NEW DAY UNITY FELLOWSHIP

"Practical Christianity for Positive Living"

Wednesday ~ March 28, 2007
PATIENCE’S REWARD.

Romans 5:3-4: “we glory in tribulation that worketh for patience and patience makes experience”

Practical Christian lessons come at us daily from all directions, sometimes in major life changing events and sometimes in just simple trivial, everyday life experiences, Yet they all combine to ensure we have a memorable journey as we come through this life passage rather then just being here to breath air, take up time- space & oxygen.

Today mine came in the form of sanding. “Wax On---Wax Off!”

At the New Day Unity Fellowship we do not ask you for an offering during the service.

Our four letter word is G-I-F-T and we feel offering is a monetary gift from the heart, not to be expected, demanded nor dictated as to the amount, that portion or none at all is between you and God.

Each of our Sunday programs has an envelope inside so that you may deposit a love offering in any heartfelt amount into the container next to the door as you leave.

We are not talking those that tithe here, we come under a different set of accountability rules they expect for their records at the end of the year, rather, we are talking about those that come on a Sunday when they can.

We do not feel any of God’s children should let the spiritual experience of New Day be dictated by pennies in one’s pockets, our concern was that you were spiritually fed not financially bled.

We have been using a set of cupped hands statuary to accept these envelopes, at first this was adequate, then it became evident by the number we find on the floor that it was time to build a offering box.

I found just the right wooden box! The last one!
On sale at JoAnn’s Fabrics!
Kat found that perfect wrought iron sun shaped stand!
Thank you God! All is in Divine Order!

With a great deal of excitement I rushed home to begin the project with songs of praise blaring from my CD player and my off key voice assaulting my ears. I felt filled with Joy, just me and God would sand this thing and paint it and whip it out for next weekend.
Hallelujah! No TV blaring. No radio. No one around talking. Just me and God, thinking, planning, visualizing.

OOOPS forgot something!

The tribulation was quite evident as I ran around between Walmart and Target getting needed supplies—sanding—applying wood putty –sanding—getting paint and brushes, sanding and more sand paper and you got it—sanding. Misplacing my electric palm sander—man oh man the paint can is clogged—sanding –painting—wife home—no not smooth enough—sanding—more paint--- oh, yeah did I mention sanding?!

Finally patience paid off and I gained a great deal of experience with---- you can guess it--- sanding!

As I look back the Joy came with the realization, that indeed it was just God and I talking through my mind and my heart as my hands worked. I—was-- being still and knowing God through this molding and shaping of a box of wood. That peace, that quiet, that calmness, despite the trepidation of the running around in silly traffic, that moment with being one with the universe was keeping me patient and a box was taking shape.

The Joy is coming in as Kat can now do her edge work and make the box a thing of beauty.

The Joy is coming with the realization that one more piece of the puzzle has been patiently set in place for God directed project that bears the title The New Day Unity Fellowship.

So maybe we do not need the Giant Proverbial Cosmic 2 X 4 to bring us a lesson daily for our life track, maybe we only need to stop-look-and listen to the train of Goodness coming at us from above. Then get on board!

Blessings
Fred


UP AND COMING

April 1st, Sunday, Palm Sunday, Kat Rich speaking on Is The Christ Within?

April 8th, Easter Sunday, 9am Pancake breakfast followed by Easter Service.

April 15th, Last two apostles and bringing it all together

The Women’s Ministry group met for the first time March the 24th at Perkins Restaurant for breakfast and get together. From the longevity of the meeting and the joyous faces that came out of the meeting it appears it was a good time for the ladies. The next get together is set for April 21st, 9am, again at Perkins on North Dale Mabry and Stall Road. You can sign up at the Sunday services or call Kat at 546-1461.
This is not your “Granny’s Sunday Meetin Grup”—come and enjoy.

Notice:
We are looking for a high energy, imaginative, enthusiastic person who must pass a police back ground check and be versed in truth principles. This person must be willing and be able to organize and bring our Children’s Ministry up to the same energy level of the congregation.
If you know of anyone please have them call Fred at 748-7095 for an interview.

Our search is on for high energy musical persons to be able to play 15 minutes prior to the Sunday service and at the end of the service.
Please contact Danny Lord at 973-7889, for an interview.

If you enjoyed this message please share it with your friends!

Just thought it better to include the message from February 28 in this blog, out of order and late is better than not.



Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Psalm 33:3 “Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise”

What is the soundtrack of your life?

What plays in the background of your life?

Some may be blessed with complete silence and some may be experiencing beautiful symphonies, yet, still others, may be experiencing endless life chatter.

What do you fill your head with in your idle time?
A tune may even be playing right this very moment keeping you from enjoying the NOW and fully being in this present moment

We have to train our minds to play wonderful soundtracks.


Hopefully, you do not hear Dun-duh…dun-duh…dun-duh dun-duh dun-duh dun-duh dadaduh---the sharks are coming for you in every moment.


We must replace that sound now or it will run through your head for endless repetitions unless we know how to replace such thought with something more pleasant.

In Psalms 66:1 we are told to “make a joyful noise unto the lord.”
Actually through out the Psalms instructions are given to us to praise to the lord at all times and keep your words and sounds sweet. ….thoughts held in mind will produce a like kind.

This may take some training, possibly the 21 day program to make new habits for your praise to the one power one presence in the universe –God the good. But an apple can only be eaten one bite at a time, why wait? It is a lesson to train your mind as well as your heart for the lord.

What are you listening to in your car?
Are you filling your free time with positive thoughts and encouraging words?
Or do you spend time listening to melancholy songs extolling the tragedy of lost love, pickup trucks or being run over by a train? (even though that is probably one country song I can actually sing along with—oh did I mention mama got out of jail?)

Are we celebrating our sorrows or are we singing the joys of our lives and crating positive space by humming and singing songs of virtue and praise?

Are you still hearing the sound of sharks coming for you or are you humming “you can call me darling”

We are very suggestible at times and need to be aware of the soundtrack our mind is playing through our heads.

While you are sitting in traffic and everything seems to be in slow motion you may be humming the “Chariots of Fire” theme song and picturing yourself running in slow motion on the beach.

What a golden opportunity to say a prayer and thank God that you are in a car that is functional and not the cause of the delay. Next show your worldly love by stating a short prayer for all those involved that they too may find peace and ease in the traffic you are creeping along in.
Amazingly, these prayers help move things along, and the traffic flows smoothly while the problems seem to disappear.

As we are more present in our moments, we begin to realize what we truly have , how we are connected to this great and wonderful universe and most of all how to express our gratitude for these “NOW” moments.

Blessings,

Fred & Kat >^. .^<

New Day Unity Fellowship

"Practical Christianity For Positive Living"

Wednesday ~ March 21, 2007


Webster’s Colligate Dictionary defines “Humility” as Freedom from pride and arrogance”

People with humility are confident with themselves, and this is important for it is showing praise to the creator by demonstrations of your positive attitude in support of the idea of God, His creation, you are.

People with humility do not consider themselves to be better than other people. Humble people are aware that their character is not perfect, that they do have some lower levels of strength and talents. They lead with their stronger talents and call upon their other talents to lend support to their lesser traits of character maintaining control over their bodies.

When Sam Walton was alive I had the opportunity of meeting him several times in Columbia, Missouri through my working association with his granddaughter, bib overalls and all you never got the impression of just what Sam’s empire value was worth.
He was just Grandpa, and he would show up at his stores unannounced and wearing those same bib overalls.

In fact I can think of other CEO’s, Football coaches, church leaders, an actor or two and even a Chicken Restaurant mogul who demonstrate true humility to their employees and those of all levels of proficiency below their authority. These are some of the truly successful business leaders in this country who are not afraid to proclaim, John 14:10 “of myself I can do nothing the father within me does the works,”

They realize that their business success is due from calling upon the universal guidance (in me- through me- from me) for the ideas they seek and acting upon that information with proper recognition back to the source.

Because of this recognition of a universal truth, it is evident that a large part of their success is directly attributed to their personal humility. True they have what is interpreted as big egos yet; it is all so evident that they do not appear to lose sight of their reality.

The “wannabe’s” of business success are people unknowing, subconsciously reaching out for help because they know eventually they will face the less then perfect points of their life experience and they will have to deal with them.

Does this mean that only the wealthy can be humble? Of course not!

A single man some two thousand years ago showed us the way of humility by being equal to lepers, prostitutes, sick people, dying people, soldiers, rich and poor alike, even his very accusers, who He knew were going to cause his death. That man’s name was Jesus, representative of all of us, and therefore demonstrating that humility knows no social levels, races, nor genders, we are all to be just as humble and never lose sight of the of the Christ within.

In other words as you brush your teeth and stare into the mirror tell your self a joke. Giggling, warning do not approach fits of laughter with a toothbrush in your mouth, proclaim to that person staring back at you , “I am the best” “I am a card” “I am a winner” Now keep it to yourself all day-----that is humility.

Blessings,

Fred

Ladies, join us for breakfast at 9:00 AM, Saturday, March 24 at Perkins Restaurant on the corner of Dale Mabry and Stall Road (next door to Border’s Bookstore). We will have prayer, food, sharing, laughter and fun. We can't wait to see your shining faces that morning. To RSVP please call 813-546-1461, leave a message and we will get back to you. BTY (Blessings to YOU) Kat >^. .^<>

Wednesday Message for March 14, 2007

Joel 2:28 "and it shall come to pass I will pour out my spirit upon all and your old men shall have dreams and your young men visions."

Have you seen the movie "The Astronaut Farmer" yet? I do recommend it. It a movie full of values of loyalty, faithfulness, devotion, dreams, determination, and inspiration.

In one scene Farmer is standing before a huge board of FAA authority being told all the reasons why he cannot build a rocket. His reply really set me to thinking, it was something to this effect, "all our life we are told we can do anything we want in life if we follow our dream, then as we get older society tells us all the reasons we cannot follow our dream, I just wonder where along the line we stopped dreaming?"

Farmer completed his dream and went for pizza.

Why have we stopped dreaming?

Was it fear of retribution?

John Kennedy was noted as a dreamer, "It is better to have dreamed and failed then to never have dreamed at all."

Martin Luther King "I have a dream"

In Native American culture, dreams are honored.

Is not imagination along with/without understanding a means of communication from God to man?

Does a vision have to have a price tag on it?

Do we have be labeled as a specified religious convistion just to have a vision?

Well, I am an old man now and I still have a dream, a dream that simply put, is not of my design. From all that has taken place with this group I am affirming it can only be the Holy Spirit that is pouring out this dream.

This dream is of the New Day Unity Fellowship going on in time, long after I have completed my life journey.

An independent building with trees for coolness and shade for sitting.
A place for the praise, the truth and the light for God to all those who reach out their hand in
spiritual hunger.
A place where people can come to feel we feed them, not beat them.
A place where people can come without worrying how much they have for a collection plate--we
do not pass one--you will find a simple donation box by the door.
A place where you do not have to worry about what appropriate clothes to wear, what your
former religious preference was or what section of town where you live.

A place where we continue to be:

A warm, welcoming place where we celebrate the life of Jesus, the very cornerstone of a good life foundation with positive life message, more picnics, outdoor services, trips to Bok Tower, and meditative thought by a small lake.
A place of joy, hwere we believe with prayer blessings multiply, with truth we walk in the light, from healing we soar to new heights.

My dream is to find uplifting praise music from the multitude of local and college talent out there.
My dream is to have a power point and sound system.
I dream of the day that a hand signer will be there for our brothers and sister with hearing impairment, that they may enjoy Practical Christianity in Daily Living just as we do.
I dream our women's ministry will continue to grow in numbers.
I dream that our electronic ministry will continue to improving the web site and the Wednesday Message to continue to grow and inspire unnamed numbers of people behyond the two countries and six states we now reach. (pass this on if you like what you see, and check out this blog for past messages and feel free to pass them on too!)

As our logo is the butterfly for new life, I dream of brightly colored butterflies made of plywood standing on pedestals pointing the way to the various children's Sunday worship areas. Each decorated opening into the specific area has two qualified, background checked Sunday School teachers to sign in and sign out the children.

Each child safe areas is age friendly and has walls ranging from brightly painted scenes of butterflies to every day village life with lots of new born animals and butterflies for the younger children, to more appropriate scenes with butterflies for those of junior high age right on up to a youth band for the teens. Oh, did I mention butterflies? (If we were able to use our own computer--which we have not, for now 2 weeks--there would definitely be a picture or pictures of butterflies right here! Oh well, maybe next week!)

My dream includes our bilingual outreach program growing even larger as One Church Two Languages.

But you know what is the most important part of my dream?

Giving thanks to God for all the legal steps and open doors that he has directed us through so far.

Giving thanks for our deaf ears to all those that told us we would never get this far with a fellowship board system.

Giving thanks to those that are coming forth from all over, stating they believe in the New Day Unity Fellowship dream and donating time, talent and funds to enable us to go forth to do God's work even stronger and farther.

Yes, I have a dream. Just like eating an apple, one bite at a time. It is happening, won't you join us ? Come along on New Day's exciting journey.

Blessings to you all,
An 'Ole Dreamer
Fred

Future Sunday services:

March 18 - 12 Powers - Thomas/Matthew
March 25 - 12 Powers - 2James
April 1 - The Coming of Christ
April 8 - Easter Sunday, breakfast at 9:00 AM, Service at 10:00 AM

Wednesday Message for March 14, 2007

Joel 2:28 "and it shall come to pass I will pour out my spirit upon all and your old men shall have dreams and your young men visions."

Have you seen the movie "The Astronaut Farmer" yet? I do recommend it. It a movie full of values of loyalty, faithfulness, devotion, dreams, determination, and inspiration.

In one scene Farmer is standing before a huge board of FAA authority being told all the reasons why he cannot build a rocket. His reply really set me to thinking, it was something to this effect, "all our life we are told we can do anything we want in life if we follow our dream, then as we get older society tells us all the reasons we cannot follow our dream, I just wonder where along the line we stopped dreaming?"

Farmer completed his dream and went for pizza.

Why have we stopped dreaming?

Was it fear of retribution?

John Kennedy was noted as a dreamer, "It is better to have dreamed and failed then to never have dreamed at all."

Martin Luther King "I have a dream"

In Native American culture, dreams are honored.

Is not imagination along with/without understanding a means of communication from God to man?

Does a vision have to have a price tag on it?

Do we have be labeled as a specified religious convistion just to have a vision?

Well, I am an old man now and I still have a dream, a dream that simply put, is not of my design. From all that has taken place with this group I am affirming it can only be the Holy Spirit that is pouring out this dream.

This dream is of the New Day Unity Fellowship going on in time, long after I have completed my life journey.

An independent building with trees for coolness and shade for sitting.
A place for the praise, the truth and the light for God to all those who reach out their hand in
spiritual hunger.
A place where people can come to feel we feed them, not beat them.
A place where people can come without worrying how much they have for a collection plate--we
do not pass one--you will find a simple donation box by the door.
A place where you do not have to worry about what appropriate clothes to wear, what your
former religious preference was or what section of town where you live.

A place where we continue to be:

A warm, welcoming place where we celebrate the life of Jesus, the very cornerstone of a good life foundation with positive life message, more picnics, outdoor services, trips to Bok Tower, and meditative thought by a small lake.
A place of joy, hwere we believe with prayer blessings multiply, with truth we walk in the light, from healing we soar to new heights.

My dream is to find uplifting praise music from the multitude of local and college talent out there.
My dream is to have a power point and sound system.
I dream of the day that a hand signer will be there for our brothers and sister with hearing impairment, that they may enjoy Practical Christianity in Daily Living just as we do.
I dream our women's ministry will continue to grow in numbers.
I dream that our electronic ministry will continue to improving the web site and the Wednesday Message to continue to grow and inspire unnamed numbers of people behyond the two countries and six states we now reach. (pass this on if you like what you see, and check out this blog for past messages and feel free to pass them on too!)

As our logo is the butterfly for new life, I dream of brightly colored butterflies made of plywood standing on pedestals pointing the way to the various children's Sunday worship areas. Each decorated opening into the specific area has two qualified, background checked Sunday School teachers to sign in and sign out the children.

Each child safe areas is age friendly and has walls ranging from brightly painted scenes of butterflies to every day village life with lots of new born animals and butterflies for the younger children, to more appropriate scenes with butterflies for those of junior high age right on up to a youth band for the teens. Oh, did I mention butterflies? (If we were able to use our own computer--which we have not, for now 2 weeks--there would definitely be a picture or pictures of butterflies right here! Oh well, maybe next week!)

My dream includes our bilingual outreach program growing even larger as One Church Two Languages.

But you know what is the most important part of my dream?

Giving thanks to God for all the legal steps and open doors that he has directed us through so far.

Giving thanks for our deaf ears to all those that told us we would never get this far with a fellowship board system.

Giving thanks to those that are coming forth from all over, stating they believe in the New Day Unity Fellowship dream and donating time, talent and funds to enable us to go forth to do God's work even stronger and farther.

Yes, I have a dream. Just like eating an apple, one bite at a time. It is happening, won't you join us ? Come along on New Day's exciting journey.

Blessings to you all,
An 'Ole Dreamer
Fred

Future Sunday services:

March 18 - 12 Powers - Thomas/Matthew
March 25 - 12 Powers - 2James
April 1 - The Coming of Christ
April 8 - Easter Sunday, breakfast at 9:00 AM, Service at 10:00 AM

Wednesday Message for March 7, 2007

Have you ever tried to call a deaf cat? Not too easy a task. Think about it, you really want the cat to understand that you want it to come to you, be near you and enjoy your company. Okay, so I want to enjoy it's company, but I think you get the picture. The cat has it's own life in mind, how much you can feed it, how much fun it thinks you might be and how good a back rub would feel. As much as I think I can provide everything for this cat, it will still not come to call no matter how hard I try. It just does not have ears to hear. It does have eyes to see, but sometimes, it's eyes deceive the cat. The seems to believe I am someone else, sometimes, possibly, one of it's former owners. It believes I am out to hurt the cat, even though I have never raised a hand in anger, it can't hear anger in my voice, but all the same it reacts as though I would lead it into danger.

I am learning there is no sense in arguing with a deaf cat, for that matter arguing in general is mostly a wasted energy. I don't understand the cat's reactions and obviously, it does not understand me. I do know I show the cat kindness and love in every way possible in spite of it's indifference at times and when I sit quietly, it will come to me in it's own time.

Are we the same way with some pople near us at times? Do we respond in ways that may be "hardwired" in our system without even being aware that we behave as though we are a "deaf cat" and have no awareness of how much others care for us and would never do us any harm? Perhaps at times it is better to not hear through our ears and look through our eyes but use our hearts instead. When we encounter others behaving in this manner just extend a little more love and a blessing that whatever has happened to them in the past to bring on such a reaction in the now can be identified, resolved and released.

Blessings,

Kat >^. .^< & Fred

Our Fellowship enjoyed a wonderful pot-luck this past Sunday. We took it to Nye Park and enjoyed the beautiful weather and the company of friends.

This Sunday, join us for a presentation by Danny Lord "The Ramblings of an Old Man". Following the service a Leadership Class will be presented by Fred Rich.

Transitional periods are time of learning and growing. Sometimes in the heat of the duress we forget to notice what lessons are being revealed. After packing away our life into boxes and bins, we come to realize how much we filled our life with things more than we could have filled it with God. Coming through transitional periods allws chance for change. We say "Thank You God!"