Who Needs Boundaries?

When most of us hear the word boundaries our thoughts are not usually positive. Boundaries bring to mind lack of movement, lack of creativity, lack of fun. Haven't we been taught to "think outside the box" & "color outside the lines?" Even some of our oldest songs contain an "anti-boundaries" theme..."Give me land lots of land under starry skies above, don't fence me in." With all this ingrained into our psyche why would we do a series on...you guessed it...Boundaries. While we are certainly pro-creativity at Real Life Family Center we also understand the absolute necessity for healthy boundaries. Without them our traffic system would be in chaos, our nation in anarchy and our morality a big mess. Yes, proper boundaries give us structure, support and balance. Show me a person or a family that lacks or does not follow well thought out boundaries and I will show you a person or family that not only lacks balance, but exhausts itself under that load. Our next series at RLFC entitled, "Got Boundaries?" will help point out the need for well thought out structure and systems as well as teach us how to put them in place if lacking. We will discuss boundaries for thinking, emotions, relationship, finances and time. These are 5 of the most important areas of life and with these 5 pillars is constructed the majority of our lives.  Challenge - take a good look at your life in each of those 5 areas. Is anyone of them a little chaotic? Out of control or out of balance? Anyone of those areas bringing exhaustion to your life? It may be the result of an overlooked or absent boundary. Join us these next 6 weeks as we examine, rebuild and strengthen the boundaries in our lives. 

44 - 0 !!

Forty Four and O!! That is an incredible record isn't it? If we were discussing the record of any sports team we would marvel at their accomplishment. Forty Four wins without a single defeat. You have to admit, that is an amazing run. I am not talking NFL or NBA or MLB right now I am talking USA. That's right...the United States of America. Yesterday's presidential inauguration marked the 44th straight peaceful transition of power in our remarkable history. We often take for granted the incredible political peace we enjoy, but look around at just about ANY OTHER NATION on the planet and you will see we are in the vast minority.  This is a nation built on God's moral principles and structured around democracy and capitalism. We greatly enjoy God's blessing and favor in our nation and should take some time to thank Him for His protection and provision. We also owe a great deal to the men and women who have fought and are fighting to make our nation free. Thank you to all those in the armed forces. The great American experiment is alive and well. Thank you God for your incredible goodness to us. 44 and 0 is a great record indeed. 

$5 Million Dollar Miracle!

Friday afternoon at 3:30 I received THE call. The call we at RLFC had been waiting for, praying for & believing for. This phone call would be the culmination of an incredible series of events where we were able to witness God's faithfulness. That call would confirm that our loan had been fully process, the title and deeds fully recorded and our seller paid in full. To understand this miracle I must recap the story. We moved into our new building a little over 2 years ago by giving a $2.5 million down payment and promising a $5 million balloon payment in August of 2008. All things were proceeding well until the bottom fell out of the economy in summer/fall of 2008. Our bank could no longer loan us the money and the purchaser of our land could no longer follow through on that sale. What do we do now?! I pray my usual prayer, "God you have a problem." We approached a dozen banks to be turned down by all. Finally God led us to a bank that not only would loan us the money, but not tie it to the sale of our property. After 2 more months of loan committees, financial doc reviews, land appraisals & an insurance physical it finally was all finished with only 3 weeks before foreclosure and homelessness. God is SO GOOD!!!