2023 New Year Blog

 

New Year Blog 2023 Here We Go! Already a week into 2023 and it seems like it was yesterday, and we were celebrating the New Year. Actually, I was in bed asleep by 10:00 on New Year’s Eve and didn’t celebrate 2023 till I was having my coffee and quiet time with God early on New Year’s Day! There you go, my confession and admittance that I am old and need my sleep. I would like to start out this year with a few thoughts for us to chew on, contemplate and ask ourselves as we walk this journey called 2023, reminding ourselves to remain vertically focused on Jesus, spend thoughtful time with our Papa God and always elevate the Holy Spirit to execute every aspect of life. So, if you have some time, read on and I pray you are encouraged, challenged, and reminded of how important your life is to Him. I heard this quote recently “By the time you desire a drink because you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated.” After thinking through that I realized that the same concept applies across all aspects of our human existence. As with seeking wisdom, by the time you’re seeking, you’re already lost. Mentally you’ll cross the line before you spiritually give it over to Him. That will always cause you to trip. Emotionally spent from the time we refused to relent, is always the result of being heavily burdened and continuing to carry it ourselves. ________________ “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” - Proverbs 19:21 Stop going your own way Physically, Spiritually, Mentally and Emotionally. You’ll become a dehydrated, empty-headed, lost, line crossing, heavy ladened individual that goes your way instead of His! ________________ “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” -Romans 12:2 That takes a mind shift from Preparing Your Plan to Planning to be Prepared to go God’s path and not yours! That’s the true application of HUPOTASSO, a Greek word which means to submit and get in proper alignment. ________________ “May it be thine will and not mine!” Jesus own words: Pretty good model to follow. I am not a big new year’s resolution maker, because I know I’ll fail miserably in keeping it and will only disappoint myself. However, I do like to pick a word at the beginning of the year and elevate it, so that I remember it throughout the year. It’s a word that has meaning and can encourage you year long. My word for 2023 is “Yet”. I want to be reminded that my Yet needs to be an “in spite of” and not an “excuse for”. I pray that Habakkuk 3:17-19 would ring in my ears, be believed in my heart, and lived out through my obedience in life, in spite of the struggles, storms and difficulties (vs. 17) that may arise around me. That Yet (In Spite Of), I will rejoice in the Lord and take joy in my God. (vs. 18) ________________ “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 YET I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 GOD, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer; He makes me tread on my high places.” - Habakkuk 3:17-19

Director Femi with Equipment in the Warehouse

We have so much to be thankful for over this past year and God continued with the blessings up to the end. One such blessing was to finally get the shipment of baseball equipment we sent back in November of 2021 out of customs storage and into the hands of Double T Baseball and Softball Club. Did you catch that? It was in a Nigerian warehouse for over a year before we got it paid for and cleared to be issued to the players and coaches across Nigeria. As you can see from the pictures below, the gifts of donated equipment were greatly appreciated and used for His glory at a recent tournament hosted by Double T.

Equipment being handed out to the players

Joy on the faces of the players

Hundreds of kids participated in the tournament.

We also were able to help a newly forming youth hockey team in the town of Vukovar, a Croatian town on the border of Serbia. The town was heavily damaged by the war in 1990’s and still has not completely recovered. It was such a blessing to have Neven prepare a box of the hockey equipment we have stored in our warehouse in Croatia. We continue to add to the number of people God opens the door of opportunity to bless those around the world.

Neven packing up the gear

Hockey gloves carefully matched and packed

We are excited about the next step we are taking out at HiS Place, our local ministry home in Alvin, Texas, a 10-acre plot of land. As most of you know, we Have made HiS Place a home for many animals and reptiles that we have built stables, pastures and enclosures for, allowing people to come out and enjoy some time out in the country to enjoy some of God's creatures. We have all the drawings, surveys and permits completed, and now it’s time for the next step: to move dirt that will prepare the property for better drainage, building the warehouse and chapel and to make the entire acreage usable for ministry.    We will be creating a fishing pond that will also be for retention for the entire property. We will be using the dirt from the pond to build up and slope the property properly, so it will drain after the Texas downpours that happen regularly. The rest of the dirt will be used to build up the foundations for the warehouse and chapel, raise the ½ mile loop around the outside of the property for prayer walks and hayrides and crown and slope the multipurpose field. Once that step is complete, we will be able to use the entire property for His purpose and that is to share it with ministries, churches and individuals who can come out and enjoy a piece of God’s Garden and feel His presence. It will also take us to the additional steps for building the warehouse for the equipment and a chapel to worship in, but those steps are completely up to God and in His timing. We have prayed for His illuminated path, and He has shown us what that is; now we need to travel that path at His pace, taking it one step at a time and leaving HiS Print with every step we have take. Please join us in prayer for this next step to be completed. To make that step happen we need $72,000 and currently God has raised $40,000 toward financing that step and we are praising God for what He has done.

Property Plans

Ariel shot of the property at HiS Place

Before I let you go, I recently heard the song “Fear is a Liar”, by Zach Williams. It’s a great song and although I had heard it many times over the years, the song struck me differently this time, as I listened to the words. Like the song proclaims, Fear is real and can stop us in our tracks. It’s when we don’t give that fear over to Him that we make God out to be a liar through our lack of trust. So, when Fear enters your thought process, remember His Word is full of truth and promises that tell us He’s got It and has Us in the palm of His hand. I don’t want to make Him out to be a liar by not trusting in Him, Do You? Take it all to Him and walk in the Freedom of knowing He will never leave you or forsake you HE DID IT for Us! so, Let’s Do IT for Others!   Have a wonderful God filled day and year! Let’s Do IT in 2023 David