Category Archives: Spiritual Life

Does God Exist for My Happiness? – Prep 4 the Big 1

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Presented 5/25/2014 at Curwensville Alliance Church by Pastor Steve

PART FOUR OF A SEVEN PART SERIES ON MAKING SPIRITUAL PREPARATION FOR THE FUTURE

In my church, we taking Dr. John Stumbo’s suggestion and addressing seven issues to prepare us for The Big One.

You know what he means by The Big One, right? It’s what my friends, John and Gale experienced this past week. John was flown, by helicopter, to UPMC Altoona due to some bleeding on the brain.

I thank God for a good church family, remembering him in prayer. And I thank God for Elders who visited and who cared for other things in my absence.

As I sat with John and Gale when I returned from Albuquerque, I said, “Well — this is kind of The Big One for you guys.” They seemed to agree. None of us are looking forward to The Big One, but we can face it triumphantly, if we are prepared.

This podcast is about being prepared for the moment when something like that might happen to you.

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Learning to Ask for Help Now – Prep 4 the Big 1

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PRESENTED AT CURWENSVILLE ALLIANCE ON 4/272014
PART ONE OF A SEVEN PART SERIES ON MAKING SPIRITUAL PREPARATION FOR THE FUTURE

In 2008, John Stumbo experienced what most would call The Big One. John was a long distance runner, even doing ultra-marathons. He was a mountain climber, often on Mount Hood. He was a cyclist – a healthy guy. He never spent a day in the hospital.

And then The Big One hit when he was 47 years of age. On October 18, 2008, he went for a short run — just 10 miles. He noticed that day that he had a rash on his body. Next day, he felt like he was getting the flu. In a short time he could not bend his arm to brush his teeth due to the swelling. In about a week’s time, he had lost his ability to drive. He couldn’t move his legs, even from the gas to the brake. Whatever was hitting him was hitting him hard and fast.

One of his last conscious memories was a doctor with a chart in his hand saying, “I’ve never seen anyone with such low levels of sodium who is still alive!” His whole system was shutting down. Over the course of time, his wife was called into the room numerous times, because they were sure he was dying. As he regained some strength, it was evident that whatever attacked him attacked his muscular system from head to toe. Unable to eat, drink — for months. He couldn’t swallow his own saliva. That was just the beginning of his journey. You can read about the rest of it in his book, An Honest Look at a Mysterious Journey.

When you think of that stretch of highway along Dr. Stumbo’s journey, eventually, you ask yourself the question: What if that happened to me? What will I do when the big one hits me?

A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Stumbo addressed that issue in a blog for Alliance pastors and international workers. What will you do when the big one hits? In his blog post, Dr. Stumbo gave seven pieces of counsel that apply to us all in being prepared for the future.

This podcast is the first of seven messages revolving around those seven ideas. We’re looking at being prepared for the Big One — not by stock-piling food, but by learning to prepare our souls.

I hope you’ll follow each message and that God will use them to strengthen you for whatever the future holds.

~Steve

If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan? — Jeremiah 15:12 NLT
To listen, click the play button below.

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How to join a YouVersion Reading Plan in the middle…

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A group of us have been reading through the Bible with YouVersion.

Some friends, who delayed in starting, would like to join us along the way. I talked to YouVersion tech about this, and joining a plan mid-way isn’t designed into the program, but here’s their suggested work-around.

You can access Catch Me Up from the Settings tab on all reading plans. Simply open your reading plan, tap on the Settings tab, and scroll down to find the Catch Me Up button. I’ve provided an overview below of how this feature works.

Let’s use in this example a 1 year plan that you started on January 10th, 2013 and ends on January 9th, 2014.

Let’s also say the following is true:

Jan 10th (Day 1) – Completed
Jan 11th (Day 2) – Completed
Jan 12th (Day 3) – NOT COMPLETED
Jan 13th (Day 4) – Completed
Jan 14th (Day 5) – NOT COMPLETED
Jan 15th (Day 6) – NOT COMPLETED
Jan 16th (Day 7) – NOT COMPLETED
Jan 17th (Day 8 – Today) – NOT COMPLETED

And of course, all days after the 17th are not completed either.

When you use the catch me up feature, it will make “Today” (In this case, January 17th) the first NOT COMPLETED day AFTER your last completed day. It will not mark any new days as read. In this case right here, if you use the Catch Me Up feature on the 17th, the following will happen:

  1. “Today” (in our case, January 17th) will be Day 5.
  2. Day 3 (which, after using Catch Me Up will be January 15th) will STILL show up as NOT COMPLETED.
  3. The start date of the plan will show “January 13th, 2013”.
  4. The end date of the plan will show “January 12th, 2014”.

Catch Me Up will never mark days as read or unread. It will only adjust the start and end dates of the plan to make “Today” the first NOT COMPLETED day AFTER your last completed day.

I hope this clears up the function of the Catch Me Up feature. If I can help you with anything else, please let me know.

Since I started my plan on time, I am not going to try this, but I’d like to know if it works for you.

Whether it does or not, I encourage you to read the Bible — with a friend, friends, or on your own. Plans are available at www.bible.com.

The plan CurwensvilleAlliance is reading is this one: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/64-reading-gods-story