Fundraiser: Free the Children

Date: Sunday, April 22, 2012
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Place: United Church
           175 Queen St E
           Mount Forest, ON
           N0G 2L2

Our family will be providing and hour of singing and you're all welcome to come :)

Check it out at: http://www.southwesternontario.ca/community/rejoice-with-the-horst-family-singers/

My Tongue: A Powerful Weapon

Mocking shouts hurl through the air; a little girl's head bows,

Her school mates' laughter pierces deep and leaves a mesh of scars.

The tears drip down as her heart breaks, she keenly feels the hurt.

Her silent weeping touches none; they keep on flinging words.

She raises tear-stained eyes t'ward heaven, and through the rain of darts,

Her Jesus looks at her with love, then folds her in His arms.

He sadly turns to look at those who've thrown the poisonous slurs.

The grief and sadness in His eyes speaks more than any words.

His lips move in a silent prayer as the child's heart joins in too,

Oh Father, please forgive them, for they know not what they do.

The children turn and feel ashamed, they know the wrong they've done.

By mocking God's adopted child, they've also mocked His Son.

O Lord my God, forgive me when, I've mocked Your Holy Name,

By letting anger guide my mouth to words that kill and maim,

For gossip has a powerful tongue that quickly discards peace,

It breaks apart relationships and puts up walls between.

I pray that You would help me give, some love instead of hate,

And when insulted or let down, drop to my knees and pray.

A kindly word, forgiveness free, must be my tongue's career,

To keep the bond of peace aglow; let tension disappear!

                                                                 ~ Corrine Horst

                                              

Give It Your All!

Since 6:30 in the morning is too early for some people to focus, I did my devotions when I got home from school this afternoon :) For some unknown reason I pulled out the book by Elizabeth George titled A Young Woman's Call To Prayer and started reading it. (She is an amazing author by the way and if you haven't read her books there's always a first time!) While I was reading, it suddenly hit me that God wants me to give Him everything I've got. I mean it's not hard to give talents, belongings, and even time, but what about my reputation and pride. He wants that too! Jesus was shamed, mocked, and rejected just for me so why shouldn't I be willing to look a little stupid for the glory of His Name? Every Christian says they want God in the center of their lives but if we think about other things 3/4's of the time, sleep through our devotions, and just do enough "good stuff" to get by I don't think we understand the deep, never-ending type of commitment that God wants from us. I'm not professing to have all the answers because I don't. But I want to challenge you to aim high. (You'll never get to heaven if you don't aim for it :) Follow Jesus with everything you've got and hold nothing back. Give it your all friend!! A crown is waiting just for you :)

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness."  2 Timothy 4:7

Sickness = Craziness

For over a week now our entire family (except for Mom) has been taking their turns on the couch with some weird kind of flu bug. Me (Corrine) and Jessica were laying there feeling sorry for ourselves and wishing we were anywhere else when she looks at me with a silly grin on her face and says. "Being sick makes you feel stupid!" Well said Jessica...

#1. It drains all your strength away
#2. You get depressed (especially when it's sunny outside like this week)
#3. You get to see every single side of your family (good and bad)

The experience wasn't in vain though and I found out I'm truly grateful for Advil. It works! The first few days we were humping along with trusty, old,  Tylenol until Dad decided to try Advil. (My Dad's like that, always trying to find a new and faster way to do things :) So cheers to Advil! We got hooked and from now on I'm sure our entire family will be taking those little redish pills for any ailment we might have :) Another thing we're all thankful for is health and good voices. During our time of sickness a few of us were quite unfortunate and lost our voices. Singing "For Health and Strength and Daily Food" at the dinner table is very difficult when half of the family keeps flatting! I don't think we've ever went off key that often or that severely in our singing history! So if you're healthy.... Be Ye Thankful!!! And.... if you're sick, take Advil :)

3 things to do when you're feeling sick and crazy:

1. READ STORIES TO TWO YEAR-OLDS
It's a lot of fun reading those books again that you used to read when you were that little. I know it's a long time ago but try to remember :)

2. MAKE APPLE PIES  
So I told you being sick makes you do crazy things... Well this one supports that statement exactly! One morning me and Alyssa are sitting at the breakfast table having a sisterly chat (since we didn't feel like doing anything else and we were sick :) and I look over and see a big pile of apples sitting in front of her. I asked her what she was doing with them and she sadly replied that she wasn't sure yet! Peeling a whole pile of apples for absolutely no reason isn't something people do every day is it? Don't worry I'm not condemning you if that's one of your regular hobbies :) Anyway Alyssa decided that she would make an apple pie with her pealed heap. This idea was all well and good until she couldn't find eggs in the fridge. Since she didn't feel like trooping out to the barn to get eggs, the half finished pie (pictured above) sat on the counter for almost two hours until thankfully Mom walked past and was nice enough to get eggs and finish it. Thank God for mothers!



3.TAKE ADVIL!
I know this sounds like an advertisement but it's just some friendly advice to spare you from your next headache! (Remember it does work :) But just to keep from working for the Advil company I'll tell you one BAD thing about Advil. It tastes horrible. I think they sould have this label added to their boxes. WARNING: If swallowed slowly or allowed to melt in saliva, this tablet will attack your taste buds!

Now if you're feeling sick after reading all this, Take heart! The flu season is nearly past and spring (or summer) is here (to stay hopefully)!

Reach 1014 Fundraiser

You're all invited!

Date: Saturday, February 25, 2012
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Drayton Reformed Church
               74 Wellington N  Drayton, ON
               N0G 1P0
              

Our family as well as two other groups Surrender (acapella) and Rescue Junction (bluegrass) will be providing entertainment. Reach 1014 is a kids ministry that gathers approximately sixty children from the backstreets of Kitchener at least once a week for activities at a local community centre. Please come and support a worthy cause!

"But Jesus said, Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 19:14

Pride...

I wish I had none, for it makes my eyes blind,

While selfishness, hatred, boil deep down inside.

I wish I were humble, sincerely content,

To honour my Creator, for which I was meant.

I wish it was easy to put others first,

And wait 'til they've finished to quench my own thirst.

I wish I could see what my Father sees,

How my cold, selfish, heart is a dreadful disease.

I wish that God's children could be perfect saints,

A light to the world without spots of shame.

How I wish we'd stand strong and gallantly fight,

In the battle of darkness against the true light.

How I wish living right could just be made easy,

So all Christians, nationwide, could claim instant victory.

This vision sounds hopeless, I thought so myself.

But what would happen if we'd forget ourselves?

Wouldn't the world be surprised if we'd all act like saints,

Allow Jesus to wash us, get rid of the stains.

Or maybe they'd simply believe we'd gone mad,

Our joy and our freedom they couldn't understand.

How I wish, Oh I wish, that the world could look on,

As God's chosen people took up the victory song.

Christ won the battle for us, many decades ago,

He only is worthy, in Him we must boast!
        
                                              ~ Corrine Horst

Minute Blessings

Every time I ponder the start of a new year I'm reminded that we can choose to use time in a way that disappoints God or that honours Him. Every second of 2012 is an opportunity to show His love to others; whether it's sending a note of encouragement to a friend, helping a younger brother tie their shoe, choosing to stay home for family time instead of attending a youth event, or simply giving a smile to the frazzled grocery store clerk behind the counter. Maybe you're thinking, I'm way to busy and besides I'm the one who needs cheering up, my younger brother should learn to tie his own shoe anyway, and the grocery store clerk should be serving me not the other way around! A few months ago I heard an evangelist speak on the subject of time and how we can use it for God's glory. While he was talking, the thought hit me that we are really just living on borrowed time. Every minute belongs to God so we really have no excuse to be so selfish with our time. If we would all remember that God is just lending us each day I'm sure we'd treat them with a lot more respect and care! Use your borrowed minutes today to bless someone in your family, church, or community and I'm sure you will be rewarded as well!

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40