He's Home!

For those of you that visited me and read my last posting, you know that my son, Alex, went on his first mission trip to Honduras. Guess what? He's home - but he is not the same young man. He drew closer God, saw things he didn't understand, and shared his faith in a ways he'd never dreamed! Alex fell in love with the people of Honduras. The missions team flew back into Columbia, SC on Tuesday, July 29. The next morning Alex woke up with the expected cultural shock. He wanted to be back in Honduras. I say "expected" because now Honduras will always be a part of Alex and his yearning to return will always keep his heart in prayer for those that he met, ministered to and fell in love with.

• As always God has something to teach us through our children. Alex taught me that I'm quite often asking the wrong questions in life. His first night in Honduras, he and the rest of the team fell asleep pondering, "Why God would bless us so much - especially materially - here in the US and not bless the children of Honduras in the same way? He woke up the next morning to the realization that God was blessing the children of Honduras and he sent this team to be His hands and feet. I still pondered the question I received in the e-mail from that evening (we got daily e-mail updates - love technology!) Over 900 people in Honduras accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior last week! When Alex shared this with me - I was blown away and then I realized I'm asking the wrong questions. God loves all of His children and commands us to love our neighbor -(in Seminary my professor called this the 11th commandment.) The questions is not "Why doesn't God bless all of His children equally?" First, He is God and He is not required to answer us ... but because He loves us ... He answers. Now, I know that God is omnipresent - He is everywhere - but He is also a God of natural law and proximity; therefore, the better questions is: "If God is enthroned upon High and we are the ones close to the people of Honduras, then why do they have to do without? What am I doing about their poverty?" We are the ones God put here to reach the poor. His Holy Word teaches us that the poor will always be among us ... So, what will I do with that! What will you do with that?
• Alex and I had dinner tonight together - we laughed and talked - it was so nice to have him right across the table from me ... but his heart was in Honduras! To God be the glory!

Thank you all for your prayers for Alex and the Trinity Baptist Youth Missions team! You reached some wonderful people through their hands and feet last week. You'll see them in Heaven! Thank you as always for your precious friendship - that is what makes me so blessed! I love you all! Let me hear from you! Blessings! Because He lives, cherie

Here I Am To Worship

Worship - a difficult word to define, yet, an action that should be our life's endeavor! Today, I'd like to share with you my attempt to define worship, but then I'd like to give you an example of this action. Worship is defined (Vine's expository dictionary) as adoration and acquiesces to God - that is being in complete agreement with God, regardless of your circumstances. Horatio Spaffored defined true worship when he penned the words to the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul" after the loss of his daughters to death in a tragic ship accident. When we live our lives in obedience to God, teaching the Gospel to others and seeking holiness in all we do - we are worshipping God. So, with that - do we all worship the same way? The Bible teaches us in the Gospel of John that we worship in Spirit and in Truth. My belief is we don't all worship in the same way, but we all worship in One Truth, and that is worship that is pleasing to God.

I recently had a "crisis of faith." Have any of you ever had one of those? Now, I did not have a crisis with Jesus Christ. I had a crisis with man-made religion. I found my way out of the crisis by God's Biblical formula of being close to Him. It is found in James and Malachi. God says, "Draw close to me and I will draw close to you." While I was in this "crisis of faith" instead of one daily quiet time a day - I turned to two "quiet times" a day. As always I found Jesus Christ faithful to lead me out of my "crisis of faith" well my crisis with man-made religion.
My crisis came when a person questioned my comedy and its purpose in the church (the use of comedy in the church.) My first mistake was giving this person an ear. I never aspired to be a Christian comedienne - it is God's call on my life, and when I do comedy - I'm in agreement with God with His call for my life - so, comedy is my act of worship. I listened to the person question my call and comedy's place in the church. Big mistake - listening to man instead of listening to God's. When I listened to the questions of this person -I began to question comedy myself - which meant I was truly questioning God. I was "beaten up" and hurt. Jesus tenderly reminded me that I must agree with Him and not man - so I did ... I'm now back at doing comedy routines ... And Here I am to worship You Jesus!

Now, I told you I'd like to share an example of worship with you. As I write this entry to you my son, Alex, my seventeen-year-old-hormone-infested teenager is in Honduras. I truly should say, "My young man is in Honduras." He is with his youth group on a mission trip in a third world country. Alex plays the guitar in his youth praise band and he absolutely loves playing the guitar in the praise band! Now, when his youth group was given the opportunity to go on this mission trip, and the praise band was going to lead the worship services in music. Alex never questioned whether he should go or not ... he just signed up. My first reaction was, "God, thank you so much that my son wants to go on a mission trip," and my husband, Mike, and I began to encourage him to go. Then one week from the plane taking off ... the realization set in. My baby boy (he'll always be my baby) was going to a third world country where I would not be able to text him, call him or even yell "Alexander Dayton Nettles" out the front door to get his attention. My husband and I began to question our decision of encouraging Alex to take this mission trip. We began to ask, "Is he old enough? Is he prepared enough?" Is he "enough" of anything? We began to worry, "What if he gets sick? or Will he be safe?"
Then Sunday, July 20, 2008 rolled around. This past Sunday. His praise band was going to lead the music in our church's worship service. They would be playing the songs to be played in Honduras. One of the songs was in Spanish, the official language of Honduras. It was so cool! When the music began to play, tears began to well up in my eyes. I looked up and my 6'3" -160 pound seventeen-year old was strumming his guitar with the music! He was glowing as he began to sway to the music, mouth every word of every song, and play his guitar with all of his heart. A smile enveloped his entire face! I noticed something different about him at that moment. Alex knew he was worshipping God with his talent. That is why my quiet and very reserved son was radiant. It was his act of worship. The tears began to flow down my face as I realized Alex was worshipping God and that when Mike and I encouraged Alex to go on a mission trip we were in agreement with God, and there was no better place for Alex to be in life than in agreement with God. Then I realized that releasing all of the fear and anxiety of Alex taking the mission trip over to God and supporting him was agreement with God ... so at that moment in our church service I began worshipping God ... the best part was my our son led me to worship that day!


Please pray for Alex and the Trinity Baptist Youth Mission trip to Honduras July 22 -29. Thank you all so much for your love and support! I'd never be here without you! i love you all bunches! Because He lives!!!! cherie PS - let me hear from you!

Life's Simple Pleasures: I got new sandals!

Hey Friends!
I got new sandals! Not just any sandals, but the kind of sandals that have the thong that goes between your toes - like the sandals we wore as little girls - you know the real deal! I haven't been able to wear these kind of sandals since I was diagnosed with Rhuematoid Arthritis over 28 years ago. Yes, I was only three when I was diagnosed - so that makes me 31 now! Hee Hee!
I love those kind of sandals that fit between your toes. Every year when the sandals come out I try the same ole thong-style sandal on and try to walk around in them in the store. As usual I keep moving but my shoe does not! It stays stationary because my toes cannot grip the sandal, so I walk right out of it!
However, this year I got a great surprise. We went on vacation a week ago and the week before that I went shopping for some slide on sandals, but to my surprise there they were. A pair of toe-thong style sandals that curve up and grip around your foot. I tried them on and they walked with me! I was so excited! I know it doesn't take much to excite me - but I'm so excited about my new sandals! What a simple pleasure. Have you ever noticed how life's simple pleasures are the best!
We went to the beach last week -my husband, two teenagers (along with 5 of their teenage friends - and I lived to tell the story!) and myself - It was awesome, but one thing that made it even better was my best friend and her family were a few units over from us! It was great being on the beach with my family, but what I loved most was sitting on the beach with my toes digging in the sand, reading a Karen Kingsbury book with my best friend sitting beside me! That's life!
Proverbs 17:17 says "A friend loves at all times!" My friend loved me with my crippled toes digging into the sand and wearing my baseball cap (to prevent wrinkles girls - don't forget you cap!) and skirt-style bathing suit and she still sat beside me! She's been my friend for 46 years (yes, my real age!) and she doesn't ever seem to notice my accumulation of wrinkles or pounds - she just sees me for the friend I am! I see her that way too! God has blessed me with the opporutnity to travel from coast-to-coast this past year with my ministry, but I've had no greater pleasure than to sit on the beach with my best friend! Life's simple pleasures certainly are the best. Do you ever overlook the simple pleasures of life? Like the sunset? Puppy's breathe? A yellow dandelion weed in the hands of your child - picked especially for you? Do you ever forget to thank God for the friendships and the simple pleasures of life? My new sandals have certainly been a reminder to me to thank God for the simple pleasures of life.
In today's fast-paced society it almost seems that we live by: "the person with the most toys wins" however, I disagree with that thought and I believe "that people with friends and people that enjoy life's simple pleasures win ... everyday!
Won't you stop right now and thank God for your friendships and the simple pleasures He has blessed you with today? I just thanked God for my sandals and most of all for .... YOU!
I love you bunches! Let me hear from you all! Blessings! Because He lives, cherie