In past years, the Christmas holiday season may have been a time of great anticipation and excitement … but this year, the prospect of facing the holidays without your loved one may cause anxiety and dread.

You are not alone.

At this special event, you can receive  support, encouragement and advice to survive the holidays. Crossroads is pleased to have a amazing team of Grief Share leaders. This ministry offers 13-week seminars twice yearly… plus this special event in December and other resources for Crossroads and the community.

The cost for Surviving the Holidays is $5 for the workbook. Call 970-744-6516×508 or e-mail griefshare@crossroadscolorado.com for more information and to RSVP.

Learn more about Grief Share at Crossroads.

God of all nations, you are our Strength and Shield. We give you thanks today for the devotion and courage of all those who have offered military service for this country:

For those who have fought for freedom;
For those who have laid down their lives for others;
For those who have borne suffering of mind or of body;
For those who have brought their best gifts to times of need.

God, in your mercy and love, we thank you for their lives.

On our behalf, oh God, many have entered into danger, endured separation from those they love, labored long hours and born hardship in war and in peacetime.

God, in your mercy and love, we thank you for their lives.

We ask today that you would lift up by your Spirit those who are now at war; encourage and heal those in hospitals or mending their wounds at home; guard those in any need or trouble; hold safely in your hands all military families and bring the returning troops to joyful reunion and tranquil life at home.

Give to us, your people, grateful hearts and a united will to honor these men and women and hold them always in our love and our prayers until your world is perfected in peace and all wars cease.

Through Jesus Christ, our Savior,

Amen

John is home from the hospital– resting and recuperating. Thank you for praying. Please keep praying that the antibiotics will work well to completely chase away the infection.

John and Phyllis love and appreciate our church family. They are overwhelmed with gratitude for the love you poured out in prayer. Jessica, Mike, Rachael and Bill feel the same way.

Cards and things can be mailed to (or dropped off at) Crossroads, and we will deliver them to the Smith home. You can also send messages through office@crossroadscolorado.com.

Have the best week,
The Crossroads Staff

I think we all realize that there are no guarantees when we pray. God says, “Pray.” Jesus tells us, “Ask whatever you want in my name, and I’ll give it to you.” James writes, “Prayer is effective and accomplishes much good.” So… we pray.

And we also accept that no one understands the mind of God. God’s thoughts and actions are too much for us to understand, and sometimes we don’t receive the things we ask for. Yet we trust, because only our God offers true Life.

And, what joy we experience when we do get the things we ask for! This Psalm of David expresses that joy:

Come and listen, all you who fear God; 
let me tell you what he has done for me. I cried out to him with my mouth; 
his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God, 
who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me! (Psalm 66:16-20)

(There’s a nice David Crowder song based on this passage. Come and Listen.)

This weekend, in all four services, we had a time of “telling what God has done” for John and for us. We also prayed for God’s continued strength and healing for our pastor—mind, body and soul. Thanks Crossroads!

Here’s the report and prayer direction:

It looks like John will go home today. The specific antibiotics he is on are working against the infection, and he keeps getting stronger.

Thank you, and please continue to pray:

• Thank you, God, for your love and mercy for John, the Smith’s and our whole church family.
• Completely kill this infection and restore John to perfect health.
• Speak to us in this special time. Be our teacher, God; and lead us on a path of righteousness for the sake of your great Name.
• AMEN.

(John’s at Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, CO. Please no visitors, because he needs to rest. If you send cards/letters to Crossroads, we’ll deliver. Flowers are now safe and welcome.)

Phyllis Smith writes on facebook this morn:

We are pleased with John’s progress! He is out of ICU and on the specific medications he needs right now. Things are looking up, but will still need 3 weeks of IV antibiotics, rest, and TLC! Giving thanks and praise to God and everyone’s prayers! Keep praying—we still have a long road back to a healthy body! Love to All! Phyllis

The doctors have said that John was as sick as one can possibly be. At 1am Thursday, his blood pressure was nearly nothing as was white blood cell count. We thank God for those who cared for him in these critical hours. And we thank God for working a miracle in John’s body– giving him strength to fight the E-coli.

“If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,” says God, “I’ll get you out of any trouble. I’ll give you the best of care if you’ll only get to know and trust me. Call me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times; 
I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party. I’ll give you a long life, give you a long drink of salvation!” (Psalm 91:14-16 from The Message)

Here’s how we’re praying

• Thank you God for rescuing John from a very bad germ! See Psalm 91 from the message.
• Pray for the bacteria to weaken, die and disappear.
• Pray for God’s healing power to strengthen John’s body and protect him from side effects of medication.
• Pray for God to silence and diffuse the forces of evil that would try to hurt John, his family or the church. (Deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom, power and glory FOREVER. Amen).
• Pray for the strength and mission of Crossroads. (We welcome outsiders into the family of God and provide the kind of community within which people find, grow and actively practice FAITH in Jesus Christ.)
• Thank you God for your constant care for John and all of us.

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. (James 5:16b)

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened…” (Matthew 7:7-8)

“Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:22)

As we pray in faith, we also recognize that our prayers for healing don’t always produce what we ask for. Some of us are praying for loved ones who suffer terribly today. I urge us to keep praying and cling to God as our guide and companion wherever the path of life leads us. Jesus promises, I will never leave you or forsake you. We do not choose our circumstances, and we cannot control the ultimate work of God– even with our most earnest and effective prayers, the purist lifestyle, the best choices or the truest wisdom. In all things, it boils down to this: Who do you trust?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5-8)

In love that hopes all things, Katie

Our senior pastor, John Smith, is currently in the hospital with a serious infection. We now know that John has E-coli bacteria in his urinary tract and blood. Thankfully, the antibiotics are working, and John is getting better.

John likely contracted this bacteria in Guatemala City, touring with Compassion International and attending the Global Leadership Summit. He returned from the trip last Saturday, began feeling sick, got sicker, and was admitted to MCR on Wednesday morning. Thursday, midnight, he was moved to ICU and began to improve, with white cell count increasing and fever diminishing. Doctors were concerned about damage to his heart, but an angiogram this morning showed that all is well. Thank God. Now he needs to rest and wait as the targeted antibiotics and God’s healing power work a not-so-ordinary miracle.

Facebook friends, Crossroads staff/leaders/prayer team, pastors of the Evangelical Covenant denomination, Compassion International staff, and Global Leadership Summit staff have been praying round the clock, and WE THANK YOU. (yes. i know all-caps is “shouting” and I MEAN TO SHOUT. )

Here’s how we are praying:

• Thank you God for rescuing John from a very bad germ! See Psalm 91 from the message.
• Pray for the bacteria to weaken, die and disappear.
• Pray for God’s healing power to strengthen John’s body.
• Pray for God to silence and diffuse the forces of evil that would try to hurt John, his family or the church. (Deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom, power and glory FOREVER. Amen).
• Pray for the strength and mission of Crossroads. (We welcome outsiders into the family of God and provide the kind of community within which people find, grow and actively practice FAITH in Jesus Christ.)
• Thank you God for your constant care for John and all of us.

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. (James 5:16b)

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened…” (Matthew 7:7-8)

For you have been chosen by God himself–you are priests of the King, you are holy and pure, you are God’s very own—all this so that you may show to others how God called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were less than nothing; now you are God’s own. Once you knew very little of God’s kindness; now your very lives have been changed by it. 1 Peter 2:9-10

I just finished a letter yesterday to my 6-year-old grandson who is finishing kindergarten this month. The letter is personal, so I won’t go into details except to tell you it will not be opened until his graduation from high school 12 years from now. The letter as well as other letters from family will be kept in a time capsule until then. As I wrote to Jordan I found myself thinking of how connected I am to him, how much I love him, and the great times we have together. But then, I realized I feel this way about everyone in my family. I love giving to them and treasure the times we have together.

But you know, it hasn’t always been this good. There was a time when taking was more important then giving—a time when my wants and needs to satisfy my counterfeit gods was more important then the quality of my relationships. I’m not proud of that, but it’s the truth. Sin addiction is a reality we all have in common, and I suppose some more than others, but we all sin. It’s called the human condition. And when you get caught up in satisfying your own needs at the expense of others, when true repentance isn’t in your vocabulary, sin can be devastating. It destroys families, careers, and lives; I should know, I’ve been down that road, and only by God’s Grace have I been set upon a different path. Thank you, Jesus, for the Cross.

Many of us come into recovery as takers. We have taken so much from so many as addiction took over our lives. But some come from the opposite end of the spectrum. They have inappropriately given so much to so many that they have lost their identity, their values/beliefs, and their purpose in the process. We call this co-dependency. Either way, we end up trying to play God and it just doesn’t work.

In CR we enter into a spiritual journey that changes us from takers to givers. The Apostle Paul describes this as a renewing of our minds, because we are spiritually transformed. I have had many a-newcomer tell me they feel guilty for taking up so much of our time, for being so selfish. In my response I tell them to relax, because it’s the way early recovery is. We all come in closed fisted, and only by Gods transforming work can we learn to open our hands, receive his blessings, and in time be willing to give back to a newcomer. (And to our families, friends, church, community as well.) It’s more like we should be thanking them for the opportunity to share what God has done in our lives, to share the Good News.

Some may be thinking about what my grandson will do when he opens up that letter in 2022. My hope and prayer is that through a continued legacy of giving and loving, he will read the words and smile. For there will be no surprise in the content, but rather the words will be an affirmation of what he has been living, a life that knows God and knows love.

The proof is in the pudding, and God sure makes good pudding.

On behalf of the CR TEAM, I want to thank all of you who helped out with our CR 6th year Birthday last Friday. It was an awesome God filled experience. What a legacy you are building for others!!

Have a great God filled week,

Dana

Celebrate Recovery/Crossroads Calendar

May 3-9, 2010

Monday: TEAM leader meeting from 5:30-7pm, Perkins Restaurant

Tuesday Night open share groups from 7-8pm. Women meet in room 141 and men in room 138.

Friday Large Group meeting: Join us at 7pm for great Worship and teaching. Dana will teach on Gratitude. Share groups at 8, Solid Rock at 9.

Saturday: CR Leader meeting in the Crossroads conference room from 10-Noon.

We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God,
praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power  to carry that out. (Step 11)

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” (Colossians 3:16)

There is an old saying in recovery, “Have an Attitude of Gratitude.”

For many of us in CR we have been moved from an attitude of ingratitude to gratitude. I know I was very ungrateful for my life before recovery—easy to be when you’re living in your own personal hell, when selfishness and self-centeredness rule the day and when you’re succumbing to counterfeit Gods that are too numerous to count.

I know many of you reading this know of what I am talking about. We all come into CR with hurts, habits, and hang-ups; some feeling used up and abused, some feeling the guilt and shame of dispensing that abuse. Some come feeling hopeless and far from God, and others come wondering why a life given to God has turned out so wrong.

The miracle of recovery is found through a one-on-one relationship with Christ, which is encouraged and supported by trusted servants in Christ. The miracle is found in a process that leads us to a heart-felt Attitude of Gratitude—for we know who pulled us out of that pit of despair and set us right with God.

I had an old sponsor who talked a lot about Attitude of Gratitude. He would say that if you’re grateful for something or someone, you have a responsibility to it. If you are grateful to God, live a life devoted to him through daily inventory, reading the word, prayer, meditation, and living a life of service. If you are grateful to your Church, get out of the pews and get involved, because there is so much to do. If you are grateful to CR, give back. You don’t have to wait until you’ve finished a 12-step group. And if you have completed your 12-step group, become a sponsor, a share group leader, a 12-step leader. Join the team. If you are grateful for your family, just love on them and spend time with them.

And when we have those days where the gratitude is running low, and we are caught up in the stressors and pressures of life and not feeling the love, just remember where you came from and realize you don’t live there anymore. Sit down and talk it out with God. Use the tools given to you in CR, write out that gratitude list and talk to someone about it. In fact, after you talk to your accountability partners and sponsor, find someone who is hurting (you won‘t have to look far); listen to them, encourage them and love them.

Remember to do what you can, with what you have, where you are. Be Doers of the Word.

Have a Great God filled week,

Dana

Celebrate Recovery/Crossroads Calendar

April 19-25, 2010

• Monday night: Men’s 12 step groups
• Tuesday night: open share groups for men and women, 7-8pm. Newcomers welcome. Bring a friend!
• Tuesday night: 12 Step group for women
• Wednesday night: 12 step groups for men and women
• Friday Night: Large Group Meeting. Join us at 7pm for worship, followed by a teaching from Marty on: Relapse. You don’t want to miss this one.

CR/Crossroads 6th Birthday Celebration

We don’t call it “Celebrate Recovery” for nothing. Join us as we celebrate our one and only higher power Jesus Christ.

Friday, April 30th, 2010
BBQ Dinner at 6pm
Celebration Service at 7pm

Spread the word, and don’t miss it!