Well yall missed the PREMIER of the up and coming LEGEND "J-Dawg" on the Harmonica tonight. I went and played at Get Down Browns with a bunch of blues artists. I even got an oncore . They are going to have it every Thursday so all you cool cats and kittens who want to play come out.

There was a man there that I was talking to that is going through some rough times...so pray for him and also pray that he takes my invite and comes to church this Sunday.

rrrrrrrrrrrffffffffffff

innerdawg

<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">This message has been edited by whit-Dawg on 03-02-2001 at 12:31 AM</font>

Cool man!! Da-blues player in da houze!!


Go Dawg go!!
Steve

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When God is all you've got; God is all you need!

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Dawg... I was leaving the gym when I got your page. I called back, but got your answering service... I guess you were in mid-wail about that time.... I'll be sure and be there next week. Sounds groovy...

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- Allen

Definately will check it out next time. just let some of us know (like me)who didn't know about it last night. What time do you play?


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Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves

Just a question for Whit-dawg, or whoever...

Isn't Get Down Brown's a Bar? Is this some sort of ministry that STAND band is playing for, or is it just you playing your harmonica? Just wondering?
(-:

GDB is a bar, but so is cheddars, bennigan's, and most any other "restaurant" somebody might want a nice meal in... I can't think of one in this area that isn't... If you wanna play pool, your gonna have to do it in a bar... etc...

Anyways, no we haven't started our ministry in a "bar" yet... my white-dog was just inviting us out to hear him jam... and jam they do...

Does this mean you don't wanna help when we do begin ministering to the sinners in the bars? Jesus is gonna be there...

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- Allen

There is no need for anyone to get defensive, I merely asked about the place. I didn't know if it was a pool hall, bar, restaurant or what. So it's primaraly a restaurant like Bennigans, Chili's, Cheddars? Besides, if it's ministering you are doing I will be there, if you are just inviting everyone to the "bar" to hang out,...well it's just not my kind of place to feel comfortable and socialize. I just can't stand the smell, the look, or the atmosphere of people who are drinking or smoking. You know that Allen, I have always been that way. That's why I have never done it. I also do not like going out to restaurants and sitting any where near a bar. If everyone seems to drink at that restaurant, I don't go there. As far as pool halls go, where I was from there were more choices of pool halls that did not involve alcohol nor smoking. Here it seems that the only places there are pool tables, are bars. Expect for both of my houses. So I got lucky. (-;

Wasn't defensive chica... jes es'plainin...

As far as I can remember, GDB is nuttin but a bar... smoke-filled and all... Perfect for blues...

I could prolly breathe about 3 seconds in there before needing a mask... but I can't hardly breathe clean air myself...

AND, I would love for there to be a poolhall that wasn't filled with smoke. Fast Eddie's is new but already reeks of the stuff from outside the door... It does gives me a good excuse for losing to your dad and the white-dog if nuttin else tho

Stay-tuned for the ministry ...

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- Allen

I haven't played pool in a long while> I'm not very good but I still enjoy it . . .maybe some of us could go play a few rounds some time.
I agree some places are very smoky but I can look past that.

GDB"s wasn't too bad when I went there as far as the smoke,etc. Those of us who've made it out there went to see our dawg whailin' on the blues. But hopefully next time he plays, he will play more than one song .

And the ministry is there. Like we have been saying, we need to reach out to the ones in the clubs, bars, etc. WE have to go to them cause they are not as likely to come to us.
And this is being said all in an non-offensive,not feeling like your being attcked kinda way

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amberlynn@stand318.com

I am up for some pool most anytime, especially if you let me win once in a while... I think you have to be over 21 to get in there... and be prepared to reek of smoke.

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- Allen

I don't think you have to be 21. I got in GDB's and no one carded me. I've been in most of the pool halls in Beaumont never had problems there.
But I will be 21SEPTEMBER 22!!! please feel free to start shopping now.

And believe me, You will probably win a couple games playing against me

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amberlynn@stand318.com

Yo, Get Down Browns is only as much of a bar as say a bowling alley, they have bands, dancing, and stuff like that (blues music talent i mean), but to my knowledge (and yes, I HAVE searched) there is no other place where they are doing stuff like that.

But for those who don't like smoke, they have those overhead smoke suker-outters I think.

Just a note for the blues fans and Jason too ... there should be a new blues "place" opening downtown soon. So maybe it will be more condsive to the stand crowd. Who knows.

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If at first you don't succeed, try and try again ...

<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">This message has been edited by anangelsarms on 04-18-2001 at 01:17 PM</font>

To change the subject just a tad and yet still remain somewhat on topic because ya'll have "brushed" on this a couple times in the past few posts...

A couple weeks ago, someone (I don't remember who or where...coulda been on the site, coulda been at stand, I dunno) said something about how Christians tend to get a little to "churched" once they get saved...okay, now I remember. I think it was Jason at Stand. I believe that he used the illustration something like:

And how we should be in the middle pulling people from the world and throwing them into the church. It was awesome...
Anyway, he was saying how we get in our Christian cliques and hang out with Christian people...and to a certain extent that is healthy and good because you need fellowship and accountability, it is also depriving yourself of the chance to witness to others and depriving others of a chance to be witnessed to if you JUST hang out with Christians and separate yourself from the world.
Something about that really hit home with me, and yet I sat in my chair thinking well, I don't even much hang out with ANYBODY. I am always working or tired or needed at home or SOMETHING. And those few times that I do go out, they NEED to be with Christian friends since I don't get to see the people I love enough as it is...
Not only that, but I would love to be able to go into a bar and witness to people...to go out onto the street in the middle of a crowd of drug pushers and tell them that Jesus loves them. To "hang out" with the unsaved...but I also have to think about my daughter. I can't bring her into a place like that even if my intentions are pure. She does not need to be around that.
So again, I felt helpless. What now? I miss being able to talk to people from behind the bar at work, and yet I know I made the right decision in leaving because I just can't condone it by selling it and then tell them that they really shouldn't be drinking that...

So what do I do?

I had allready been praying about that before Jason brought it up, but he sorta confirmed what had been stirring around in my spirit...I need to do SOMETHING. So I prayed some more...and I don't remember if it was right after Jason spoke about that or right before, but I accidently stumbled on a websight that I posted a link to a while back...I read some things that really broke my heart! People discussing God's existance/lack of existance...mocking Him, cursing Him...it made me cry! And I wanted so bad to say something to those people, but I just felt like the time wasn't right. Like God was putting His hand on my shoulder and saying "NO...not this one".

I was a little confused. Here I had been BEGGING for an opportunity to witness, and one falls in my lap, and no words would come. I couldn't say a thing. Like there was a block in my brain or something and I had forgotten how to talk to others about God...I almost posted, but I just couldn't help but stop because it seemed like God was telling me to wait. So wait I did.

And I don't think it was maybe a full week later when I was searching for some song lyrics and I "stumbled" across another discussion on a secular forum...and woooosh. God just gave me all this stuff to say and I couldn't type fast enough...I just had to type and type and type...and I knew that this was what God was telling me to wait for...

Lemmie start by saying this: I have read more ugly language, wanted to cover my eyes and shrink into a corner. Just like Candace was saying about smokey bars making her uncomfortable...well, that's how I feel around the kind of talk that these people talk. I've read the * word more than I think I ever said it when I had a potty mouth. And the graphic explicit conversations that I have to avoid just to talk to these people is unreal. I'm sure that some people will read this and criticize because it may seem as if I am entertaining sin, but I promise that I am doing nothing of the sort. I definitely stick out like a sore thumb over there. Kinda sad because although there are a couple "christians" over there most of them are so concerned with fitting in that they keep stressing that "whatever works for you"..."find your own spirituallity"... That makes me sick...

But I realize that they aren't just gonna pop up here at the stand site and start asking questions...well, it has happened, but very few and far between...and Jesus didn't wait for the sinners to come to where He was...He went to them.

I haven't posted here for almost a week because I have been SWAMPED with people asking me questions...some just to challenge me, some crying out for help...other curious, and some confused. And to be honest, it is very draining. And some nights, I want to just lay down and give up...some nights it seems like God is not moving at all...like I'm just wasting my time...my energy. And yet I realize that it is HIS time, and if I am sharing His word whether it is recieved or not, then how could it be wasted? At least I am sewing the seed...it is not mine to say what soil in which it will land. Frustrating as it is...I just have to trust that His Word will not return void.

Every time I think I am about to give up, something happens to encourage me...Someone starts to see something that maybe they didn't see before...someone starts to understand what I am talking about...or at least try to look at it a different way than what they were...

I guess I say all this because I want to stress how important it is to get out of your comfort zone.
I know that it sounds like something trivial to most people. I'm not out there bringing clothes and food to homeless people...I'm not on the streets passing out tracts...I'm not doing anyone a great service. I'm not donating money to feed the children. I'm not in a bar telling the drunk that the bottle he has in his hand is not the answer. I'm just posting words on a page.
But I am doing what I think God would have me do right now, and that is all I can do.

I know this is getting really long, but I am trying to make up for lost time.

A secular song has been coming to my mind the past few days, and I didn't understand the signifigance of it until just now...so while I'm sharing, I might as well.

One hand reaches out and pulls a lost soul from harm
While a thousand more go unspoken for
And they say "What good have you done
By saving just this one?
It's like whispering a prayer in the fury of a storm."

This heart still believes that love and mercy still exists.
While all the hatreds rage and so many say
That love is all but pointless
In madness such as this.
It's like trying to stop a fire
With the moisture from a kiss.

And I hear them saying
You'll never change things
And no matter what you do
It's still the same thing
But it's not the world that I am changing.
I do this so
This world will know
That it will not change me.

As long as one heart still holds on
Hope is never really gone.....


------

And I feel that way sometimes. But then I remember another song that is on a CD that I confiscated by the "Posession is 9/10 of the law" rule.

"You changed the world in a mighty way.
You may not recall it,
But I won't forget the day
When the love of God inspired you
To show me I could find the Truth.
The one who gave His life
So I could be free.
You may not think you changed the world
But you sure changed the world for me..."

And I realize that just to go around living life to prove that the world cannot change me is just as pointless as trying to stop a fire with the moisture from a kiss, because GOD STILL HEARS PRAYERS IN THE FURY OF A STORM. I don't necessarily need to know if someone finds Christ because of something that He has led me to say/do. The glory is ALL HIS anyway.

I know how thankful I am that Rick stayed behind at the cafe that night and talked to me, and I KNOW that was totally his obedience to God. And I don't think he even knows how he affected my life.

Heaven rejoices when ONE lost person finds his way home.

I believe that God can use EVERY situation to work for Him.

Each of you...the posts that you make, the words that you say in love on these forums...you reach out to people. People read this site every day and don't post. But they are being ministered to. And I thank GOD that He has provied me a way to tell people about Him even though I cannot always leave the house.

I am 100% excited about the new direction that stand is taking, and I say that it's about TIME the church stop singing "standing on the promises" when all they are doing is sitting on the premises....okay...and I gotta stop now...I'm getting too fired up.

Please just keep me in your prayers...because I am just a little girl trying to go out and tell people how much their Father loves them...and I fall alot and skin my knees. And it hurts. And I bleed...cry alot, and sometimes don't want to get back up...it's a scary place out there full of hurt and fear and hate and anger. I just pray that God will allow me be invisible and let HIM shine through...

Whew! That's my longest post here in a while...

I love you guys...

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Michelle

Powerful words forever... you know you are where you are supposed to be...

and Hey, I think I recognize those words from a CD I used to have...

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- Allen

Nope. Not the same CD. Okay...maybe...yeah. But you left it in MY computer.
You have my permission to borrow it any time...

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Michelle

Why does it seem that when you are not saved Christians tell you it's all about God... trust him and HE will take care of everything.

But, after someone accepts the Christ that everyone tells them about, he can never add up to ANYONE in the Christian worlds expectations again? Does God make mistakes?

Let me end this discussion like this. I am a fairly smart man and I have been around the church world long enough to have learned from it how to manipulate the truth and hide the things you are afraid of people knowing... If I had other motives besides ministry, do you think I would have ever put it on the website?

I invited everyone, because it is a chance for us to get to those who need us the most and at the same time get to be part of the world we live in and the peoples lives around us. The singles in this area are being forgotten... and we seem to be ok with that.

The word says that we are to be filled with living water until overflowing... and we keep drinking and drinking and keeping the water to ourselves. Acting like our thirst was the only one God wanted to quinch.

Would it be better if the smoke and sin were in Mexico or AFRICA. Could we go to them then without feeling uneasy? We as "Christians" have to remember that being a Christian means being ALIVE to those around us.
Why do we forget that Bmt. is a mission feild that God wants to reach just as much as as any other nation under HIS hands.

Anyway... it was just BLUES......

RRRRfffffffffff
rrrrrrfffffffffffffffff

innerdawg

<FONT size="5"><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Preach Preacha, Preach!!</FONT f></FONT s>

good word, white-dog, good word.... love the tie in from last night's message.


H 2 0



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- Allen

I don't witness to someone with my own Modern Ideas, the ideas of the twentieth century. I use the old fashioned way, God's cause he's the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow. Witnessing in AFRICA on the streets, schools, and medical fields for me is NOTHING like going into a bar. You have to have faith that God will present the situation or opportunity. Socializing with them in a bar setting is not my idea of giving them hope and life, maybe performing DELIVERANCE WILL COME in our flashy colorful outfits might do the trick(HEHE). When God entered a place of filth and sin he didn't leave it the same. His presence was undoubtely there and known by the spirits that dwelled within. Now with all honesty no one has the wisdom, strength, or knowledge like God does, so let's not pretend we do. I am ALL for going into the streets, bars, clubs, wherever there are lost and hurting people and giving them the love that I have found. I have been doing it all my life, my point was that hanging out in a bar and just blending in isn't changing anything. Maybe I am wrong, and if I am I will stand corrected in Heaven, but until God tells me other wise I will not "hang out" in a bar. If just for the fact that I can't stand cigarette smoke w/o getting SERIOUSLY Ill. Like can't breath sick. I will be praying ernestly for you guys as you do go in there to minister and that God would give you strength and a strategy. I hope you will all pray for me while I am ministering in AFRICA and possibly on DFD tour. God is going to do great things continuously for STAND & I hope it never stops. HAVE A GREAT DAY, WEEK, MONTH, YEAR, ETC.

I love you guys so much, Stand has been an encourage to me in some of my darkest times. I thank you all for that, your the bomb diggity!

(-;

I understand what you mean B_V, but God's ways aren't from the 18th or 19th century either... Jesus ministered to people where they were, in the environment they were in, He didn't ask them to stop what they were doing, where they were going, clean up a little, then be saved... He forgave them, then told them to go and sin no more...

I agree, if we aren't seen as different in the light of a barroom, then we are wasting our time... thank you for your prayers, always appreciated.

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- Allen

I agree with Allen, if it's not your cup of tea then I understand and thank you for your prayers.

Side note though... when the disciples weren't preaching maybe it is possible that they "just hung out with people." Anyone would be right to say that if ANYONE just went to sin that would be wrong, but your right BV "with all honesty no one has the wisdom, strength, or knowledge like God does... and if HE is in ME... and He that is in me is GREATER THAN he that is in THE WORLD... then won't He know when to USE ME?

Just because a calling isn't suited for us, doesn't make it less of a calling until everyone knows the GOD we as Christians all know.

just a thought....

innerdawg