Website Witness
We will have all of our website witnesses posted here.
New Year’s Resolutions from Downhill Skiing
Bob and I were blessed to go skiing in December with our son Matt, daughter-in-law Shambryn, two grandchildren, and a group of their friends. Neither Bob nor I are “naturals” when it comes to skiing. In fact, the two of us didn’t learn to ski until Matt and David were in elementary school. We had been appointed to a church with a long history of an annual family ski trip, and our. children begged to join in. That meant Bob and I had to learn to ski! After that, we often made a ski trip our family Christmas gift to one another. Over the years, Bob and I learned to ski.
I myself haven’t been skiing for several years, so this trip was a special treat for me. In the process of remembering and re-learning old skills, it occurred to me that some of those learnings offer useful lessons for the New Year. Here are my New Year’s resolutions from downhill skiing.
- If you are not falling, you are not learning.
Even the best skiers fall—remember the Winter Olympics? They fall because they are continually trying to ski better, higher and faster. Although I often fall because I’m just clumsy, I also fall because I keep trying to ski better—and I have the bruises to prove it!
New Year’s Resolution #1 is to be more attentive to learning and less worried about making mistakes. John Wesley was never satisfied with the status quo. He continued to learn and grow until the very end of his life. I also want to continue to learn and worry less about mistakes.
2. Lean slightly forward at all times.
This action is totally counter-intuitive for beginning skiers. One’s natural inclination is to pull back or lean back in order to slow down or stop. However, leaning back shifts a skier’s center of gravity off balance, frequently resulting in a spill. Leaning slightly forward puts one’s center of gravity over the tops of the skis where the skier can use his/her whole body to control the skis.
New Year’s Resolution #2 is to lean forward into 2010. Living 2010 by repeating 2009 will likely result in loosing my balance. Even when I want to return to the past where I feel safe, I need to lean forward into God’s dream.
- Pay attention to your surroundings.
The Colorado ski resorts have received below-normal snowfall this year, so the slopes are really icy. Thin snow means that rocks, twigs and grass are closer to the surface than normal. It is easy to catch an edge and fall. To add to the natural environment, snowboarders have emerged as a new hazard. The beginning ski slopes are now filled with novice snowboarders. Despite the efforts of the ski patrol, they often whiz by faster and more out-of-control than the skiers. I myself got a face full of snow when a snowboarder crashed into me from behind. I quickly learned to listen for snowboard sounds behind me.
New Year’s Resolution #3 is to be more attentive to the environment in which we are doing ministry. Our surroundings are changing faster than we sometimes realize, and the turbulence can be quite challenging. It requires that we adapt to an unstable environment. For example, the economic realities of 2009 have already changed the way we will enter 2010. I want to be watching both for the hazards and the gifts inherent in our changing world.
- Keep your knees bent.
The proper ski posture is always “knees slightly bent.” That attitude helps the skier to better maintain agility and balance.
My final New Year’s resolution is to pray more frequently, pray longer, and pray more earnestly. No matter how slippery the slope in 2010, no matter how many times we fall, no matter the times we forget to pay attention to the changes around us, we can be confident that God has gone before preparing the way. So here we are—at the top of the run. Spread out before us is a whole new year—pristine and fresh. God invites us to push off into the New Year with expectancy and hope, anticipating the thrill of following Christ.
Happy New Year!
Grace and peace,
Bishop Janice Riggle Huie
Website Witness - Thanksgiving 2009
I wish to thank my church family, especially my Wesley Sunday School Class, Rev. Winston and Jennifer Goens, Bill & Patsy Pittman, Martin & Nancy Hinshaw, Robert & Alma Harris and Jeanie Brady for your cards, telephone calls, visits and prayers during my lengthy illness. I feel blessed to know that Christian friends are praying for me and my family.
November is the month in which we pause to give special thanks to God for all His Blessings. My family and I have many reasons to thank Him this year. Thessalonians 5:18 says “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Our times are in His hands and His goodness is timeless. He is a present help in sickness and trouble.
Psalm 28: 7 says “The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped, therefore my heart greatly rejoices and with my song I will praise Him!” God is our strength and shield. He’ll either shield us from trouble, or strengthen us in it. Our futures belong to Him, and all our days have been ordained for us. The one who holds the future also holds us tightly in His hands. So we can look forward with thankfulness. Tomorrow is full of God’s grace, so we can be thankful today!
How wonderful to “enter into His gates with Thanksgiving and into His Courts with praise!”
We are thankful to him, for He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, and we bless His name! For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures for all generations.
My family and I sense all your goodness and love for us. We make each prayer a prayer of thanks and every day thanksgiving.
Barre Hester and Family
Website Witness - October 2009
Pancakes have always been special for me. Martin always fixed pancakes for our young children when we camped and that memory is very sentimental.
But on October 3 of this year, pancakes became a spiritual food.
The Evangelism Committee determined that a free pancake breakfast would show those living in the Allendale/Lillian area that we are a friendly church and that we want to be good neighbors. We prayed for the strength to do all the preparation and trusted that God would handle the harvest – even if that harvest was years in the future.
So we made door hanger invitations in English and Spanish then some of us walked through the neighborhood while others prayed for the homes we would impact. The spirit of those gathered was contagious. We laughed and we walked – and we got really overheated and we ran out of door hangers. But we experienced a great joy in being in ministry together. I thought that day would be the highlight of our campaign.
But I was wrong.
On Saturday morning we gathered believing that there might be no guests, but also believing that God had called us to be prepared. So at 8:00 am we opened the doors and waited. We waited about one minute….because at 8:01 we had our first visitors. And we continued to have guests until we closed at 10:00.
Our children and youth made posters and invited people from the streets to stop in for pancakes. Our greeters lined up from the parking lot all the way to the serving line to make everyone feel welcome. Our table hosts sat with families and visited like friends. And our kitchen crew served over 100 church members and 71 neighbors who dropped by for pancakes.
Some of those neighbors asked for prayer. And some needed special help. And others were looking for a church home.
Sunday morning we had five new friends who visited Sunset UMC. And when Rev. Goens served communion the body of Christ tasted a lot like pancakes.
Website Witness - September 2009
As a youth in the Methodist church you get many opportunities to do amazing things, not only for yourself but for other people as well. This past summer the youth group got the chance to go to Galveston, Texas to help people in the community. We did many things from moving mulch at City Hall to painting houses.
This summer I learned the value of helping a person that I don't even know. The women that owned the house that we painted Ms. Solis said to me only by the grace of God could this ever happen to her. That moment I stood in shock not knowing what to say. The only thing that came to mind was he is the reason we are here.
I will never forget the smile one her face when she thanked us for helping but in return we thanked her for her hospitality. In all it just felt amazing to get to help many people with things that needed to be done.
Website Witness - July 2009
If you have lived on the Gulf Coast very long, you have a hurricane story. Last Friday, eight members of the Sunrise Sunday School Class met three people with remarkable hurricane stories. One story broke our hearts………..and the other story was heartwarming and inspirational. But first, our story.
After experiencing not much more than inconvience from Hurricane Ike, members of the Sunrise Class decided to contact UMCOR about helping with what we thought would be rebuilding after the storm. We looked at our summer calendars and picked the hottest day we could find…………well, actually in April we didn’t know that the day we picked was going to be the hottest day so far this summer. We filled out our paperwork, listed our skills (which were minimal for most of us), and waited for our assignment.
We were told to bring hammers and pry bars that we would be removing sheetrock from a house. We met Susan and Monty at Bayshore Park in San Leon for our orientation. Susan and Monty work with UMCOR. Their story and the stories they told had me in tears before we ever met the family we had come to help. Susan and Monty have spent the last five years doing disaster recovery. They left their home in Indiana to go to Mississippi after Katrina for a mission trip. Upon their return, Susan felt God calling her to full time work in disaster relief. And that’s what they have done!! They live in a trailer and have worked in Mississippi (and the floods in Indiana) since Katrina and moved to the Texas Gulf Coast after Ike.
Susan shared story after story of families whose lives and livelihood were uprooted by Ike. She also told story after story of God sending just the right workers at just the right time to bless and help the families and homes “heal”. We all pondered that idea of the homes needing to heal after the storm. She told us that we were an answer to a prayer for Rick and Nelda.
Rick and Nelda had about four feet of water in their house during the storm. But that was only a small part of their story. Their house was small………a living room, a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom/utility room. Part of the house had been remolded a few years ago after a fire. Between the fire and the flood, Rick’s brother had been murdered and Rick suffered a back injury that has made it difficult for him to work. Then Ike…………….in the aftermath of Ike flooding their home, Nelda was feeling bad. A doctor visit determined that she had advanced lung cancer. It had spread to her brain. She has had brain surgery and extensive chemo. Things seem to be improving health wise for the moment. They are living in a FEMA trailer parked in Pearland to be closer to MD Anderson.
So………….very little had been done to their home after the storm. Rick had devoted his full attention to taking care of his wife. Long story short………a worker at Lowe’s gives Rick information about Susan and Monty. Susan checks out the house and Rick and wonders who can I get to clean out this house so it can begin to heal……………..and then she gets our paperwork…………a group willing to work hard with not a lot of skills………………….she said we were an answer to prayer.
So………….in about 5 hours on a VERY HOT day, we emptied out the house of the remaining furniture, removed carpet from two rooms, removed sheetrock from the living room, removed the contents of kitchen cabinets (that included food that had been there since the storm). We were told to NOT open the refrigerator under any circumstance…………..duct tape it shut. There was a separate building ……..a garage of sorts that someone was living in………….we emptied the contents of that room………
We met Rick………..and he told us his story. He was very grateful that we were there………..and very hopeful that his wife was improving. He mentioned how many hours he had spent praying at the chapel at MD Anderson and we assured him that he and Nelda would now be in our prayers as well.
We all came home with a blessing and a burden. God had indeed used us to help Rick and Nelda. But our eyes were opened to the fact that so many families are still struggling almost a year after the storm. We all agreed that we want to volunteer again……….on possibly a cooler day!!
Matthew 25:34-40
Jeri Davis
Website Witness - June 2009
I want to share with you how my life has been impacted by the presence of Jesus Christ in it through my husband and our Methodist church family. It all started about 12 years ago I my mid-twenties. I found myself wondering what the future held for me. I thought I had a lot of things going right for me; I had a great job, earning a good salary, was traveling around and attending a lot of parties; but still felt like I was missing something in my life. Since I had been raised in the Catholic Church, it occurred to me join a church again, and I did. I started attending a young adult group there in addition to being present for Sunday mass. The relationships that I was forming there did not seem to fulfill the emptiness I had to begin with.
One day, as my family confronted me with tough questions about my future, I felt like I had to seriously search for the answers. I started to pray frequently. As I did that, it became clear to me that I wanted to settle down and get married. So the main request that I had as part of my prayer was that, if it was in God’s will for my life that I find a man to share my life with, that that he be a Christian, caring, serious and honorable man. Well, I kept praying and one day I met my wonderful husband through a friend that I was visiting at her office. I was introduced to Ed and after a few phone calls we started going out. I had a few doubts about everything, but he was certainly not like any other guy I had met. As we continued to get to know each other, I kept praying to God to make things clear to me. One day, Ed invited me to the 125th anniversary celebration of the church that his parents are members of. I could not believe that! I was so happy! I finally realized that he was all I was looking for.
As our relationship kept maturing, Ed introduced me to the Methodist church. As I attended church with him, I felt as if I was being made whole and the doubts about my future started disappearing; I was a happy person. Ed and I got married almost 10 years ago (on October 16) and his faith has been my rock through life and prayer has definitely been the vehicle of communication that we have used throughout our marriage. As we have faced tough decisions in life, God has brought us through every one of them, including loss of jobs, mine replaced with a wonderful job for a Methodist church for 6 years, Ed’s replaced with a wonderful position in a great company and the opportunity to start his own business and above all, God has blest us with a wonderful daughter, Victoria. I am so thankful for Ed introducing me to the Methodist church, a wonderful, supporting and welcoming community and for Sunset UMC where I am able to receive the much needed help to raise my daughter in a Christian, loving environment and get nurtured by members of a wonderful Sunday school class and a great Sunday Service.
Karla Pavey
Website Witness - April 2009
When Patsye and I decided it was time to find a church home, we visited several churches in the Pasadena area. One Sunday, we attended Sunset United Methodist and enjoyed the worship, but were still uncommitted – until that evening.
The afternoon was rainy, and Tommy Nini and George Wilson arrived at our door dripping wet. They didn’t want to come inside with their wet clothes, but we insisted and had a wonderful visit. As we shared our story and what we needed, Tommy asked if he could pray for us. We all bowed, and he knelt on our hardwood and offered the most beautiful prayer I had ever heard. It wasn’t just the words, it was that he put his whole heart into praying for us.
When they left, I turned to Patsye and told her, “We have found our church.”
Because Tommy and George were willing to share their love of Jesus with us, I have always been passionate about doing the same for others. That is why I am working to revitalize our laity visitation program and invite you to be part of inviting our guests to be part of our family.
Bill Pitman
Website Witness…..because He loves me - March 2009
I have heard, read, and led more than a thousand sermons and Sunday school lessons. They all boil down to one message. God loves me. That being the point I have three things to do. The first is to love Him back by attending His church and seeking out a greater understanding of His love. The second is to try to live the servant life that he modeled in the Bible. The third is to share our abundance of love with others.
Even though the message was right there in front of me (because mom made me go to Sunday school every week), I didn’t always understand the “why” of God’s actions. It seemed funny to me that He would put two of each kind of animal into a big boat. For many years these stories were just stories. Then one Sunday morning it felt like the fog was lifted and I could see and feel His presence. Now, I understood. He had one simple comment …”because I love you.”
Love God,
Live His word,
Share the Grace.
…..because
Martin Hinshaw
Website Witness - February 2009
I have been to church all my life but stopped going regularly. I believed in God but was not focused on him until I was diagnosed with Leukemia and was pregnant with Olivia.
The first oncologist recommended an abortion then treatment but I could not do that because I knew that for me it was wrong. I knew that God was calling out to me and in my heart telling me not to have an abortion. I was then evaluated by another physician who recommended treatment and recommended an abortion but would still treat me if I decided not have one.
I prayed to God and went to church regularly and I knew that I had to trust his will. The whole ordeal was hard on me and my family. It was difficult for me physically, emotionally and spiritually but I knew that I was going to be o.k. I began to pray and I felt closer to God. I know that this may sound odd but I am grateful for what happened to me. The whole situation brought me closer to God and to learn to pray to him and most of all trust his will.
Olivia is now a healthy 7 year old girl and I have been in remission for 7 years. I won't deny that I do get some anxiety if I start feeling ill or if Olivia is sick (because there are only 14 other documented cases like mine) and a lot is not known about possible long term side effects. I do know that through prayer God will be with me.
Maria Keith
