Today is our 1st day of India VBS! Our overall theme for this week is “Prem” (Love). Please pray that every child will feel the love of God as we communicate to them how God loves the world and created us in His image. Pray that the kids will learn that we are all valuable and important to God.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27
Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul. I will praise the LORD all my life;I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free, The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD. Psalm 146:1,2,7,10
Our team will meet with the VBS organizing team and teachers’ team for planning and decoration of the venue. Pray for COI leaders and our team as we get ready to share Christ throughout the week. Pray that we will be encouraging to the COI team in their work and their faith.
Commit to the LORD whatever you do and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3
If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To HIM be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:11
Our group from 121 will have the opportunity to meet the VBS team and see some of Delhi. Please pray that we would be able to orient ourselves quickly to the new culture and enjoy our time with the Indian people over the next few days. Please also pray that our team remains tightly knit together as one.
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus. So that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:5-6
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us,Selah that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. Selah. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him. Psalm 67
We will be arriving in Delhi this evening. Pray that we will enter this new environment equipped with the full armor of God. Pray also that our bodies will adjust smoothly to the time change (10 hour difference) as well as the heat (temperatures will range between 105-115 degrees). Pray that we will reflect Christ in all we do and say throughout our trip.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:10-18
Today we begin our 20+ hour journey to the other side of the world. Pray that we will use this time to focus our hearts and minds on Christ and that the Lord will prepare our hearts as well as the hearts of those we will encounter for His glory. Pray for a safe and restful flight so that we will be prepared and alert upon arrival.
But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.Psalm 5:11
A team of 9 members from 121 will travel to Delhi, India May 14th-24th to partner with Cooperative Outreach of India (COI) for an awesome VBS experience! COI is expecting over 800 children to attend VBS, most of which come from Hindu or Muslim families.
The team from 121 includes: Jeremy, Sundae, Juanathan, Jinny, Rodney, Keri, Steven, D’Anna and I.
Our hope is that this daily prayer guide will help you pray specifically for our team, our partners, and the people of India.
The prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective.
James 5:16
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.
Colossians 4: 2-4
Throughout the duration of our trip, please pray that we all remain in good health, in both body and spirit. Pray for protection over all believers in India. Please continue to pray for our families at home and for the hearts of all that we may encounter while we are away. Pray that God will receive ALL of the glory in EVERY work that is done!
Keep tuning in here as I try out the auto publisher or you can follow us here where there is an actual human updating it
It’s been a while since I last posted. Lot’s of changes have happened.
Yes, I was laid off from Sprint, but I do have a job now. I’m working at Perot Systems in Plano as a WebSphere Integration Specialist and I’m looking forward to this next step in my IT career. There is a quite a commute but it’s bearable.
God has truly blessed me with how quickly my job situation has turned around. It ended up I was off for only three weeks.
I appreciate all the prayers and thoughts through this change. Thank you all!
Now, it’s time for me to get back into troysims.com!!! I’ve got a couple of posts I’m working on right now, and hopefully I can get back to some regularity, so tune in!!!
What does God have planned for me? I don’t know. All I know is that I trust completely that He will provide for me through everything. I know that I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
Friday I was notified that I will be laid off come March 27th. I’ve been with Sprint for 8 years, I’ve really enjoyed the people that I’ve met and the skills that I’ve learned. I know that this move is nothing personal and that it has nothing to do with my job performance. I know that God is working through this and that He will provide me with a new job. He will grow me through this time of change and force me to rely more and more on His provision. I look forward to the way He will glorify Himself through this time. He has grown me so much in the past few years and know that He has high expectation for me.
If you know anyone or your company is hiring an IT guy shoot me an email or leave a comment. My resume is now up to date. I’m also on LinkedIn and connected to many outstanding individuals who have also been notified they are losing their jobs. My prayer is for them to rely on God through out this change as well.
So my mantra has been God, Games, Gadgets, and Geekery and I thought I’d share with you how this fit in with my Christmas vacation (not the movie although I do love it).
God - We started a new tradition this year. Jacob helped me to bake a birthday cake for Jesus. So we baked the cake, put candles in it, sang happy birthday to Him, and then ate some of the cake. While eating the cake we talked about why Christmas was special and why Jesus’ birth was special. It was a very nice time with D’Anna, Jacob and I (we’ll include Julia once she is old enough to eat cake). It’s a tradition that we will continue to do and it will be the first thing we do before the mad rush of opening gifts, traveling, etc, etc…
Games - We bought a wii for the family for Christmas! It is amazingly fun. Although the graphics are not your latest and greatest, the implementation of the games with the wii-mote and the nunchuk are awesome! We went ahead and bought two extra wii-motes and one nunchuk so that D’Anna, Jacob and I could all play. We (not wii) bought wii-sports, wii-play, and Kawasaki-snow mobile. Wii-sports is by far the best of the lot we bought, featuring tennis, golf, bowling, baseball, and boxing. D’Anna beats my in Tennis, cause I have no backhand. Golf is a nice relaxing game. Bowling is an intense battle between all three of us, even Jacob does really well at this one. Baseball is all about timing, and Boxing is the real work-out and really enjoyable yet frustrating at the same time. Wii-play came with the extra wii-mote and it features a progressive list of games that helps with your control of the wii-mote/nunchuk better. Some of the games include a shooting game, a fishing game, a cow racing game (yes a cow) which is Jacob’s favorite, and a tank strategy game which is my favorite. If you haven’t had a chance to play with a wii, I highly recommend it as it is very fun.
Gadgets - Really the only gadgety thing I did this break was I help my grandmother set up her digital picture frame. Oh yeah and I bought D’Anna a new phone, the Samsung Instinct. It is very cool!!!
Geekery - Started talking and brainstorming about making a movie with five other friends (you know who you are) and I’m leaning towards playing a computer geek hacker type guy, yeah far stretch for me, right? I’m looking forward to working with these guys in such a creative way.
For those of you who weren’t at 121CC on Sunday, my wife told our story to the congregation. She did an amazing job, and I am very confident that her words encouraged someone who has been through something similar or will encourage someone who may go through something similar in the future.
You can listen to the sermon at 121cc.com. She shares at 45:28 in the sermon:
When the opportunity came for me to share today, my first thought was no way- I can’t get up and speak in front of everyone; this is not my thing…as those of you who know me are well aware. But the Lord put it on my heart that I needed to share our experience with you. So with His prompting, here I am…
In November 2006, our lives were forever changed. I was 30 weeks pregnant and went to a routine doctor’s appointment; me and my husband, Troy were shocked and devastated to find there was no heartbeat in the baby girl I had been carrying for several months. The feelings of sadness, questioning, guilt and anger were overwhelming. I knew that the Lord had a purpose in all of it but I desperately wanted our baby to be here with us. I wanted our son to have a sibling, my arms ached to hold her and I just missed her. The weeks and months to follow were the most difficult time I have ever been through or that me, my husband and son have experienced as a family. My husband and I went through that Christmas season in a fog, doing the best we could at the time to keep it together and make it meaningful and enjoyable for our 2 1/2 year old son, Jacob. I wasn’t sure how or when I would ever feel like myself again. I wanted to know what went wrong in my pregnancy to cause this to happen and though I really wanted there to be an explanation somehow, there were no definite answers to be found. During this time, I clung to verses in Psalms, Isaiah and Job. I knew the Lord was carrying us through each day but I loved and missed our baby so much, I couldn’t bear the thought of her not being here with us. The Lord grew me through this experience and showed me how to truly trust and walk with Him. With the body of Christ surrounding and ministering to us; we did make it through this difficult time. We were fortunate to receive wise godly counsel, walk through this experience with close friends, and grow closer to one another and to our son and most of all, we grew deeper in our relationship with Christ.
I began to try to focus on anything good that came from losing our baby girl. At first it was hard to think how anything positive could come out of this situation but I tried to think of as many things as I could, I journaled many of my every day thoughts, I learned how to ‘be real’ with myself and others, I poured myself into my home and served the Lord wholeheartedly. All of these things led me to experience peace and joy in Christ and a hope that I found only in Him. The joy I felt in the midst of my sorrow was like nothing I have ever known or believe is possible without Christ. Through this process, he completely restored my broken heart and strengthened and sustained me in the midst of everything. Though our baby Jordan will always be part of our family and this is still a process we are walking through as we grieve this loss, I rejoice in the fact that we will meet her one day in heaven.
One hope we had during this time was that if it was His desire, that He would prepare me for another pregnancy and that if it was his will, he would bless us with another child. This year he chose to give us another precious gift in our baby girl, Julia. We are thankful everyday that she is here with us and our joy is made even more complete in this addition to our family. His plans are always perfect and though we don’t understand why things happen the way they do, we know his love for us is greater than anything we could ever imagine. Though I would not have chosen this to happen the way it did, I am thankful that the Lord turned my grief into joy. As it says in Psalm 30:5, ‘weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.’
I would like to leave a verse with you today that is meaningful to me and says so much about the hope and joy that can only be found in the gift God has given us in His son, Jesus Christ. In Romans 15:13 it says, ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’
Thank you D’Anna for sharing our story and for being so strong and impacting those around you, me included! I love you!
What's not to love about God, Geekery, Gaming, and Gadgets?
God - He created us, and saved us from ourselves!
Geekery - computers, technology and electronics!
Gaming - fun, creative, strategic, and entertaining!
Gadgets - portable pieces of technology!
-Troy
