinker.” We need discerning hearts and minds that carefully judge every ministry and gift by God's Word.

But normal Christianity is a para-normal existence. That is, the Christian life is not a scientific life. It is a spiritual life. Some of what we do may be proven scientifically. But science is not the foundation of the Christian life. Faith is.

Fresh Encounter

 Experiences fade over time. I can remember the first time I saw Niagara Falls. Coming over the Peace Bridge into Canada, and the back seat filled with me and the Craig boys, we all got the first glimpse together. There were gasps and wows as we gaped through the now open window into the misty view of the Falls.

I went a few years later and stood by the Falls again with my wife. I remember saying something like, "Wow. I forgot how massive they are." Experiences and encounters fade.

This is why we return to places, to remember and recall the initial encounter or experience. It's why couples go back to the place where they got engaged, the site of the first date, or where they first kissed. I've found that when I ask any couple about how they met, where they hung out, and when they knew they were in love, their eyes will light up and the conversation gets more animated--even if they are experiencing present difficulties and stress in their relationship. It's even more real, when you actually go there. Something about going back to remember can renew the experience of love.

It's helpful for Christ-followers too:

• renewing mission by going back to remember why you do what you do
• going back to the place where you made a decision for Christ
• recalling encounters with God noted in your journal

Maybe this is what Jesus is saying in Revelation to those followers in Ephesus: "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first" (Rev. 2:4,5a NIV). The encounter of first love has faded.

I want a fresh encounter with God, a freshness in my love for Him, a fresh vision for this year. Bring it on.