Help Give A Heart

I recieved this e-mail and wanted to help pass it along. This isn't for your reading pleasure. i'm posting so that you might give. Thank you.

A fellow dad needs our help. His name is Leo Akins, and seven years ago he lost his oldest son, Leo Jr. to a rare heart disease. “There were lots of nights I would hold his little body upright against me just so he could breathe,” Leo says.

After a long battle, their precious little son (age 7) died in his daddy’s arms.

Life continued, and Leo and his wife were assured by doctors that the disease would not affect their other son or any children they would have in the future.

Four years later, they found Lyndon (age 8), lying blue on the floor. Leo administered CPR, eventually reviving him, as the paramedics arrived and whisked him off to the hospital. It was determined that Lyndon had the same disease that had killed his brother.

“Every night for a long time, I slept on the floor next to Lyndon’s bed,” Leo said. “I was afraid he would die in his sleep, and I wouldn’t be there to help him.” While Little Leo had always looked sick, Lyndon was the picture of a healthy 8-year-old. But, six months later after a normal day at home, Lyndon died. For the second time, Leo held his son and helplessly watched him slip away.

“Dads are supposed to be the hero,” he told me flatly. “But I couldn’t stop this. All I do is watch my children die and put them in the ground, and then they don’t come home to their beds ever again. That’s not much of a hero.”

“I don’t look at family videos or photographs...and everything feels gray,” Leo said. “I was just starting to enjoy life again when we got the news about Leighton.”

This past April, Leighton (age 5) was tested and found to have the same killer disease. “My fan club is getting smaller,” Leo adds. “I know I’m supposed to treasure every day...but I fear them.”

But this time there’s hope. Leighton is at the top of the list for a heart transplant. In fact, Leo and his wife Lisa could get the phone call today, which would whisk them off to Indianapolis so Leighton can receive a new heart and a shot at a normal life.

A heart transplant is incredibly expensive and the Akins’s finances are max’d out. “I just finished paying off Lyndon’s funeral,” he said. “Insurance will cover the transplant, if everything goes according to plan, and about a month in the hospital. But after that, it’s up to us to pay the remainder.”

I could see the burden in Leo’s face as he painted their financial picture. The way he figures it, they’re going to need about $65,000.00 the first year after the surgery to meet Leighton’s needs. Many have volunteered to have bake sales, garage sales, and art auctions to help raise the money, but they still need much more.

Dad, it’s time for us to step up to the plate and help this fellow dad who has buried two of his sons and faces an uncertain future. I’m asking you to put yourself in his shoes, picture your children dying in your arms, and then give.

I’m not talking $10 or $25 (unless that’s all you can do); I’m talking about giving $100, $500, $1000, or $10,000 as God has blessed you. Let’s help this dad. He needs us.

Make your tax-deductible gift to Leighton Akins at www.COTA.org Above all, pray for this dad and his family!!! Someone may come up and thank you in heaven someday for giving him a new heart.

To read more and see photos of Leo and his family, go to http://familymanweb.com/yydhome.htm

Read More

OK This Is Funny!

I don't know if this is real, but it is really funny.

Enjoy!

http://www.chumfm.com/MorningShow/bits/march24.swf

Read More

Proud Moment

The girls are doing really good with their schooling, but the school year didn't start out like that. Becca was giving Kari a hard time with wanting to do her work. Finally after talking with Becca she told me that the reason was that "it" was boring. So Kari and I talked and looked at our options and tried a new aproach. First we didn't stick to the "official" lesson plan. Then we gave her more advanced work and used more hands on and verbal exercises and it's like we have a new child. She's doing great! In fact, last night we went out to eat and on her mat she drew a picture of a house and a pool in the back yard and then she drew a sign with an arrow with the sentance, "This way to pool." And then tonight Kari had to run into the store so the girls and I sat in the car. We had just left the library, so the girls were looking at their books and I asked Becca what she picked out. She had "Green Eggs and Ham". She then proceded to open the book and begin to read to me. The first 20 pages, before Kari got back, and I only had to help her with two words. I was so proud of her. Kimmi of course is quite sharp. She loves doing worksheets and is often upset when she runs out.

later...

Read More

Balance

I came acrossed this article and I wanted to share it with you.

My Job, My Calling: Can They Be The Same?
Dan Miller
48Days.com

Is work just something we have to do to get to the weekend, or can it be a true expression of what God has called us to do? Does God only call a few people, and are those people always on staff in churches or on the mission field? Do the rest of us just work to support the few who are called? The Bible gives dignity to any work. There are no non-sacred occupations:

"God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to other’s God’s many kinds of blessings."

I Peter 4:10 (LB)

Could you tell me what success means for you this year? Are you where you thought you’d be at this stage of your life? Have you ever had a sense of "calling" in your life? How did you hear that calling? Is your work a fulfillment of your "calling?" Do you go home at night with a sense of meaning, purpose and accomplishment?

St Augustine said: "To work is to pray." God established work before the fall. God placed the first humans in the garden to "tend and keep it." This work assignment was given before sin entered the world and God pronounced the curse.

God blesses work even after the fall. If work were evil, God would never encourage people to engage in it. In Colossians 3:23 we are told to "work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord and not merely for your masters (bosses)." (LB)

God expected us to enjoy our work! Even Solomon in his most pessimistic moments realized this. "That everyone may… find satisfaction in all his toil – this is the gift of God." (Ecc. 3:13) Work that fulfills our "calling" will be energizing and uplifting.

God is saving the greatest rewards for eternity – and work will be among them. Surprise! The saved will "build houses", "plant vineyards", and shall "long enjoy the work of their hands." (Isaiah 65:17-25)

Thank God It’s Friday relays a secular work ethic. For the Christian, work should be meaningful and an expression of who we are. It has been said that the true measure of a person is not what he does on Sunday, but who he is Monday through Saturday, and that includes what we do in our work.

There are 3 components that must be blended in our work in order for it to be an expression of our calling. (Keep in mind, your goal is to develop a strategic life plan, not just a career path.)

Skills and Abilities (What)

The most common mistake people make in choosing a career is to do something simply because they are good at it. Remembering the happiest times in your life and the times when you felt most fulfilled are better indicators of your calling than just knowing what you have the ability to do. You must have the ability, but that’s only one component.

Personality Traits (How)

How do you relate to other people, projects, and ideas? Are you analytical and logical, or expressive and outgoing? Are you nurturing, supportive and encouraging or do you thrive when you are working on a project in isolation? There is no "right" or "wrong" here, but understanding your uniqueness will help identify the best environment.

Values, Dreams and Passions (Why)

Are you motivated by the constant search for new knowledge? Are you moved by beauty in nature and your surroundings? What are you drawn to even when money is not an issue? What is it that when you are doing it, time just flies by? What God calls us to do does not stamp out who we are. Look for moments of being in the zone, like an excellent athlete. Remember Eric Liddle, who when challenged to come back and do missionary work rather than run competitively, said: "God made me fast and when I run, I feel His pleasure." (From the movie, Chariots of Fire.)

Knowing these 3 areas about oneself leads to a sense of continuity. These components are relatively changeless; however the career application can change multiple times. Knowing that the average job is about 3.2 years in length, it is not even appropriate to try to identify the "right" job. Rather, we need to get a broader sense of the role work plays in a balanced and meaningful life. A critical issue is to distinguish between the following terms:

1. Vocation – from the Latin vocare, which means "to call"

This is the big picture; the most profound. Vocation must incorporate "calling," "purpose," "mission" and "destiny." It’s what you’re doing in life that makes a difference, that builds meaning for you, and that you can look back on in your later years to see the impact you’ve made on the world.

2. Career – "to run or move at full speed, rush wildly. "Careen"

"Career" comes from the Latin word for "cart" and later from the Middle French word for "racetrack." In other words, you can go around and around really fast for a long time but never get anywhere. That’s why in today’s volatile work environment, even professionals with careers like physicians, attorneys, CPAs, dentists and pastors may choose to get off the expected track and choose another career. A career is a line of work, but it’s not necessarily your calling. You can have different careers at different points in your life that all support your "calling".

3. Job -- one’s daily activities

A job is the most specific and immediate of the three terms. It has to do with one’s daily activities that produce an income or a paycheck. The dictionary defines "job" as "a lump portion, a task, chore or duty." In today’s workplace, the average person will have 14-16 different jobs in his/her lifetime. Thus the job surely cannot be the critical definition of one’s calling or vocation. However, the job should in fact be an expression of that calling and an integration of one’s ministry.

Here’s a worthy goal:

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both." James Michener

The article is at Crosswalk.com

What do you think?

Read More