Segmentation
(Spanish below)
(PROGRESS ON THE WINNER-HOME FOR AT-RISK GIRLS BELOW)
Matthew 26:40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
I think the worst thing I went through in training for combat was one segment of time that prepared me best for what was coming at me, both in the army as well as in the world. Late one night, after an especially exhausting day of training, we were woken up in a panic. We were told to pack up NO LESS THAN 40 lbs in into our rucksacks and to be in formation within 5 minutes. (as the ‘clown’ in our platoon indignantly whispered, HOW RUDE!). We were then force marched, (marching as fast as you can, in formation, NOT jogging) without any idea of how far we were going nor for how long. We knew we were in trouble when ambulances followed us to pick up ‘casualties’. Most of us had no ‘quit’ in us, so about 30 miles (6 hour hours or so later) we were allowed to collapse. Most of us collapsed right there on the road. It was horrifying, ugly and weirdly beautiful all at the same time. During the forced march, one guy slammed the butt of his rifle into the face of the guy behind him because he kept stepping on the heel of his boot. It brought the worst out of us, and now that it was over, we were ecstatic, at least for a little while.
Life is like that. We have NO CONTROL over how long good things nor bad things last. We have no control of the outcome of anything really. Only God does. But we DO have control over segments of our lives. Breaking life down to 15 minute bites, is possible, and very helpful. Also, large tasks, or in my case, large crowds. Break a task down to doable bits. Crowds, one person at a time. As a minister, you should not see at a crowd, but that ONE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU. As my readers know, I HATE reading big books. But I love reading two pages at a time of any book . (BIBLE TOO) That is how I deal with things like that horrible forced march. 15 minutes at a time. Fifteen steps at a time.
We ALL can control the next 15 minutes of our lives. There is NO GUARANTEE that we have more than that anyway.
Recovering alcoholics, for example, have taught us that we can even control ONE WHOLE DAY at a time, but I bet they make it into a whole lot of little segments of time throughout the day. We can get through ANYTHING as long as we break it down into manageable bites, or segments.
We can also use segments of time to glorify God, and obey Him. For example, to resist temptation. When we do that, we are pleasing to God. We are saying through our actions that we love Him and give Him value. (The true meaning of worship). As we do this we can control how things work out in the long run because the Bible says in Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. It is good to love Him and glorify Him with your day to day life. Your heart is where your treasure is. For most of us, our treasure is time, so we should use it wisely. Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
I read a secular book about this recently. I wish I had read it 20 years ago, my personal life and family would have been a lot better off. Things are so much easier when you break time and tasks down to segments. Also, it makes you a million times more efficient. You become better and more agreeable physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually when you practice this. Jesus taught us this with the opening verse in Matthew 26:40 could ye not watch with me one hour? I can’t keep from ever sinning again, but I can keep from sinning for the next 15 minutes (unless someone punches me in the nose or something, but even then I’d like to think that I can). The trouble is REMEMBERING to take everything in small 15 minute bites!
If you do this, you are valuing your time, and are making your time more valuable to God. When He sees this, He will make sure to free your time up even more! If you waste your time, He won’t. I really believe that. The key I think is just following His lead. Yes! The minutia of your life is important to the Creator of the University.
A good example. I have been trying to write books since I was in my 20’s. No luck yet. Now I am trying to write a fictitious book about Jesus being born and living in our life time, wondering if we would know Him, or would we be like the scribes and pharisees. I’ve been writing it 15 minutes a day, for the past 6 months and I am astounded how far I’ve gone. It’s easy. When my stopwatch sounds, I don’t write a second more. I stop writing the moment the alarm rings. but I write every day no matter how tired I am. Lifting weights too, 15 minutes a day, not a second more. Walks – 1 1/2 hours not a second more. Prayer, 1 hour. I spend 15 minutes a day just goofing off with pure heart kids. 2 hours relaxing with Winnie. 2 hours Bible study and Bible lessons. 15 minutes just shooting the breeze with staff. An hour calling PureHeart donators and friends (usually one and the same). Every day, broken up into small segments. It works for me. I think the forced speed march with no end in sight made me appreciate finality and ease of small windows of time.
When you make the most of your time, for the glory of God, satan can’t get in there and mess it up. As I am learning this I am teaching it. It helps with mental health. It helps with counseling. If things get out of hand in a marriage, I tell them to give each other an hour before saying anything or doing anything hurtful. If someone is threatening suicide, among other things, I encourage them to take a nap. Temptation to sin, run. Segmenting your life makes things manageable, especially for our little buddies who live in extreme poverty.
Please take 15 minutes and pray for us and for them, every day.
Ephesians 5:16“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
—–PROGRESS ON THE WINNER HOME—–
We have made progress but are still slow. Under ‘My Timeline’ that is. God has the perfect timeline . We made some changes in the plans, so we are ready to start on the room for the children.The burden is on God, not on us.
It’s all about finances. The will is there ( both ours and the Lord’s as expressed in His written Word). However, we still need a drastic increase in funds (over and above our already existing ministry expenses, which are a lot!) to make the necessary improvements BEFORE we can even present it to the government. If we are destitute the government would be crazy to let us bring in kids to live with us, and I do not blame them.
We will need more staff (minimum 2 full time employees more) to do this (by law and for legal protection). We also need to show (1) sufficient income in donations perpetually (an average over the past three months, about double what we are bringing in now). (2) An adequate vehicle. (3) A Nice Room for the children to live in. We have the room, but it needs a lot of work,
We need to ‘sell’ this dream to the skeptical government. From some of these types if ‘homes’ in the past that we have personally seen, the government has good reasons to be cautious. The philosophy ‘bring in the kids and the money will follow’ is reckless, dangerous, exploitive and presumptuous. Good for television, not for real life on the mission field though.
Our goal WAS to have kids living here by my birthday in June 21, but it’s looking less and less realistic. That’s my date, but maybe not God’s. That’s the day I am officially retired according by social security standards. Lord willing I will be getting $1,290 a month, so that will really help PureHeart to step up the game. Retirement is a worldly term to me, not a Christian term. I will take the retirement money to help, not quit, on this labor of love.
We need large donations of money, materials and labor to get the home ready. We also need a different vehicle, and a steady increase in donations to provide for 5 or six more people (basically another young family).
STEP 1 is COMPLETED! Praise God!
STEP 2 is COMPLETED! Praise God!
Once we get the money we will move onto Step 3 but right now we are below broke from our normal day to day operations staring us in the face; God willing, we will get past this soon. We need a huge miracle and even more prayer.
Step 3. We need to finish out and furnish the dormitory for the girls.
4. We just found out by government that we will need a larger vehicle. Our 14 year old tucscon is on it ‘s last leg, and won’t legally hold Winnie and I and 5 girls. So we have to have a van.
Once all of that is done we are ready to bring in the little girl toddlers. Pray with us in the selection process of which little girls we will bring in. It will take time and we need to raise a lot to of money to do this (est overall expenses will be a little over 10,000 PLUS 14,000 for a good used van, ($24 ,000 in total) and also monthly donation base of $5,000 a month) to keep us afloat with the school, Winner Home for Girls and the feeding centers.
Thats what the Lord we believe showed us, but we are always open to opinions and advice! Like I said, we could be wrong, but that’s the feeling that we get.
thank you once again!
You can donate online www.pureheartchildren.org or by check
Checks made out to Grace Life OutReach (with PureHeart in the memo)
can be sent to Our mailing address:
Pure Heart C/O Grace Life Outreach
190 Seminole Ln Apt 302
Cocoa Beach Fla. 32931-3394
SPANISH
segmentación
Mateo 26:40 Y vino a los discípulos, y los halló dormidos, y dijo a Pedro: ¿Qué es lo que no podéis vigilar conmigo una hora?
Creo que lo peor que pasé en el entrenamiento para el combate fue lo que me preparó mejor para lo que me esperaba, tanto en el ejército como en la vida. Nos despertaron en pánico muy de la noche, empacamos 40 libras en nuestras mochilas, formamos en 5 minutos. (como susurró el ‘payaso’ en mi pelotón, ¡Qué grosero!). Entonces nos marchamos a la fuerza (marchando lo mas rápido posible, en formación) sin tener idea de lo lejos que estábamos avanzando ni durante cuánto tiempo. Sabíamos que estábamos en problemas cuando las ambulancias nos siguieron para recoger a las “víctimas”. Aproximadamente 30 millas (6 horas más o menos después) nos pararon y colapsamos. Era horrible, feo y extrañamente hermoso. Un tipo golpeó el soldado detrás con la culata de su rifle en su cara porque siguió pisando el talón de su bota. Nos sacó lo peor, y ahora que había terminado, estábamos alegres, al menos por un momento.
El combate es así. La vida en general es así. No tenemos control sobre cuánto duran ni las cosas buenas ni las cosas malas. No tenemos control del resultado de nada realmente. Solo Dios lo hace. Pero sí tenemos control sobre segmentos de nuestras vidas. 15 minutos de nuestras vidas cualquiera puede tener control. Alcohólicos recuperando, por ejemplo, pueden controlar un día. Podemos superar CUALQUIER COSA en partes o segmentos manejables. Si usamos estos segmentos para glorificar a Dios, estamos agradando a Dios, porque lo amamos y le damos valor a El (el verdadero significado de la adoración). A medida que hacemos esto, podemos controlar cómo funcionan las cosas a largo plazo porque la Biblia dice en Romanos 8:28 “que todas las cosas ayudan para el bien de los que aman al Señor”, por eso es mejor tratar de amarlo y gloríficarlo con tu vida cotidiana.
Tu corazón está donde está tu tesoro y para la mayoría de nosotros, nuestro tesoro es el tiempo. Mateo 6:21 Porque donde esté tu tesoro, allí estará también tu corazón.
Leí un libro sobre esto escrito por un pagano. Desearía haberlo leído hace 20 años, mi vida personal y familiar habrían estado mucho mejor. Las cosas son mucho más fáciles cuando puedes romperlas en partes manejable. Físicamente, emocionalmente, mentalmente y espiritualmente.
No puedo vivir una vida sin pecar, pero si puedo evitar pecar durante los próximos 15 minutos (a menos que alguien me golpee en la nariz o algo así, pero aun me gustaría pensar que puedo hacerlo). ¡El problema es RECORDAR tomar esos 15 minutos!
¡Si usted hace que su tiempo sea valioso para Dios, Él va a liberar mas de su tiempo! Si pierdes tu tiempo con tonterías, Él no lo hará. Realmente lo creo. Creo que la clave es seguirle a El. Sí! La minucia de tu vida es importante para el Creador de la Universidad.
He estado tratando de escribir libros desde los últimos 40 años. No hubo suerte todavía. Ahora estoy tratando de escribir un libro ficticio sobre el hecho de que Jesús nació y vive entre nuestras vidas, y si lo reconocemos a El. Lo he escrito 15 minutos al día, durante los últimos 6 meses y me sorprende lo lejos que he llegado. Es fácil. 15 minutos, Ni un segundo más. Levantando pesas también, 15 minutos, ni un segundo más. Camina. 1 hora y media, ni un segundo más. Oración, 1 hora. Paso 15 minutos al día solo jugando con los niños del corazón puro. 2 horas de relax con Winnie. 2 horas de estudio bíblico y lecciones bíblicas. 15 minutos simplemente hablando con los que trabajan con nosotros. Una hora llamando a los donadores y amigos de PureHeart (generalmente lo mismo). Todos los días, divididos en pequeños segmentos. Esto funciona para mi. Creo que la marcha de velocidad forzada sin fin me hizo apreciar la finalidad y la facilidad de las ventanas de tiempo pequeñas.
Cuando aprovechas al máximo tu tiempo, para la gloria de Dios, Satanás no puede entrar y estropearlo. Como estoy aprendiendo esto lo estoy enseñando. Este ayuda con el consejo matrimonial, emocional e espiritual . Si las cosas se salen de control en un matrimonio, les digo que se den un tiempito antes de decir o hacer algo hiriente. Si alguien está amenazando con suicidarse, entro otras cosas, los aliento a que tomen una siesta. Segmentar tu vida hace que las cosas sean manejables, especialmente para nuestros amigos que viven en pobrebreza. Por favor toma 15 minutos y ora por nosotros y por ellos, cada día.
Efesios 5:16 “Redimiendo el tiempo, porque los días son malos”.