You can reply to Pastor Ron by emailing him at ronp where cornerstonelodi all com
Get RSS Updates of Ron's Rambling
TWO AND ONE HALF YEARS
03-04-2010
Our friends came to church last Sunday and brought their newly adopted Haitian daughter, Claire.
Such a great blessing!! She is healthy, loving, happy, motivated and with a mind of her own. She is literally starting life over again.
It will be 100% different from the past. She was lifted out of poverty and one meal per day. She had a life with 40 other kids crowded in the group home. Her guardian was Lydie, the owner of the home and mayor of the town. Lydie is a great sacrificial Christian but who can care for 40 kids alone?
Today Claire's new life includes a wonderful Christian family with 3 terrific siblings, her own room, all the clothes she can ever wear, an abundance of food, also a special terrific church family and a Christian public school teacher who calls her parents every day.
As the Bryditzki family told their miracle story of answered prayers with God's perfect timing everyone that day marvelled. I remember hearing Scott say, "we waited TWO AND ONE HALF YEARS."
"Patient endurance is what you need now".
Dear Lord help me to be willing to wait. His answers are always worth it
God is great if you will wait. What are you waiting for?
~ Pastor Ron
HAITIAN CELEBRATION
02-11-2010
Amidst great devastion and tragedy there are some victories.
As you probably know five hundred orphans have been legally admitted to the U.S. immediately after the earthquake. These children were already in process when the earthquake propelled them into the loving arms of excited parents.
Pam and I have personal friends who adopted one such beautiful seven year old Haitian girl named Claire.
Claire is now with her new parents in Lake of the Pines. They will be our special guests Sunday Feb. 28th. I invite you to come and hear the great story of faith by Scott and Debbie Bryditski.
"All things work together for good to those who love the Lord." There is hope! There is joy! It can happen amidst great loss.
Many times Pam and I have seen God do great things inspite of tragedy and loss.
If you are now in one of those bad places I encourage you to "wait on the Lord" trust Him completely and hang onto faith.
Your celebration is just around the corner and God has not forgotten your needs.
~ Pastor Ron
HAITI CRISIS
01-29-2010
WE are all shocked at the devastation.
Many want to adopt all the orphans off the streets!
I am amazed that very little orderly goverment exists.
I want to take a team from Cornerstone to go ASAP to help show Jesus love and bring aid to the victims.
Many ask the question, WHY? I am currently preaching on the subject and will post the messages on line soon.
My first answer is this. "The secret things belong to the Lord our God" Deut. 29:29. There are lots of secrets in our world. God is not obligated to explain everything. He doesn't have to tell those secrets. We probably would not understand even if He did explain! ! !
Verse 29 says that some things are revealed and some things are concealed (secret). What is revealed I must obey and what is concealed I must trust.
The entire Christian life can be explained in two words. TRUST AND OBEY.
We are waiting and praying for direction to take a team to Haiti. Do you want to go with us?
~ Pastor Ron
AIR TRAVEL
01-18-2010
Pam and I left for our vacation three times.
Preparing to go on vacation is half the fun they say. You know, all the talk, planning, dreaming, and wishing is so much fun.
Well, we had three times as much fun as anyone. We actually went to the airport three times in one day thinking our plane would really taxi down the runway and fly away.
Our adventure began at 5:30 a.m. when we left home the first time. Airline officials said, "Your plane had a bird strike and is being repaired. This plane won't leave till 4 p.m." So we went home.
Later we showed up at the airport ready to go at 4 p.m. But the plane was not fixed. They said, "come back later ready to leave at 1 a.m."
What, 1 a.m.? You mean 1 a.m. in the morning? So now we had another delay of 9 more hours.
Thankfully, our son Brantley called us and asked us to come to his home for dinner. What a life saver!! It was so much fun being with our Brantley family and we also used up a few more hours waiting and waiting.
Back to the airport the third time, we waited 2 1/2 more hours for the 1 a.m flight.
This time it left on schedule.
Somehow that vacation reminds me of our endurance flight half way around the world to Ukraine.
On a mission trip we always prepare for the unknown, the unexpected, and the undercover problems---but not on vacation.
That night we were being stretched beyond flexible to some new spiritual lesson, I guess.
What is really amazing about this entire experience is that before we left I had just preached my point # 5 on PRACTICE PATIENCE AND WAIT.
God was turning the sermon around and now showing me what it means to wait.
Let's see, from start to finish the "patient and waiting time" amounted to 16 1/2 hours.
I can be patient but---that was just plain crazy!
I think I will wait a few years before preaching on "Patience" again.
Do you know what I mean?
~ Pastor Ron
NEW ROAD
12-29-2009
Face Your Fear-Take a New Road This Year.
At the beginning of each year I seem to ask myself the same question.
"I wonder what will happen this new year?"
As I look back on 2009 many things did happen.
My sister-in-law after being sick all year long went home to heaven on Nov.13th. On that very same day our new granddaughter was born.
It was a new road.
Last year Cornerstone had a special year of being a servant church in many ways and God paid all our bills. YEAH!
It was a new road.
On our fall Baja Mission Trip one of our team members died the first day at camp and one of our other members almost had a life and death crisis when his artery burst. It could have been fatal.
It was a new road.
Every year is full of surprizes. However I remember what God says. "He will have no fear of bad news, his heart is stedfast, trusting in the Lord." Ps. 112:7
Faith in God takes the fear out of any bad news.
Yes the new year will be a new road to be sure. There will be the GOOD, BAD, and UGLY. But there will also be many really great wonderful surprizes of immense colossal joy.
We can expect a new road with turns, curves, detours, stop signs, and stuff! Included will also be breathtaking vistas with great mountain top experiences with God and other believers.
"All things work together for good" so don't be afraid of the new road.
Face Your Fear-Take a New Road This Year.
It will be an awesome ride.
~ Pastor Ron