Iranian Crisis

Tune in tonight and see a friend of mine @Kevin Hermening who was held and tortured for 444 days in the Iran at the Amercan Embassy. You can see his story and more on Fox News Friday at 9:00 CST with Greta Van Sestren. http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/11/05/fox-news-special-on-the-iran-hostage-crisis-friday/

I have a job interview today!  Have a blessed Friday! 

Sheila 

This blog is dedicated to Julie Check, 40 years old, of Wausau WI.

I didn't know Julie for very long.  She was a wife and a mom of  3.  Recently she appeared in the lobby of my church.  I greeted her and she told me that she was bringing her son who was 10 to our AWANA program at church.  I wanted to visit with her, but she seemed preoccupied with a book and was reading.

The following week, February 25th, 2009  she showed up with asking me if we had an Ash Wednesday service.  I told her no, but we had a prayer service upstairs and a women's bible study as well.  She thanked me and went upstairs.  I then continued to visit with my girlfriends in the lobby while our kids were in AWANA.  Then I felt the tugging at my heart, I knew I needed to go and share Christ with Julie.  I was so enjoying these ladies, some of whom I had not seen in a while.  Finally I pulled myself away and went upstairs.  There she was sitting alone on a bench and she was happy to see me.  I asked her what she was looking for in a Ash Wednesday service, and she answered she didn't know, but something.  It was then I asked permission to share with her the good news.  I told her the Bible tells us we can know these things for certain we have eternal life.  I asked her if she thought she would go to heaven and she said she hoped so, cuz she was a good person.  I then shared with her (Evangelism Explosion) that heaven was a free gift and she prayed and received Christ.   She marveled at how simple the gospel was! 

Friday night, February 27th, 2009 she called me.  She was struggling with family life and it was her 40th Birthday.  I prayed with her again and told her to call me in the morning.

Monday morning March 2nd, she called me again and she sounded really great.  She said she had just taken her 4 year old twins for haircuts and herself.  We had plans to meet Wednesday night so I could get her started on her walk with the Lord through a small discipleship booklet.  She didn't show. 

I didn't hear from her for over a week.  Thursday March 12th I opened the Wausau Daily Herald and there was her obituary.  I was blown away.  I learned she died of pneumonia.  Julie died 13 days after she prayed to receive Christ!  Her husband told me how she had gotten sick during the week, finally went to the walk in on Sunday.  He said they admitted her immediately and she had a very aggressive pneumonia that was bacterial and got into her blood stream.  She died of sepsis. 

Julie is a perfect example of not waiting till you are good friends to share the gospel.  Often times we as believers wait so long to share, we never share and clearly articulate the gospel.  I was guilty of this for the first 18 years of my walk with Christ.   For the past 2 years I have been part of a team at my church called evangelism explosion, it has changed my life. 

Often times we will wait so long to share "Friendship Evangelism" we never get around to sharing Christ and people are dying 2 every second, another dead. 

Mark Cahill wrote an excellent book on this topic:

You do not need to "earn the right to share the gospel" ..where is this in Scripture? No, I don't force the Gospel on anyone, I always ask permission, we are called to proclaim Jesus with gentleness, grace and truth.

I am so thankful I spoke up for Julie's sake......I know I will see her again. 

http://www.markcahill.org/news.html

www.evangelismexplosion.org

Blessings in JESUS, Sheila

On Vacation

Well, I thought I had better update before my Xanga is forever deleted! 

Lets see.... currently we are on vacation, at Lake Superior and since we are on Eastern Time, I am letting my DH sleep in.  Today we are taking a glass bottom boat to view some ship wrecks.  It really is pretty up here with the leaves changing and all.

Jonathan started kindergarten.  I have him in a private Christian school this year.  He absolutely LOVES IT!  Matt, my almost 20 year old in a local college here.  He spent a year over in Hungary at a Bible College and is now home going through the criminal justice program.

All is well on the homefront, we got a puppy the end of July and named him Titus.  He is work!  haha

Hubby is doing well, and I am running for office.    I will be the next Sara Palin.  haha

Blessings!  Sheila

Matt goes to Israel & Evangelism Explosion

Hey my friends....

I still read your blogs daily as they come in my digest.  I have been doing much better, and my life is evening out once again. 

This morning my 19 yr old son left for Israel.  He attends www.ccbce.com a bible college in Hungary.  They had room for 50 kids from the college to tag along on a trip with Pastor Chuck Smith (Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa) and also Joel Rosenberg.  (He is an end times fictional writer and speaker)  They are also going to meet with Joels friend Netanyahu.  He was the 9th prime minster of Israel.  What an opportunity.  They will be there for 2 weeks.  Wish I could go.  They will do things like float in the dead sea, get baptized in the Jordan, stay at a dead sea resort and even ride camels in the dessert at night.  Obviously this is a tour and not an outreach, but man, what a blessing.  I am praying seeing all of this first hand would increase his faith. 

Lillia update is she is plugging along.  She was released from the hospital and now is staying at the Ronald McDonald house over there in Minnesota.  She is still having daily transfusions, but really seems to be coming along.  They are able to stay there for only 5 dollars a day per person!  So when you pull up to those little coin dispensers at McDonalds you know that the money is going to children and families needing help at a critical time in their lives. 

On the homefront....we got a new kitten.  He is pure black and we named him Thomas. He is a little too playful, but he will mellow out I am sure.

Tuesday night we went out again w/ our teams.  I met a lady in the Laundry Mat.  We asked her if she was interested in talking w/ us and she was!  She said she hoped to go to heaven because she was a CNA and helped others.  So we explained to her the gospel of Christ and it being a free gift and how she could receive it by faith and she prayed right there w/ us!  She said she had so been wanting to find a church cuz her husband had left her recently and she was really hurting.  I am going to meet with her later this week. 

We also prayed with another guy named Reynado. He moved her recently from Brazil.  He had a ton of really good questions.  One of the guys on my team is a retired teacher from one of our local high schools and has such a kind teaching spirit when he shares.  We explained everything to Reynado and he did pray to receive Christ, but afterwards did not really think he was saved.  We gave him a bible and he said he was going to read through the booklet we gave him and look up some of the verses and would like us to come back in 2 weeks to answer more questions. 

I used to be terrified sharing my faith.  It has gotten so much easier.  When you ask permission, you can never go wrong.  If they say they are not interested, that is okay, you move to the next apt. door or next person.  That way you can never be accused of shoving religion down someones throat.  The Lord tells us the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few.  I believe that now.  If there are 30 of us going out on Tuesday nights, and we have over 100,000 thousand people in Wausau (and its area cites), well, then chances are you will come across people who are hurting and want to hear more.  I find that about 1 in 10-15 want to hear more.  This is not to say that everyone who prays a prayer is truly trusting in Christ, for there are 4 types of soil, however, it is seed planting and sometimes it takes a person multiple times hearing God's word. 

I know for me, 2 men came knocking at my door.  It was May 8th, 1989 when I received Christ in Bonita CA.  I had just moved back in with my parents and these 2 men, (one was the pastor of Calvary Chapel San Diego) and the other was a missionary from Budapest, (yes Hungary where my son now attends) and my son Matt was just a baby and I was a hurting single Mom. 

God is good! 

If anyone wants more information on the program we currently use, google Evangelism Explosion.  There are workshops all over the US teaching people how to effectively share their faith.  Now that I know how, I will never wonder again how to include the 5 points and cover everything.  (Heaven is a free gift, Man is sinner and cannot save himself, God is loving but also just, Jesus Christ who he was and what he did and Faith, believing faith, not temporary faith.) 

Well, as you can tell, I am sounding better these days.   My Jonathan turns 5 this week and we are having a party for him on Saturday!  Now if this snow would just melt.....

I pray you all have a blessed week in JESUS! 

More sad news.......

This past couple of months have just been really really hard.  There are so many hurting people in this world and some of them are part of my family and closest friends. Life is really hard sometimes but we know that GOD is good all of the time....so here is a recap:

Lillia~ Lillia's surgery went really well, however after more chemo, she is currently in Minneapolis Children Hospital.  After a HUGE treatment she has now undergone her bone marrow transplant on March the 5th and she is a very sick little girl.  Many mouth sores, body sores nausea, etc....I spoke with her mom Kim just this morning and they fear she may have pneumonia, so please pray for Lil.  She is almost 3.

My husband Ken's sister Kim was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma.  She has numerous cancerous tumors in her bones and will be starting intense treatment next week.  She is hospitalized up in Canada right now where she lives and they will be medi-vacing her to a larger city Edmonton here very soon.  She had complained of back problems and such, and was under the care of a chiropractor when she broke her humorous (arm) getting up.  That is when they discovered the tumors.  Kim and her husband Dettmar are both strong believers but could still use prayers. 

My girlfriend Mary back home in San Diego lost her 28 year old daughter Krystal last week.  She leaves behind a husband Chris, a 5 year old daughter Hannah and a son Max who is just 4 months. 

I have lost 2 pets recently too, which just add to the mix, Orry our cat who was 10 and Tinkerbell our dog who was 11.  They died within 2 months of each other and that is always sad anyway.

Me, I just keep plugging along in my faith.  I have shed many tears and the Lord is showing me how to transfer the burdens of my family and friends back over to HIM.  I am learning to not only trust HIM in all things, but to thank him as well in all things.  His ways are higher than mine and HE knows what HE is doing.  I do not understand the whys and I need not question HIM.  His grace is sufficient. 

I have been going out again with Evangelism Explosion.  4 weeks ago I prayed a gal Linda who has been attending womens bible study with me on Wednesday nights at our church.  Tuesday night when our team went out we met Carolyn and Gary who both prayed and received Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  That was the highlight of my week.  God is good and salvation for the lost is the most important thing.

My son is still at bible college in Hungary with my niece Victoria.  This weekend Victoria who cuts hair went out with a team with her scissors to set up a free haircutting station in the square near Budapest as an opener to sharing the Gospel of Christ with the lost.  Hungary was under the communist rule for so many years up until 1991 so a lot of the people are still oppressed however some are open to the Gospel!  So they are taking the good news to the streets!  We pray this is fruitful for them this weekend! 

I pray this finds all of you well.  Stay close to Christ and in his word as we know that his word is the only thing that has any power to change hearts and lives.....

Sheila <><