An Incredible Invitation!

"Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the water; and you who have no money come , buy and eat, come , buy wine and milk without money and without cost." Isaiah 55:1

What a beautifully incredible invitation from our God. Are you thirsty? Come! Where? To the Water. Who can come? Everyone who thirsts. How can we come? Without money and without cost....just as we are....poor in spirit....bringing nothing to the table...empty, depleted, dry, parched and longing to be filled...we can come with nothing but a heart that so needs the WATER... the living Water that never runs dry...that satisfies our soul.

Verse 2 goes on to ask us a question that is a bit telling on the human heart. "Why do you spend your money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? LISTEN carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight in abundance."

Think of how many times we as the children of the the King of Kings run somewhere besides to the Living Waters to drink and we actually pay to do it. We shouldn't be saying Ho! we should be saying WOE! As Isaiah did in Chapter 6 as he saw the Lord High and lifted up he was stopped in his tracks and fell on his face as he realized he was substituting junk for the glory of the presence of God. I think of how many believers talk more with each other about their favorite books and TV series than their passion for the Lord and His Word and His Great Commission. Often, what is going on with our favorite football team is more troubling to us than what is happening in our churches or in our own wicked hearts.

We almost forget that we are thirsty at all until are standing at one of those WOE is me moments. "Blessed are those which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled." Is it any wonder that we are so empty as Christ's body when we spend our time and money on the same things that world does? I proclaim to my own soul that I know beyond a doubt that nothing will satisfy save Christ alone. .... not anything or everything... just Jesus. Oh we say we know that but this verse should haunt us. If we aren't living in abundance it is because we have spent our time, energy and wages on something besides the Living Water. Let's spot kidding ourselves and just come to water and be satisfied. If we have ever truly drank from it we know it truly will satisfy. So, why do we go anywhere else? As Peter declared so beautifully to our Lord, "To whom shall we go, for You have the Words of Life." He is Life itself... The Living Water....The Bread of Life... The I Am that I Am...Believe and be satisfied.

I write this to me today but you can read it if you want to. :)

The last two years have seen so many changes in the life of Keith and I that

we can hardly believe what will come next.

We so love being grandparents as you can see.

Those of you who would even take the the time to read this blog will know that our Jesus

is our life and our His glory is our only aim... but in that calling He has chosen to bless us with a family that we can not thank Him enough for.

The blessing of holding my children in my arms is one that words on this blog would be impossible to pen. I realize that even I, to whom words flow ever so freely, cannot describe the joy we have known these past two years with Ella and John David in our world. The past few months has been extremely unique as KJ and David both finished seminary at Southern and returned to Tuscaloosa with their families and have lived among us together for a moment in time.

of Our KJ:

What a joy to have KJ and Lynn and Ella moved to Tuscaloosa and join the staff at our church. We have believed for years that KJ would be in another country. His heart for the world has been so big. Since the day he first read John Piper's book "Let the Nations be Glad" and began spending every summer "going gladly" to another nation, we never dreamed that the Lord would allow us the privilege to have him work along side of us. As anyone here at our church would tell you, we are replanting a church here and I pray that KJ's presence among us will cause God to one day call many from among us to take the Gospel of Christ to the nations.

May your heart never lose the passion it has known and may it spill on all of us.

of our Katie:

Katie and David are preparing to leave us in the next few weeks to head to Richmond and then off to Mporokoso, Zambia as IMB missionaries. We are savoring every moment and yet have commented that we tend to live in denial that they are actual about to leave us for a very long time. She is my best friend. My heart. My little girl. Wasn't it just yesterday I was braiding her hair and we were walking the yellow brick road together and sharing secrets and singing songs and dancing in our den on saturday nights. Where does life go. Now she will do these things with her own children...maybe in another land for a very long time....but oh how they will love her and delight that she knows how to make life filled with laughter and a day filled with adventure. She will know how to find faces in clouds and pictures in pop corn and she will never miss a rainbow after a storm or the colors in a sunset that God paints across an African sky. She will know that though she hates spiders and snakes she won't be grumpy when her little "Arless" comes home with some critters in his pockets because that's just what boys on adventures do. She will remember when she is so far away from home that it hurts that "she had to leave so she could come back". She will know that "sweeping and dusting can wait till tomorrow but babies can't because they grow up to our sorrow....so quiet down cob webs and dust go to sleep cause I'm rocking my baby cause babies won't keep". She will know that "duty does things well but love things beautifully." And she will know to quote her Grammy that "she has to go so that she can come back". And as she goes she will know that when she goes, with her precious family that she is the most loved daughter, sister and friend in the whole world. I am missing you already but we have never been prouder of you than now.

May your heart never lose the love it has always known and may it continue to spill on all of us.

Of our Kameron:

How grown up our baby boy has become. Kameron is now a Junior at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky. He is loving his professors and his roommates and his classes. Keith and I are constantly overwhelmed at his depth and maturity. It has been so wonderful to have him home with the rest of our family for a part of the summer. He spent some of the summer at Marannook. This the camp where Keith and I met. Kameron was a counselor there last summer and went back for a month this summer as the Director's assistant. God has done some truly amazing things in his life there. Watching God directing Kam and unfolding His plans and leading his heart has been such a testimony to us of His grace on Kameron's life. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus and to watch Him lead and direct and guide the heart's of your children. Kameron has become my encourager, my teacher and my support as I have struggled through some adjustments in my "new phase" in life. He has prayed and encouaged and encouraged again. So many things to share about what is going on his life but I will save it for another day. Just let me say....he is smiling a lot. :)

May your heart never lose the passion for His glory that is the reason that you breath and may it spill on all of us!

What is My goal in this blog:

I have no idea......

I literally began this last night with my neice Hillary as a test page as we were playing around trying out pages looking for stuff for David and Katie's background for their blog. So this is not even suppose to be here.

So, for my first post on my first blog....... I just wanted to share of my family. It may be a place where I will attempt to write... to journel .... to express what God is teaching me. It might be fun at that.... we shall see. Since no one knows it is here but me, Hillary and Katie and David, I might just give it a whirl. Love you three. t.

The Pugh Family's Blogspot