Fall Fun!

The elections are tomorrow. It is definitely the biggest election of my lifetime, and most assuredly, the most important. But we also know that God is STILL on His throne, and He is STILL in control. So, no matter what happens, it is for our good and for His glory. We also know that prayer DOES change things, so I ask each and everyone of you to be on your knees asking God to give us as Christians another chance. II Chronicles 7:14 still has power if only we could let go of our pride. We are having a Prayer Vigil for National Revival tonight in our county put on by my husband and Pastor of McDonald Baptist Church. It will be from 7 - 8 p.m. EST. So if you would like, pray with us at this same time and lets see God work in our lives!

On Thursday, we had a Senior Citizens pitch-in at church and the kids and I sang for them. But the great thing about it was that the kids wanted their faces painted, so they got to sing looking all cute and scary. (everyone except Rachel and Grace, of course they are too BIG for that kind of stuff) We had a great time!

Well, we had a great time this weekend with our Fall Festival! We had games of all sorts, face painting (done by me), cotton candy, a hay ride, and some great food! Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we had a great time of fellowship.

~Sonya

Its been 1 year!

I know its been awhile. Things have finally started to slow down.....a little. We have had a very busy summer, and year for that matter. The Lord has blessed us with 1 year at McDonald Baptist Church, and I pray that we are blessed with many more to come. It has truely been a great year!

The kids started school in August, and we sent them to Trinity for the first month, but unfortunately we were unable to keep it up. So, we are back to homeschooling again! It has really been an eye opener for me though. I thought that taking them to school was going to be a help but it turned out to be rather hectic. I am actually enjoying homeschooling again! I didn't realize what a joy it is to be home! The kids have taken it pretty well too.

They took the CAT test last week, and they did very well. Rachel actually scored 10th grade level on all subjects and College level in Language! Overall, I was very pleased! I thank the Lord for the wonderful kids He has given to us!

This month is World Hunger month. It is hard for us to fathom in our land of plenty, that there are actually people in the world who are starving. I pray that this month would make us more mindful of other's needs and that we would put others before ourselves as Christ has commanded.

James will be preaching revival at Little Horse Creek Baptist Church at the end of this month. We are excited! This will be his first revival since we moved to Georgia, and we are looking forward to it. James preached an excellent sermon Sunday morning stating the effects that revival will have on our lives; it will cause us to seek after God, seek to make Him Lord over all,

By the way, there is a new show on Fox News Channel on Saturday and Sunday nights at 8 pm EST. It is the Mike Huckabee Show. We watched it last night, and I am glad that he is able to be on national tv and express his views. Keep up the good work, Huckabee!

I hope everyone gets the chance to see the new movie Fireproof. It will have a dramatic effect on your life, I promise you that! If you know of anyone who is struggling in their marriage, please take them to see it, because I believe God is going to use this movie to change lives. It is a must see!!

~Sonya

Gearing up for Revival!

We have had a full summer of events. Starting with the Southern Baptist Convention, seeing family in Indiana, and being in the Flood of ‘08 while we were in Indiana, it has definitely been eventful. But we have definitely had fun! The Flood will certainly be talked about for generations to come. We lived in that area for over 30 years and we never had a flood of that magnitude!

When we returned from Indiana, we had Vacation Bible School. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and our kids made some new friends. I hope and pray that what the children learned will grow in their hearts and one day give them a desire to know more about God and His word.

Next, we took the kids to an Atlanta Braves game. We are great fans of the Braves, win or lose! And we did lose this game, but we had a great time being a part of the action! Go Braves!!!

On July 4th we spent the day with some of our friends from church. That night they put on a great fireworks display. Thanks Bobby, Tim, and James!!

We have had a wonderful summer and I hate to see it come to an end. It seems that summer doesn’t last as long as it used to when I was a kid. I don’t think we realize how quick life is until we are older. Then, most of life has passed us by. Each of us need to make every day count for Christ.

We are getting ready for Revival at our church next Sunday and today James preached an excellent sermon on what Revival really is. Most of us tend to think that we don’t need revival and that it is for dirty, rotten sinners. Don’t get me wrong, it is for “those” as well. But if all of us were truthful, we would say that we are all rotten sinners! But we all want to stay on our high horse and not acknowledge that we are scum without Christ. True revival is seeing God for who He is, LORD of all, and seeing ourselves for who we really are, rotten sinners, and humbling ourselves before the Almighty God! THEN we will most definitely see a revival like none we have seen before! Oh, that we could have a revival that, like the Flood of ‘08, would be talked about for generations to come! But it must first begin in my heart and yours. We must be willing to get rid of our proud, stony hearts and bow before the King of kings, and allow the Holy Spirit free reign in our lives. Christians have become so cold and indifferent to the things of God. We need to return to our first love, to the ONE who first loved us, who loved us WHILE we were still sinners. We have become so busy with OUR lives that we have forgotten that our purpose is not SELF, but to glorify GOD!

I hope that you will pray with me, “LORD, create in me a clean heart, and RENEW a right spirit within me. Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation. Oh, LORD pour out Your Spirit among us and forgive us, for we are nothing without You.” LORD, send a Revival and let it begin with me!

“Be still, and know that I am God.” -Psalm 46:10
~Sonya

Confederate Heritage Tour

While my parents (James) were here visiting, we spent much time touring the area. This area is rich in history, both the War of Independence and the War Between the States. Here are some pictures of our family Confederate Heritage Tour.

Reb's Birthday

Just trying to catch up a little with the events in our lives. We have been so busy that we haven't had much time to post. Here is Reb's 6th birthday, which was April 9th. It's hard to believe he has turned 6. He is about to finish up T-ball and we are looking forward to starting the pitching machine league next year. He is doing well and continueing to improve.

New Ride

God has seen fit to bless our family with a new van. It is an 07 Heavy Duty Ford Econoline 12 passenger van. We are excited that the Lord provided it for us. June we will be making a trip to Indianapolis to the Southern Baptist Convention. So, we got it just at the right time. Plus we needed it this fall as the kids will be starting school at Trinity Christian Academy. Now if only the gas prices would go down.

Braves Season Opener

Our family is excited that baseball is back in season. We have anticipated the start of another year and are looking forward to a great year by the Atlanta Braves. Although they are not picked to win the Division we are confident they have a great team and a great chance to make a strong run for the title.

Tomorrow night is the Braves first game of the year against the Washington Nationals in their new ballpark. Tim Hudson is scheduled to start and President Bush will be throwing out the first pitch. It will be televised on ESPN and begins at 8:05 p.m.

Brown Family Easter Pictures

I (James) am so thankful for my family. They are my inspiration. Here is our family picture at McDonald Baptist Church before our Easter service.

My beautiful bride of 15 years and myself.

The kids at our home right before we head off to church.
Maggie and Clara getting a little suger boost after our worship service.

2008 Church Easter Event

Some of the kids having fun at our church Easter egg hunt and fellowship.

Screven County's Future All-Star

Screven County has a couple claims to fame in professional baseball. Bucky Dent, the former NY Yankees shortstop and the Detroit Tigers pitcher, Macay McBride are from here. However, they better watch out cause there is a new star on the rise.

Here is Reb at his baseball tryouts.

Here he is in action at his team's first practice.

Another Year Older!

Well, James is now another year older!! For a few months I can say he is 7 years older than me!

We had a birthday party for him at church tonight, and everyone did an outstanding job of making it such a success! We had a great time! Happy Birthday Honey!!!

~Sonya

The Hard Truth

After 15 years of marriage it doesn’t seem like we have scratched the surface in learning about marriage. During most of those years, our education on the subject came mostly from experience, trial and error, and watching others. During the last year Sonya and I have been reading a lot on the subject and discussing the subject together. It’s amazing how much one does not know even after 14 years.

I have learned more in the last year than the first 14 combined. It’s kind of sad really. The church is lacking so much in the area of discipleship and many Christians are suffering for it. What’s even more startling is that we were not on the lower end of the scale.
Most other Christian couples, and even those in ministry, are worse off than we were. This is by no means to say that we have arrived. It’s a humbling experience when a little knowledge only shows how ignorant you are.

Yet, in our self-assessment, we dishonestly tell everyone how great our marriages are. This is not the present reality in most Christian marriages. We have settled for “staying together” as the definition of a great marriage. I believe God had more than this in mind when He instituted marriage.

In studying marriage, I have been struck with the high standards we men are called to in the Word of God. Just think about what Paul commanded husbands to be when he wrote:

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.” Ephesians 5:25-31 (KJV)

We men like to emphasize and linger on verse 24 in this same chapter, along with similar verses, but I think we would do our marriage greater good if we would jump into Ephesians 5:25-31 and discover what it truly means to be a loving leader of the helpers God has given us for our completion. If we had more men fulfilling this passage written to husbands we wouldn’t have to reiterate verse 24 like a broken record.

I am by no means saying that the relationship depends all on the man. Many people like to focus on one extreme or the other. Some put all the emphasis, or blame, on the man or the woman. Truth is, it takes both the man and the woman desiring to glorify God to make a successful marriage.

However, many times, especially in fundamentalist circles, the man gets a free ride to fail in what God has called us to be while the woman receives all the condemnation for being married to a Satian (Satan-like) husband rather than a Christian (Christ-like) husband.

Men, think about it. Are we attempting to lovingly lead our wives as Christ would lead the church? Or, are we burdening our wives like Satan does the world?

~James

New Day Resolutions

Can you believe it’s 2008? This year has went by so quickly, but what year hasn’t? I’m sure many people have made the traditional “New Year’s Resolutions”, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with making resolutions, as long as we try to keep them! But that is where we go wrong. We have a lot of good intentions, but that is usually where it stops. There is an old saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I want to have more than just “good intentions”. I want my life to count for something. We all do. But in order to do so, I think we need to take a closer look at what God expects of us when it comes to resolutions. Paul said it best when he said, “I die daily.” It sounds to me that he made a new resolution every single day to follow after righteousness. Are we so much better than Paul the Apostle that we think we can make a resolution once a year and think that everything is going to be okay? I think not! Our hearts are so wicked that even when we try to do everything for the right reasons, we fail. God MUST have control of our lives in order for us to succeed. He MUST be Lord of our lives and our homes. And we MUST be willing to give Him our lives each and every day. Nothing less will do. So, tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, and for everyday that God blesses us with, let us purpose in our hearts that we are going to make a “New Day Resolution” to give Him our ALL.

Make each day count!

~Sonya