Blessing to you in the glorious name of our God and Savior. Grace, peace and mercy to you through our eternal hope, Jesus Christ. Praises to our God who is and was and always will be.

I wanted to give you all an update on my plans here in the next little bit. As most of you know, and if you don't you will as you read this, I am going to Kenya on Monday the 31^st. I will be gone until September 20^th. Yeah, that is a long time, but is not going to be long enough for all that is planned while we are there. We are physically building 2 churches, helping to install a few pastors, bringing food and medicine into the Massai tribe, teaching young leaders, training pastors, leading men's retreats, leading young leaders retreats, preaching in churches, loving on missionary kids and doing evangelistic outreaches. And that is just to name a few things.

We are getting prayed up and are totally expecting great and mighty things while we are there. I serve a God who is still alive and well, and loves people enough that He wants to encounter their imperfect lives with His perfection. I am privileged to be a part of this great work that God wants to do. I am seriously waiting in anticipation to see what God has planned. But I don't want to be a spectator. I want to be USED by God. I want to have His Holy Spirit so active and alive in me that anything could happen. I am truly expecting that we will see salvation, healings, demons cast out and the dead brought back to life. No joke! Not to or for my glory…but for His. All for HIM! I would ask that you please pray for us before we go and certainly while we are there. Pray not only for us, but for our families as well. There are four of us going. Myself, Rick, Tim and Gary. We have to encounter God everyday while we are there. If we try this, even for one day, in our own power we will stumble. In that kind of spiritual battle, we can't afford to stumble or fall. We have to be strong in our LORD. So, we need your prayers.

I have written devotions for the team to read and apply to our lives every day while we are gone. I think it would be wonderful if there were more than just us reading and applying these certain scriptures to our life each day. I would love to have each of you follow along with us, where ever you may be. If you would, pass it on to a friend. Have them pray for us, read with us, and apply these scriptures to their lives as well. I have posted these devotions on New Hope's website, http://newhopenorthport.com/ministrytrips.aspx. That is just the easiest way for me to do it.

September is going to be a busy month. A week after I get back from Kenya, we are having an X – Treme Team outreach in Northport, September 28th. We are doing some school assemblies during the day and then the outreach that night. Then the next day, September 29^th, we are going to Ione WA to do the same thing. Then, on October 3^rd, Rick and I are heading to India for 10 days. Over there we will be bringing the gospel every day to people in schools, in churches and outside in open air festivals. I know that the people of India are so open to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Church has a passion for loving Jesus and loving their neighbors.

As you can see, I am going to be very busy, but very fulfilled. Fulfilled, you ask. Yes. See, when we are in the center of God's will for your life, there is a fulfillment that comes. I have been called to be His torch bearer, and I am getting the chance to do this. Normally I get the great privilege of serving Jesus in this capacity while in Northport, but now God is expanding my territory. I don't take this as an opportunity to brag, be boastful or try to have people look at me. I still shake my head in amazement that God would choose a guy like me to do work like this for Him. All I want is to bring glory to Him and bring a smile to His face. I want people to encounter a loving God, who wants them to have a relationship with His Son Jesus. An encounter that doesn't just last for a fleeting moment, but a lasting relationship of pursuing a living God. God has placed a calling in your life. A calling to go and make disciples. He has even given you the tools that you need to do this. He has given you the power of the Holy Spirit to be His witnesses. Live out this calling. Live it like today is the last day that you will have to share Jesus with people. Live it like you actually love Jesus and don't want others to die without being introduced to him. Call upon God today. Ask for His power. LIVE today!

I will keep up on Twitter and on this blog while I am gone. Check back from time to time and see what is going on.

Like always….

Bearing His torch

Eldon Kelley

I believe that we, as a nation and as a state, have just chosen to enter into an era where we think it better to walk alone than to walk with God.  We have made choices tonight that will affect our nation and our state for an eternity.  You may say, "oh Eldon, aren't you over reacting?"  And my very short answer is NO!  This is not an overreaction.  We have truly decided to walk a path that is godless.  The nation has chosen a president that does not support human life, does not support the Christian faith and in some aspects does not support our nation as a whole.  Our state has decided tonight that being a part of killing over 1 million babies a year in our nation is not enough, that we should now be the second state to make killing our terminally ill a legal practice also.  Scripture is too clear about these practices for us to even think of playing with them.

As I watched many hours of internet coverage tonight, my heart became more and more heavy.  As I watched a man, that I believe will be a complete detriment to our churches and our Christian faith, stand before a group of weeping and screaming people, and promise change and say "this is our moment, this is our time" I couldn't help but weep either.  Not for joy, but in absolute sorrow.  I wept for my children who were gathered around me, listening and watching history unfold before them.  To say that this is our moment and our time, removes any hope for the reliance upon God that we as a nation must have.  We have just stepped deeper into a humanistic, "We can do it" mindset. As I read the results in regards to the choice of killing the terminally ill, I wept again. Again sensing a much bigger impact than I think we are hoping for. If this is ok now in 2008, what will be ok in 2020? Do we want to make choices that may seem like a good fix now, but refuse to look at the long term implications that are coming? Like the fact that God CANNOT look on sin. He turns His face from it. He is a pure God and cannot be a part of sin, even in the 'smallest' of ways. We have made a choice tonight to walk out from under the grace that He has bestowed upon us for a long time. A choice that quite honestly will be our death.

Does this mean we give up? Does this mean we run for the hills? Does this mean that we are done for? NO! This means we must stand. If you have not chosen to stand as an individual or as a family for the Godly standards of the Bible, than you better do it now! If now doesn't seem like a good time, I guess you could wait until it got harder to live a public Christian life, and then make the choice. Of course, if it is hard for you to stand now, it won't be easier then. Galatians 6:16-18 talks about seeing a noticeable difference in your life once you start to follow Jesus. Paul says that he carries the scars on his body to prove what he stands for…Jesus. Paul didn't just make that decision when he was tied to the whipping post. He didn't make this decision to stand when he was thrown in jail. No, he made this decision long before that. In a time that wasn't as filled with persecution. We must make our choice to stand now. Ephesians 6 tells us to put on the full armor of God. And then when that is done…stand! Folks, make the choice today to stand. Stand for Godly living. Stand for Godly decisions. Stand. We do this by being in prayer daily, asking Jesus to fill us with the power of His Spirit. We do this by then using that power, not the 'we can do it' garbage that is preached, but the "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" truth. Live your life in Christ, relying on His Holy Spirit for strength, power and guidance. Bury yourself in the Word of God. It gives life. It gives light. It exposes the lies and shows the Truth. Let the Word of God, spoken and written, be in you. Use it to judge what is right and what is wrong. Don't be afraid to make a stand. If God is for you, who can be against you? If you need someone to stand with you in truth and righteousness, I would love to stand with you.

Also. Even though this evening has brought many sorrows and many horrors to pass, we must do one other thing. Pray. Not just for the nation and state, but for our elected leaders. We must pray for President-elect Obama. Not that harm would come to him, not that at all. We must do as Scripture says: Pray for and support our leaders. Hebrews 13:1 says this. Remember that this was written during a reign of leadership that was far worse that anything we have experienced. Yet, we are told to pray for and support those leaders that God has placed over us. Scripture also says to pray for your enemies. That even means those who become an enemy of the Church. We must pray for them. Will this be hard to do? Of course. But in following God's word, we must make it our priority to pray for our new president and for our governor, who ever that may be. Even when the leader stands in complete opposition to what we believe, we still must pray. Jesus asked His Father to forgive those who just nailed Him to a cross to die. We need to cover our leaders in prayer. Pray for their salvation through Jesus Christ. Pray for their protection from harm. Pray for their families and the toil it takes on them. Pray for Godly wisdom to invade their minds. Pray!

So, I leave you with this. Stand and pray. Stand for what is righteousness. Stand for the Truth and the Life. Stand. And pray. Pray without ceasing. Pray for God's mercy. Pray for true repentance to fall on our nation. Pray.

Today was Jujitsu day. For the last almost year now, I have been taking Jujitsu classes from a black belt from our church. Starting next week, Bethanne and I will be taking weekly lessons from him. We are going to be going for our blue belt (the first colored belt) next month. As we were in class today, I couldn't help but pick up on more of the spiritual applications that go hand in hand with the physical applications. As we were doing a couple of new things today, I kept seeing the "little" things that we have been doing since day one. The stuff that seemed so mundane and maybe even silly or useless. Today though, I could see how all this comes together. How each move, step or even thought builds on each other to create and complete something really cool. I know that the Bible teaches us the whole line upon line, precept upon precept thing…as well as the if we are faithful with the little then He will give us more, but today it really hit home. I saw how the little, mundane or even silly things that God may ask us to do, is not just for Him to get a kick out of watching us do it, it is truly for us to learn from, to build on, to increase our faith in, and to use for the future. I like the fact that God doesn't ask us to do some spiritual black belt move, without teaching us the basics of the white belt stuff first. Now it is just up to me/us to have the faith, patience and trust in Him to know that He really does know best and that He is preparing us for the "cool" stuff later on. So, the next time God asks me to do something that I think is ridiculous, I will remember this lesson from today…God is just preparing me for something phenomenal later on. Thanks God for teaching me at the pace that is best for me, and for building on the "mundane" lessons of the past.

Thank you hurricane Ike. Not for the destruction that was caused, but by the lessons that are learned. Today there is an article about how the waves and wind unearthed a Civil War era ship that had only been partially uncovered before. Now all 136 feet of it are seen. The history buffs down there are amazed by it. They are all ready studying it and saying that they need to protect it from more damage. They want to haul this thing inside. Wow! All this history was there all along, just buried by sand over time. I think our lives can look the same. We don't like storms in our life. They hurt, rip and tear our lives up. But yet, if we didn't go through them, we wouldn't have the history or the beauty that lies beneath the surface uncovered. So, when you are in a storm, hold on. It may hurt, rip and tear you apart…but, God being who He is has something of beauty for you to see when it is all done.

Massive Hurricane Ike weakened to a Category 1 storm Saturday morning after ravaging southeast Texas and battering the coast with driving rain and ferocious wind gusts as residents who decided too late they should have heeded calls to evacuate made futile calls for rescue.

Some 30 miles inland, storm surge pushing up through Galveston Bay was sending water into a neighborhood near Johnson Space Center where they had made rounds earlier with a bullhorn trying to compel people to leave.

Even before Ike made landfall, Coast Guard helicopters had rescued 103 people in the Bolivar Peninsula near Galveston Island, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Ayla Stevens. "Some people were on roofs, some people in cars," she said.

Though 1 million people fled coastal communities near where the storm made landfall, authorities in four counties alone said roughly 140,000 ignored mandatory evacuation orders and stayed behind. Other counties were unable to provide numbers but officials said they were concerned that many decided to brave deadly conditions rather than flee.

"Some people didn't evacuate when asked," Bush said about the tens of thousands of people who may have to be rescued. "I've been briefed on the rescue teams there in the area. They're prepared to move as soon as weather conditions permit. Obviously, people on the ground there are sensitive to helping people and are fully prepared to do so."

But the biggest fear was that tens of thousands of people had defied orders to flee and would need to be rescued from submerged homes and neighborhoods.

"The unfortunate truth is we're going to have to go in ... and put our people in the tough situation to save people who did not choose wisely. We'll probably do the largest search and rescue operation that's ever been conducted in the state of Texas," said Andrew Barlow, spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry.

"We don't know what we are going to find. We hope we will find the people who are left here alive and well," Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas said. "We are keeping our fingers crossed all the people who stayed on Galveston Island managed to survive this."

How amazing. We are still cleaning up from Katrina, and people are still stupid and even selfish enough to not evacuate when they are told they need too. The last two statements just blow me away.

We have to send our people in, risk their lives, take their time to rescue people who had a chance to do it right the first time. I like how the Governor said they were "people who did not choose wisely". What a great thing to say. It is true that they did not choose wisely when it came to life or death.

Then the "we don't know what we are going to find" statement. They are just hoping they find some people who are still alive. Someone who might have made it through the storm. Even though they had been asked to leave and had been given a chance of salvation BEFORE it got bad.

I know that these were all written in response to Ike, however, I think I have read them out of scripture in some form or another.

Church, we have to grab a hold of the depth of these statements, and choices, made by people in Texas. We have to understand them in spiritual ways. We have people around us that are not heeding the warnings that are being given. Yes, there are people in this world who are not making commitments to follow Christ, but they are not the ones I'm talking to here.

If you notice, these people of Texas knew better. It's not like this is the first hurricane they have experienced or at least read about. But, they still made the choice to not go to safety, not to get out when they could. Church, fellow Christ follower, this is too many of us. We know better, we have heard the bull horns yelling, we know where safety is, we know we must get out…but we sadly refuse, choosing to hold on and do what we want. We have been given the chance to get out of the world for a long time, but we are too stupid, deciding we will ride this one out. We CAN NOT be participants of this world and not expect to get overwhelmed by the waves of sin and the winds of Satan, not to mention all the stuff that gets picked up and flung at us. Why do we still sit, expecting that nothing will happen to us? Ignoring the warning bells. Turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the worldly things in OUR life.

Jesus said for us not to be a part of this world. Light and dark can't mix. Light is suppose to take over darkness, not become it. Are we happy enough to be un-salty? Jesus says later on, that He won't take in those who have refused to come out of the world, remember the hot and cold and luke warm thing? I know that it is tough. I don't say these things with condemnation, but with love and sorrow. I don't say this with judgment or blame, but with a burden for the church. I say these things with what I believe is just one more warning from the Creator. A warning that right now it is not too late, but we must get ourselves out, before it is too late and what we hear is not the bull horn…but the trumpet blast! Then it's too late.

As I walked in I noticed all the familiar sights, and smells, of a gas station bathroom. Shocking white walls with you don't want to know what stuck to them. White tile floor that hasn't been cleaned since the Reagan era, even though the little sign on the wall said it was cleaned by someone named Ivan at 3:15 that very day. I won't describe the condition of the urinal or the toilet, I will leave that to your imagination. The garbage can was over flowing not because it was full, just because no one can possibly put the paper in the can…the floor is good enough. The mirror resembled the bible verse about looking into a mirror that gives you a bad refection, although I don't believe the author was referring to gang writing like the case was here. Then the smell…over done deodorizer to cover the other fragrances that would normally pierce your nose. All these things seemed very normal to me and so they didn't stand out quite as much as one other item did. This one thing seemed very out of place, very not at home, very different. However, my eyes were immediately drawn to it. Drawn, and then couldn't pull my eyes away from it. No, it was not a dispenser of certain pleasure items. It was a wreath. A little wooden wreath. With small flowers on it. About 15 inches in diameter. In most cases it would blend into the background, but here it stood out. It kinda shouted at me…'Help, I don't belong here. Everyone stares at me when they come in here. I am out of place.' At first I thought I should rescue the poor thing and at least just throw it in the garbage so it didn't feel so bad. Then I thought to myself (man I am doing way too much thinking in a men's room on a short trip) I kinda like it where it is. It seems to draw my attention away from all the filth and slime that is around me. As much as that poor little wreath seemed all alone in a place it didn't belong, I seemed drawn to it, almost connected. (ok, now I'm scaring myself…but stick with me). I couldn't help but think of the verse about us as Christians not belonging here on earth. Our citizenship is in heaven. We don't belong here. Aliens if you will. I started thinking (there I go again) that we should be like that little wreath in a dirty men's room. In this world of filth and slime, we need to be the ones who have something that catches people's attention. We need to be so thick with Jesus that people can't help but stare at us. We need to truly look out of place in this world. I heard someone say the other day, 'if you are too comfortable with this world, maybe you should check your address. You don't belong in this world.' TRUE! We don't belong here. We, everyone, was created for a different home. A place called heaven. My prayer is that we can look so out of place in this world, that people have to stop and stare at us. Wondering why we look out of place. Then, we need to be ready with an answer for the hope that we have. The story of what Christ did for you, and the story of what Christ can do for the world. Sadly, I think that we just blend into the world so much that we just look like another part of a dirty men's bathroom (the world) that no one sees a difference in us. Is there something that is attractive about you for the world? Is there truly something that sets you apart? Is there something that screams…'I don't belong here. Everyone stares at me when they come in here. I am out of place.' My son offered his coat to a friend the other day at a party. The friend was cold and my son had something to offer him. So he took of his coat, put it on his friend and said nothing. The friends response to this was, "that's the problem with you damn Christians, you are just too nice." Yes!! My son stood out like a wreath in a dirty men's bathroom! I'm proud. Now, it is our turn. Stand out like a wooden wreath man. Shout it out that this world is not where you belong. Show that you have something else to offer. Well, gotta go. I got some shouting to do.