Ben's Blessing Blog

No, were not upset about anything, actually quite the contrary. My parents decided to purchase in bulk, and by bulk I mean like three large containers of beef right from the farm. Yesterday my family and I all went to a farm about 20 some minutes away with a lot of freezer paper and markers :). Once we got there we met up with four nice guys who were ready to start chopping meat and a half of cow hanging from the rafters. I think Hudson was a little surprised to see a cow in that position :P . As we decided the types of cuts we want the guys just kept on chopping and handing us the meat so we could wrap it all up and label it for later. 

Brother Ronnie sent an email out to some of us preacher boys and asked if any of us would like to volunteer to preach for this upcoming Wednesday's service since it will be the New Year (2009) and it would make it a special night to have a couple of us younger guys practice preaching. I am always thankful for an opportunity to practice preaching and so I told Brother Ronnie I would be glad to. However, I am more nerverous this time than at other times because Pastor has been giving us really good instructions on how to study the Bible diligently and to make sure that we are getting the correct purpose or intent of the passage. Though the task seems daunting I felt that the Lord gave me some great points tonight as I was studying and I am looking forward to digging deeper and putting the message together. It is amazing how it is possible that by diligent studying of the Bible the Lord can open our eyes to see thoughts and lessons which we never saw before. Some of the truths I've seen before just became so much more vivid and amazing as I looked into the passage even more. It is like putting a filter on a camera or using photoshop to enhance the shot. It is the same picture, same point, but the clarity all of sudden amazes.

You all probably remember the big video project that I had wrote about previously which drove me crazy :) It was finally finished this past Monday and I thought I would share the video intro with you. I thought turned out pretty cool :D I added the link below so you can check out. I may only have the video online for a short time.

Hey Everyone!

Well guys and gals, this blog isn't as "blessed" as most of the other blog posts. I'm praying though that I will discover the lesson which the Lord is trying to teach me and if you are "on praying ground" I would appreciate your prayers for me as well. I simply don't know how I made it through this week. Honestly, I had so much pressure from an unexpected overload of work more pressure than I ever remember having. I was physically shaking inside from the amount of work that got suddenly put on me and the deadlines that were for these last couple days. Somehow (God be praised) I amazingly finished almost all the work and actually have time to write this blog. 

However on top of this when I woke up to turn off my alarm I came to the startling realization that my room was flooded. I turned the lights on and found three to four inches of water covering the entire basement. Thankfully the two power surge protectors and other wires that were lying all over my floor did not send power through the water. Later when I moved my laptop upstairs and plugged in the power to my external hard drive I found that power connector that goes to my hard drive was fried because it was floating in the water, actually more like sunk in the water. Just so you know... That was very scary, because the large project I had due that was causing me the most stress was all in that hard drive and it was not backed up. I quickly drove over to staples then ran over to Radio Shack the whole time praying and found the power cord I needed. Again, Praise the Lord I was able to complete a whole bunch more of that project AND BACK IT UP =). All I can say is that the verse about not knowing what a day may bring forth is definitely true.  

As for my room tonight I do not know where I'm going to sleep because all of the carpeting needed to be removed from the basement because it was so soggy. I forgot the mention the cause of the flooding, yes, the rain, but the main reason was the guys who did the paving the other day at our house for the new garage got stone into the sump pump pipe and the water pressure became too much for it to handle and it just flipped the breaker and the water poured into the house. There was so much water in the basement. Tom Hammond found a salamander under my weight set. :) Most likely my sister will be posting some pictures so you will have to check out her blog because I'm still not up to date with posting pix on the blog yet :) I will someday, I promise :) 

There are some other issues that aren't resolved yet that are still weighing heavy on me which I can't write just yet. I look forward to writing how the Lord resolves them and then I'll probably tell you all :) 

Have a Good Day!

BenH

BenH

The last week has actually been a little discouraging, but as I said in last night's blog I am so thankful that Jesus does hear His childrens prayers. Recently I finished some fairly large projects I two of my clients combined owed me $660 . The one client is in another country and after the project was complete he told me he would pay me that upcoming Monday because of a problem with his account. Well, it got discouraging after more than a week later he still hadn't paid and told me he was in the hospital. I was glad he at least responded so at least I knew he wasn't hiding from the payment. But, then about another week to two weeks later still I got nothing from him, no word at all. Then on top of that the other guy wasn't paying me. Then I got this headache, lost my voice, had another client telling me he wanted his huge project done in half the time and I have homework due next week and two other deadlines for projects were looming over my head. Ya, so I kept coming to God and asking Him to please just have these two guys pay so it takes at least these two things off my mind. Well, Finally the guy wrote me this morning out of the blue and said, "I'm going to send you half the payment now". He then told me how rough his life was and that he broke up with his girlfriend. I then thought, ahh I know why the Lord delayed having this guy send me the payment. He was waiting for this occassion that I could tell Him how when I have problems I can take them to the Lord. He told me that his problems have caused him to be depressed. I gave him the link to the What Standard video which he told me he watched and thought was very good. The Lord always has his purpose. I thought it would be the obvious purpose to just get me the money :p . The Lord's timing made that whole waiting period seem like nothing. I could go for a witnessing opportunity like that any day. 

Hey everyone, God is been good to me and helped me through this rough day. I'm thankful that I know God loves me and He listens when I talk with Him. There was so much work on todays platter and it would take me forever to explain it all. I just finished a small graphic though that I thought looked kinda cool and I don't think he would mind if I showed it to you since it would be promoting his business :) I'm putting together some lower-thirds for his videos that I edit. If someone has some creative idea with photoshop feel free to use the text below and send me your idea, maybe I'll steal it, lol. Have a Good Night Everyone!

BenH

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world." You
have an anointing from the Holy One: live by it! Give yourself to God;
live for him wholly and utterly; see to it that, where you personally
are concerned, the things of this world are scored off Satan's books
and transferred to God's account. For "the world passeth away, and the
lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

       I think everyone to one degree or another has the desire to be independent. To feel that you are in control. To think that if you desire something then you can push for it and there is no need to fear anything opposing you.... When you have the option between a course of vegetables and water or else some beautifully laid out meal, would anything stop you from choosing the meal you want. Well, in the case of Daniel, he was given the choice between two contrasting options. His thought process when deeper though than what he wanted though. The thought probably ran through his mind, "wow, a blessing from God! I can't wait to eat". However, he remembered that when he was back in Judah he had purposed in his heart to not live after the world. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. He knew that God was everywhere beholding the evil and the good and his choice was important. Every choice a child of God makes is important. If your a Child of God, do not make excuses for why you sin. If you making excuses then obviously you are not fearing the Lord. The fear of the Lord will affect the choices you make.