It's the afternoon of Thanksgiving as I write this, I've taken some time off from the football and the turkey, from playing Guitar hero with my little brother and watching movies. I love this time of year because I get to spend so much time with my family. I was joking the other day that in my mind Christmas and Thanksgiving are suburbs of each other and thus the whole month from the end of November to the end of December should actually be referred to as Christgiving. I then stopped and said no it should be Thanksmas. But as I think about it, Christgiving is much more true.
Paul said that Christ emptied himself made himself as nothing when he came to earth. The greek word for nothing there, means exactly that, NOTHING. When the Holy Spirit hovered over Mary and the baby was concived inside of her at that moment, the son of the Most High became a baby kicking in the womb, squirming in the middle of the night, when he was born, he cried and whimpered, he spit up and was beautiful when he slept.
My parents currently have a little baby in their foster home and he precious, fun to hold and all that, but he spits up, and wets his pants, and sleeps for 2 hours and is up. All the things that babies do and all the things that Jesus, as a baby, did. He gave up heaven so that He could give us life so that we could give Him glory.
So not just this season, but daily, we need to think about Christ-Giving, what He gave up, what He gives us, and what we can give Him.
Everett
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
A Thanksgiving Thought - Jenn
Hi! This is Jenn and this is my first blog EVER! Yeah, I'm a computer/internet illiterate person...really. Becca had to show/tell me twice how to do this! (Thanks Becca!)
The past couple of weeks my two children and I have been working on the Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes. This is our second year in participating in this wonderful ministry and this year they were even more curious about the kids who would receive their shoeboxes.
Before we went shopping for the boy and girl we would be giving our shoeboxes to, we watched a DVD provided by Samaritans Purse that basically explains the "shoebox process" in a kid-friendly manner. As soon as the 10 minute DVD was done, my children started asking questions like "Why don't they have any toys Mommy?" "Mommy, do they have food?" (Included in those questions was, "Mommy, can we get a shoebox filled with toys?" What kid wouldn't after watching the faces of those children opening up those shoeboxes!) :)
After trying to answer their questions to the best of my ability, we went shopping and I was astonished at how giving my children are....honestly, the are much more giving than I am. If space wasn't limited to a shoebox, we could have easily filled a refrigerator box with all the gifts that they chose for the children! Sure, some of the gifts they chose, I'm sure they chose because THEY liked them, but their heats were in the right place. I know that innocence will soon fade away, but I have hope that it won't be sooner than what it ought to be.
So basically I've been thinking lately that I really have no idea how blessed I am. Sure, I see things on TV, the news, even the Samaritan's Purse DVD, see pictures and hear stories from missionaries, etc., but I truly do not GRIP just how truly BLESSED I am. If I truly did I would not take what I have for granted....and often times even find myself complaining about what I do have (meaning that I complain that what I have is not "good enough").
It reminds me of some news stories I have recently heard; "Stay tuned for the News at 10 where we'll tell you how to make sure you don't gain that extra 20 pounds during the Holiday Season." Wow.....we, who have so much, have to be TOLD how to NOT gain 20 pounds! Turn the channel and you'll perhaps see children and adults alike, who NEED to gain 20 pounds! Imagine what their faces would look like if they saw just one of our children's plates on Thanksgiving Day! What a thought...
This Thanksgiving, I truly want to BE THANKFUL for ALL the blessings that I do have. I don't want to just SAY it, but to ACT on it as well.
How does one do that? For me it's taking my eyes completely off of ME and FOCUSing them completely on God and all that HE is and all that He has provided for me...especially my salvation. Praise the Lord that I am BOUND TO THE PROMISED LAND! Praise and WORSHIP HIM...which is so much more than just saying a "thank you" prayer before I gorge myself with food.
Also, for me, this ACTION of Thankfulness means that I need to stop COMPARING myself/my things, with other people(s). I once heard here on KGCR (I can't remember which program it was on), a great quote, "Comparison is the destroyer of contentment." How very true!
However, I want to be more than content.....I desire to be THANKFUL and JOYFUL for all that He provides me with! Another great quote I heard recently, "Everything we have from our Father in Heaven is an act of kindness on His part...EVERYTHING, not just some things!"
When my Father in Heaven gives to me His kindness, I desire to have the same look upon my face that those children must have when they receive a shoebox filled with toys or a plate of food. Help me Father to be truly Thankful for ALL that you have given to me so FREELY!
P.S. I visited Matamoros Mexico this summer on a missions trip. I SAW with my own eyes the need in this world. I SAW with my own eyes a gentleman who had NOTHING materially (in comparison to what I have). I SAW with my own eyes, his joy and THANKFULNESS that he had to our Father in Heaven. You would think that after witnessing those things, I would not struggle with being more thankful for what I have. For me, it just shows me how easily I am "of this world" and how easily I can be influenced by the culture that I live in. Lord, help me to be like Daniel who lived in Babylon, but was not influenced by it. Help me to be more intentional in giving you THANKS and PRAISE for ALL that you have given to me!
The past couple of weeks my two children and I have been working on the Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes. This is our second year in participating in this wonderful ministry and this year they were even more curious about the kids who would receive their shoeboxes.
Before we went shopping for the boy and girl we would be giving our shoeboxes to, we watched a DVD provided by Samaritans Purse that basically explains the "shoebox process" in a kid-friendly manner. As soon as the 10 minute DVD was done, my children started asking questions like "Why don't they have any toys Mommy?" "Mommy, do they have food?" (Included in those questions was, "Mommy, can we get a shoebox filled with toys?" What kid wouldn't after watching the faces of those children opening up those shoeboxes!) :)
After trying to answer their questions to the best of my ability, we went shopping and I was astonished at how giving my children are....honestly, the are much more giving than I am. If space wasn't limited to a shoebox, we could have easily filled a refrigerator box with all the gifts that they chose for the children! Sure, some of the gifts they chose, I'm sure they chose because THEY liked them, but their heats were in the right place. I know that innocence will soon fade away, but I have hope that it won't be sooner than what it ought to be.
So basically I've been thinking lately that I really have no idea how blessed I am. Sure, I see things on TV, the news, even the Samaritan's Purse DVD, see pictures and hear stories from missionaries, etc., but I truly do not GRIP just how truly BLESSED I am. If I truly did I would not take what I have for granted....and often times even find myself complaining about what I do have (meaning that I complain that what I have is not "good enough").
It reminds me of some news stories I have recently heard; "Stay tuned for the News at 10 where we'll tell you how to make sure you don't gain that extra 20 pounds during the Holiday Season." Wow.....we, who have so much, have to be TOLD how to NOT gain 20 pounds! Turn the channel and you'll perhaps see children and adults alike, who NEED to gain 20 pounds! Imagine what their faces would look like if they saw just one of our children's plates on Thanksgiving Day! What a thought...
This Thanksgiving, I truly want to BE THANKFUL for ALL the blessings that I do have. I don't want to just SAY it, but to ACT on it as well.
How does one do that? For me it's taking my eyes completely off of ME and FOCUSing them completely on God and all that HE is and all that He has provided for me...especially my salvation. Praise the Lord that I am BOUND TO THE PROMISED LAND! Praise and WORSHIP HIM...which is so much more than just saying a "thank you" prayer before I gorge myself with food.
Also, for me, this ACTION of Thankfulness means that I need to stop COMPARING myself/my things, with other people(s). I once heard here on KGCR (I can't remember which program it was on), a great quote, "Comparison is the destroyer of contentment." How very true!
However, I want to be more than content.....I desire to be THANKFUL and JOYFUL for all that He provides me with! Another great quote I heard recently, "Everything we have from our Father in Heaven is an act of kindness on His part...EVERYTHING, not just some things!"
When my Father in Heaven gives to me His kindness, I desire to have the same look upon my face that those children must have when they receive a shoebox filled with toys or a plate of food. Help me Father to be truly Thankful for ALL that you have given to me so FREELY!
P.S. I visited Matamoros Mexico this summer on a missions trip. I SAW with my own eyes the need in this world. I SAW with my own eyes a gentleman who had NOTHING materially (in comparison to what I have). I SAW with my own eyes, his joy and THANKFULNESS that he had to our Father in Heaven. You would think that after witnessing those things, I would not struggle with being more thankful for what I have. For me, it just shows me how easily I am "of this world" and how easily I can be influenced by the culture that I live in. Lord, help me to be like Daniel who lived in Babylon, but was not influenced by it. Help me to be more intentional in giving you THANKS and PRAISE for ALL that you have given to me!
Hope - Becca
Well, our first run with being a collection point for Operation Christmas Child is done. I have to admit, I've known of OCC shoebox gifts for a while, but it wasn't anything that I'd been largely involved in. But, as I got to see a lot of people coming to the station bearing everything from one box to over a hundred, it stirred up excitement for what the Lord is doing in the Samaritan's Purse ministry. When I was in the Philippines last year, we got to go to a place called New Carmen. It was an old city dump where people lived and had been cleaned up for the residents there. There are several children there, and not only were we able to bring gifts to them, but we later found out that they were also recipients of shoebox gifts a few months later. While we were setting out the toys and clothing, the children and parents gathered around, peeking through the windowless windows in anticipation of receiving the gifts. It was fun to see the kids get their gifts and I'm sure it was exciting for them to receive the shoeboxes, too.
Our OCC representative came out to the station last week and she shared stories about how the Lord has used the shoeboxes to touch children's lives overseas, and also how people have accepted the Lord in their lives through simply working at the distribution centers here in the states. It's always exciting and encouraging to hear how He works in so many different ways.
Just think, not long from now, there will be children all over the world who will be receiving the gifts that KGCR listeners and others had a hand in putting them together. I think it can be tough for many of us to really grasp the value that these gifts have to the children, as we get ready to celebrate a time of year that often involves an overloaded Christmas tree of presents in an already abundantly supplied home.
This year, I wonder, how many hearts will be touched with the knowing that someone, somewhere cares about them, even when it doesn't seem like anyone around them does? I wonder, how many hearts will be touched with the knowing that Someone deeply and tenderly cares, and these gifts are just a small representation of His lavish love and care.
If He cares so much for these children that He would prompt the heart of a man, a few people, to start something like OCC, if He cares so much for the sparrows, how much does He care about you, Beloved?
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:16-21)
Thanksgiving to God!
Becca
Our OCC representative came out to the station last week and she shared stories about how the Lord has used the shoeboxes to touch children's lives overseas, and also how people have accepted the Lord in their lives through simply working at the distribution centers here in the states. It's always exciting and encouraging to hear how He works in so many different ways.
Just think, not long from now, there will be children all over the world who will be receiving the gifts that KGCR listeners and others had a hand in putting them together. I think it can be tough for many of us to really grasp the value that these gifts have to the children, as we get ready to celebrate a time of year that often involves an overloaded Christmas tree of presents in an already abundantly supplied home.
This year, I wonder, how many hearts will be touched with the knowing that someone, somewhere cares about them, even when it doesn't seem like anyone around them does? I wonder, how many hearts will be touched with the knowing that Someone deeply and tenderly cares, and these gifts are just a small representation of His lavish love and care.
If He cares so much for these children that He would prompt the heart of a man, a few people, to start something like OCC, if He cares so much for the sparrows, how much does He care about you, Beloved?
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:16-21)
Thanksgiving to God!
Becca
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
KGCR Expanding - James
Your prayers are needed as we continue efforts to expand into the Oberlin and Hoxie areas. As was announced during Sharathon, we applied for a new full power station that would reach from McCook, Ne to Hoxie, Ks. We've now received word from the Federal Communications Commission that several other organizations also filed for that same frequency. Over the next several months we'll be contacting those other organizations to see if a solution can be reached. If not the FCC will make the final decision on those frequencies. Please pray that the Lord's perfect will is done throughout this process.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Thankful For The Brown Grass - Becca
Hey everyone! This is Becca, and the title of this may seem a bit shocking to anyone who knows how much I love summer. But, it has a two-fold meaning to something that I'm learning right now that I wanted to share, hoping that it will encourage you. We are gearing up for Thanksgiving, a holiday that is often looked over by the onslaught of Christmas lights and presents, (which by-the-way, did you notice how retailers started to prepare for Christmas before Halloween?).
Well, this goes back to something that has been reoccuring in my life for the last several months and recently. In the beginning of the year, the Lord started speaking to me about complaining/thankfulness through Numbers 11. You can check it out yourself. It's where the Israelites were starting to grumble about the daily miraculous provision that He gave them with the manna (11:6). Think about it. The Lord was AMAZING! Though they were wandering around in the desert and were waiting to taste the goodness of the Promised Land, He lovingly took care of them in the midst of the trials. They didn't have to plant or harvest food. They didn't have to go out and hunt. He tenderly took care of His people as all they had to do was wake up in the morning to the dew and their FRESH nourishment, giving them extra time to be able to seek Him and get to know their God, Whom almost became foreign to them for over 400 years of captivity by the Egyptians!
They started craving and complaining for something more, something "better". But the thing is, is that the Lord is extremely gracious and knows what is best. Then verse 20 comes in and it hit me as He gave them what they cried out for, "because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?" ' "(NIV, emphasis mine) Their complaining wasn't so much against the manna itself, but the Lord and His character.
So many times, we/I, get caught up in the "greener grass" syndrome. We aren't thankful and satisfied with what we have, where we are, what we are doing, etc. Now, don't get me wrong, there is a time for change and seasons, but something that Bebo Norman brought up in the interview that we had with him earlier this year, that if we are ever in a point in our life where we are just looking at what is coming next and trying to just "get through" where we are, then we are missing something that God may be trying to speak into our lives. Aaron Shust recently shared about being grateful for what he is able to do now, all the while knowing that it can change in a day and it all comes back to knowing that his security lies in being "Aaron Shust, child of God", not "Aaron Shust, Christian music recording artist".
My friend told me not long ago that while she was talking on the phone to an overwhelmed friend who has 7 children and a sick husband, another overwhelmed friend beeped in on the phone who is single and has no family, recently moved and doesn't have anyone to help her unpack.
In this season of Thanksgiving, I pray that it is the most precious Thanksgiving that the listeners in this area have had yet. Whether married and parenting just wanting some time alone, single and longing for a companion to start new seasonal traditions with, strapped financially and wishing you could just buy a turkey for a meal or blessed with little to complain about, let us all remember that it's ALL ABOUT THE LORD and His desire to be our EVERYTHING!
Lord, thank You for all the provisions that we have taken for granted! Thank You for Your amazing love and care for us. Thank You that you care more about our relationship with You than our fleshly comforts. Thank You for making a way for us to know You personally. Grant us grateful hearts, not only today, but increasingly every day to come! We humbly ask, in Jesus' Name.
Well, this goes back to something that has been reoccuring in my life for the last several months and recently. In the beginning of the year, the Lord started speaking to me about complaining/thankfulness through Numbers 11. You can check it out yourself. It's where the Israelites were starting to grumble about the daily miraculous provision that He gave them with the manna (11:6). Think about it. The Lord was AMAZING! Though they were wandering around in the desert and were waiting to taste the goodness of the Promised Land, He lovingly took care of them in the midst of the trials. They didn't have to plant or harvest food. They didn't have to go out and hunt. He tenderly took care of His people as all they had to do was wake up in the morning to the dew and their FRESH nourishment, giving them extra time to be able to seek Him and get to know their God, Whom almost became foreign to them for over 400 years of captivity by the Egyptians!
They started craving and complaining for something more, something "better". But the thing is, is that the Lord is extremely gracious and knows what is best. Then verse 20 comes in and it hit me as He gave them what they cried out for, "because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?" ' "(NIV, emphasis mine) Their complaining wasn't so much against the manna itself, but the Lord and His character.
So many times, we/I, get caught up in the "greener grass" syndrome. We aren't thankful and satisfied with what we have, where we are, what we are doing, etc. Now, don't get me wrong, there is a time for change and seasons, but something that Bebo Norman brought up in the interview that we had with him earlier this year, that if we are ever in a point in our life where we are just looking at what is coming next and trying to just "get through" where we are, then we are missing something that God may be trying to speak into our lives. Aaron Shust recently shared about being grateful for what he is able to do now, all the while knowing that it can change in a day and it all comes back to knowing that his security lies in being "Aaron Shust, child of God", not "Aaron Shust, Christian music recording artist".
My friend told me not long ago that while she was talking on the phone to an overwhelmed friend who has 7 children and a sick husband, another overwhelmed friend beeped in on the phone who is single and has no family, recently moved and doesn't have anyone to help her unpack.
In this season of Thanksgiving, I pray that it is the most precious Thanksgiving that the listeners in this area have had yet. Whether married and parenting just wanting some time alone, single and longing for a companion to start new seasonal traditions with, strapped financially and wishing you could just buy a turkey for a meal or blessed with little to complain about, let us all remember that it's ALL ABOUT THE LORD and His desire to be our EVERYTHING!
Lord, thank You for all the provisions that we have taken for granted! Thank You for Your amazing love and care for us. Thank You that you care more about our relationship with You than our fleshly comforts. Thank You for making a way for us to know You personally. Grant us grateful hearts, not only today, but increasingly every day to come! We humbly ask, in Jesus' Name.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
New Web Site
After more then four months of work the new KGCR web site is finally a reality. Our hope is that it will provide you even more information about KGCR, the musical artists and programs we play, and the tri-state area while also making that information easier to find. We've added new features like this blog, artist interviews, staff trivia, and even a list of some fun web sites you might want to check out. Check out the information, spend some time browsing, and then give us your thoughts as we continue our effort to serve you better, both on the air and on-line via our stream and this web site.
Friday, November 2, 2007
web site almost ready
After many revisions and corrections the new web site is finally almost ready to go. I know I've said that before but hopefully this time it will actually happen (hopefully before next Monday). Keep checking back.
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