Love is patient? Foreign concept...(click on this title to get to Perry's sermon)

I witnessed one of the best sermons that Perry Noble ever preached. It was as if he was preaching to me. Now that I am reading "The Love Dare," Perry covered many of the aspects in chapter 1 of the book in his sermon. NewSpring ROCKS! God is so good. Here are some points covered by Perry in his sermon that hit me at home:

1) SEEK God's for God without expectation of what HE is going to give you. We must seek God's face.

2) Worship is offering our body as living sacrifices each day. It is how we treat people daily.

3) Do not criticize Christians for doing things differently. Just SEEK God's face and the presence of HIS Spirit.

4) When you advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ, people are going to take a shot at you!

5) Ask Jesus to trust you and give you the ball for JESUS!

Now, these are the points that I got from Perry's sermon. But here at the 5 things Perry want us to follow to Hear the voice of God:

1) The word action - John 5:17, Jesus said to them, "My father is always at his work to this very day, and I too, am working." Perry is telling us to be people of action!
2) Worship - "How are you going to be a Christian at work? Romans 12:1, "Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your spiritual act of worship."
3) Recognition
4) Salvation
5) Difficulty

Perry was speaking to me tonight. This is pretty much covered in the 1st chapter of "The Love Dare." For the first day, the book asks for the spouse to be patient. It asks us to engage in the 'spiritual act of worship!' I am not to say anything mean or discouraging. I am to be patient, and I am to use acts of love when it comes to speaking to my wife, Anita. I already see what God is doing in my life now. By following Perry's God inspired message and the tenets of this book, I will be a better Christian, husband, father, and servant to those less fortunate. This will translate to every aspect of my life. I will be a better tool to be used by the church and Healing P.O.T.S. All praises be to our Lord and Savior, JESUS! Amen!

FireProofMyMarriage

Anita and I are big fans of Christian films. We love them since they are family oriented. Well this one threw me for a loop. I had tears in my eyes like most of the men at the movie with their wives. It convicted me in a manner where I can see I have aspects of my life/habits that I can improve to strengthen my marriage more than it is now. We both went to Books-A-Million to purchase the book, "The Love Dare." I am presently on chapter one. I want to use this blog to keep up on this progress that I make. I will be painfully honest about the areas of my character that I must change to make this a better marriage. Our marriage is a beautiful one but I can see from the movie areas where it can be better. Well, you will see what I have to say about chapter one tomorrow. God bless!

-- Dexter

Healing P.O.T.S

I volunteered to feed the homeless and less fortunate this Thanksgiving. I involved my kids because I want them to understand how fortunate they are to have a home and the possessions that God has bless us to have. Well, two weeks following this event, that was such a blessing to see how much so little can mean so much, I was asked to be a member of the board for Healing P.O.T.S (Healing People On The Streets). The is a charitable organization that has a goal of eradicating poverty and homeless in Greenville. Then efforts will be to branch off in Anderson and other cities in South Carolina. I feel so blessed to be a part of such a ministry. God is truly good and it brings me so much joy to know that I will be impacting the lives of people less fortunate to become independent one day. My goal is to see them employed and home owners. This can and will be done in Jesus' name. Amen!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I, personally, have so much to be thankful for this year. I've seen my son go to college. My daughters, Carrie-Anne, Kaitlin-Isabella, Tyler-Nicole, and Jordan-Marie are doing marvelous as kids. My lovely wife, Anita, is the blessing of my life. I am healthy after having cervical-spinal surgery over 5 years ago. I have just been invited to join the board of a Christian-based ministry that looks after the needs of the homeless called Healing P.O.T.S (Healing People On The Street). I am still working on my doctorate in seminary and I hope to be done by end of next year. God is a great God. He is faithful towards me day after day even though I do not deserve anything that He does for me and my family. Always, God bless Barack and his family. I pray, Lord, that you give Barack wisdom, direction as to how he should lead this country, and blessings on his efforts like Joseph when he was in the house of Pharoah. I believe these blessings in Jesus name and I receive them in His glorious name. Amen!

11/26/2008

Today is like a ghost town at Clemson University. Kaitlin is here with me today. She is enjoying playing on my laptop. I have been working on several user related problems. This afternoon I will be working on the Wanboot server that I thought I would be finished with by now. I am hoping that maybe the Upps and Smitty's will be up for sharing thanksgiving together...I do not know if they are going to be with their families. My family in South Carolina are either eating with others out of state or are not planning on hanging out with large crowds this year. I have so much to be thankful this year. My four daughters and son are healthy. Jeremy is doing extremely well in college. My girls are little geniuses like their big brother. Anita is faring well with the looming threats of cut backs in jobs at the hospital. I am in great health. My mother and grandmother are doing quite well. All is well with the Stowers family. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Lyon, France

Lyon Cityscape.

Avenue des Champs Élysées from the Arc of the Triumph, Paris.

Anita and I have date night every Thursday evening. We ran into two Frenchmen, one from Lyon. We spoke in French for at least two hours. Poor Anita was so bored. It made me think of Lyon when I was there studying for two advanced French courses. I miss the smell of the food and the wonderful country. I do plan on going back for good one day in the near future. Voila! Abientot!

PS Anita is picking up French quite well now. She was speaking to and understanding the conversations...I was impressed!

Tiring day

Today is one of those days where I just want to go home and sleep. I need to install software for an application used in ECE. Then I must build a wanboot server to we can do jump start installs for Solaris 10 & 11 anywhere in the college. One good thing though is that my lunch break is coming up.
I will try to post pics of the game that I am working on with Brian soon. I am pretty excited about it. Until the next time, I will see you later.

-- Dexter

Kaitlin's visit to the office

Today...I have one of my daughters here at work with me. She has been the center of attention...this was her intention in the first place! Well, we had breakfast at Fernow's and lunch at Western Sizzlin'. She is eating me out of the little money I brought to work. She has stopped to conversed with everyone in sight! I am hoping to be able to take her to her godfather's place in a few weeks!

Funny time of the year!

I am here sitting in my office with my son, Jeremy. Jeremy is getting ready to attend Erskine with a full scholarship. I am really proud of him. He is my best friend so I feel that I will be missing him alot. We have had two snow falls this year....not the norm for South Carolina. I now have two cats, Tobey Mac and Hope. They rock. They are awesome new members of the family that are just enjoying life and their new family. Jordan is growing up fast. Tyler will be starting school at Midway Elementary with Kaitlin. My kids are just growing up too fast. I am trying to add another room to the house so Carrie, Kaitlin, Tyler and Jordan can have a room to sit around and play games. There are so many things to do but not enough time to do it. I am just thankful to God for my family and the times that we share together. New Spring Church continues to amaze me with their continue commitment to God and the members. I have lost 28 pounds so now I am 254 pounds...not too noticeable when you stand 6'6. But I can feel the difference when I put on clothes. I am thankful for my radicallly awesome friends. God is so good! Until later!

-- Dexter

NWN and job

Well, James and my gaming colleagues are losing faith in me and my attendance at the games because of my job in Freeman. I am going to make it today with bells on! I hope that James remember that we are to play earlier today so I can get my gaming legs back under me. Other news, Hope is doing quite well and we can not wait until TobeyMac joins the clan. He is twice as large as Hope but they already do get a long well. We are looking forward to adding to the family. I will post later on this week.

-- Dexter
PS I do not want to make Cris or Heather mad at me.