Month: March 2024

Easter Message

This is a great time to celebrate. Today is the day we celebrate the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Not only did He return from the dead, but He overcame evil, injustice, hate, contempt, ridicule, slander, pressure, sadness, discomfort, haughtiness, sickness and death. He overcame the last bastion, the final hurdle we have in our life; death. Today is a day to celebrate, for without Jesus resurrection, we’d surely be on the highway headed somewhere we don’t want to go.

Jesus didn’t come to convince us He is right, He came to save us from hell; eternal damnation. He knew what it was like and He knew there was a much better place in store for us if only we believe in Him. He knocks (Rev 3:20 – Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.), but who answers? Anyone there? Come into the light and know where you’ll be when your time on this earth is over.

Join me and my family as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus as proof there is a greater life to come for all of us. We just need to say yes to Him. Yes to believing in Him. Yes to allowing Him into your heart. Yes to repentance (and if you don’t know how to repent, please let me know). Yes to crucifying your past life and starting anew; something you never dreamed possible. If not today, then when? GB

Good Friday Message

I hope everyone takes time to acknowledge what Jesus did for us on the cross. I know there are those who follow me who don’t “believe”, but that’s OK. We love you too. I don’t like that we’ve become so polarized against one another rather than being understanding, willing to listen and understand so you can be understood. Jesus said he did not come to condemn, but to bring unity and show the way to the Lord. He is the way the truth and the life for us, if we choose to follow Him. He made a huge sacrifice in our stead and for us.

Soon Good Friday will be over and we’ll have our eyes on Easter, but for a few minutes, think about what it was like hanging on the cross, hour after hour. A wooden cross on His back that had been whipped, beaten and parts of his flesh torn away; trying to breath as his back rubbed up and down on a wooden cross. All that for us.

So what can we do for what He did for us? It’s easy to let this day slip by like no other, but there was a great commotion and this was a world changing event. Take a few minutes today to meditate on what Jesus did for us. He did it for you too, if you’d only turn to Him with repentance and hope. GB.

Agenda for LaVern Bitter’s Family

Thursday and Friday – Family arrives. Final arrangements, downtime for the family and small gatherings.

Saturday 10:30 Services for LaVern Bitter at Kingdom Hall 9201 Q St Ralston, NE

Saturday Reception following service at Elks at 96th and Harrison, Ralston, NE

Saturday 6:00p Family gathering at Mike and Ruth’s house, 21747 Martinwood Dr, Council Bluffs, IA. You can Google the address for directions or Google Martinwood International. We have two acres, so when you get to the house, park anywhere on the right (north) side of the house. Feel free to park in the open spaces on the north of the house.

Sunday 10:00a Family gathering and farewell breakfast – Golden Corral, Council Bluffs, IA

NOTES:

  1. The service will be available on Zoom:

Meeting ID: 999 342 0986

Passcode: 2911315

2. It has been chilly at night. For some, that means cold. Bring a coat if you like. Saturday night we will have the firepit burning in case you want to sit outside and enjoy the fire.

3. During this time, feel free to share stories, anecdotes, and things you remember about LaVern and family. He loved family and this is a good time to have family time.

Sometimes Encouragement Hurts

One thing I’ve noticed is sometimes encouragement hurts. What I mean is there are times when you know what’s right for a person, but they don’t see it. The person may be co-dependent on you to take care of everyday life situations for them. In this case, encouragement is not necessarily a niceity.

We know what people should be doing in their life, yet they continue to depend on you to take care of those things for them. Encouragement may seem harsh and not necessary, but how else will they move onto their own path and grow? We have to find ways to encourage them to assume responsibility for their own actions.

This could come in the form of not doing those life things for them and keeping your eyes on your own life, and letting them figure it out. There are other times when awarding someone something they didn’t expect will encourage them to take another chance. Public appreciation goes a long way to encouragement. Ask for the manager at a restaurant you are at and tell them all the good things you saw and how good the food was. Even if not everything was as good as you expect, find things you can compliment the staff.

I have encouraged my children in ways that hurt their feelings or upset them, but the outcome was well worth the pain they went through to accomplish tasks they otherwise would not have accomplished. Encourage someone daily and in no time, the world will be a better place.

Mike. GB

How-To Encourage Daily

In my last post I talked about encouraging daily. This means to encourage someone else each day, but how do you do that? You do it by answering four simple, one word questions; Who, What, When, Where. Here we go.

Who: Anyone. Don’t be shy and when you look at encouraging as an opportunity you will see opportunities abounding. Maybe it’s the check out clerk and you tell them they bagged your items appropriately. Your son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter by telling them they did SOMETHING (anything) good. Thank the trash man for being there to pick up your trash. There are many ways to encourage others.

What: Big or small, anything that is encouraging. Maybe something they are wearing, or a look in their eye. Say something positive about THEM! This is not about you, it’s about them. When you encourage others you will receive blessings and rewards you never imagined.

When: When the opportunity presents itself. After you get the encouragement fever, you will be encouraging people all the time. So start with something small, no matter the time or place, just do it.

Where: Anywhere. You can encourage at a local store, at church, on vacation, anywhere there are people, you’ll find someone needing encouragement. Don’t hold back. You have something they want and it does not cost either of you anything other than time.

Enjoy life and encourage others. Work with them rather than against them.

Encourage Daily

To encourage daily sounds daunting, but it really isn’t. What does it mean to encourage and why don’t more people encourage others? It seems society is more inclined to tell someone they cannot do something rather than encourage them to test their abilities, explore the world around them and find out what THEY are capable of doing. There is a special feeling you get when you help someone accomplish what seemed to be an unattainable task. Try it! Encourage someone today. Encourage just one person. Give it a try; encourage daily.