Life Notes

Our Newsletter from Sav-A-Life Bessemer

   Celebrating God's

                           Gift Of Life

Page 2

From the Director…

“And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name.”Luke 11:2

When we think of Jesus we think in terms of savior or master, and correctly so.  Yet Jesus is also a teacher; a teacher who changes our thinking on so many things.  The word repent means to “change one’s mind” and that’s what Jesus does for us.  He changes our thinking on many subjects.  In Luke’s account of what we call The Lord’s Prayer, the disciples had been watching Jesus pray and they wanted – desperately- to be taught by this man they called Lord.  In the preceding verse to the one shown above they ask, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”

The disciples had no idea that this was The Lord’s Prayer (complete with music!).  To them, this was a moment when Jesus showed them how to connect with God- their father through adoption.  When Jesus said, “Father,” it wasn’t just the beginning of a prayer as we see it today.  To the disciples, Jesus was pointing out a new concept:  God is my father! If we look through the Old Testament – the only Bible of the disciples – there is little thought of God as father.  Today, we may take it for granted, but for thousands of years it was practically unheard of.  Jesus changed all of that.

As we reach out to those who come in our door, I wonder if many of them have a difficult time grasping the idea that God can be their father; that Jesus is the way to that father-daughter or father-son relationship we want so much.  To many, the concept may be as difficult to grasp as it might have been to those in Jerusalem and other nearby cities more than two thousand years ago.  Too many – sadly – see “church” as a place of rules and restrictions, of judgment and laws. Sounds a lot like the pharisaical doctrines Jesus walked into.  Is this a fair portrayal? Probably not. But in the minds of those we see, perception is reality.

We know that walking with Jesus Christ leads to liberty, freedom, and an intimate and engaging relationship with not only our God, but our father as well.  This means freedom from sin, from bondage and the joy of an abundant life we could never imagine otherwise.  As we reach out to those we see, perhaps one idea is to ask them about the perfect father and what he might be like.  Would he love enough to give freedom?  Would he love enough to set boundaries to keep us safe? Would he love enough to leave the door open for us if we “went prodigal” on him? A great daddy would do all of those things – and our clients will know that.  And this leads to an opportunity to share a revolutionary concept that starts with one word: Father.

                                                                               Prayerfully and for life,     

                                                                              Becky                          

Following are donations that have been made since last newsletter. Some were given through our Walk for Life.

In honor of:

Maytown Baptist Church Youth  

by Steve & Jennifer Parsons

In memory of:

Olga Baumann   

by Donald & Edith Baumann

Marvin & Beverly Flaten

Margaret Wyman 

by Vurl & Reenie Baumann

Mable Meeks 

by Billy Hendricks & famiy

Gayle Stuart & family

Judy Cockrell & family

Sherry Burchfield by

James Burchfield (Old Blue Creek Baptist Church)

A MINISTRY FOR DADS

Every child needs a daddy, but so many fathers of children born through this ministry have no idea that they have a great opportunity to influence the life of their child.  Society tells them they are nothing but a support check, but we want to show them a better way.  We want them to see they are valuable and vital.  And not only that, we want them to have all of the tools they need to be a powerful positive influence on the child they are fathering.

As an extension to the Preparing For Your Baby classes we already offer - we are gathering materials and information to begin a ministry for dads.  Please pray for this ministry and for the Christian dads that God will call to guide and teach these young fathers to be. We are in the process of searching for and looking at curriculum so pray for our guidance as God continues to expand His territory.

Preparing For Your Baby

We had 7 girls that completed classes in May.  There ages ranged from 16 to 29.  They were a wonderful group and a joy to teach. They had to endure no air conditioning one night and a scary storm approaching another night.

Thank you Bro. Joel Frederick, pastor at Loveless Park  Baptist Church for speaking to these girls and their families & friends. We hosted approximately 30 guests. They were so responsive and appreciated Joel sharing with them in a fun but truthful and caring way!  Six ladies ask Jesus into their hearts and five were from the same family!!! Several others took bibles and tracts .Please pray for these families!

Thank you Loveless Park  Baptist Church for providing refreshments and gifts for these ladies and their babies. Their families kept telling us how nice the shower was and how sweet your church was for doing this.  Ladies, you did a great job!!!  Special thanks to Marilyn Montgomery for all her hard work in organizing this for her church. And wow, that cake she made.  Those cake shows on cable don’t have anything on our Marilyn – she’s the best!!!

Please be in prayer for our next class in August.

It’s not too late……..

Haven’t you mailed your walk pledge?  It’s ok…send it in!  It’s such an encouragement when we receive that envelope with a check inside or go online and receive that notification that a donation has been made.  Your gifts are one of the vital tools God uses to do His work here.