Haiti Day One of Medical Clinic

I apologize that this post hasn't been done sooner. Our flight out of Haiti got delayed so we missed our connecting flight in Miami to St Louis then flew into St Louis in that last ice storm so we arrived at a hotel in St Louis at 12:45 am after spending 6 hours sitting in Miami airport as standby for the next flight into St Louis!!! Man were we tired and you've never seen four people so glad to see "hot" water so bad in your whole life!! To say that this trip changed us would be an understatement, this trip has totally transformed us and it now consumes our thoughts and we now spend much of our thought process on how to improve it next year!! YES....next year. There is something about it that just becomes a part of you and God puts something in your heart that you just can't shake.

So Day One of Medical......they were so right when they told us that the people would walk miles to get to the church to be seen and that when we arrive people would be asleep in the church having stayed all night just to have a chance to be seen. There were even people all over outside of the church. We in America complain if we have to sit in a Dr's office for more than one hour and these people have walked miles and slept on floors and church pews to have a "CHANCE" to see a medical person!! We had already set up the pharmacy in one of the orphanage rooms and locked it up the day before so we set tables up under the tent and the interpreters started bringing us each a patient. We had Dr John (who grew up in Haiti) who came to the US and is now a Dr in Chicago (and our new best friend!!!), another nurse from Chicago and myself that have had over 20 years of a vast array of medical experience (so we were instructed to see patients, diagnose and treat as well)....you must understand, in Haiti there is no Dr around the corner so for nurses with many years of experience they are as much a Doctor to the Haitians as the Drs are! Two Haitian Doctors who didn't speak a lot of English...which became comical when they wrote on a piece of paper what they wanted Bill and Mandy to dispense in the pharmacy and I ran in to get meds for my patient and Bill hands me the paper and says what does this say.....hahahhahaha!! I said "its wrote in French" LOL! We got that stopped pretty quick since the pharmacists (my husband and my niece) don't read French! We also had a Gyn. Nurse Practitioner which comes in handy when we were dealing with a lot of STD's! I MEAN A LOT!

The first 30 minutes was a bit nerve wracking even though as a nurse from some big hospitals I knew the treatments for things....I had never known the pressure that put on me to actually diagnose someone and provide medication for them! I had a woman in her early 60's that had very high blood pressure, I had given her some medication to dissolve under her tongue to get her blood pressure down, it was still up after about an hour so I gave her another medication and then laid her on the floor of the church as she had arrived with such a bad headache, something that is not uncommon with high blood pressure. After 30 minutes I rechecked her and her blood pressure had gone down significantly so I put her on some blood pressure medications along with a diuretic and had her come back on Wednesday so I could recheck her!! You don't think you make a difference.....until Wednesday this lady comes up to my interpreter pointing at me saying she wants to see me. He said she was the lady that I had saw on Monday. I couldn't believe how much better she looked that I barely recognized her without the stress on her face from her terrible headache and overall not feeling well just a couple days prior. God is good and sometimes He allows us to see the fruition of our efforts!!

I had a mother bring in her two month old infant and said the baby cried all the time. I put my finger near its cheek and sure enough the baby was trying to find it....which is an indicator that the baby was hungry. I asked her if she was breast feeding and she said yes but that she had no breast milk. WHAT??? This poor new baby was literally starving. My niece was hoping she would get to feed a baby but who knew on the first day within the first few hours she would get that opportunity. It took Mandy and I both to get the baby to suck on the bottle and once she started getting milk...she would stop sucking just to smile at Mandy, precious!!!! She completely finished the bottle and we sent more bottles prepared with formula with her to feed the baby. But my heart still aches at what that precious little soul is eating now? So another note in the next years list!! Can's of formula to be given to the mother so that the baby at least has maybe a month of feedings!! 

Almost every child that we saw had parasitic worms and moms would say they would see them in the under ware or on  their bottoms so we treated a lot of parasitic worm infections and then gave the child a month worth of vitamins. Most of the children didn't look anywhere near their stated age from malnutrition to worm infections that have deprived them of the nutrients that their bodies need. When you would go to the bathrooms in the orphanage there was a shower stall and the worms were crawling on the shower floor.....I never wanted bleach so bad in all my life and the Lord provides in mysterious ways, the very next day there was a bottle of bleach in that bathroom and it had been sterilized!! Thank you Lord for the small answers to prayers.

So back to the Pastor's house and I think I mentioned in my first blog posting how there was no hot nor warm water in the house and that it was a stand off between Bill, Mandy and I who would cave and take a cold shower first instead of a sponge bath. Well after the worms and the STD'S Mandy and I fought over the "cold" shower and I was never so glad to take a cold shower in all my life. I had mentioned to our family about my prayer life and how it all of a sudden increased dramatically while that cold water was hitting my body.....my prayers went something like, "SWEEEEET JESSSSUS!!!!" OHHHHH, was that painful but I was scrubbed from head to toe and that's all I cared about! So by day 3 or 4 Dr John and Bill come up with a solution they started boiling water on the stove and then taking it into the bathroom setting in in the tub and sponge bathing with it. Needless to say Bill and I soon became the best bath buddies!! You know couples really should conserve water....wink, wink!!

Just when I thought things couldn't have been any worse than what I saw that day with patients.....tomorrow was yet to come with new greater heartbreaks. 

I often write a scripture or a spiritual thought on our bathroom mirror and a month before we left I had wrote on it for God to do seemingly amazing work through us despite our febile attempts. It was still on our mirror when we got home and I saw that God did just that. He gave us the knowledge, the energy, the health and the supplies to do what we needed to do. Today I've changed the mirror message and it now reads "Sometimes the burden is as heavy as the blessing." Now having been there and walking away with so much that still needs done I felt the "burden is as heavy as the blessing!!"

Haiti Mission The Journey Begins!

Haiti.....and the mission begins!! We entered into this very nervous and apprehensive about what we were going to see and were we strong enough to emotionally take it. We began by staying at the airport Hilton. Perhaps that was the beginning of a mistake before going into a poverty stricken nation. Jake, Mandy (my niece), Bill and I enjoyed the luxury of a beautiful hotel with of course all the amenities of a luxury hotel. We had to get up Saturday morning at 3 am to get over to the airport to catch the first of our two flights. We landed in Miami and waited for a few hours for my dads flight to land and he made it to the boarding just as we were ready to board the plane. Just a tad more stress since we had no idea what to do once we got into Haiti airport. We were packed into the plane like sardines but as we approached Haiti you can see how beautiful the country looks. Just as Jesus said "man looks on the outward appearance but God see's the heart" and this came to a whole new meaning as I looked down and saw what appeared to be a beautiful place only to land to a nation that is so poverty stricken, the streets are so littered with trash as there is no where for it all to go and the people crowd the streets. As we walked from the airport to the van that had come to take us to the Pastors house, people stood outside the security fence yelling at us to look at them and trying to sell us anything and everything. It was so hard to not look at someone talking to you and just walk past them. 

We all piled in the van and our trip up the mountain to Pastor Jean Alix Paul's house began. Mandy had been here before so she had already knew what to expect but Bill, Jake and I were stone silent as we were so overcome with what we were seeing. I have never seen so many people lining the streets that we literally were driving through people. I was so fearful that we were going to hit someone but to the Haitians this is normal and the pedestrian watches for the cars because the cars don't look or stop!! And if traffic stops our driver would just take off down the middle of the road and drive between the oncoming cars and the cars heading in the same direction as us. I really needed a blindfold at this point!! Or blood pressure medicine!! 

We arrived to Pastor Jean Paul's house where he has bunk beds everywhere for all the mission people that come to help and they are wonderful hosts. Our night started with supper and a sort of ground rules for life in Haiti. Don't brush your teeth with the water from the sink and don't wash your face from the water in the sink!! OH LOVELY!! And there is NO hot, not even warm water for showers. Its a cold shower or cold sponge bath. Needless to say Mandy and I were hesitant and opted for the cold sponge bath on Saturday and Sunday (don't worry that will change soon in the next blog post). When using the toilet if its liquid its not to be flushed if its anything other than liquid that can be flushed and luckily they have indoor facilities at their house. 

I knew to always take a anti-diarrheal daily as a precaution when entering into such places as Haiti but not everyone did and by our second day we had two with the hershey squirts!! 

The houses if they are nicer have large stone walls around them with razor barbwire coiled around the top of the walls and most of these nicer homes have a large watch dog, they also have sliding gates to block the driveway with padlocks on them and they have to honk their horn for someone in their house to come undo the padlock and open the gate to let them in. Chickens, a pig on a rope, a goat on a rope or a cow on a rope are staples for families. And every morning starting at 4 am the roosters start crowing the dogs start barking and the horns start beeping. Horns are a common courtesy over here as you often can't see around the corner and the road are narrow so they beep their horn as they come around to let someone coming from the opposite direction know they are there. The cows are so emaciated and you wonder how they can even get enough meat off them to feed anyone....let alone a family.

The smell is something that until you've experienced it you will never understand. The same with what you see. I have always saw pictures of the poverty here but it was just a picture.....but now to be a part of the reality is so overwhelming that it leaves you speechless.

An American dollar is $8 over here so if you give someone $10 you've just given someone $80 and they are rich!!!! The majority of them live on $2/day. YES $2/day! 

My mind wants to jump ahead and tell you all about all the experiences we had at the medical clinic but I need to save those blogs for the next few days. Today we are just relaxing, packing and preparing for a birthday party at the church orphanage. These children have no idea when their birthdays are so a birthday party is held every year and its everyone's birthday today at the orphanage!! 

It has been 80's and 90's here all week and the Haitian people are wearing jackets or hoodies with their hoods up because they are cold. We of course are hot!! 

It has been an experience that has and will forever change us all! No words or pictures will ever be able to do it justice to the experience of being here for oneself.

On Sunday we went to one of Pastor Jean Paul's churches it was so interesting to hear and see them sing in their native tongue and know that God knew every word they were saying. 

Bill and I left the US with terrible colds and we had asked God to take them from us so that we could give this our all and just before we started the clinic our colds were gone!! Colds as we all know linger with a runny nose, cough, etc but God knew we had to be 100% to be able to complete his ministry at this time. 

My mind just wondered off and I heard God saying "what you have done to the least of these you have done unto me." 
All for His glory!! 

H20 Hydrate...."Drenched in His Word"

H20-Hydrate 

The number one most read book in the world just happens to be the Bible. Along with the Bible being the most read book it is also the most misunderstood book in the world.

In H20 Hydrate, I plan on trying to help to take   the confusion out of reading, studying and understanding what you've read, applying what you have read and helping each of us apply it to our everyday life.

During this time we will all dig deeper and see how the Old Testament and the New Testament relate and how much they tie the whole picture together. As was the story with Jonah. Jonah was sent to the city of Nineveh to warn the people to turn from its evil ways or God would bring his wrath upon them. Jonah succeeded in finally doing what God asked him but few people know that approximately 150 years later God finally was angered enough with Nineveh's return to its evil ways that in the book of Nahum, God destroys the city of Nineveh.

What happened for the 400 hundred years of silence from the end of the book of Malachi to the beginning of the book of Matthew? And why did God quit speaking and why did he promise that once again he would speak to his children in Acts 2:17.

Find out all this and so much more starting on Tuesday Mornings at 8:30 am-10 am beginning February 12th at the Refuge Coffeehouse. This will be an exciting study of things you always wanted to know and things you never could understand. It will be a time of learning for both you and me. Things I don't know we will all learn together.

God is good and has restored my health and allowed me this opportunity to do what I love to do and that is to serve you. I look forward to seeing you all then. Please give me an idea if you would be interested in attending so we can give Marsha and idea of the space needed.

Falling Through the Cracks of Our Flesh

I once heard a man say that "salvation without faith is like a nuclear explosion without a fallout." I've thought about that alot lately. What a profound statement. As christians we are a new creation, but yet we seem to live in these stale bodies that know nothing more than sin. We have this false idealism that as soon as we receive Christ that somehow our whole world will change. There will be no more worry, no more stress, no more anger, no more bitterness......but we forget that we ARE mearly flesh!

We've been called to a new life in Christ and our goal as a Christ follower is to be more like him every day. But holding ourselves up to Christ and comparing life notes create's a false feeling of failure within us. Philippians 2 talks about imitating Christ's humility....not being Christ...but imitating him. Philippians 2:6 says "who being in very nature of God did NOT consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant."

Even Christ knew that he couldn't live up to his father, he didn't even try...he simply laid down his life as he wanted to live it and took on a life that he knew would honor his father, taking on the life of a servant. Our flesh fails us so often, we want to make a huge God fit into our small little world where we think our problems are just to big for him. We believe in the miracles of the bible but yet we believe them for then...not for now. Why do we believe God could be God then and that he can't handle the problems that burden us today. Last I checked..I didn't lead a ton of people out to the promised land and land myself face to face with the red sea!! And we all know how that turned out. I'm sure Moses had some doubts at that moment, just as we do today.

It's time as Christ followers that we quit trying to be Jesus of our lives and let him do his job...in and through our lives. God healed the cracks left in Christ's flesh from a death he didn't deserve....lets believe he can heal our cracks as well.

Held in the Hands of Grace....

I am reminded today of God's glorious Grace as I watch the news and wonder why God puts up with such a state of discord. How much longer will He watch as we self-destruct as a nation and as a people. What would our futures look like without God's grace the freely given, unmerited love and favor of God upon his people. It often strikes me how good God can be when we so do not deserve this favor.

Isn't it funny how Paul writes the book of Philippians with the words "Grace and Peace to you from God our Father." What's funny about this is that Paul was writing from prison, chained and bound....most likely sitting in human excrement, assuredly already having sustained much torture in his preaching and teaching, hungry, thirsty and tired. But yet Paul makes note to impart Grace and Peace from God on those reading his letter. Paul goes on to say that we all share in God's grace with him. Most of us don't think about the chains that bind us on a daily level....but be sure that at some point in your life you've had the chains bound to your wrists bearing you down. What carried you through those moments? Who carried you through those moments?

I am a very visual person....describe something to me and I already have this picture in my mind. I can see Paul sitting on that prison floor as he penned the letter, my mind wanders as I can't help but think...how could Paul not have gotten distracted by his circumstances? We get distracted by our circumstances every day and we aren't sitting on a cold damp prison floor. But Paul had an upward focus...he didn't even see his circumstances. He saw beyond them, he saw the opportunity in them, he saw advancement of the kingdom through his circumstances.

I want to not see my circumstances.....I want to look beyond them and see what God can accomplish in and through my circumstances. I want to hang onto the fact that God's grace is sufficient and I so don't deserve it but yet he gives it so freely and though many times I find it hard to except a gift that I don't deserve...I humbly bow at his feet, cup my hands and accept the gift that is freely given to a sinner such as me.

What To Do Now?

This began as just one of my journal entries. I have been journaling since I first became pregnant with our daughter Morgan. It began as a journal to my unborn child, then over the years I began to journal prayers, thoughts, feelings, things that God was showing me and then Bill and I spent a year journaling to one another. So today as God was showing me things I got my journal out and began this journal entry thinking that it would be for my eyes only but as I was writing I felt as though God was telling me that someone else needs this at this point in their life as well. So here is my entry for today.

Time sure flies by and its been awhile since I've journaled my thoughts and feelings. Alot has happened besides the fact that we are getting older day by day. The world is changing as we know it, I see more and more evidence of Christ's return for the final battle. I often wonder....am I ready? Am I really ready? Am I doing everything the Lord is calling me to do~sadly the answer today would be~NO. I feel as though this illness has placed a yoke around my neck~my heart desires to serve but the body is weak. I know that by stepping out in faith that God would provide the strength that I need~what am I afraid of? Am I afraid that He will ask me to do something outside of my strength and my abilities....of course....isn't that what we're all afraid of?

Even as I write God reminds me of his promise in Isaiah 40:29 "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak even youth grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Then I see him tell me in Isaiah 41:10 "I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." I then wonder how to get to that place where God wants me and then I hear Isaiah 45 "I will go before you and will level the mountains, I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places so that you may know that I AM THE LORD the God of Israel who summons you by name." Who summons (calls) me by name...God says "don't worry about how your going to get there-just trust me that I am going before you to prepare the way." So for now I wait-not really knowing what to do...but trusting that God knows and when he is ready he will reveal his plan to me.

Are You Living in Fear?

I don't find it ironic that "Fear" is mentioned 365 times in scripture. I believe that God knew that it would be in our very nature to "fear" so he re-iterated time and time again "to not be afraid-to not fear." So much of our life are new experiences from day to day. It's easy to look ahead and have fear over the unknown. But I find that through scripture I can find peace in whatever this world is throwing at me. Peace in place of fear! I remember at the beginning of my illness I lived with a great deal of fear....fear of not knowing whether all that I was losing would ever come back but as time has drawn on and I've battled this obstacle in life I have learned that this too will pass and though the days may have setbacks or bad days that there is always hope in tomorrow.

On another note I have been wandering alot lately about those that are unsaved and have no faith or no beliefs. I wander if "fear" is what keeps them from surrendering to God's calling and laying down their "fear" of losing control over their life and letting God be in control for awhile. I guess I hadn't thought of this before....but none of us want our lives to be out of our control but yet as a Christ-follower we honestly are not the ones in control of our lives. We have surrendered that to God, we've trusted that He knows better than I what is good for my life and He will allow some hard days and some hard years so that I don't forget that he is the one in control and I.....well I'm supposed to just sit back and listen to his guidance and be obedient to what He is asking me to do. Fear sometimes obscures our vision, it obscures our total reliance on God not on our own mortal selves. So I am going to focus this next year on not living in fear of what God is allowing or doing in my life and learn to embrace it for what it is.

Having Faith is Stepping Aside and Seeing God!

We've all done it, your in a store with your eyes fixed upon the item that you are contemplating buying when all of a sudden it dawns on you to look up. As you look up waiting patiently behind you is someone that is trying to get past the point where you have suddenly stopped. I think many times our christian walk is very similar to the circumstances in the store. We as Christians walk along until our eyes become fixated on something and taken off the one who knows our every circumstance and the very outcome of those circumstances and instead of us stepping aside we in our flesh want to step up to the plate and make the change in our own strength and with our own power. Yes...when Jesus left this earth He told the disciples "you will do even greater things than I" but Jesus also said that he didn't do anything that his Father hadn't told him to do.

Having faith is being able to see your circumstances but yet knowing that, that circumstance wasn't placed in your path for you to fix...it was placed there so that by your faith God could show how awesome He is when we allow him to take the wheel. So many times in scripture strong men of faith stood up and said this is what is going to happen. Did they know for a fact that it would indeed happen as they said, NO, they knew that by their faith God would show up in a miraculous way and provide at just the right time for just the right circumstance. God isn't afraid to step back and let us take our attempts at the wheel....but he says, if you'll let me....the steering will be much easier. Its time for those of us that are Christ-followers to step aside and by faith let God move in the way he has been waiting for.

Faith, Hope, and Love: a life application devotional by Kay Cameron from I Corinthians 13:12-13

We are never sure about why things happen to us. But we can be sure of this, people are watching how we react to our circumstances. While we are Christ-followers, we are also human. So, when we fall down, we have to get back up again and keep on going. This is what Jesus did as He carried His cross to Calvary. And then someone helped Him to carry it. That is what friends and church family do: they see you in a difficult-to-deal-with situation, and they not only encourage you, sometimes they help you carry your burdens. God sends those people into our lives for a purpose.

When we look in a mirror, we see our own reflections. When people look at us, they need to see Christ reflected. If someone sees me handling a problem in a way that glorifies God, and that person gets saved, then the problem in my life was actually not a problem at all--it was a way to show Jesus to someone without opening my mouth. And if someone is seen helping me carry the problem, then the world will see love in action, won't it?

Faith to persevere, hope that there are better things ahead, and love to carry us through. That's what life with Christ is all about.

from 1 Corinthians 13 (Life Application Study Bible)

12"For now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now. 13 There are three things that will endure--faith, hope, and love---and the greatest of these is love.

What do you see when you see me.....blogpost by Tammy Konneker

What do you see when you see me? Few of us go through life wondering how we are perceived by those around us. I've thought alot about that lately, as my pastor reminds me that people see how we handle adversity in our lives....people are watching those of us that call ourselves Christ followers. What will we do when our world is turned upside down by circumstances that are beyond our control? What do we become when we are hurt or insulted by someone around us? What does our day to day life say of our love and devotion to a God that sent his son to take away my sin and your sin. I choose joy! I choose to praise God in the good and in the bad. Job said in Job 6:10 "then I would still have this consolation-my joy in unrelenting pain-that I had not denied the words of the Holy One."

I want to show in and through my life that no matter what this world throws at me that I never gave up on the promises God has given me. Promises of life.....everlasting life. Promises of prosperity....oh, not in what the world sees as prosperity....but that my life was prosperous, that the way I lived my life made positive and impactful changes in those around me. That just as Solomon had asked God for wisdom in 1 Kings 3:9.....not for wealth, nor for revenge upon his enemies but for wisdom to do the right things and make wise decisions...God granted Solomon with his request. I don't need wealth....I need wisdom. I don't need health.....I need strength to persevere under poor health. I don't need recognized.....I need to know that God is recognized through me.

When I look in that mirror....I see what most people see. I see my past mistakes, I see my past pain, I see someone broken but rebuilt by the grace of God. I see someone that has totally surrendered to God and said "your will be done in my life" and I live day to day knowing that his will is the only thing I need to prevail in this life until I join him in eternal life. For what we see in our reflection is far from what God see's in our reflection. He see's the potential that he's given to us, he see's the love that we so often fail to show, he see's goodness and grace. Perhaps its time we start to see ourselves as God see's us....perfect and pleasing in His eye.

Fire Insurance--a life application devotional by Kay Cameron from John 10:4

There are some people I know who would tell you that they accepted Jesus as their Savior simply out of fear, the fear of hell and what it would be like. To them, Jesus was their "fire insurance". Once they had that insurance, they felt spiritually secure. Many dutifully sit in church on Sunday and try to do what is right in God's sight. They think that by following His laws and going to church on Sunday they are fulfilling their part of the salvation covenant with God.

Yes, God wants you to follow His path. Yes, God wants you to fellowship with other believers. But more than that, He wants a daily relationship with you. He wants you to talk to Him, and He wants to talk to you. He wants to spend time with you, and you want to spend time with Him. This relationship will change you daily. You will become a pruned vine, bearing much fruit. You will be like refined gold. You will be molded by the Potter into a vessel for His purposes.

It's not just about the fire insurance. It's about relationship, getting to know the nature of God. We may never know Him as well as He knows us, but we have a wonderful chance to experience life with Him at our sides. What a ride!
God and man converse continuously throughout the Bible. And God still talks to us today. Listen!

John 10:4
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

KJV

God Exceedingly Expects Us to want more from him! blogpost by Tammy Konneker

It's so hard for me to wrap my hands around the fact that while Jesus was here he told us in John 14: 12 "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these." WOW, how could we frail humans, flawed by sin, marred by worldly scars do GREATER things than Jesus.....the perfect lamb of God. I think we fail to see our own potential, the potential that all of us have been given to change lives of those around us.

For the past few years I've felt really pressed to lean more into the book of Acts. Luke had written his second book of the bible....as one of the twelve chosen to set off a movement of the Holy Spirit...in Acts Luke sets out to teach what the church should look like, act like and be like. In the first chapter he briefly describes the time that Jesus spent with them after his resurrection. Luke opens with the fact that Jesus came back to them and spent the next forty days speaking to them about the kingdom. Jesus first instruction to them was to WAIT....he was testing their obedience and patience. Jesus tells them that soon he would be gone but the Holy Spirit would come to replace him....and this Holy Spirit would guide us...if we listened and expected to hear.

I have to laugh as I read Acts 1:9-11 "After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking INTENTLY up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 'Men of Galilee,' they said, 'why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Now......I'm sorry....but wouldn't most of us be freaked out, first by just seeing Jesus ascend into heaven and then as your just standing there in shock, two dudes dressed in white suddenly are standing on either side of you saying.....WHATCHA LOOKIN AT? Luke didn't go any further into detail of their reaction but I can only imagine their dumbfounded look.....and suddenly being speechless as to what had just happened.

After this they began the process of building the church.....Luke says the first thing they did was joined in constant prayer. Most people think that prayer should be a time of just sitting down and praying. I find that when I just sit down and try to pray.....I'm usually at a loss for words. A relationship with Christ is like a good marriage, you spend all day talking and interacting with one another.....I know my husband......I know my Lord. My line of communication is ongoing, there is never a time that I feel that I can't call upon his comfort and know that its there. God has called us to far more than what we are currently giving him. He called us to be more than he was......and so much of the world has crept into our lives that we have forgotten that we were called for Exceedingly more than this.