Hey Everyone!
Wow, 2009 is already upon us and time is ticking at an even faster pace than last year. OK, not really, but it sure seems that way sometimes. So far this year God has been amazing us, which isn’t out of the ordinary. He has blessed us with a new ministry opportunity and we are so excited to hear how He will use this for His glory. Check out “What’s New” to see what I’m talking about.
What’s New ~ We have a music video for God Are You There! You can go to the home page of our website www.eternityfocus.com and check it out. As many of you know, during concerts/services we show mini-movies that correlate with the songs that we sing. The continual challenge that we faced was finding movies to go along with the songs we had written. While browsing Worship House Media’s website one afternoon, Dad decided to contact one of the producers that was showcased on the site. We emailed Gary from Floodgate Productions (www.floodgateproductions.com) and asked him all sorts of questions about church media. He was very helpful and we sent him some of the songs we were thinking of making movies for. Gary referred us to a filmmaker friend of his named Lee (you can check out Lee’s website at www.eleven72.com). We decided to start with God Are You There and began brainstorming. God used Lee’s creative genius and prior experience to create this inspiring work. When the video was complete, Lee and Gary helped us promote the production and it is now available on www.worshiphousemedia.com and www.sermonspice.com. God has totally taken this farther than we could have ever imagined. Who would have thought that we would ever do anything like this. The truth is, we didn’t. God worked all of this out and all the glory goes to Him! We love how the video came out and we love the message that is portrayed through the media and the music. But mostly, we love having the opportunity to shine God’s light and spread His hope to hurting souls.
Old News . . . what’s been happening ~ We’ve been busy traveling and sharing the songs and testimonies from our new album. Nothing to Lose was released in October and God has been using the message of this music to bring healing, hope and love to hearts across the Mid-West. During our Christmas tour we challenged everyone to “make it more than Christmas”. Jesus made His life mean so much more than Christmas but most of the time we tend to emphasize God only on Sundays, during holidays and hard times. With all that is going on in the world today, we need to be sure and bring God to the forefront everyday (easy to type, hard to live). We are blessed with the burden of sharing Jesus’ life story with churches and communities. We are thankful to all of you for keeping us in your prayers and for supporting this ministry. Because of you, God is allowing the dreams we dare to dream to become realities for His glory. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
Going Deeper . . . into our personal lives ~ Well, where do we start? When you last heard from us, the holidays hadn’t hit yet! So much excitement has happened since then. One beautiful Saturday morning in December Janika, Dad and Lainika decided to go horseback riding. Lainika ended up getting bucked off and she suffered a concussion that left her confused for the rest of the day. Her short term memory was nonexistent for the first couple of hours and we were all praying constantly. Looking back and remembering all the funny things she said it’s comical now, but while we were living those moments, we were all pretty scared. Thankfully, Lainika has made a full recovery and is doing great! The following week, Christmas, was super crazy as we celebrated the birth of our Savior with several family get-togethers and some fabulous food. Alika also celebrated her 20th birthday that week and officially left her teen years behind. By the time 2008 was over, we were all ready for a break. Our family went on vacation to Wisconsin and we had a fantastic time learning to ski! If you wanted some good laughs, you should have been on the slopes. Wiping out was so painful, not just because your body landed on ice, but because your stomach hurt from laughing so hard. Some of us fell a few more times than others. Danika opted to stay at the resort and take in the water parks rather than go skiing again on the second day. She had bruises for weeks after we got home. As January moved into February we spent several days with our grandfather who was hospitalized because of a heart condition. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. School, work, and singing have been keeping us busy in 2009 and so far it’s been a blast!
Focusing on Eternity . . . devotional ~ Our parents are asked nearly every weekend how they raised us girls to act, dress and live like we do. The answer, it was hard work, tough going because we all put up a fight. In human nature, there is only one thing that is most assuredly counted on, ungodliness, and every human being has an ample share of it inside their heart. The Bible says in Proverbs “To train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” We fought our parents tooth and nail on some issues but they never backed down or caved into our nagging and tantrums (and yes, there were plenty of tantrums.) We aren’t allowed to see most movies or watch certain popular TV shows, listen to secular music or wear any of the revealing clothing options that the culture offers. We have never been in a one on one situation with a guy with no supervision. We didn’t like it most of the time, and we would argue til we were blue in the face that it wasn’t fair… but looking back, seeing the situations that we were spared from and not having to deal with the heartache that befalls the breaking of boundaries, we couldn’t be more thankful to our parents for the stand that they took and are continuing to take. Because of the loving boundaries they have set for us, we can see that most of the stuff that they “shelter” us from would only harm us in the long run. Lately, God has been challenging us to be even more careful about the things we allow ourselves to watch, listen to, wear ect… There have recently been a couple of PG movies that we went to see that I now regret going to. I’m not a better person for having seen these shows and even though some would argue that “nothing was really seen” and “it wasn’t that bad” and “there is a lot worse stuff out there” I no longer lie to myself and say that seeing certain scenes in those movies hasn’t affected me. It has caused me to think impure thoughts and has, in general, damaged my personal relationship with Jesus.
I have asked that He help my thought life improve and help me forget the images that continue to play in my mind and He has been faithful to do that, but it would have been so much easier if I had never gone to the movies in the first place. I’m starting to see why boundaries are so important . . .
The hot topic creating tons of buzz in the news world this week has much to do with Bristol Palin’s statements made on Fox News stating that, “Teens should just wait ten years {before having sex},” and that “abstinence is not realistic.” While I have no idea how hard it would be to go on National Television and request an interview to set the record straight about personal and moral choices, I do know that, whether indirectly or not, the issue of abstinence and the point Bristol made about this lifestyle being unrealistic is true for most teens in todays culture. Now before you delete this email and total write me off, keep reading and you’ll realize the point I’m trying to make. For most teens today, yes, abstinence is unrealistic because no boundaries (physical or otherwise) have been set in their relationships. Or, if boundaries have been set, there have been no practical measures taken to insure that sex before marriage does not occur. Let’s say a guy and girl have an attraction for each other. They start talking and hanging out, getting to know each other and find that they have a lot in common. They start dating, maybe even with the permission/blessing/encouragement of their parents, but no boundaries are ever set other than “DON’T HAVE SEX”. The couple may spend hours alone and will undoubtedly grow closer to one another emotionally and physically. Maybe they don’t mean for “it” to happen but it does. Why? Because they were allowed to be in a situation where sex was likely. Sadly, this is becoming more and more common in the American culture of today. Maybe these teens had been through the “True Love Waits” program at their church, maybe they talked openly and honestly with their parents about their growing relationship, maybe the teens had vowed to each other that they were going to wait for marriage, but they failed. They failed because the bigger issue of purity was not enforced with boundaries. It is unfair to place the expectation of perfection in a physical relationship upon a couple while having totally ignored the bigger issue of purity of the heart and not establishing boundaries in the relationship. The boundaries I’m referring to are ones like, no unchaperoned alone time (I understand that a couple will need to “get to know each other” but instead of talking alone in a car or an empty house, go instead to a restaurant where other people are present but will not bother you and temptation won’t either), no teenage parties (we all know what goes on in those settings) ect… If boundaries like these would have been set and upheld, the situation would have never gotten into hot water.
Instead of taking Bristol Palin’s advice to “just wait ten years” why don’t we see what God would have us do. No where in the Bible does it say “teens should wait ten years to have sex.” Scripture says that “only in the context of marriage between one man and one woman should sex be enjoyed.” Is this attainable for singles today? Is abstinence a hopelessly lost cause because of the today’s culture? No, absolutely not, we are not called to follow the principles that have been established (or in this case disregarded) by popular culture. Instead, we are called to live according to Scriptural principles given by God. God has not only called us to abstinence but He has call us to purity of mind, heart and body. Only after we have grasped and embraced this truth, proving to God and those around us that we are taking this seriously by placing and practicing practical boundaries in our relationships will we ever have the hope of maintaining the lifestyle that God has called us to. And even then, we will stumble, “But He{Christ} said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12: 9. We can’t do this on our own, it is only by the power of Christ at work within our hearts that allows and enables us to live a life that will bring Him glory. And really, bringing glory to God is the only purpose in life worth living for. It’s not easy or popular, but the benefits are beyond imagination, both in this life and the one to come. If we can press on in the pursuit of purity, and bring glory to God in our relationships, our lives will not only be less complicated in the long run but more than that, they will be examples to those watching. When we depend totally upon Christ, He will instill us with His power at the point of our weakness, causing us to make right, moral choices and bring glory and honor to Him.