Time IS On My Side

By Kevin Pierce
      Director of Men's Services

"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be.  Be one.” Marcus Aurelius

“Everything is appropriate in its own time. But though God has planted eternity in the hearts of men, even so, many cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”  King Solomon

“So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.” The Apostle Paul

This blog is a bit personal for me.  Time has been a focus for me lately.  My brother, at 56, is dying from cancer.  Barring a miracle, he has little time left.  We have been looking back through the years of his life with all of the emotion that fits the memories.  Like most people would, he has become supremely intentional about each moment.

I look at my own children.  I see the direct results of time I spent, or did not spend, with them.  There is great joy to see the good that time has produced.  There is regret for what was not accomplished, because time was not spent on it.  I tell the men who come to Care Net that children spell love T-I-M-E.  We talk about the fact that there is no substitute for time spent with children.  Not the myth of quality time.  Just tons and tons of minutes and hours spent on them.

Time is the currency of all relationships.  How we spend our time shows what we value.  Children do not understand the concepts of working for a living, retirement, and climbing the success ladder.  They don’t get the frustrations and personal pleasure that come from it.  They should not have to.  What they understand is that Dad loves me because he was with me.  They understand that Dad loves Mom because he is with her.  Even though they may not be able to explain it, they know time equals love.

Time is not a renewable resource.  The idea that I will be able to make time later for those I love is false.  We can’t make more time.  I know that providing for our families shows we love them.  But what they see is what we spend directly on them.  Planning a Saturday event is great.  It gives anticipation and excitement to our families.  We will never have those Saturdays again.  But, we only get that hour on a Wednesday once in this life.  We only get bedtime today once.  We get this next Saturday morning with our son or daughter one time.  We get this afternoon to love their mother, and then that time is gone.  How we spend our “only once” minutes and hours is critical.

Time is a foundation for our legacy.  My Dad, and other men who served as “fathers” to me, showed me how to live.  I learned to deal with people by being with my Dad as he dealt with people.  How he treated me and others taught me how to treat my children, for better or worse.  These men showed me how to listen, and love, and study, and fight, and win and lose, by having me with them to watch them do life.  You and I prepare our kids for life after us by how they live with us.  In a sense, our best and most permanent mark on this world is made by the children we send into it.

Given all this, we should be like my brother, and be that way today.  We should be supremely intentional about the minutes and hours.  How will we spend tonight, between 7:00 and 9:00 pm?  What will we do with the 15 minutes we have at lunch today to talk to someone?  How will our use of time today, affect the whole of the lives of those we love?

Time is on my side, if I see its value in relationship.  It is on my side, if I recognize the inestimable value of the moments.  It is on my side, if I invest is carefully and joyfully in the lives of those I love.

Walk for LIFE!

By Nanette Maldonado
     Community Liaison

Last year was my first Walk for LIFE and I had no idea what to expect.  But you know what I found?  A community centered on one thing and one thing only, LOVE.  What a wonderful time I had!!!  With expectations or not, it was an event I found to be my most favorite.  You just have to experience it for yourself. 

Here’s what to expect, FUN, FUN, FUN! You will find old friends and make new ones, lots of laughter and joy, a little friendly competition between church youth, family games galore, a petting zoo for the younger ones to enjoy and an atmosphere full of LOVE, oh did I already mention that? Did I also mention that you will meet the Care Net staff and some of the most important people there, like our volunteers and our VIP clients?

My first experience overwhelmed my heart, because I had the opportunity to meet so many fellow Pro-Lifers!  I had the chance to connect familiar voices over the phone to lovely faces who support Care Net in multiple ways, and I had fun doing it.  If you want to know how to stay connected with like-minded people who LOVE LIFE, be part of the Walk for LIFE!

This is the one event where we can gather as a community of Pro-Lifers for a monumental purpose with lighthearted fun all at the same time.  It’s the one event of the year that is truly family centered.

Last year, we had the privilege to have many of our clients there as VIP guests in an honorary way.  It was such a blessing to have them lead the Walk for LIFE!  What a way to bring God the glory by celebrating the choice for LIFE right there, with those in the community that embrace them with love and rejoice with them. We are thankful that we were there to help them make that right decision for LIFE!

If I could tie this event all together with two or three words, I would end it with this… “LOVE UNLEASHES LIFE!” 

Join us March 24^th for the Walk for Life at Jensen Beach High School at 9:00 a.m., located at 2875 NW Goldenrod Rd, Jensen Beach, FL 34957.  Please walk with us and register to walk at www.WalkForLifeTC.com and bring your family and friends!

See you there!  It’s not what you expect…it’s BETTER!

Instructions for Christian Living

By Pam Durham
      C.A.R.E. Director

Are the choices you make grieving the heart of God?  How about the words you say, the conversations you have?  I ask because I have recently overheard conversations that should have taken place behind closed doors, if at all.  My heart was grieved; grieved for those I overheard, and grieved for anyone who doesn’t understand the ramifications of what they are saying and thinking.  It is virtually impossible to separate ourselves from the words that come out of our mouths and the images created in our minds.  These words and images are often used against us by the enemy of our soul.  That overheard conversation took me back to my childhood/teen years where the environment was anything but Godly. 

Sex was a part of my life from as early as I can remember.  Crude “jokes” and sexual innuendos were a part of my everyday life from age 10 to 18 when I left home.  Body parts were discussed openly and nicknames were given accordingly.  It was acceptable for the adults around me to talk inappropriately about my body or anyone else’s body.  I dressed to fit the part, not understanding the messages I was sending.  Satan was using those around me to groom me for a life of sin in which sex had a big role. 

Thankfully, at the age of 14 I began attending a Godly church and began to see what life was like without a focus on sex.  I’m sure I shocked some of those ultra-conservative members with what I wore.  Thank God, they loved me and reached out to me anyway.  What a breath of fresh air when I was in their company.  I didn’t realize what it was, but I was drawn to these people.  Of course, the Holy Spirit was drawing me, giving me a glimpse into a different life, a God-filled life.

 

As I’ve pondered and prayed about these overheard conversations, I was reminded of God’s words from Philippians 4:8-9, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you.” (Emphasis mine.)

I was told many years ago that what I do in moderation, the next generation will do in excess.  That is what spurred me to rid my home of as much filth as I could.  I did not want that life for my family.  At least I could address what was seen and heard on the surface.  Unfortunately, the “law of generations” has a way of creeping into the lives of our children and grandchildren even when we do not embrace those practices.  Thankfully, being transparent with my children about some of the things in my past has helped them to make Godly choices for their own lives. 

Ephesians 4:17-32 has a subtitle in my Bible “Instructions for Christian Living.”  Here are a few excerpts from this passage:  vs. 17-19, “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.  They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.”  Verses 22-24, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” And finally, verses 29-30, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”  (Emphasis mine.)

I hope that those I overheard will hear the Word of the Lord and realize how far away from God’s thinking they are moving.

He LOVES This Place!

By Debi Boerckel
      Office Manager

I believe that you can tell a lot about places and people if you watch children and observe their reactions to those places and people.  For instance, I have seen children, toddlers even, nearly jump for joy when they walk into a McDonalds®, and NOT because of the fries!!  Part of that excitement is probably tied to the Happy Meal® toy that will greet them, but they are also crazy excited about playing in the PlayPlace®!  It is a “happy place” for them – a place where they can run, jump, slide, laugh…be a child…and they LOVE it!!!

Until the other day, I never thought of Care Net’s office  as a “happy place” for a child.  One of our long-time clients stopped by to donate some things.  That in itself is a wonderful thing – so many of our clients give back to help other clients.  She has been a client through her pregnancy, delivery, and now with a very rambunctious little guy who literally runs EVERYWHERE!  The staff knows this client well, so when she pulled up with donations and her little guy in tow, we offered to help her.

As soon as his little feet hit the floor in our Waiting Room, he was off like a shot!  He ran the length of the room to the door leading to the offices.  WOOSH!  Through the door and down the hall!  WOOSH!  Full speed into the Counseling Room, which had no lights on, and up onto the couch where he normally sits when his Mommy comes for an appointment!  His beautiful Mommy was trying to chase after him with her arms full while the rest of us looked at him with wide-eyed wonder!  She said, “He LOVES this place!”

Why?  Why was he so happy to be here?  There’s no “PlayPlace®”, no Happy Meal® toy, no lollipop or sticker when he’s ready to go home…what was it that caused his little spirit so much joy?

Love.

We love him and his Mommy with the love of Christ.  They are both truly loveable people, but what I’m talking about is beyond human love.  It’s soul love.  It’s Holy Spirit love that goes deeper, reaches farther, holds tighter than any human love can.  To this little guy, Care Net IS his happy place!  Care Net is also his Mommy’s happy place!  Children are tuned in to their parents’ moods and feelings, so we know that if that were not true, he would not find so much joy in being here.

We ended the visit that day with a lot of smiles, laughter, and hugs.  They went home, and I walked back into my office thanking God for allowing me to see Care Net through the eyes of one of His precious little children.  Thank you Lord, that Your place called Care Net, is a happy place for so many.

When Do You Say Life Begins?

By Rayma Zugel
      Lead Center Director

January 21^st, the third Sunday in January, is a date marked by Presidential decree in 1984 as Sanctity of Human Life Day, 11 years following the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. President Regan was a strong pro-life advocate and claimed that the Supreme Court had “struck down our laws protecting the lives of unborn children.” He is also quoted as saying in 1984 that, “Each year, remarkable advances in prenatal medicine bring even more dramatic confirmation of what common sense told us all along – that the child in the womb is simply what each of us once was: a very young, very small, dependent, vulnerable member of the human family.” (Taken from NYTimes.com 1/17/1986, “President Deplores Abortion; Proclaims a Human Life Day.)

His successor, President George H.W. Bush, continued to recognize this Day. President Bush’s successor, President Bill Clinton, discontinued the practice throughout his presidency. Then President George W. Bush reinstated the observation during his time in office. President Barak Obama did not recognize this Day throughout his presidency. Now, President Donald Trump is in office and he, once again, recognizes the importance of the Sanctity of Human Life, even addressing the crowds at the annual March for Life held in Washington D.C. on January 19.

This past weekend, many churches around the country observed Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, making a statement that all life is sacred, from natural birth to natural death. It is fitting that this past week was also the week Americans honored Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who valued and defended life until his was taken from him. If we, like Martin Luther King, Jr. and our forefathers before him, believe, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (The Declaration of Independence), then we cannot ignore those whom God is wonderfully knitting together in the womb (Psalm 139:13).

But if we say we believe in the Sanctity of Human Life, when then, does life begin?

Heartbeat: Modern technology can detect the baby’s heartbeat 18 days after conception; it can be seen beating by day 22. Between conception and birth, the heart beats approximately 54 million times!

Brain waves: By 6 weeks 2 days from conception, signals from the brain can be detected.

Independent movement: Although the Mother cannot feel it, the baby begins spontaneous movement between 5 – 6 weeks.

Breathing: The baby can hiccup by 7 weeks. The diaphragm muscle is completely formed by 8 weeks and intermittent breathing motions begin.

Many more milestones of life can be noted, but the bottom line is this, once a human egg is fertilized, a new human being has come into existence. All information concerning the child’s sex, hair color, eye color, and much more is present from the beginning. If the newly formed being is not human life, what is it?

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:13-16 (ESV)

Since 2009, more than 534,000 unborn lives have been saved as a direct result of the work of pregnancy resource centers affiliated with Care Net (stats through 2016). As you consider these facts, we’d encourage you to consider what your role might be in upholding the sanctity of human life – not just one day out of the year, but every day.

You can contact our Port St Lucie Center to receive more information about our upcoming Walk for Life being held on March 24 at Jensen Beach High School, or maybe you want to do even more. Our spring volunteer training will be held the first two weekends in March. Call to speak to us today 772-828-3168.

Overwhelmed by LIFE

by Willow Sanders
     Director of Student Services

You’ve been there right? Where the world feels like it’s coming in around you. Where if one more thing happens, they can pencil you in at the nearest rubber room. Then suddenly, almost cryptically, you hear of the need of another and it jolts you back.

We too know it. From our major move in August, to leaving for our national conference, only to return to a hurricane, and then jumping straight into a new school year! Yet in the midst would be

beauty. Things like a student committing to a major lifestyle change, having a 40% increase in student contacts, and walking through a difficult journey with a young man and watching him face it head on with Christ.

From despair to thankfulness, from selfishness to empathy.

I was thinking of this just the other day and how frequently it happens...which made me think of the word frequency. Defined, frequency is the rate at which something occurs or is repeated over a particular period of time or in a given sample. That reminded me of parenting and repeating things over and over again. Why?  Because I needed my boys to get a message. For whatever reason, there was a need for repetition. For frequency. Whether it be for Safety. Education. Fun. So many ways that the frequent occurrence of things can affect us.

My mind travels back to times in Scripture when the Lord repeated something. It could be in various books or in the very same verse, but I always knew if He said something or used an illustrative scenario more than once, I should key in and see what the point was. You know, see what the ‘therefore’ was there for. When we allow God to reset our focus from our lack to our abundance, it can be overwhelming. We can go from being OVERWHELMED by life to being overwhelmed by LIFE. In those times of discovery, we can find ourselves being reminded how much we have to be thankful for.  How blessed we are. How cared for we are.

Working in ministry can be like that. Overwhelming. Agendas to accomplish, tasks to be completed, needs to be met. However, you do not have to find yourself inside the walls of a non-profit or church to be ‘doing’ ministry. Our everyday life can be walking out what the Lord has called us to do. Yet repeatedly, I find that the greatest times of growth come when a tough time is met with an opportunity to see more than just the situation.  The Good. The Bad. The Tough. The Easy. All working together to overwhelm our hearts and remind us of the message of God’s overwhelming love.

Meeting with clients, speaking in schools, reaching out in our community, each offers so many chances to minister to the hurting and take our eyes off of the personal.  So as we all start this New Year off with different struggles, joys, or unknowns, let’s be ready and open to be overwhelmed by LIFE. 

The Divine Dance

by Sue Chess, Executive Director

(Excerpts from https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/a-new-years-plea-plan in italics.)

Nothing but the simplest impulses get accomplished without some forethought, which we call a plan.  As the Executive Director for Care Net, planning is very important to the future growth of this ministry.  It is very possible to go through life with little time devoted to the future, but this is not God’s way.  However, reconciling that with being open enough to God’s leading to accept closing doors and adjusting course will always be the challenge.

Proverbs 14:15 says “The simple believes everything, but the prudent looks where he is going.”  He considers the days to come and what they may bring.  Then the “prudent” thinks about how best to prepare for them and use them to accomplish His purposes.  The difference between planning and not planning is whether you look where you are going in the future, or whether you focus all your attention on the immediate right in front of you.

Over the last month, I’ve been examining the process God has used for Care Net and what we’ve learned in studying His ways over the past 16 years. 

When we pray, then plan, THEN move ahead doing just the next step (since that’s all we may know) God does big things!  Several years ago, we felt He was leading us to begin offering STI testing here at Care Net in addition to pregnancy testing.  Each week, I’d write down the next step to seeing that goal accomplished.  Weekly, the list would change.  “Call Health Dept.” “Check possible lab” etc. At one point, the realization came that when one door closed, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, we simply went to the next, and so on.  It was like an investigative journey or a Holy Spirit dance.

We applied the same method to adding a new Center in Martin County.  First, we prayed and believed the way clear and then listed the plan of what to do.  Each week found something else on the week’s plan moving us in that direction.  One big hurdle that we had no means of jumping was the Board’s determination (with my full support) that we needed a $50,000 buffer in bank before beginning.  A letter went out and the funds came in. 

We added the Student Services department to the ministry of Care Net in a similar fashion. 

Care Net’s Administrative Center that we moved into this past fall 2017, was approached in exactly the same way.  We searched for the perfect location for years, with one location after another checked off as not the right one. First, the knowledge that purchasing a building was His plan, then one step, a door closed, one step, another door closed, until another would finally open.  I’d love to say it was easy but it was not—it was painstaking, toiling, frustrating, but amazing.   PEACE has always been the guiding beacon.

God has done this for years, and I have finally realized He frequently leads all of us this way as we search to find the pathways He has for us.  But the point is to search…and take a step…if you want to find the path!  Yes, go there…no, not there…adjust course...recalculating…yes, there! For years, my motto has been “do the next right thing.”  Perhaps it should be DO the next right thing.  Start moving so that He can adjust or confirm the next step!

This is the Divine Dance of the Holy Spirit and it is the truest intimacy.

Careful planning is part of what makes a person wise and productive.  Not to plan is considered foolish and dangerous.  This is true even though the Proverbs teach that we do not know what the future may bring.  “A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”  (Proverbs 16:9)  The fact that the Lord is ultimately in control of the future does not mean we shouldn’t plan.  It means we should commit our work to the Lord and trust Him to establish our plans according to His loving purposes. 

Paul gave many examples of this in the epistles.  He carefully planned and then God would change those plans. Frequently, He put Paul in prison where he would write letters instead of going to the places he wanted to be.  But, in that process we received letters that make up a LOT of the New Testament.  He (Paul) had a general guideline: he wanted to preach where no one had preached before.  Then he developed a specific plan from this guideline….what makes this especially significant is that as far as we know those plans frequently fell through.  He was arrested in Jerusalem.  He went to Rome as a prisoner….It’s just like we saw in the Proverbs.  God is the one who finally makes the future.  But we plan nevertheless.  God uses our planning even if he aborts it and replaces it with something else.

 

Planning is crucial in Christian living and Christian ministry—even when God overrules it, and maybe especially when God overrules it.  That simply means He is doing a new thing along the way.  His creativity in teaching us new things as He is about the work of the Kingdom is a source of amazement to me.  If He corrects direction along the way, that is simply His leading in the Divine Dance.