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Thoughts as the Christian new year begins

Written by archive on December 1, 2017. Posted in Faith, lifestyle.

Max Lucado wrote: "If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior."

How often many people forget this. In life, various professions get praised and touted as being the best. In a way, these praises follow fads: astronomers when a new planet or astral phenomenon is discovered; chemists when new combinations of chemicals are formulated.

There is nothing wrong with this at all! It’s just that God is forgotten in the midst of all the hoopla. God provided those skills and intellectual abilities for those discoveries and progressions.

It is unfortunate that God is so frequently forgotten or discounted, especially because he has given the ultimate gift in our lives. He provided a way for us to be reconciled to himself. He came to us in the person of Jesus Christ because our greatest need in life was and is forgiveness.

That is the ultimate gift. That is the ultimate reason for thinking of God every moment of every day.

When it comes to being a Christian, our main focus in life is to be on what has been done for us in Jesus Christ. At a minimum we have to remember God is our Creator, Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Savior, God’s Holy Spirit is God’s presence and power working in us and through us, and the Church is the Body of Christ doing the work and ministry of Christ in the world. Everything else in our faith builds on this foundation.

There are standards for us Christians by which we are expected to live. What are some?

To love God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength.

To love your neighbor as yourself.

To put away vulgar talk, off-color jokes and judgments of other people.

To overcome evil with good.

To make disciples.

To care for others without drawing attention to yourself.

To act justly and walk humbly with God.

Being a Christian is not a title to be attached to your name. Being a Christian is a way of life. It is making the declaration that you are going to live according to the ways of Jesus Christ and the expectations God sets before you in scripture.

How are you doing with focusing on God, Jesus Christ and God’s Holy Spirit? Tomorrow starts the Christian new year.

How about a resolution to do even better than you are now?

The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.

"Being a Christian is not a title to be attached to your name. Being a Christian is a way of life."

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Thoughts as the Christian new year begins

'So much bigger than just a box'

Written by archive on November 28, 2017. Posted in Faith, lifestyle.

CRESTVIEW — Thousands of shoebox gift packages will be delivered this year through the work of Florida residents.

Okaloosa and Walton County contributors sent off 11,785 shoeboxes filled with gifts and information on God's love for the Operation Christmas Child program by Samaritan's Purse International Relief. The organization then delivers those packages to children in need around the globe.

Patty Hill, media relations volunteer for Okaloosa and Walton counties, said boxes totaled 10,487 last year, and this year's contributors surpassed the Northwest Florida goal of 11,011.

"I was a volunteer at Joy Fellowship, where not only can churches or individuals bring in their boxes, but it's also where the two counties come to drop off all the boxes they've collected in their local drop-off centers," Hill said.

She had a few takeaways from the OCC outreach. One thing that impressed her was the level of work area youths put into the effort.

"I was blown away by the youth participation this year. We've had local youth working for the better part of the year gathering shoebox items, making bookmarks, blankets and bracelets. We've had local youth bringing in their change to help pay for shipping of these boxes. It's truly amazing the examples they have been for us all," she said.

She also was able to learn from some past shoebox recipients about the impact the boxes had on their lives, and what delivery volunteers go through.

"I think what really comes to mind is the risk that some of the on-the-ground volunteers take to get these boxes to (their) intended destination. We are so blessed in our country to have the freedoms we have, and it's easy to forget that it's not like that everywhere in the world. Most of the children receiving these boxes have never received a gift before."

Hill said OCC "is so much bigger than just a box. Every child receiving a box has an opportunity to learn about Jesus and what he's done for us all. I believe that getting our children involved in this ministry will have a huge payoff later. Children around the world sharing the love of Christ with each other could possibly affect the next generation's way of life.

"We also had members of the 7th Special Forces Group volunteer in the loading of all the shipping boxes on the last day of collection. We couldn't have ended the season any better," Hill said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'So much bigger than just a box'

How to live with God forever

Written by archive on November 24, 2017. Posted in Faith, lifestyle.

With this article I wrap up my brief thoughts and reflections on Psalm 23. It is a very short psalm, only six verses in length, but provides powerful insights for living life.

Verse six states, "Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever."

God never gives up on you. He never says, “I quit. I have tried to teach you. I have tried to get you to listen to me. You just don’t seem to get it, you thick-headed mule. You’re on your own from now on.”

God doesn’t say that.

If you are ever stubborn or ignorant of his presence, when you give in to the various temptations that lead you into sin, God never gives up his pursuit of you.

That’s right. God pursues you.

The truth of the matter is the Bible gives a strong and clear message of how God continuously pursues each person and longs for each to turn to him, no matter the circumstances.

No matter the depths of cruelty to which someone might stoop, no matter the severity of a poor decision, no matter the ugliness that may swamp someone’s life, God never gives up on them. Right up to the very last breath of life, God offers his love. All that is needed is for that love to be recognized and accepted.

When that love, forgiveness and grace are accepted, God has promised through Jesus Christ, that you will live in God’s house forever. That is the promise given to each and every person who recognizes what God did by coming to this earth in Jesus Christ.

God came to this earth himself. He came with an invitation. His invitation is to take time to eat, drink, and rest in his presence a little bit each day. His invitation is to let him strengthen you for the challenges that are faced every day, to strengthen your faith in him.

Our Lord’s invitation is to remember that no matter what you go through, he is beside you to guide you along the way. His invitation is to recognize just how much he honors you, regardless of what others may say to you or about you.

Our Lord’s invitation is to remember he will never give up on you, even when it seems as though others may have. His invitation is to hear and accept his desire for you to live with him forever in his home when this earthly life is over.

Can you, will you, hear his invitation and accept it?

The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: How to live with God forever

God blesses you in large and small ways

Written by archive on November 16, 2017. Posted in columns, lifestyle.

I continue with a brief look at one way you can get into proper perspective the matters in your life through brief reflections on Psalm 23.

Verse 5 states, "You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings."

This coming Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. It is a time that many will gather as family and friends to enjoy a meal together, remembering the goodness and generosity of God.

When someone invites you to their home for dinner, what is one of your inner reactions? Usually, in my case, it is one of feeling honored for being invited. The invitation means the host is opening their home, their private space, and letting you in. It says the host feels you are worth their special attention and is willing to go out of their way to prepare a special meal, and to spend some special time with you.

And it doesn’t matter to them who may, or may not be at odds with you, or the frustrations you might be dealing with. The invitation is a way of saying, “You matter to me. Let me take care of you for a little while.”

God does the same thing. To him it doesn’t matter who your enemies might be — whether they be real persons or difficult situations with which you are dealing.

God shows his love for you in the face of those challenges and frustrations. He shows you honor by setting aside those matters and caring for you as though you were the only one at the moment for him to care for.

He blesses you by giving you exactly what you need when you need it. You simply need to open your eyes to recognize just how much he does care and provide for you.

God blesses you in so many, many ways. As Thanksgiving Day approaches, open your mind and heart to reflect on the ways God has blessed you.

You will discover that there may have been a few “large” blessings. But you will also come to realize there were countless “small” blessings that have filled your life but may have gone completely unnoticed.

Give thanks with a grateful heart!

The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: God blesses you in large and small ways

Laurel Hill Harvest Supper tradition continues

Written by archive on November 13, 2017. Posted in Faith, lifestyle.

LAUREL HILL — The annual Laurel Hill Harvest Supper, always held the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, is coming up.

The feast is 6:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at at the First Baptist Church of Laurel Hill's fellowship Hall, 3972 2nd Ave., Laurel Hill. Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church conducts the brief worship service that traditionally precedes the supper.

"We welcome our friends and neighbors of all local churches to join us and share the blessings of friends, family, community and food as we gather together as God's children and begin the season in which we thank the Lord for his many blessings, especially the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas," the Rev. Mark Broadhead, pastor of Laurel Hill Presbyterian, said.

Members of all area churches are welcome to attend, and are invited to bring a covered dish to contribute to the bounty.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Laurel Hill Harvest Supper tradition continues

During holidays, be extra vigilant about protecting financial data

Written by archive on November 13, 2017. Posted in columns, lifestyle.

To help achieve your long-term goals, such as a comfortable retirement, you should save and invest regularly. But that’s only part of the picture. You also need to protect your financial assets in various ways.

One such method is guarding your personal information — especially any information that could be linked to your financial accounts. It’s obviously important to be vigilant at any time, but you need to be even more on your toes during the holiday season, when fraudsters are particularly active.

To help keep your important data under wraps during the holidays, consider these suggestions:

•Extend your protection to all mobile devices. Identity thieves can now compromise your mobile devices by installing spyware that steals usernames, passwords and credit card information. Fortunately, you can fight back. By doing a little research online, you can find the best mobile security software for your needs.

•Use multiple passwords. Online security specialists recommend that you use different passwords for each new online shopping site you visit during the holiday season. Although this might seem like a hassle, it can be helpful, because even if identity thieves were to grab one of your new passwords, they still couldn’t use it for other sites you may visit. And you can even find a free online program that can help you keep track of all your passwords.

•Be suspicious of “huge savings.” It happens every holiday season — identity thieves develop fake sites with attractive graphics and stunningly low prices on a variety of items, especially digital devices. If you fall for these pitches, you won’t get any merchandise, but you might get a handful of headaches once the bad guys have your credit card number and other personal information. To prevent this, be wary of any deal that sounds too good to be true, and do some digging on the websites that offer these mega-savings.

•Watch for fake shipping notices. During the holidays, when you may do a lot of online shopping, you will probably receive some legitimate shipping notices. But the bad guys have gotten pretty good at generating fake notices designed to resemble those from UPS, FedEx and even the U.S. Postal Service. If you were to click on the link provided by one of these bogus notices, you could either take on some malware or get taken to a “phishing” website created by the shipping notice forgers. Your best defense: Only shop with legitimate merchants and only use the tracking numbers given to you in the email you received immediately after making your purchases.

•Keep your Social Security number to yourself. As a general rule, don’t give out your Social Security number online — to anyone. No legitimate retailer needs this number. Finally, be aware that not all attempts at stealing your personal information will come online. When you’re out shopping at old-fashioned, brick-and-mortar stores, consider bringing just one credit card with you — and protect that card from prying eyes.

By following these precautions, you should be able to greatly reduce the risk of being victimized by identity thieves and other miscreants. And the more comfortable you are in doing your holiday shopping, the more you can enjoy the season.

This article was written by Edward Jones on behalf of your Edward Jones financial adviser.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: During holidays, be extra vigilant about protecting financial data

Final adjustments made on Bark Park

Written by archive on November 10, 2017. Posted in lifestyle, pets.

CRESTVIEW — Construction on the Crestview Bark Park may soon begin after years of planning and preparation.

April Meier, owner of Pawsitively Scrumptious on Main Street, was approved by the Community Redevelopment Agency and the Main Street Crestview Association to oversee the project. Meier said she began exploring the idea of opening a dog park in 2013 due to the Hub City’s overwhelming demand.

In 2016, Crestview resident Ted Simmons gifted the MSCA $62,000 for construction of the dog park within Twin Hills Park.

Meier raised funds through dog washes, raffles and a “Paws for a Cause” event where donors could purchase an engraved brick memorializing their pets that have died. The bricks cost $65 and will be displayed outside the park.

The fundraising efforts collected approximately $3,000. In 2017, the CRA agreed to put another $10,000 toward the project. Growth Management Director Teresa Gaillard said there has been a lot of donated time and maintenance for this project, which has saved on cost.

To offset the costs of maintenance and ensure dogs are properly vaccinated, the city plans to implement a membership registration process. The projected membership costs would be $25 annually for residents and $35 annually for non-residents, according to Meier. Members will receive a swipe card for park entry and Meier said she believes they will be more inclined to volunteer in park upkeep.

With the Crestview Public Works Department’s guidance, MSCA worked on the design layout and purchased all equipment. All of these aspects were presented to the CRA at their October meeting.

The original projected completion date was March 2017; however, the project was delayed because the city needed to ensure proper drainage was accounted for per EPA guidelines.

Callie & Co., a land planning and landscape architecture company out of Destin, designed the Bark Park.

The park will include 14 waste receptacles, six benches, two barrel obstacles, weave poles, two agility walks and two A-frame obstacles. The city is purchasing all of this equipment from Dog On It Parks.

A conceptual plan is complete with the layout of the park, but the plan is not released for construction yet.

According to Gaillard, the next step will be to tweak the plan based on requirements from the public services department, and then construction can begin.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Final adjustments made on Bark Park

Crestview street ministry sets Thanksgiving dinner

Written by archive on November 9, 2017. Posted in Faith, lifestyle.

CRESTVIEW — The Concerned Citizens of Crestview's Outreach Street Ministry will have a Thanksgiving sit-down dinner for the community.

The dinner will be served to area residents 3 p.m. Nov. 18 at Carver-Hill School, 461 School Ave., Crestview.

The speaker, the Rev. George Thomas of Peoples Missionary Baptist Church, will give thanks and encouraging words, and a youth choir will sing at the event.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview street ministry sets Thanksgiving dinner

God watches over us

Written by archive on November 9, 2017. Posted in columns, lifestyle.

Before I jump into the continuation of my look at Psalm 23, I wish to offer my heart-felt thanks to all veterans who have served our country, putting themselves in harm’s way in order to help keep America free and great. Thank you!

Verse 4 in Psalm 23 says this: "Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me."

Everyone has had times when they were afraid — military persons in times of battle, first responders in the midst of a crisis, people facing health issues and drastic changes in life.

Whether the fear was because of a real danger facing you, that of a friend, a time of deep loss, or great anguish over a dumb mistake that was made, dark times have been real.

These kinds of events are a part of life, unfortunately. But as you go through them, you can teach yourself to remember that God never leaves your side. He is beside you every step of the way. He guides you just as a loving and caring shepherd uses the shepherd’s crook to keep sheep in his charge safe.

The shepherd’s crook is used to pull a sheep from danger. It is used to nudge a sheep that may be stubborn, not paying attention, or wandering away from the flock.

God does the same with his sheep. When God nudges you, it is a reminder that he is watching over you. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. He never takes his eyes off you.

God provides his protection and his comfort. All you need do is remember he is there and you will feel his presence. You will feel his love. And you can then trust he will provide the right guidance to lead you out of any darkness that may try to surround you.

The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: God watches over us

Crestview churches collecting shoeboxes of gifts

Written by archive on November 9, 2017. Posted in Faith, lifestyle.

CRESTVIEW — National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child is Nov. 13-20. The following dates, times and drop off locations are available in North Okaloosa County, according to information provided to the News Bulletin.

•Joy Fellowship, 5978 Old Bethel Road, Crestview: 3-5 p.m. Nov. 13-15 and Nov. 17; 2-5 p.m. Nov. 16, noon t 2 p.m. Nov. 18, 1-8 p.m. Nov. 19, and 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 20.

•First Baptist Church of Crestview, 171 Hickory Ave. W., Crestview: 9-11 a.m. and 2-4 p.m. Nov. 13-18; 9-10:30 a.m. and 1-8 p.m. Nov. 19, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 20.

Operation Christmas Child is an initiative of Samaritan's Purse, a Christian nonprofit organization.

Donors can place toys and other items in shoeboxes for deliveries around the world.

Note: An email providing this information on drop off points incorrectly listed Central Baptist Church as a drop off site.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview churches collecting shoeboxes of gifts

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