AT&T recently released this powerful, emotive PSA on the subject of texting while driving. It features a compilation of stories from people whose lives have been altered as a result of a single text typed while operating a motor vehicle.

I sent it to my wife and my kids…and I have watched it more than once…as hard as it is to watch!

THE PHONE CAN WAIT until you pull over or get out of the car!

<So…I took the summer off from blogging. It’s been a relaxing 2.5 months. We have had some great family time and if the weather would cool off…everything else for FALL would drop into place. If you have been here before, thanks for coming back. If you are new…welcome…stay as long as you like.>

©iStockphoto.com/StephanieFrey

In early October of 2006 there was a horrific shooting at a one room Amish school house in Nickel Mines Pennsylvania…killing 5 and wounding 5 more young girls. I think most of us probably remember that event. What I have never been able to purge from my mind is the reaction of the Amish families that were directly involved and the Amish community as a whole.

You see, more than half of those that attended the killers funeral were Amish. And as the money and gifts poured in from all over…the Amish included the killer’s widow and her children in the distribution of the gifts. How do they forgive like that?

So when I ran across this book, Amish Peace, at the first of the summer…it made the top of my reading list.

What a wonderful book and what unique people. The book explores how the Amish view time, money, community, forgiveness and the sovereignity of God. The author, Suzanne Woods Fisher, spent days with them in order to learn their stories so she could share them with us. The attraction that I now have for the Amish lifestyle is summed up in one word…simplicity.

Why is it so hard to live a simple life?

The Amish personify simple living! Here are a few notes on why/how from the book:

• to only live with the things that they really use…and to treasure them.
• Amish farms have no more than 80 tillable acres…on purpose.
• each church district is kept to roughly 20 to 30 families…on purpose.
• their houses and barns are spartan -like; spacious and uncluttered.
• simple dress and grooming…so not to promote pride or status.
• possessions are guided by function and practicality…not by the latest style or trend.
• money is to help others.
• not less choice…but they choose less.

I encourage you to grab the book…the stories read kind of as a devotional. I am not quite ready to become Amish, but I would love to begin living out some of the Amish ways.

The book is full of Amish proverbs and this one grabbed me…“Live simple, so others may simply live”

Share your experience with the Amish in the comment section below or get the book and let me know what you think.

000000;">I have the honor of serving on the board of a life changing organization called Safe Harbor. It’s a place that reaches out to the homeless women of our community and place where women can begin to put their lives back together with the hope and grace of Jesus Christ. This post is written by the Executive Director Debbie Haynes…a strong and humble woman. 

Yesterday I received two very special pieces of mail:  one from a homeless mother and daughter who had spent time in our Day Shelter, and one from a mother, daughter, and 2-year old grand-daughter who had also spent time here.  Both families had relocated – one all the way back to Denmark, where she was born, and the other to Oklahoma.  Both wanted to update us on what is going on in their lives. 

Looking at the enclosed photo of the little girl, who crawled for the first time here at Safe Harbor, I was again reminded of the importance of relationships for all of us.  The women we serve are mothers and daughters, even grandmothers and granddaughters.   All of us who fit in either of those categories have similarities:  the joy of laughing together, the shared pain of facing life’s heartaches, the hopes and dreams of a better day.  For women who are homeless, often there is such a sense of disconnectedness; of disruption from healthy, strong relationships.  Hope is at a premium that many of them have decided is too dear a price. 

Hope wafts through the air here.  Whether in the Day Shelter, where women cook for each other and sometimes their families, crochet a blanket, look for a job, hear the hope of Christ; or in our residential program where family ties are slowly re-established – hope must be offered before anything else can be received. 

As you think of ways to honor the special women in your lives this weekend, please consider an “out-of-the-box” gift – hope for the women of Safe Harbor.  Go to   http://www.safeharborrescuemission.org/  and click on our  “Donate Now” page and give a life-changing gift.  Note your honoree in the comment section, and we will be glad to send her a card sharing how a gift in their honor has impacted mothers and daughters who will appreciate it so much!

Happy Mothers’ Day!

Debbie Haynes

Don’t get me wrong – I love Christmas. It’s time for family, for comfort, for love. And for Christians, it’s a time to celebrate what’s most important, the birth of Jesus Christ.

But there are a lot of things we get wrong about Christmas.

For one, we give each other so much stuff. Whether it’s out of obligation or just to truly show someone we care, we’re still essentially material-rich people giving other material-rich people more… materials. The purpose of our holiday, though, is Christ. And Jesus made his purpose clear to us – sacrifice. He died so that we could live. And we struggle to keep that the focus of Christmas while we’re busy buying and unwrapping gifts.

Let’s face it, we actually sacrifice very little. But what’s small to us can be huge to someone who lacks basic health necessities. Just $20 is enough for one person to have clean water for two decades, for example.

So, this year, I’m asking others of you to join me and give up some gifts and donate that money to help me build a well. 100% of all funds raised go directly to the water projects. Between now and Christmas, I aim to raise $2,500 in my charity: water campaign.

Jesus sacrificed himself for us. This is the least I can do.

Please join me and donate whatever you can…..http://mycharitywater.org/ebroussard

THANK YOU!