BIG NEWS!! God continues to lead our ministry and path. We are excited to announce that Randy Zachary, a high energy, 35 year veteran of radio and marketing, is now on staff with Shoestring Ministries as our in house advertising, marketing & development agent. He has a wealth of experience in public relations, business development and ministry. His primary career has been in radio, from radio station management to being a daily on air morning show host to everything in between. He has been a pastor at several churches, including working on marriages in Maui. (Nice gig if you can get it.) On the side, he has also dabbled in comedy, performing with the likes of Bob Smiley, Thor Ramsey, and Ron McGehee at comedy clubs and festivals like Spirit West Coast. Seriously.

He and his wife Monica have a passion, heart, and giftedness for marriages, providing hope and handles to struggling couples. They put on great marriage seminars that have God’s truth and humor intertwined in their presentations and material. Their ministry Better Marriage Today (http://www.bettermarriagetoday.org), is being brought on board as a division of Shoestring Ministries.

We recognize that at every turn marriages are being attacked. Whether through financial stress, poor communication, selfishness (me addiction!), or whatever, marriages are vulnerable. We prayerfully desire to help point couples to Jesus and are grateful to have the expertise of Randy and Monica to anchor these efforts. For more information on hosting one of our effective marriage seminars, arranging marriage guidance in person or online, or if you are interested in signing up as a donor partner of Shoestring Ministries, please contact Randy at randy@shoestringministries.org.

Blessings!

Please go to http://www.meaddictionstore.com/collections/frontpage/products/me-addiction-book to get your copy of our new book.

There’s something to be said for separating ourselves from people on occasion. For the most part, we live in a crowded society. People are everywhere. The shopping mall, grocery store, parks, schools…it seems like there’s a crush of humanity wherever we are. Sometimes, even in our own homes it can be tough to get away from other family members just to have a bit of down time. Though it’s not always convenient, we need to actively look for the margins in our day to create this “re-fueling” time. It could be early in the day or late at night, maybe there’s a particular corner of your home where you can sit quietly. If you’re not actively pursuing regular solitude, now’s a good time to start.

In the Gospels, there are numerous accounts of Jesus “withdrawing to lonely places to pray.” Have you ever wondered why he chose lonely, solitary places to talk to His Father? As I think about the pace of my life, going from one appointment to the next, one activity to another, I have experienced my time, energy, and focus getting drained and crowded out. If Jesus intentionally chose solitude, there must be a good reason for it. Solitude allowed Jesus the mental and emotional space to focus, especially as he often chose that time to pray to God. What a great example; Jesus prioritized “alone time” with God. I’d do well to choose the same.

I want to be like Jesus, don’t you? I mean, we’re called to ‘follow Him’, right? Then why is it so hard to do as He did? We’ve been talking about choosing solitude, about withdrawing to lonely places and praying, about creating mental and emotional space in our day and schedule to commune with God, free from distractions. That sounds so awesome, but the more I try to do this, the more Satan works me over by filling my schedule up and creating fires for me to put out. It’s the age old dilemma of doing the urgent over the important.  Satan is sneaky good at crowding out my efforts at solitude with God. The more Satan fights back on this very point, the more I’m convicted it’s the thing you and I should be doing more and more.

Written by Dr. Glen Villanueva, CEO and Co-founder, Shoestring Ministries and what’s in it for Him?

Solitude Meaning/Solitude Definition: the state of being solitary or secluded (thefreedictionary.com)
Solitude Quote: “I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.” Albert Einstein

Shoestring Ministries and Abilene Christian University Present…the ME Addiction Tour

If you live in Texas (or anywhere else and are crazy enough to travel), we would love to have you join us at Abilene Christian University for a ME Addiction Tour show featuring Phil Joel (formerly of Newsboys), Reg Cox (speaker), and Bob Smiley (comedian).

The concert is FREE and starts at 7:00PM in the Hunter Welcome Center on Friday, October 28, 2011. Please come, please bring your friends, and please share about this event to all your friends and family.

It will be a FUN evening!! See you there!

If you would like to have a ME Addiction Tour show in your city, please contact us for details.

Shoestring Ministries and Ceres Christian Church Present…

…a benefit concert featuring Sweet Deliverance to help those devastated by the tornados in Joplin, MO.

Ceres Christian Church is sending a team beginning November 7 to help with the rebuilding efforts. The concert is FREE and a love offering will be taken. Please come, please be generous, and please bring your friends. This will be a fun evening!

Sunday, November 6, 2011
6:00 PM
Ceres Christian Church
3502 Roeding Road
Ceres, CA
209-537-8931

Here is a link to Sweet Deliverance’s latest album http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/SweetDeliverance

See you there!

Let’s explore six truths behind the excuses we use to be “me” addicted:

1. ”I’m a control freak.” The lie of power. It says I control events, people, and  circumstances around me, allowing me to believe I have power over others. That unless I’m the one in charge, things won’t get done correctly. This Me Addiction lie gives me the false sense of being God. It feeds my ego and often is a mask for my insecurities.

2. “I can’t help it, it’s just the way I am.” The lie that I don’t have to change, denying God’s call to personal transformation. It breeds laziness and complacency. It’s a Me Addiction excuse to justify all behaviors, attitudes and speech. Just the other day a lady said to me, “I’m going to be a grumpy old lady when I retire and there’s nothing I can do about it…it’s just the way I am.” Seriously??

3. “I DESERVE IT!” The lie of entitlement. Entitlement says I can have whatever because it is my right. I don’t have to work at it, it may not be justified, right or even beneficial, but because of who I am, I deserve it. Entitlement allows me to get my way simply because. This Me Addiction lie is made worse for it is often said by someone else to you…in other words, “don’t worry…you deserve it.”

4. “I don’t like waiting, I want it NOW.” The lie of impatience and instant gratification. It’s no longer good enough to have a cell phone to talk. Phones now need to be able to IM, text, surf the web, take pictures, video and be able to send this info everywhere right now. The Me Addiction lie of immediacy feeds an unrealistic urgency to every desire/want we have. Waiting has become so old school.

5. ”I HAVE to look good.” The lie that physical appearance is everything. This lie emphasizes the superficial over the deep. It’s built on a premise that people everywhere are looking at me, noticing me and that my appearance and looks have great impact on others. This lie denies the aging process; it denies that beauty is so much more than what our eyes see. This Me Addiction lie worships the mirror.

6. “It’s not my fault.” The lie of blame. The lie that doesn’t accept responsibility for choices…in other words, I didn’t do it. Accountability doesn’t exist in this lie. The base premise in this lie is this…how much can I get away with? If I do get caught, no problem…I just deny my role in it. Unfortunately, this Me Addiction lie is learned at a very early age.

So how do we overcome these ME Addiction issues? Stay tuned…

Dr. Glen Villanueva
CEO and Co-founder
Shoestring Ministries, Inc. and what’s in it for Him?

I’ve been in pleading-prayer a lot lately. You know the kind. “Lord, PLEASE, please, pleasepleasepleasePLEASE!!” This is the type of prayer that you pray when you need a house to sell, to retain your sanity through a move, and most of all when you think of depositing your teenage children amongst 1,000 strangers on the first day of school.

When I say pleading, think of the posture that we teach our children to pray: eyes squinched shut, hands clasped at the face or chest, head bowed. I don’t criticize this posture, and for small children especially, I think the posture is beneficial for eliminating distractions — and keeps them from playing with their silverware through dinnertime prayers.

Slowly, through different input, God has changed my pleading-posture… and my pleading words over this summer.

I began to notice that, just as I was clutching my hands to my chest, I was clutching my problems and concerns and family to my heart yet begging God to fix them all. Only demanding that He fix them my way.

Partly due to reading Ann Voskamp’s “One Thousand Gifts,” yet also being reminded of the Israelites going into battle and sending their priests with songs of praises as their first line of defense I began to slowly release my hands, change my postures, and change my prayers.

My prayers shifted to what I call “open-handed prayers,” where I would physically lift my flat palms to the Lord, handing Him my struggle, worry, and concern, making it a sacrifice of praise to Him. Then it was His, and I could send forth my praises that He was taking care of it.

At their best, these prayers sound like this, “Father, I know you love my children better and more perfectly than me. Thank you for providing exactly the friends and teachers that they will need for their first day of school. Thank you for sending the right people to surround them at the right time.”

“Lord, you know this time has been a struggle for us financially, yet you have always provided everything that we need. Thank you for providing for us this month, whether it be the right job or the right sale or gift or whatever, I know that you will provide for us.”

I won’t lie. There were times that those prayers sounded like this: “Lord, I WANT to trust. Help me in my unbelief. Father, my heart is very heavy and this cannot possibly workout and my child is very anxious about all of this. I want to believe that you will bring us peace. You’re bringing us peace, right?”

As I’m tempted again and again to clutch my prayers and burdens to my heart, telling the Lord how they need to be resolved, I let Him tenderly pry my fingers open and lift my hands to Him. Trusting as only a child can trust, I give thanks, ready to receive the blessing He has for me in this moment.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6,7

Sarah Stirman
“Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised.”  Genesis 21:1
www.sarahstirman.com
http://twitter.com/SarahSt

“There’s nothing to eat.”

“There’s nothing to do.”

“I don’t have anything to wear.”

“It’s too hot for that.”

As the relentless heat wave over our portion of the nation continues with no end in sight, knowing only our own family due to the recent move, and no routine for people out of school, it seems the teens have opted to make a hobby of voicing discontent.

Being in the same heat wave, with little time away from the grumpy teens I admit my tolerance for the complaining is wearing thin.

I want to lash out at complaining teenagers standing in front of a full pantry or refrigerator declaring that their is nothing to eat.

I want to pitch a tantrum to rival any two-year-old’s as they stand in front of a full closet, next to a full dresser, and on top of a pile of dirty clothes and declare that they have no clothes.

I can feel my right temple threatening to explode as they flick away twelve different forms of electronics and all of the controllers along with memberships to pools to tell me that there is nothing to do.

In the name of family peace I don’t shout, tantrum, or explode. I continue with my day. In a short time, my heart is heavy with conviction. My words to myself and in prayer sound just a little bit like a complaining teenagers.

“I wish I had that house.”

“Ugh. Can’t believe none of these clothes fit. I’ve gained so much weight.”

“Why can’t we ever make the money last through the end of the month?”

“This computer is SO slow. Wish I could get one of those new ones.”

“Wish I could afford some of that patio furniture that’s on sale now.”

I listen to my complaining words, wondering if the Lord has a headache yet from listening to me. Really? I complain that I have consumed so much food that my ample supply of clothes no longer fit while my ample supply of money is running low.

I cringe that I dare complain about what I do and don’t have when I live in an air conditioned home with clean running water — a basic luxury that many in the world are without.

I bow my head in repentance and gratitude for all that I have. I struggle to be thankful for things I would rather not have. My achy knees that remind me that they still work. Mostly. This relentless hot weather… thinking… thinking… I am thankful that I have access to cool air and swimming pools.

And for these teens that seem to consume all of my food while complaining that there is none? I am thankful for so many things about them, but today I am thankful for their words that remind me not to sound like a complaining teen to my Father.

Sarah Stirman
“Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised.”  Genesis 21:1
www.sarahstirman.com
http://twitter.com/SarahSt

5-foot-3 inches is too high, evidently, for an iPhone to fall screen down on a concrete surface and survive even with a cover.

Standing on the driveway to put on my hat before a run I dropped my iPhone (that I use for training and music while I run). It didn’t hit my knee or shoe or anything on the way down. Just SPLAT.

You know I’m always honest with you: I, like most iPhone users, really like my iPhone. I use it for my alarm clock, on my runs I use it not only for music but to keep track of pace and distance, the GPS feature has been exceptionally handy while adjusting to life in our new town.

Just the day before I was scouring an athletic store for an interval timer for home workouts when the thought occurred to me and, turns out, yes… “there’s an app for that.”  Did I mention that I really like my iPhone?

So… there I stand… grieving my little electronic friend. I truly couldn’t even figure out what to do about my run. I know… forget the app, there’s a help group for that. Let me clarify/ justify by saying that I was also a wee bit sleep deprived on this balmy July morning.

The air conditioning was out in our Texas home. I woke up to an 82* house when it was 75* outside. The best part about nights like that is that there is no point in putting the snooze on the alarm. May as well get up, open the windows, and try to enjoy the cool of the morning.

Now considering my warm house and my shattered iPhone, I knew I had to run to get my brain set straight. It was hard since I was sleep deprived and… guess what?… it was hot. Just like my house.

With no music and being so tired, my brain and body battled it out to keep me putting one foot in front of the other, as well as point my brain toward a better attitude about the day. I settled into a slow steady rhythm that could only muster, “Choose joy. Choose praise. Choose joy. Choose praise.”

I came home in a little better frame of mind and, more out of habit than anything, tapped the home button on my fractured phone to check the time. The reality of what I saw took my breath away (okay, yes, I was still gasping for air and didn’t cool down for three days… but you know what I mean):

The home screen picture was courtesy of one of my children from a few weeks ago, but through the shattered screen it took on new meaning to me after my “Choose joy. Choose praise,” mantra that I had been chanting to myself.

That’s what this world will always be, yes? Always broken, always fallen, always full of messes and mayhem. God assures us several times that we will have trouble in this world (John 16:33). I feel certain many of you are currently experiencing trouble much more heartbreaking and troubling than broken appliances.

Scripture also mentions that things of this earth will all be destroyed. “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19) I sometimes put a little too much faith in those things.

Underneath it all when the things and the relationships and the jobs have all shattered… He is there. Defined as love. Arms open wide, loving us through and in spite of the shards of the world that surround us.

This side of heaven we will only be able to see and understand His love through that shattered lens, but we must peek through it to see Him reminding us always. “I love you. You are mine.”

It’s the only possible way any of us could get up again, put one foot in front of the other and say, “I choose joy. I choose praise.”

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Sarah Stirman
“Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised.”  Genesis 21:1
www.sarahstirman.com
http://twitter.com/SarahSt