Hey Everybody! We’re finally getting our newsletter out! Life has been so crazy that it’s been a challenge to find the time to type this up but here it is. Love you guys!
What’s New ~ Our music for one! We are currently working on our second album. This new project will have seven original songs that we have written and three new hymn arrangements. We also have a brand new flash site thanks to Ezekiel Web Design. Check out all the new features at www.eternityfocus.com. When visiting the site, be sure and click on the New CD Coming Summer of 2008 link to read about how this new album is coming along.
Going Deeper. . . into our personal lives ~ May has been super busy for all of us. Our drummer, Autumn Hoffman, graduated with her Bachelors from Manhattan Christian College (yeah and she’s only 19)! She has decided to hold off on further university studies for a year so that she can tour with us in 08-09! Janika had her birthday in the middle of the month. She is looking forward to her last year of High School this coming fall! Danika has completed her high school education and is super excited about not having to study anymore. Lainika has officially left Jr. High behind and can’t wait to start high school next year. Both Danika and Lainika had a beautiful graduation ceremony on the 19th. Alika and Danika have both decided to hold off on attending college so that we will still be able to minister every weekend. We all keep busy with our jobs during the week and have frequented the studio several times this month. Some of the biggest news we have this month might be that we are now car shopping. We arrived home from a Family Camp to find the huge tree that used to be in our front yard was now blocking the entire road, totally crushing our car. Living in Kansas has its pros and cons. Tornadoes/strong winds would be one of the cons. Thankfully, our car was the only thing damaged (beyond repair by the way). God kept all of us and our house safe. We had to cut up the tree the next morning before heading out to minister in South Dakota but it all worked out. God has been so good to us and we are so enjoying this season of our lives!
Focusing on Eternity . . . Devotional ~ While we were in Kansas City during one of our trips to the studio we had the opportunity to hang out with our cousin and her new husband at The Cheesecake Factory. The food was fabulous but obviously the desert was to die for! We had over five different flavors of cheesecake served to us and enjoyed every single one. Later that week, while listening to the radio, we heard a thought provoking message from www.notreligion.com. The radio commercial told us that during the time it took us to eat our cheesecake, nearly twenty Christians had been martyred for their faith in Christ. In America, we use the phrase “to die for” rather flippantly but Christians dealing with the reality of intense persecution don’t take the matter of dieing lightly at all. They are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the Savior of their souls. Their devotion to Christ is something that causes them to sometimes forsake family, friends and all they know. Hearing that thirty second radio blurp caused us to ask ourselves if we really took our faith seriously. They are giving their very lives for their belief in Christ while we maybe give God twenty minutes of our time. They are having to deal with the loss of family and friends while we struggle to have a pleasant conversation with ours. They are leaving behind old lifestyles while we struggle with a change in weather. We are told in Scripture that part of the Christian life is “to die daily” to give up all things sinful in order to live a righteous life. {John 9:23-25} However, we are often times unwilling to give even the smallest amount of time to God. Unwilling to tell lost loved ones about God’s amazing grace because we are unsure of what they may think of us. Unwilling to quit filling our lives with sinful pleasures (questionable music, movies, TV, friendships, pastimes ect…) Jesus gave His all for us. He felt that we were To Die For… do we feel the same about Him?