Las Conchas Fire - UPDATED!

Taken July 4th at 8:30 PM

Picture from our house last Thursday June 30th.

This blog is a little different then most of our blogs. It is more a plea for prayer for all those who are affected by this fire. With so many fires in our nation right now, there are 24 fires in our state alone. 

Pray for all those who live in the Los Alamos area. Pray for all those risking their lives to fight this and other fires.

Below are some pictures I took, that show the eerie beauty in the beast of the blaze. The video was taken by a youtube user.

 LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - A wildfire that is threatening the nation's premier nuclear weapons laboratory and a community in northern New Mexico is poised to become the largest fire in state history.

The fire near Los Alamos has charred nearly 145 square miles, or 92,735 acres. The blaze has been growing by tens of thousands of acres a day.

It's close to surpassing New Mexico's largest fire, the Dry Lakes fire.

That blaze charred more than 94,000 acres in the Gila National Forest in 2003. Crews have managed to contain only 3 percent of the fire near Los Alamos.

They're bracing for winds that could gust up to 40 mph Thursday afternoon. Fire information officer Sandra Lopez says crews are dealing with rugged, steep country, hot temperatures and erratic winds.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Pretty Amazing

This is what it looked like at our house yesterday.

This is not dust, its smoke.

This was from the first night.

If you look close you can see the flames. This is 30+ miles away

This was about 2 hours after the fire started.

First Baby Pictures! -UPDATED!!

We had our first ultrasound and were able to see our tiny baby and hear the baby's heart beat. Now granted it is just the very early stages of the pregnancy so the pictures might not seem like much, but to us it was so precious!

 We were a little nervous about this doctors visit. I think until you know for sure that everything is going good, every little thing makes you worry. But once they told us everything looked good we were able to relax and enjoy this season of our life.

Thank the Lord everything looks very healthy! We cant wait to find out if our little baby is a boy or girl!

We found out that we are 6 weeks along and have an estimated due date of February 21st

We hopefully will have the sound of the heartbeat up soon.

Thank you all for your prayers!

AND BABY MAKES THREE!!!!

IT'S OFFICIAL!

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!!!

WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!

WE WILL FILL YOU IN MORE WITH DETAILS AS WE GET THEM!




Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Psalm 127:3

Bake Sale!!

Its Bake Sale Time!!

Samantha and I were given the task of being the head counselors for our church group this year. It is just another area that God, has opened the door for us. Pray that we would walk through this door and every door, humbly and with a servants heart.

Each new experience can be a little scary.  With all the paperwork and planning. It sure can be overwhelming. It is truly a great responsibility. 

Knowing that if I serve God and give him my best and live to try to reach teens (and adults) for the Lord, that He can and will save them, but at the same time if I just get comfortable, and put my life into cruse control, many souls will be lost, and their blood will be on my hands.

 Their soul is my responsibility.

 With all this in mind, I accept the role and responsibility that the Lord has given us, with a humbled heart, knowing that it is preparing us for the future ministries God would have us to be in. Knowing that it is preparing us for our future babies.

NOW, OFF TO THE BAKE SALE!

We recently had a bake sale to try and raise money for our young people to go to Bible Camp. This year instead of having a camp for all ages, it was split up into two age groups. 8-12 and 13-18.

We set up two stands, one at Walmart and the other at Lowes Supersave. Samantha and I as well as the older kids were at Supersave. While the counselors and kids who were going to the other camp set up at Walmart.

This was quite the experience.
 I had never participated in a bake sale but it was actually pretty fun. We had so many people from our church bake things, it made it pretty easy on us, because there was quite a bit to choose from.


We needed three tables to hold all the different foods.

Sweet Kids Make All the Difference

I was so blessed by our group of kids. They really did a great job! They had such a sweet spirit. They did what we asked of them happily! We had some of the girls holding signs and some of the guys passing out tracts. I think in all we must of passed out 600-800 tracts in about 4 hours.

It was actually pretty neat to see how people responded to our group of kids. There were comments of how nice the kids looked. A few people would just donate money, with the comments "I will support what you guys are doing."

 We were able to make quite a bit of money toward camp. And I think our kids learned that everything they do can have a spiritual impact. Soul-winning can be done everywhere they go. Not just on Saturday mornings or Thursday night.

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
I Corinthians 10:31

It's all about presentation!

Holding the Sign!

My biggest prayer in regards to this camp is that, first, kids would get saved, and second, that kids would dedicate their lives to Christ.

Please pray that this camp would be a life changing event for all who go.

Graduation Day!

This past Sunday I received my diploma from Faith Bible Institute.

I had actually completed the 3 year course back at the end of 2009, but because there was no other students graduating at the time, they decided to put it off a year, then they realized that the next year there would be a few more graduating so they had it this year.

Needless to say I was ok with all of this, I have never been one who likes to be in front of the crowd, but rather behind the camera/keyboard. Yet in recent years the Lord has opened many doors for me to preach at our home church and at other churches. 

It's as if God is saying "Adam, you know when you surrendered your life to me, well part of that surrender was to come out of your shell and step out by faith and be used."

In addition to those graduating from Faith Bible Institue, there was also a High School Graduate from the Christian Academy, and two young people that were graduation from the reading program.

Congratulations to all those who graduated this year! You did a great job! 

Graduating from Faith Bible Institue is a great accomplishment. But the biggest blessing is not the diploma, but instead the tremendous amount of Bible knowledge I was able to learn. 


But it doesn't stop there, one of the biggest reasons it was a great blessing is because of all the practical knowledge/application that you learn. I have found over and over that what I have learned I  use every day in the ministry. 


Through out this three year course, you read every Word in the Bible and cover every book of the Bible in class. The classes are exciting as well as informative.


I have enjoyed it so much that I am currently taking these classes again as an auditing student while Samantha completes her last few semesters before she graduates.

I highly recommend this institute to every church. If you have laymen who want to grow in the Lord. If you have young people who are not sure/ready for college. If you have church workers who want to expand their knowledge for the Word of God. New converts who need to be ground in the truth. I recommend you sign up for a satellite school. Visit their website for more info.

These classes transfer to Bible Colleges like West Coast Baptist College. 

Mom, Me, Alex

Dad, Me, Alex

I was very blessed to be apart of this three year course. And I know if you are privileged to take it, you will be too.

I am so grateful for the love and support of my wife!

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15

Derrick's Decision

Derrick Freeman is going to college to become an accountant, but is college really God's will for him? If not, he could be faced with the possibility of giving up his future, his career, and even the chance to find the right wife. When God's answer comes, Derrick realizes he must make one of the biggest decisions of his entire life.

Decisions, Decision, Decisions!!!

They face us every day. None seem to be as overwhelming as should I go to college or should I not. Many of us have thought, where am I going to find my spouse, if I don't go off to college. Then we remember the testimony of so many who have told us stories about how they dated at college and met their spouse. In our hearts and minds we being to think, maybe thats where I need to go, to college.

If college is God's perfect will for your life, by all means do not hesitate, follow God. Bible college can be a great asset. It can help shape and instill character into you. It can help you learn the in's and out's of ministry. It can be a great blessing. Yes, God could lead you to the perfect one at college. All of these are not the issue, the issue is do you have to go looking for the one, or could God bring you the one right where you are. If you are considering college as a means to an end, (the end of singleness), then may I present to you a little book called Derrick's Decision .

Could God really being me a spouse in my little home town? In my little home church? Our answer is yes!

That is exactly what God did for Samantha and Myself. 

Start at the begging (first blog) and follow Our Journey of how God brought us together. 

It truly was a Divine Betrothal.

Decisions of Our Own

 I knew in my heart I was right in God's perfect will. I had thought about college, but knew there wasn't a peace. Offers to work at other churches came and still no peace. I knew I was where God wanted me, and I am so grateful I stayed. It was here at home that God did a personal revival in my own heart, and helped me get some things straight.

On the other hand God had to move Samantha away for a while to do the same work in her that he was doing in me. God had to take Samantha to be a counselor at Apache Creek Youth and Deaf Ranch, for the summer. Which truly allowed her to surrender to God.


 It was truly amazing how fast God started working when both Samantha and I surrendered to God's will for our life. When we quit worrying about who and when and how come, ect. But rather just said "Ok, God your will be done!, Your way is always best!"


 Only now that we are married, and we review how God was working in our lives at the time, do we see just how amazing it is.

The more I read and study, the more I see things that I wish I would of done different, but through God's amazing guidance, as both Samantha and Myself gave everything to God, HE worked it out amazingly in his perfect way and His perfect time.

If you want to avoid the hurt, do it God's way.

You might be thinking how do I even know what God's will for my life is?

Romans 12:1-2 tells how to find the will of God for our life. In these verses we find God's prerequisite for revealing His perfect will.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

In these verses we have a picture of the almighty God, begging us. Begging us to do what? To present your body as a living sacrifice. This means that each day of our life we are to give our life to God. Much the same way as you would give and award or a gift to someone.

Think of it this way, if you were going to give a gift, you wouldn't give it to them in some old dirty wrapping paper. You would want to dress it up. If you gave it to them all dirty and tattered, it would be like telling them, "I didn't really want to give this to you." "You are not worth it."

God says that our bodies, while there is life in them, should be presented daily to him. How? As a living sacrifice. We ought to be giving him our best. Are you sacrificing daily for the Lord?

Holy

This means with all purity. Not with what we consider pure, but with what God considers pure. His standard is perfection. If we are not careful we will begin to compare ourselves with others. Then based on that comparison we will decide if we are doing good or not. The only bad part about that is that is not God''s standard. And we can always look for someone who is further away from Christ then us, thus making us feel better about our self, while at the same time not being any more holy.

Acceptable Unto God

Along the same lines. We are to find out what God says is acceptable. What God says is right, not what we think is right. Our heart might say I'm doing pretty good. But God says, you are to be acceptable unto him.  We are to be what God expects us to be.

Which is your reasonable service.

God says this is the least that you should do. After all he has done for you. This is our responsible service. This is the only thing that makes sense to do.

With all that Christ has done for us. His death on the cross for us so that we could have a home in heaven, so that we could have life and have it more abundantly. Knowing that soon the rapture will happen and we will all give an account for what we did with our life. God says not only is it what you need to do, but it is the least that you should do for all that he has done for you. God gave his life for you, you should give your life for him!

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Be not conformed, Be Transformed

What is the difference between conformed and transformed?

Conformed is to be pressed or pressured. Pressured by the world.
Think of it like play-doh molds. You stick the lump of play-doh in the mold and press hard and out comes a conformed peace of play-doh, the spitting image. 


The pressures of the world, seem to push and push, and try to make us like them. All throughout our society the goal of Satan is to make us Christians like he world. Though things like TV, Movies, Music, Magazines, Billboards, ect. Everything is telling us, dress this way, act this way, be this way, if not you are not cool. Yet God expects us to be different. Can the lost tell we are Christians? 

Transformed is to be changed from the inside out. Like a butterfly in a cocoon. The  greek word used in the Bible for transform is metamorphoō which is where we get the word metamorphosis. We are to to be constantly transformed by the renewing of our mind. 

As we fill our hearts and minds with the Word of God, it begins to purge us, and shape us into what Christ would have us to be, Holy.

This is the Goal of God, while the devil wants you to be like the world, God wants you to be set apart and holy. To be not like the world. 


So many Christians say that Jesus changed their life, and yet, their lifestyle does not bear witness of that. They still watch the same things, listen to the same things, dress the same way, go to the same places.

That ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God

Then God will show to us what is that good, acceptable and perfect will, that he has for us. God's desire is for us to know his perfect will. But if our hearts our not focused and centered on him, if he were to show us that perfect will, we would run. 

The best way to find the will of God is to let God discern your heart, intentions and motives. Seek God and ask him to reveal any hidden sin in your life.
Seek the guidance and wisdom of your authorities. (Parents and Pastor) and let them help you make the decisions.


Then...

Surrender to it, before you know what it is!