Running the Race

During this ministry season, we have traveled around the country since September helping people understand what it looks like to live an authentic Christian life and have lived on a different church parking lot almost every week. Now that it’s March, we can’t help but begin to think about summer and being home...reconnecting with family and friends, green grass instead of parking lots, mowing the lawn, cooking on the grill, trying to remember what a normal family schedule looks like.

This summer there are meetings and planning to do for the new ministry season, finishing family sessions that I will be teaching this upcoming season, training of the new team during the month of August, as well as a few home projects (landscaping, painting, etc…). These are the things that recalibrate us to have a more normal life for part of the year.

However, one of the things that “normal life” presents for us is an increase in expenses. Things like: turning the house back on and having to pay for all the utilities (gas, electric, trash, water, etc...), groceries for all our meals (while on the road, the churches take care of most of this for us), gas and insurance for the car, etc…

This summer also brings with it the need for our daughter Elizabeth to start the process of braces. Not having insurance for this requires that all of these expenses be out of pocket. The cost for stage 1 of braces for her is $1,600.

Coming home for the summer increases our costs by $1,000 per month totaling $3,000 for the three months that we are home. Add the $1,600 for the orthodontic work for Elizabeth, and we’re looking at a total additional expense of $4,600.

I am asking God to raise up forty six people to contribute $100.00 to help us be “revived” this summer at home. Would you please be one of those individuals? Our current level of support would not allow us to be home on a regular basis. God continues to provide for our needs and maybe He would use you at this time to help meet this need.

With a grateful heart,
Ben, Jennifer, Christian and Elizabeth.

You can donate online using this link: lifeaction.org/donate/support-a-staff-member

Or if you prefer to donate via check, make your check payable to:

Life Action Ministries (indicate Ben Slenk on the memo line)
PO Box 31
Buchanan, MI 49107

All contributions are tax deductable and you will be receipted as such.

Fear the Lord

"Who is the man who fears the LORD?" - Psalm 25:12

What is the "fear of God" anyway? That question might be easier to answer by looking at a rough definition of fear itself. Fear is the attitude of heart that seeks a right relationship to the fear-source. That's pretty straightforward, right? If I fear the future, I might save and prepare. I want to be in a right relationship with the future, so I'm going to do something about it today to make sure the future doesn't steamroll me. Some people don't fear the future. They just go on like fools and drive right over the cliff. But if I fear the future, I prepare. Does that make sense?

If I fear the dentist, I floss and brush! I believe he probably knows more about teeth than I do. And plus, when he gives that judgmental, self-righteous look like, "You haven’t been flossing...." I'm sure you have heard that speech. So, I think, "Oh, I don't want to hear it. I'll floss and brush." Why? Because I fear the outcome of failure. So I seek a right relationship to the fear-source.

• If I fear the future, I prepare.
• If I fear the dentist, I floss and brush.
• If I fear God, I submit.
• If I don’t fear God, I don't submit.
• If I fear God, I do what He says.

Fear - it's not bad, by the way. How many people have heard the definition: "Fear God just means to respect Him?" That was bad teaching. Even though the Bible says like a thousand times that we should "fear God," we are just supposed to believe it means only that we should respect Him? Incorrect! I put a lot of time into studying this biblical term. The best word that I can think of to describe what fear means - is fear! I like simple stuff. When the Bible says to "fear God," guess what it means? It means to fear Him. Seek a right relationship with Him.

 

James McDonald – Walk in the Word