“I have no pleasure in the death of anyone says the Lord God… Repent and Live!” Ezekiel 18:32

I wrote this three days after 9/11/01 while living in New York City! Please pray as you read this to see what God may be saying to you during this time of reflection.

As I sit on the shore side at the Minor League Baseball Stadium on Staten Island listening to the lapping waves of the Hudson River and trying not to sniff the faint fish odor I look out across the water into the foggy haze at only an outline of the city. Without the World Trade Center buildings looming high above the concrete jungle, from this point of view the city seems dwarfed somehow, even more so today in the haze. Lady Liberty is tiny from here, not that she’s all that big to begin with. What I notice about her is that her face in some small semblance of fate is turned so that only her peripheral view can see that remaining rubble of the destroying moments. I think that it is fitting that she didn’t have to watch it happen and that only a glimpse of that day was caught by her. That is how America one day will see it, as only a glimpse, like so many other history making events that have taken place in the course of our nation’s life. We will not spend needless hours of watching and waiting, but we will see it only as a glimpse of our past. We know that it happened but we must remain standing, like Lady Liberty, to say that life goes on and we stand up for great things!

The haze of this day is a reminder that the memory of 9-11-01 will, even though it is hard to imagine, one day be only a hazy memory. Don’t get me wrong, this day for some will never weaver in brightness or rather I should say darkness but to the countless rest of us who were in no way connected other than being alive, being American, and watching the news will realize that this to shall fade from sight. In no way do I intend to down play this most horrible tragedy but in all ways I do intend to remind everyone that there is something bigger than all this, and that something is a someone. God! He loves you and He loved and cared about each one of those lost lives from that day, yes, even the men who carried out the horrible task.

I don’t want to discuss the issues of if this was God’s plan or the devil’s plan except that there are a few Scriptures that we can look at to see what part belonged to whom. The fact of the matter is that God is in control and He is a glory seeking God and all the Glory will go to Him in the end. If you see this as an act of God to wake us up or if you see it as an act of the devil to destroy us, either way there is only one way to turn and that is up toward God. A quote from the book Desiring God by John Piper helped me see clearly how I should view this event. The quote says, “How can God be happy and decree calamity? Consider that he has the capacity to view the world through two lenses. Through the narrow one He is grieved and angered at sin and pain. Through the wide one He sees evil in relation to its eternal purposes. Reality is like a mosaic. The parts may be ugly in themselves, but the whole is beautiful.” And also quoted from the same book, “If God reigns as sovereign over the world, then the evil of the world is not outside His design.” Amos 3:6 “Does evil befall a city, unless the Lord has done it?” This may sound harsh and like it is an action from an unloving God but please, I encourage you to take some time and search the Scriptures to see that God’s plan will not cease no matter how painful it may be for us. In the end He always follows His plan. Here are a few verses that I found:

Lamentations 2:11 “My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.”

Lamentations 3:37-38 “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come.”

Revelation 17:17 “For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish His purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God’s words are fulfilled.”

I know that this may be hard to take but it is true. Even harder to take is the fact that thousands of those lost that day were just that, lost. They will spend an eternity in hell. I think about the pictures that I saw on the news where the people on the floors above where the airplane hit the towers were hanging out of the windows trying to escape the intense heat from the fire that the airplane fuel ignited and I wondered if those people were going to be entering into a fire much hotter of which they can never escape……. We can’t say that God was mean for taking them this way knowing so many would go to hell, but the fact of the matter is that none of us knows which day will be our last. Friend, I urge you with all that is within me to ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart and save you. We all need to be saved because we all have sinned. Rom 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That sin has separated us from God and when we die in our sin then we are forever separated from Him but He has given us a gift to take instead. Rom 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” How and why did God give us this gift? Jn 3:16 “ For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God loved us from the beginning and He showed us His love by giving us His son. Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” What right does this give you? Jn 1:12 “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” You see satan intends for us to be destroyed, he is like a thief that comes and steals from you, but God has a better plan. Jn 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Jesus is asking you now to let Him into your heart and allow Him to become the Lord of your life to save you from an eternity in hell. Rev 3:20 “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.”

Make the decision today to accept Christ and if you already know Jesus as your personal Savior than please tell those around you about Him.

Looking to Him,

Amy Hosp

God is moving still today!

God is moving in our land!!! He is raising people from the dead. Go to youtube and type in man raised from the dead and see what God is doing!

Watch this video from a news program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRoAcfzytCA

Why did Jesus fold the napkin?

I got this e-mail from my mom and I wanted to share it because it is really cool!!!

Why did Jesus fold the napkin?

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?
John 20:7 tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible tells us that the napkin was neatly folded and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.

Early that Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, "They have taken the Lord's body and I don't know where they have taken Him!"

Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the napkin that had covered Jesus face was folded up and lying to one side.

 Is that important? Absolutely!

 Is that really significant? Yes!

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about the Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition.

When the Servant set the dinner table for the Master, he made sure it was exactly the way the Master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the Master had finished eating. The Servant would not dare touch that table until the Master was finished.

If the Master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm finished".

If the Master got up from the table, and folded his napkin beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because....the folded napkin meant, "I'm coming back!"

He is coming back!

During this Holy season, I pray that you are blessed with peace and joy in the knowledge that He IS coming back someday. 

Moving again!

Wow.... the weather is really cold today. They are saying that it is going to be the worst Ice Storm in some years...... I don't know but we will see. I have been busy packing getting ready to move once again. I am moving back to Ft Worth Tx to be close to my friends and to my church and to have less rent. I have been in Frisco for the past year and while it has been good to be by my family I am ready to move back to Ft Worth, the land of chips and salsa and the land of good looking cowboys. Of course packing is a pain in the butt but it must be done. I love my new apartment although it is kinda small compared to what I have now but such is life. Well, back to packing.... more later.

HI all........ It has been a really long time since I blogged. I guess I don't have enough to do so I don't do much of anything. Liberty and I are just hanging out and waiting for cooler weather to get here so we can go walking more often. I am subbing this year and although I haven't subbed yet I will be starting soon. I am also looking at a work at home job that I hope will work out. Well, that is about it for me for now..... maybe I will be back in the next few days.

Memories

This is a picture of the church that I grew up in. The church built a new buidling when I was about 7 or so and sold this building. The history of the buidling alone is really cool and the history of the church is great also. This picture is a great view of what I have journaled here. It is now a place to eat with shopping. Read on and you will see why this picture makes sense with what I have shared.

Recently I moved back to my hometown of Frisco Tx. I grew up there, my whole life attending First Baptist Church of Frisco. The growth of this little town is the fastest in the U.S., really, and for us small town folks this was hard to take. It used to be that going to the store here was so boring because you never saw any one new, but now you go to the store and you run into someone you know and it is like an Oprah moment of long lost family finding each other agian.

One visit back to town in 2000 on a Sunday I noticed as I sat in church how different things were and how much that I wished that they weren't and then I realized how that was holding me back from seeing what God was and is doing in Frisco. My thoughts on this are shared with you here. I hope that you will read it and think about what memories have you stuck in a rut.

To my brothers and sisters in Christ,

Selfishly I scan the congregation to make sure that “all that is within me” is exactly what I want it to be and that it feels good. I look for the comforts of the past to make me feel secure of who I am, realizing that here in my comfort zone I can bask in the glow of my memories. Yes I look around and notice that the peers of my age group are missing, that is another story, but I find comfort as I see the people who have shaped my life.
First there is my cousin, and another cousin, and oh, there is my double cousin, you get the point. I see my first grade teacher Mrs. Boles, my fourth grade teacher Mrs. Tadlock, and then there is my high school typing teaching Mrs. Fisher who also taught my mother. Over there is Mr. Trent my band director and Mr. Justice, and the Holcomb’s and I warm up to the memories of “Coon Mania” and other glorious times in school.
Then I see Calvin Bledsoe and think of the strong hands that built the home that was my shelter for years of good and sad times. I see Bill Cates, Willie Ray Reynolds, Jim Newman, my dad Pete and others that have guided the church so skillfully with prayer and supplication serving as deacons. I look to the left and on the back row I see the beautiful faces of the grandmothers that rocked me and prayed for me and how with the years they have softly wrinkled into beautiful pictures of God’s mercy and grace. I see Jeri Hansel, oh I mean Jeri Newman whom I invited to church one day in high school and marvel at the way she cuddles her son. Over there is Danny Carol, Max Bledsoe, and Dru Newman and I remember when they were youth and how I couldn’t wait to be one too and how I looked up to them and then I see their kids that are youth now.
My mind begins to wander more as I recall every Sunday lunch that I ate Molly Self’s biscuit’s and gravy and all the time I spent wondering if the lights were going to fall from the ceiling and where that long chain would land. I wondered how Brother Self got to the back of the church so quick after the sermon and how the man who prayed the closing prayer got so holy that the sanctuary was filled with light, (I know now, that was Brother Self opening the doors after he walked to the back of the church.)
I remembered the very first service in the new building on Hummingbird Dr., (I was in second grade) and how the McSpedden’s had donated the money for the communion table. One of my spelling words that week was “remember” and as the pastor read the name plate from the table dedicating it to the memory of Rev. McSpadden, I was reading “This do in remembrance of me”. I was so excited that I knew my spelling word. It wasn’t until I was on a return trip from college that I realized that the “This do in remembrance of me” was talking about Jesus and not Rev. McSpedden. I had always wondered why other churches had Rev. McSpedden’s table at their church.
As the hour passed I heard the words of the preacher saying take up your cross and follow me and I certainly thought that my cross that day was not having three songs, the offering, the special and then the sermon. What had happened to the old way of doing things and why don’t they put the choir loft back like it was? I looked up from my thoughts and realized that there was a stranger sitting in John Greenwoods’ seat and Bobbie Helen Carter’s seat, and Mary Helen Williams seat, and Ms. Izetta’s seat and my Grandmother’s seat and that is when it happened. I realized that the cross that I must bear, and as the preacher said, the thing that I must die to, is my memories. I must lay them down, knowing that I can return to them at any moment for comfort, but I must not live in them.
The little things that so often trip us up are not the big evil works of Satan, as Dr. John Pipper stated in “A Hunger for God” it is the gifts of God that cause the problems. I see the sweet sweet memories of my childhood as a gift from God, but it is in the gifts that we often times become so comfortable that we lose our focus of God. I have lost the focus of what God wants to do at First Baptist Frisco because I have enjoyed too much of the gift of the memories of what God has done here at First Baptist Frisco. I have spent too many days longing for the past instead of longing for the future. It is in the past that I have lost myself.
There have been so many times that God reached out and touched my heart and the Holy Spirit tugged at my soul to make it right with God but I just could not respond because if I walked the aisle then everyone would know that I am not all that I have pretended to be. I wonder how many more are here that have ignored God in order to save face?
As I take one more look back at my memories I want to share with you just how dear this place, I mean this building, is to me. I wrote this poem one evening in 1993 as I sat and gorged on my memories. I see now that I can have my memories but I must not depend on them for my future in God’s glory.

The Altar

You are the place where I can go,
I come to you whenever I hear God’s woe.
You are the place where I gave my heart to God,
I came to you to declare before men that I took
Jesus, and after Him I will trod.
You are the place where I received the reward of good attendance,
I came to you time and again to let the Lord
find me in a place of repentance.
You are the place where I answered the call that I heard,
I came to you after the many camps to talk about
good things and the good Word.
You are the place where I sang my first solo,
I came to you to be in a play as an angel with a halo.
You are the place I went to be recognized for that important day,
I came to you to say, “I have graduated, soon I will be going away.”
You are the place where from college I was welcomed back home,
I came to you whenever I felt really alone.
You are the place where missionaries came to tell stories of their work,
I came to you and just sat until I felt the Holy Spirit give me a jerk.
You are the place where I said goodbye to ones
that God called to serve Him alone,
I came to you to say goodbye to ones that God called home.
You are the place where I came to rededicate my life,
I came to you ready to be a wife.
You have been there for me without fail,
You are a very big part of my memory,
without you there would be nothing to tell.
I look back at you now and see how much of me you are,
I look ahead and realize in my eyes you will always be a star.
You are the place that people call the ALTAR,
I come to you in hope to find strength not to falter.
Your were built by hands of men for people to come and see,
You will always be cherished because of the gifts you have given to me.


So I say church, what is it to me? It is not just old worn out tattered memories, it is God’s people, and that is where I lost my focus. I have mistaken God’s church for the walls and the carpet. It is okay to keep my memories, but I must stay focused on what God is doing at First Baptist Frisco in the future. I know that the future can sometimes depend on the past, but so can the demise of the future depend on the past. We are here to do only one thing and that is to bring future Glory to God. I am guilty and I wonder how many will stand with me and say also that the only glorying that we have been doing is comfortably feeding off of our memories.

Amy Hosp
July 2000

What a Storm

This morning at about 6:30ish I had just woken up and I was

so excited about going back to sleep becasue I heard it beginning to rain. Then all of a sudden I heard what sounded like rocks being thrown at my windows. It was so loud it was scary. Well, so much for sleeping. Here are some pictures from the storm. I haven't seen hail like this since a storm back in the early 90's. Hate to think about what my car is going to look like.