Here are the welcome messages from January 2000.

	January 3, 2000
	January 11, 2000
	January 17, 2000
	January 24, 2000
	January 31, 2000

January 3, 2000
There was a Y2K computer bug after all!! I should probably call all the major television stations and let them know! When I looked at the date on my computer on January 1st, it said Friday, Jan 4, 1980! It doesn't make any sense. My computer has a list of years to choose from and 2000 follows 1999. The date was correct in December. Why did it revert back to 1980?? Oh, gosh, how funny. It was my own personal Y2K bug! It was easy enough to fix, thank God!
Speaking of bugs, my flu bug is better. I'm still not up to 100%, but getting there. My voice is still raspy, my throat is sore, and I can still feel congestion in my chest, but I am MUCH better than I was! Praise the Lord!!
Did you make any interesting new year's resolutions? Did you make any that involve getting closer to the Lord? If you did, how are you doing so far? In order to spend more time in the Word or with the Lord you have to make a conscious effort. You have to schedule Him in just as you do doctor's appointments. You have to, on purpose, stop doing your normal thing and spend that time with Him. You can't wait until you have time, or have a moment. I know, I've had those good intentions many times and it didn't happen. The time you invest in the Lord will come back to you in blessings a thousand times over. That investment is the best investment you could ever make.
Link to the 1/3/00 Bible study.

January 11, 2000
Sorry I didn't get this done yesterday. By the time I got a chance to sit down and work on it my brain had run out of juice. I spent most of the morning working on getting this week's scrip order ready for distribution. (That's the gift-certificate fund raiser I administrate for the band.) In the afternoon I finally started putting away my Christmas decorations. Since I had been sick during and after Christmas I just had not had time to work on it. The worst part about getting your decorations put away late is that when it is time to get them back out again it feels like you just finished putting them away!
My throat is still not well. I can't sing very well and in the evenings or on dry days my throat hurts. I'm starting to wonder if the Lord is leaving it that way to remind me to be careful in what I say and when I speak.
We got a new dog. As you may or may not remember, one of our two dogs died last November. Our remaining dog missed him. He would just lie around most of the day. The dog that had died was the "leader" of the two and would run around the yard with the other right behind him. We waited to see if Bubba would get over it, but it didn't seem he would. We went to the Humane Society Pet Adoption Center to look at the dogs they had. That was when we fell in love with Moo Moo. (Don't ask me where he got that name because I don't know!) Moo Moo is a St. Bernard mix. He is big, but oh, so loveable. He and Bubba have the same, sweet dispositions. They get along wonderfully! The worst problem they had was when Bubba thought Moo Moo was going to eat his face and he growled, not realizing that Moo Moo was just playing. We do have to break Moo Moo of his tendency to jump up on the patio table and on the dog house. I guess he figures if he is tall enough to see it then that makes it his! I'll have to dig out my camera and take a picture of the two of them together so you can meet them.
Link to the 1/11/00 Bible study.

January 17, 2000
I really don't like it when January rolls around. There are so many things I need to do that don't need doing any other time of the year. I have to make updates on my web pages to accommodate the new year. I have to clean out my desk drawers and make way for receipts and bills for the new year. The worst thing of all is get my receipts and records together to get our taxes done. OK, so if I was working on it month by month it would be easy. I wasn't. I was throwing all my receipts into a basket. At least I was writing down my mileage for my volunteer work and keeping track of tax deductible things on the calendar. It could be worse, but it is bad enough. I just have to make time to work on it, and make a space to make a mess while I work on it. I'd rather be doing just about anything else! Come on, doggies! Want to go for a walk?
I've got a sign that I got somewhere a long time ago. I've got it out in the garage by the washing machine. It says, "A woman's work is never recognized, paid for, honored, or commended." Most women who see it get a big kick out of it. I don't want to make a man/woman thing out of this. What I would like to do is ask you if you have ever felt unappreciated. Have you ever felt like you are unimportant? Have you ever wondered where your special place is where you would be most effective? God has a special place for you. He has a job for you. You probably won't get paid for that job, patted on the back for doing it well, nor receive a gold watch for a job well done. However, you will be appreciated and you will be blessed in many ways if you find out what that job is and begin doing it. This week's Bible study below gives you some guidelines for how to find out what your job is. Want to be appreciated? Want to be doing something really really important? Keep reading!
Link to the 1/17/00 Bible study.

January 24, 2000
Well, are you used to writing the year 2000 yet? It still looks funny to me to see all those 000's! You know how 1999 was referred to as '99, and 1952 was abbreviated as '52? Well, are we going to have to call 2000 by all three syllables all the time? Can we call it aught, or double aught, or zip, or zilch? Well, there's no harm in asking!
Life is one continual adventure after another. Our church recently merged with another and we have had two pastors for a short while. They split the duties. All of a sudden the congregation is informed that the pastor from the church that came over to ours, who is the head pastor, is leaving to pastor another church. Our other pastor, the one who used to be our head pastor, is planning on leaving in August. Both pastors are leaving the flock. A pastor has very definite responsibilities. Pastors and teachers both have the responsibility to make sure that what they are teaching is the truth. They also have the responsibility to make sure that the way they are teaching and what they are teaching and the words they are using are what God wants. They will have to answer for what happens to their congregation/students due to their teachings. It really is an awesome responsibility. It sounds a bit scary, but if the pastor/teacher seeks God's will and carries it out then they have no worries. As a matter of fact, they will be blessed in ways unimaginable. They will have given what God desired to their students. Their students, in turn, will be equipped to become working members of the Body of Christ. They, then, will assist others, who will assist others, etc. etc. A pastor also has a responsibility of being the spiritual leader of the congregation. He is generally looked at by the congregation as being the person who is most knowledgeable about the Word of God. Many people immediately believe everything the pastor says without comparing it to the Word. That is not the right way to receive the Word from a person, but it happens all the time. Many members of the congregation are not at all familiar with the Bible. Many do not touch their Bibles except when they pick them up to take them to church. I don't want to be rude, but perhaps that is why the pastor is referred to as the shepherd and the congregation as the flock. Sheep are not very bright and must have a shepherd to keep them out of trouble. If a pastor causes any to stumble because he is not seeking God's will then he will have to answer for it. I know that my prayer is that I never have to hear the Lord tell me that anyone stumbled or missed meeting Him because of something I did or neglected to do. I have been praying on behalf of our pastors that they are not being self-serving at the expense of the congregation!
Link to the 1/24/00 Bible study.

January 31, 2000
Well, what new and glorious thing has the Lord done in your life this past week? Did He teach you anything? Did you get any closer in your relationship with Him? I know one reason why some people do not develop a personal relationship with the Lord. I heard someone who was in a position to teach and influence a lot of other people say, "Your relationship with the Lord is right here," and he held up his Bible. Uh, WRONG! The Bible teaches you all about the Lord but your relationship with the Lord is IN YOUR HEART. You do have to be reading your Bible to develop your relationship, but it goes much much further than that. God wants a personal relationship with you--one on one, heart to heart. In order to have that relationship you have to seek His face. You have to communicate with Him directly. That's what's so great about the Holy Spirit. That is God in you! He is just waiting for you to realize it and acknowledge His presence. I have to emphasize again and again, don't let anyone tell you that God does not speak to His children except for what is in the Bible!! That is a LIE straight from Satan's mouth to your ear! God did not withdraw Himself from us when the Bible was written. Oh how sad for those people who don't even try to hear His voice! The joy they are missing! It would be like being in a tunnel. You think you won't be able to commune with Him until you are in Heaven, which would be the end of the tunnel. All the while He is walking by your side asking, "Why won't you talk with Me? Why don't you listen to what I am saying?" How very very sad!
You probably know the story from the Bible about the woman anointing Jesus with oil. In Mark 14:3 it says, "And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head." Have you an alabaster box into which you have placed God? The sides of the box are built by restrictions placed on God by you or by people who have taught you about God: God doesn't do this any more, God wouldn't do that, God always does certain things the same way, etc. You have a very nice package. You have God all figured out. You don't have to be looking for Him nor listening for Him. You have Him all wrapped up. What is inside the box is what is precious. It needs to be poured out. There is no end of things that will happen once you break open that box. The blessings, and joys, and gifts of God are without limit. There is no end to understanding His ways. There is always more. You have to make a conscious effort to break open that box. Be open to what God can do. Be listening for Him and watching for Him. Let Him show you what He will and won't do. Be sensitive to that still, small voice that just might be His!
Link to the 1/31/00 Bible study.