A Bowl by Jenifer Dittelberger

A plain bowl

A fancy bowl

A cheap bowl

A dear bowl

A bowl full of fruit

A bowl of rotted meat

A bowl in which I shit

A bowl to throw my coins

A bowl of my tears

A bowl I smash in rage

A bowl in which I wash my dirty feet

A bowl with oil to anoint my head

A bowl with a dead fetus

A bowl of milk

A bowl to catch my vomit

A bowl with broth to heal

A bowl with the Savior’s blood

A bowl with the enemy’s blood

A lump of clay which will be a bowl

A bunch of broken pieces which were a bowl

A bowl I love

A bowl I hate

A bowl

 

Go NOLA!

Dear Friends,

As you may know I began attending Crossroads Community Church 2008. It has been a wonderful and rewarding experience for me, and I have had the opportunity to grow and learn in many ways. I was baptized in May of 2010 and began serving in Kid’s Club shortly thereafter. I did some international tutoring via Skype with children in South Africa for a few months, participated in several Bible study groups, successfully completed Dave Ramsey’s 13-week Financial Peace University Course, read the whole Bible and much more.

Through all of this the main thing I learned is just how blessed I am. My heart overflows with gratitude and love for the friends and family I have in my life, for my job that I love, for the amazing experiences and opportunities that I’ve had. Looking at all this I can only say I am humbled by all that I have and do not deserve! There is no rational reason that I should be so blessed. It is not through any of my own doing, but truly through the goodness of others and the grace of God. And through this realization I feel I must respond, first by saying “Thank you!” to all of you who have a played a part in my undeserved blessings and then by finding ways in which I can bless others with the gifts I have been given.

From July 28^th to August 5^th, 2012 I will be traveling to New Orleans, Louisiana with about 300 people from Crossroads. It’s been almost seven years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, and a great need persists. Members of our group will be working on various projects including building homes with Habitat for Humanity, creating new free portraits for families who lost photos during the hurricane, helping to clean and prepare public schools for opening in the fall, and my team will be working with kids at the Vacation Bible School program at the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church – a church located in one of the hardest-hit areas of the city. Along with all this we will be praying with and loving on people who probably have a very hard time remembering how blessed and loved they really are.

This trip provides an opportunity to help meet the physical and spiritual needs of a community that is still desperately in need. During the 2005 flood that followed Hurricane Katrina approximately 75,000 homes were lost just in the New Orleans metropolitan area. As of 2011 only 10,000 have been rebuilt! Many people have relocated to other areas of the country, but there are still around 38,000 families that still don’t have a place to call home. We don’t hear about this on the news. Most people have forgotten about the disaster, and I imagine that’s exactly how a lot of people in New Orleans feel… forgotten. I know there are lots of people in need, some that live here in Cincinnati. I can’t help them all, but I can go on this trip. I can’t rebuild their homes, I can’t replace all that they’ve lost, but maybe I can help one child, despite everything she’s been through, realize she is blessed, she is loved, and she is not forgotten!

 More than anything, I would ask for your prayers for our team and those whose lives will be touched through us. I believe God answers prayers, and I’m asking you to pray for our safety, good health, smooth travel, and success. Just knowing you will be praying will give me peace and hope as I head out on this trip.

Those of us going on the trip have been encouraged to ask for financial support for this mission whether we need it or not. In doing so it is hoped we will not only give others a chance to hear about how God is working in our lives, but also to give others an opportunity to share in a great work if they feel called to do so. Our group needs to raise just over $300,000 to cover the total cost of the trip. I personally need $875 for my part. I would greatly appreciate any level of support you are able to offer. Please do not feel obligated or pressured to give anything at all, but please do pray for me and for those I will serve.

If you would like to donate to my mission trip please visit the following link. https://www.crossroads.net/GOTripGive/731

With gratitude,

Jenifer Dittelberger

Church Ladies With Typewriters

They're back! Those wonderful Church Bulletins! Thank God for church ladies with typewriters. These sentences (with all the BLOOPERS) actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:
---The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
---The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'
---Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
---Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say 'Hell' to someone who doesn't care much about you.
--- Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
--- Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
--- For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
--- Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
--- Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
--- A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.
--- At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.
--- Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
--- Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
--- Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
--- The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.
--- Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.
--- The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
--- This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
--- Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.
--- The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the Congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
--- Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.
--- The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
--- Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
--- The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new campaign slogan last Sunday: 'I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours.

ANYWAY (Mother Teresa) ~ by Venus

The Opposite of Love?

I think most people would say the opposite of Love must be Hate. I disagree! In my opinion it is Fear. I believe hate is just a byproduct of fear. We hate things we don’t understand because we fear the negative sensations they could potentially cause us to experience. We fear things that threaten our safety and sense of well-being. Sigmund Freud defined hate as “an ego state that wishes to destroy the source of its unhappiness.” I believe that if you take a closer look at anything you profess to hate you can identify such a fear. For example, I hate sharks because I fear they will eat me, I hate raw tomatoes because I fear they will taste bad, and I hate football because I don’t understand it, and I’m afraid if I watch it I’ll die of boredom (or perhaps I’m afraid I will like it!).
Let’s say there is a person you “hate”. Can you identify the fear that drives that reaction? Perhaps you’re afraid that person will say something to embarrass you, steal your boyfriend, or perform better than you.
The strangest thing about fear is that it is not real! It is always coming, never here; it’s perpetually in the future. Fear is always imagined. You don’t “fear a bear ate you.” You “fear a bear will eat you.” Once the dreaded event happens it’s no longer feared, except in the sense that it might happen again. Fear is a liar and a mirage. It’s a suggestion and a delusion. My favorite Samuel Clemens quote is “I have suffered many tragedies in my life, most of them never happened.”
I believe fear/hate is the most destructive force in the universe. Love creates. Hate destroys. For that reason I have spent the last year trying to eliminate all fear from my life. I have simply refused to acknowledge any fear. It hasn’t happened overnight. It has taken discipline and practice, but it has been very liberating! Letting go of fear has been the greatest thing I ever did for myself.
Franklin D Roosevelt said it best, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
The Bible tells us 365 times to not be afraid, once for everyday of the year.
“Fear is only as deep as the mind allows,” a Japanese proverb.
Napoleon said, “He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.”
“No one loves the man whom he fears,” Aristotle.
And I agree with Marilyn Manson, “One hates what one fears.”
Governments, many religions, and all terrorists use fear to control those they oppress, often with great success. The only way to win is to refuse to be afraid! Fill your life with love and live without fear of anything or anyone! Find the opposite of hate… freedom!

Roku Rocks!!!

Roku and netflix are just about the best thing to happen to TV ever!
If you already have a netflix account you should really consider getting a Roku device. They are very affordable and so simple to use! They have recently added the Hulu Plus Channel. It's a subscription channel like Netflix except it does have commercials which I don't like. You can watch Hulu for free online with commercials. I would consider getting the Hulu subscription on Roku if it were commercial free. I think it should be one or the other, subscription or commercial free. Netflix is now also offering a cheaper membership with no DVDs just the "watch instantly" content on computer or Roku device. I think these types of programs and devices including DVRs are really changing the way we watch televison. I LIKE IT!!

Get $20 off a Roku Player!

Girl Plays All 35 Publicly Displayed Pianos - Photos - WLWT Cincinnati

Girl Plays All 35 Publicly Displayed Pianos - Photos - WLWT Cincinnati