Another "True Love" story!

Today was our 2nd filming of "True Love is Worth Waiting For." And TJ and MaryAnn were a blast to work with! We had a small team, but God really blessed our time together and everyone had a lot of fun as you can see! Be watching www.creatorscall.org for the finished program! (Due to be online in a couple weeks!)

A match made in Heaven

TJ's time to share

Janine and Curtis

The next "True Love story" in the making...

MaryAnn shares

MaryAnn and TJ share about their big day!

The couple from a distance

Having fun with their True Love

Welcome to "True Love is Worth Waiting For"

My intro was actually the last shot of the day! Kinda cool how we can move and switch things around and no one ever knows! :-)

Our "True Love Team" Feb 25th

The Exchange...

Was reading in 1st Samuel the other day for my devotions, and had some interesting insights.

Here David is, just returning from killing Goliath and basically conqueoring all the Philistines, and He's called before the King. King Saul to be exact! Jonathan is obviously present, and as he hears David speak, his rightful thoughts might be, "Who is this guy! And what does He think He's doing!?" He might could have been jealous or angry....or maybe he could have felt intimadated that this young man might try to take his throne or crown. But no....those are not his thoughts at all! In fact, it's the exact opposite! His soul goes out in "kinship" with David. He senses the king of man David is and who he should become.

It says - In 1 Samuel 18:1-4

"And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soulf of Daivd, and Jonathan love him as his own soul...then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because He loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow and girdle."

It goes on to say how David stayed with the King from that day forward, and did whatever King Saul commanded. However, when he was sooo successful in battle that the people sang "Saul has slain his thousands, but David has slain his ten thousands" - Saul got angry! And Jonathan should have, right? After all...look at the sucess that David had! Yet, he didn't....he continued to love David as his own soul, and keep the covenant they had made, and to look after him and seek to protect him even when his own father, the King, sought David's life.

There's some interesting parallels of what Jonathan gave to David and what Christ gives to us that I have come to see more recently. (Largely thanks to the "Set-Apart Series" by Eric Ludy!) It is awesome, and as I re-read the story and have thought about it more, I have to share it!!!

When Jonathan relinquished these possessions, what did that signify?

His ROBE - His position, His name, His Fame, His authority

His GARMENTS - His possessions, His Inheritance

His SWORD and BOW - His protection, His preservation, His watchful eye of defense

His GIRDLE - His enabling power, His quickening strength

These are powerful symbols of surrender and love that Jonathan gave to David...but even more amazing when you think of them in light of what Christ has given to us!!! He's given us His robe, his name, his possessions and inheritance...He's promised his protection, His watchful eye of defense, His enabling power and His strength....and soooo much more!!!! Yet, for us to receive these things, we have to give/exchange ours for them!!!

And Christ asks for everything! Some incredible challenges to think about and pray about!

Our Robe - Are we willing to give up our reputation? Are we willing to be deemed a fanatic and a fool? Are we willing to surrender our name and to allow it to be swallowed up in his own? Are we willing to give up our position, our fame and worldly authority or order to be royalty in a heavenly kingdom????

Our Garments - Are we willing to relinquish the control of everything that we possess to God? Are we willing to give up the applause and esteem of men? The security of financial stability? Even the comforts of a self-indulgent existence? Are we willing to give the right to our health, our wealth, and every possession we claim to be used as He sees fit?

Our Sword and Bow - Are we willing to lay down our defenses and allow God to remodel our lives? Are we willing to allow Him to discipline us, convict us, and transform us into something that this world will reject, revile and crucify? Are we willing to allow our lives to be used to fight God's battles rather than our own self-promoting crusades?

Our Belt - Are we willing to allow Him to break us so we can be cleansed of all the defilement locked within our souls? Are we willing to surrender our self-derived strength, so that He may replace it with His own? Are we willing to be dependent so that He might prove His glory and might? Are we willing to let go of our self and showcase His glory and his majesty through our existence!

These seem like great sacrifices....yet, it is really He that has made the sacrifices! For our yielding up our little dusty rusty treasures are really just giving up piles of rubble in exchange for mountains of beauty in His glory! What a contrast and what an exchange!!!!

I'm awed and amazed once more!!

*These thoughts were taken from the Discipleship training series by Eric Ludy and are copyright 2007 by the Set-Apart Ministries. www.setapartlife.com

Happy Birthday Rita!!!!

Today was my adopted sister Rita's Birthday!!!! And this time last year I got to help her celebrate it in my cozy little apartment in Texas with Hollands who came to visit!

But ALAS....this year I can't be there to make her day brighter!!!! Anyway, Rita....I just wanted you to know that I love you and am so glad you are not just my adopted sister, but also a very dear friend!!!! We have sooo many fun memories together....and I know we have many more to make in the future!!!!

Happy Birthday!!!! I'm still winning....but you're doing a good job trying to keep up!!!

Big Birthday Hug to you!!!

Love, Sis

The Holland Gang in sync

Before they are outdated...wanted to put up a few fun pictures we took together as a Holland gang. This is Hollands with all their adopted girls! Actually, Sunny is their legal daughter... but the rest of us are just add-ons.

I neglected to share that I also got to see my precious Arkansas family on this trip...but it was a flying visit in and out, as my dad came to take me home so I could get some stuff together to ship out here to CA. Then I flew back out of Little Rock (thus using the remainder of a ticket I didn't use at Thanksgiving). The time together with them was precious...but too brief for Mel to even think of taking pictures! (Sorry to my Mason family! We'll have to get our synchronized shots next summer when I come back!)

Anyway... I LOVE YOU all dearly!! And soooo enjoyed getting to see you and be with you...even if for only a few brief days!!

Circle of love

I love fun photos...but this one is eXtra special! Because it reminds me of the Circle that keeps drawing closer. How can this be? Well, there's a quote that goes something like this... "When Christ is at the center...as you come closer to Him, you can't help but come closer to each other!" I always remember that...especially when there seems to be some distance sprouting up between myself and someone I love. Maybe it's not them that moved...but maybe me...maybe I moved away from Christ! When I get my focus and perspective back...what a beautiful thing it does for LOVE!!

Synchronized workout

Tickling fights to end the dignity...

The Holland Sisters

My favorite Twin... and best friend!

Coming up for Air!

Well...where do I begin?? ;-/ Since Sunny and I flew back to California this past Monday...we've been on the underwater race-track with hardly a moment to breath! And now...I'm coming up for my first breath of air! Whew!!!

After having a month or more of time to not only breath, but completely rejuvenate and oxygenate my entire system spiritually, mentally and physically, as well as having all the time in the world to work on doing research and planning for CCBN, it's hard to be back in the fast lane. But I keep telling myself, this wont last (at least the track I'm currently on)...only for a few more months until all my bills are paid off and I am financially free!!!! (My best friend Gabe gives me a hard time though, because she says...whether I'm working as a nurse, or on a big ministry project or mission venture, or doing something fun with friends...I'm always on a fast lane! It's just the scenery that changes!) So...maybe it's simply a change of scenery that I want to make in the near future...as the work of bringing in the ever ripening harvest doesn't show signs of slackening off anytime soon!! So the labour will soon be all the more intense!!!

As some of you know, I am starting another "travel nurse" job, this time only 20 minutes away from Loma Linda. It was actually with some reluctancy that I took this new position. CCBN has a lot at stake right now, and we have been moving forward by leaps and bounds, and I want to be able to give them my undivided attention!!! I had told God that if it was His will that I volunteer full time with the ministry, I was willing to forgo that financial security I am use to counting on, and that I would trust Him to pay the bills. But He must block all doors of nursing jobs from opening because I was going to keep applying for different positions. It seemed He was answering my prayer that way for awhile, as nothing came through....that is until right at the last minute, incidently just as my bank account was about to run dry. :-) My travel agent Kara, told me that a days position had opened up in Riverside. (I guess He decided it was time to start payng the bills again!) It was a relief in one way, as it will help me get clear financially....something I've been working at far too long now!!! But I was dissapointed in another way as I had kinda got my heart set on working full time with the ministry. But God's ways are not our ways...as I've seen over and over! So...here I go once again!

I have to admit it's been a tough first week! This hospital is small, but nice enough. But when I arrived on the floor the first day, no one seemed to know where I was suppose to be. When they assigned me to a certain nurse to follow...her reaction was to start swearing...right in front of me! Of course, that was a great way to start off and made me feel wonderful!! ;-) Good thing my ego isn't too fragile! In a nutshell...the day ended up being a disaster! So much for my getting any organized manner of explanation about "how things work on this floor."

Then, to make matter worse, at the end of the shift, the manager told me that I would be on my "own" with patients the next day! I respectfully but firmly told her that there was no way that I was ready for that!! I'd had no organization or explanation about how things worked at "said floor" let alone "said hospital." And I was not about to put my license on the line or take the risk of endangering their patients by taking charge when I didn't even know how things were suppose to go! (Melody doesn't put her foot down like this very often...but in Southern California, one has to be on guard or they might be run over!!)

So thankfully, they decided to let me meet with a group of new employees that happened to be having hospital and nursing orientation (very conveniently) the next day! Then, much to my amazement, they offered me one more day on the floor with someone more organized to make up for the way my first day started! Praise the Lord!!!!

In between rushing through the 12 mile maze of traffic between here and there each morning and evening, I've been also taking Sunny back and forth to work (since her car has had a cold and has been in the car hospital! We just got word that it's better now though, and should be released tomorrow, for which she is very excited!!) And then of course, I've been scrambling trying to get stuff ready for our trip to the youth conference in Dallas where Jen and I will be running a booth for CCBN. Infact, while I catch up on this blog and a few e-mails, I'm currently downloading sermons from audio verse that we are going to upload on a iPod that we're going to give away at our booth in a drawing! I've been working on our booth layout, and getting a new flyer together, while planning for another "True Love is worth waiting for" program that we're gonna film this Sunday, Lord willing! (TJ and Maryanne are the lucky couple this time!!) So....as most know, I relish "multi-tasking" and I've got a bit on my plate right now to multi-task with...so adding that to picking up a regular work load again could make things exciting! But God is good...and I praise Him for the strength and peace He has given, despite my harried days!

So...that's life and news for now! And now...I need to put my weary body and tired brain to bed! ;-)

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Happy Hollandays...

Following is a group of photos from this last Sabbath at home in Oklahoma! We went to the Wichita mtns...and what fun it was to be together...and to climb and jump rocks in the clean fresh air!

Enjoying being together

Sunny and Mel - Christmas girls (Colorwise)

Of course, as sisters, lots of people say we look "alike" and get us mixed up! So we thought we'd do something different...while still matching (notice green scarf on Sunny and red bandana on me) that would set us apart!

Just kidding...the attire was all an accident! And as far as looking alike...well, you be the judge on that! :-)

Holland's Snuggle

The canyon we climbed thru

My favorite shot from the day!!

Whose the "queen" of the mountain???

I found my matching rocks

As most people know....I love any shade of green...but flourescent green or lime green, is a favorite!!! But I never expected to find it on the rocks!!! :-)

Looking down

To realize the perspective, notice Sunny climbing down to base of falls

Sweet girls

The great gulf...

Rita was hoping to cross the creek here....but while she could barely reach Mr. Holland's hand...it was too far to jump! So she had to go ALLLL the way back up stream!!

Mrs. Holland and I climbing up the Mountain!

Oklahoma buffalo

Couldn't leave the Witchita mountains without seeing some buffalo!!

The lap-top family!

Within this last year, all of us (except Mr. Holland) have gotten laptops! Mr. Holland of course, will be next! But someone thought it was pretty comical seeing us all sitting on the couch working on our computers, so grabbed a camera! (Now how's that for being spoiled rotten!?)

Surprise!!

This last week before I start working again as a "travel nurse," my sweet adopted sister Sunny and I took a quick trip back to Oklahoma to be with the Holland family during a few vacation days they are taking off.

Sunny has been planning to go home for awhile, since she missed the Christmas break with us. But I wasn't planning to go back to OA til April again, if not later! However, all the girls would be home except for me...so just a couple weeks ago, I decided to use one of my "travel vouchers" to go with Sunny and to surprise Holland's and be part of our little family reunion! (The first since last summer!) It was a little hard not telling Hollands what we were planning...but it was worth it in the end!

The first picture is from my morning walk to see the sunrise, before Sunny and I left for the airport! (I guess California and it's beauty is slowly growing on me...even if I don't feel quite at home here yet!!)



The next picture below is from Denver! It was snowing and icing...so before we could fly out of Denver for OKC, we had to go through a de-icing procedure. This was a first for me, and consisted of this woman-driven machine going up on and down with a mechanical arm and spraying our plane down with some types of chemical!! :-)



Here Sunny and I are enjoying a fruit smoothie together! I guess we weren't cold enough yet! It was really fun to have a traveling companion on the airplane this time.



And FINALLY...we made it to Oklahoma! Sunny walked out and met Holland's first, and they went down to baggage claim. Then I came down and snuck up on them and threw my arms around Rita's and Grandma's shoulders (who had also come with them), and they were all totally surprised!!! It was awesome!!! (Notice my "Happy Valentine's" card I pinned to my shirt!!!) It's probably the best Valentine's gift I've been able to give anyone!!



We just finished cleaning up from a scrumptuous oriental meal (inspired by guess who? Sunny!). And now Sunny's enjoying some time with an old friend from Loma Linda, and I'm helping Mrs. Holland catch up on all her grading from Bible and Health class! (Sometimes I wish I still worked as a teacher...although when I see all the homework there is to grade, it gives me second thoughts!) Sandra is re-cooping from a long week of school and tests. (We're proud of her because she has now passed her IV and Intebating Skills in her Paramedic course!) Mr. Holland is busy at the computer. (He helped me with some stuff for CCBN this morning, which was a blessing!) And last but not least, Rita is re-cooping from our spending half the night talking and catching up on life last night! :-) I'm still on California time....so staying up til midnight was not such a tough thing!! Oh the joys...at least we all still have 2 more days together!

New Perspective on Love by John Piper

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Noël and I pondered and prayed over 1 Corinthians 13 on our 38th wedding anniversary. This is a tradition—to pick a portion of Scripture and pray our way through it on our anniversary. We turn it into thanks and praises and requests for ourselves and our family and the church and the world. Mainly, we focus on our own shortcomings with a view to improvement. We seek God’s grace and power to turn biblical truth into real life. So this time we focused on 1 Corinthians 13, especially verses 4-7.

What is Paul doing here? He says fifteen things about what love does and does not do. When you ponder the list, it is peculiar. If you come expecting a definition of love, it doesn’t work very well. Crucial things seem to be missing. Think about other places where the core of love is defined:

John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.”

First John 4:10, “In this is love . . . that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Romans 5:8, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

At the core of love is a self-sacrificing pursuit of the beloved’s greatest good. Love saves. Love rescues. Love helps. And it does so, if necessary, at cost to the lover.

But this core element of helping another person is not the stress in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. When you try to group the fifteen elements into categories, there are two big ones: 1) statements about how love is durable and doesn’t give up, and 2) statements about how love is not proud. Thirteen of the fifteen elements seem to fit into these two categories. Of the remaining two elements, one comes close to the proactive helpfulness (as opposed to reactive patience), namely, “love is kind.” The other stresses that love rejoices when truth holds sway. So here is one way to categorize what love does and does not do.

Enduring (not fragile)

is patient (longsuffering)
bears all things
believes all things
hopes all things
endures all things

Humble (not proud)

not envious (or jealous)
not boastful (or proud)
not arrogant (or puffed up)
not rude (offending manners)
not insist on its own way (seeks not its own)
not irritable (not easily peeved)
not resentful (not keep an account of wrongs)
not rejoice at wrongdoing (not boast of licentious freedom)
Pro-kindness and truth kind
rejoices with the truth (glad for the truth to advance)

What I conclude from this is that Paul is not trying to define love in the abstract. He is laying love as a grid over the messed up Corinthian church where he sees all these behaviors and says: Your attitudes and behaviors are not how love acts or feels. They were boasting in men (3:21). They were puffed up, even in wrongdoing (5:1-2). They were unwilling to suffer long and bear all things and so were taking each other to court (6:1-8). They were insisting on their own way in eating meat that caused others to stumble (8:11-12). They were acting in “rude” or unseemly ways not wearing the customary head-coverings (11:1-16). They were insisting on their own way as they ate their own meal at the Lord’s Supper without any regard to others (11:21-22). They were jealous and envious as they compared their spiritual gifts and thought that some were needed and others were not (12:21-22). In other words, Paul is not defining love. He is applying love to the Corinthians’ situation and using it as the criterion for why some of their attitudes and behaviors are unacceptable.

But this is not less useful for us. Noël and I saw immediately how relevant these categories were for us. The first category (endurance) says that wherever there is love there is pain—love suffers long (makrothumei) . . . endures all things, bears all things.” This is realism and therefore comforting. If two people, or two thousand people, are in a relationship of love, all will be hurt. And all will need to “suffer long” and endure and bear. It struck us as amazing that this was so prominent in Paul’s treatment of love. So we prayed hard that we would be good lovers in this way (giving less and taking less offense).

Then even more penetrating is the major emphasis on pride. Is it not surprising that the opposite of love in 1 Corinthians 13 is not hate but pride. The main category of what love does not do is arrogance (boasting, seeking its own way). So we set ourselves to self-examination and prayer again: O Lord, reveal and destroy the pride in our lives.

And of course, even though they are in a small category, the other two elements of love are huge: Be kind, and be happy about the prevailing of truth. So that too is our prayer for our marriage.

We have set ourselves some new patterns of being in the word together as a couple in 2007 so that we can press on with this discipline. Pray for us and join us. We are eager to see what God has for our 39th year of “growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

Mel's Notes: And to all of us, whether old or young, married or single, with kids or living alone, we can learn something new through this chapter of love! It was a real blessing to me, and I pray it will be the same for you as you ponder the deeper implications and the need we have for God to search and try our hearts!

Happy Valentine's Everyone!

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: http://www.desiringgod.org/. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.

The Music Room - Who Plays there??

"The heart is like a music room. Grand instruments lie about the great room. The instruments themselves are not good or bad, righteous or unrighteous, godlike or satanic. They are either pure or impure, depending on which musician the soul lends its instruments to. The spirit unto Righteousness, or the flesh unto sin and death.

The first step upward is to take the decision of abiding in Christ seriously and make it your every moment's focus. The first step downward is to take it lightly, and deem the instrument room a non-exclusive room for the enjoyment of many.

Before Christ arrives, the room is overrun with the flesh. No matter the design and desire you may have to restore the room to its rightful use and allow God once again to play upon the harps and lyres, the flesh holds a position of control. The Law of Sin is preeminent in the room, meaning the flesh holds the trump card in every hand. It is the flesh who plays upon the instruments of man's personality, bringing about a picture of either the heights of human glory or the human debauchery, but in either case only a picture of sin, of self-advertisement, and the produce of the flesh.

What Christ accomplished was a remedy for the state of the soul and heart. He has removed the flesh's ugly stranglehold over the heart. When we in faith, ask God to enter our heart as Savior, King, and Lord, nothing can stand against His authority and His power. But He can only enter as far as we allow. Thus commences the great battle of the soul, the great battle over the inner life of man. If we continue to yield and allow God His rightful place, he purges every last vestige of fleshly control and establishes His kingdom in totality. But if we stop short and attempt to keep ourselves on the throne, God will merely have set us free, but we will remain in the chains of the flesh and Sin.

We will be mastered by something, either sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness. We will have faith in something, either in ourselves unto destruction, or faith in God unto a transfigured life which brings glory and honor unto christ. We must lose faith in our Self in order to gain faith in Christ in us. We must relinquish our hold in order to realize the fullness of the effect of Christ gaining foothold and establishing His holy Kingdom within. Who has the stronghold on my heart - me or Christ?? If it remains me, then the flesh will remain empowered. But if it be Christ, the flesh will be embalmed and silenced within, skulking to the far corner of my existence, and hogtied with the bands of disregard and contempt."

Further thoughts for contemplation

I have read of a young lion whom nothing could awe or keep down but the eye of his keeper. With the keeper you could come near him, and he would crouch, his savage nature all unchanged, and thirsting for blood -trembling at the keeper's feet. You might put your feet on his neck, as long as the keeper was with you. To approach him without the keeper would be instant death. And so it is that the beliver can have sin and yet not do sin. The evil nature, the flesh, is unchanged in its enmity against God, but the abiding presence of Jesus keeps it down. In faith the believer entrusts himself to the keeping, to the indwelling of the Son of God. He abides in Him and counts on Jesus to abide in him too. The union and fellowship is the secret of a holy life. "In Him is no sin. He that abideth in Him sinneth not."

Man has a way which he perceives to be correct and proper, but God must prove that man's opinion is unholy and wholly unlike his own. God must redefine "correctness" in man's existence. God's ways appear follishness to man's natural mind, but in reality, God's ways are "right and correct" and it is man's ways that are actually foolish, incorrect and wrong. The "right" idea is, by scriptural definition, the perfect and inviolable opinion of God; never wrong, never perverted, never polluted, and always, without exception CORRECT! God is right, His Word is right, His Word become flesh is right, and everything that opposes this "right" is, without exception always WRONG! Therefore, the "way that seemeth right unto a man" must be relinquished in order for man to become as he ought to be.

"There is a way that seemeth right unto a man,

but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov 14:12

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes:

but the Lord ponders the hearts." Prov 21:2

"For the Word of the Lord is right;

and all His works are done in truth." Psalms 33:4

When we become honest students of ourselves, we will readily admit that we are each capable of the most despicable deceit and immorality. And it is that honesty that moves us to cry out to God, "Try me, examine me, search me - if there be anything, anything at all within me that is hindering your grace from rescuing me, please please Lord, shine your Spirit light upon it. Let me see clearly the state of my soul, so that I may not delude myself into a false life, an empty spirituality, and a hollow form of godliness. May I not feel secure anywhere but in the arms of your Grace and the abiding life of Christ."

By Eric Ludy "The Set-Apart Life Discipleship series" pg 318

First Day of Filming...

And as you can see, we had great fun!!

First Filming with New Equipment

Well, God has really been blessing with CCBN. This past month we got all our new equipment, made possible by a $20,000 donation last Dec 24th!! And today....TODAY we did our first filming with all the professional equipment! God really really blessed!

Today was also the first filming of a series that I've been working on called, "True Love is worth waiting for." This is a program that seeks to share the true love stories of married couples and also the amazing things that God can do in our lives when we seek to give our lives (even our love life) to Him!!!

My first couple to interview was Greg and Heather Steinke, and they had a powerful and beautiful love story and testimony!! Be watching www.creatorscall.org to see the full testimony within the next few weeks. It had all of us, even our technical crew spell bound...

Today was a loooong day! Woke up at 4am (because I couldn't sleep...don't ask me why?), then got up at 5 to get the day started. Had Bible study at 7am with a couple girls, and left for filming at 8am. We didn't finish filming till 3pm...so I'm tuckered out! But then I needed to go to the "Nedley Depression Recovery Planning Session." We're holding a series in several weeks, and I am part of the planning team! So I still didn't get home till almost 5pm. But Praise God, it went well!!!! I could give more commentary. As you know I have the gift of "verbose." But that will be for later...for now, I'm headed to bed!

Getting my mics set up

Setting up our studio

Praising God for our new equipment

Greg and Heather begin their story

Theirs was an incredible story...you have to see it!!

Moses is our youngest crew member so far! And he'll soon be one of the best, I am sure!

"Oh no, they caught me drinking my water!"

We have an awesome CCBN technical team!

God gives His best to those who leave the choice to Him!