Happy Thursday

How Great Is Your Goodness
How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you. --Psalm 31:19
 
Allen Gardiner was a faithful missionary and martyr during the 19th century. He joined the Naval College in England at a young age and accepted Christ during his career in the Navy. Soon after, Gardiner accepted God's call to take the Good News of Jesus to tribes in Africa and South America.

In 1850, Gardiner and six other men attempted to trek through southern Argentina in hopes of reaching the Yagan Indians. Despite the many physical difficulties and hardships he faced throughout his journey, he said, "While God gives me strength, failure will not daunt me."

However, in 1851 at the age of 57, Gardiner died tragically of disease and starvation while serving on Picton Island at the southern tip of South America. His body was later found along with his diary that contained accounts of hunger, thirst, wounds, and loneliness.

In his last journal entry, illustrated by shaken handwriting, he wrote: "I am not hungry or thirsty in spite of five days without eating. ...I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God."

In the apostle Paul's time of hardship, the Lord said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). When you are experiencing difficulties in this life, rest in God's goodness and rejoice in your trials, so that you may fully experience His power in your life.

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Praise God for His goodness in both good and bad times. Thank Him for being sufficient in your weakness and in control of your circumstances.

How Great Is Our GOD
The splendor of a King, clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice
All the earth rejoice
He wraps himself in Light, and darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice
How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God
Age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the end
Beginning and the end
The Godhead Three in One
Father Spirit Son
The Lion and the Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb
Name above all names
Worthy of our praise
My heart will sing
How great is our God
How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God 

Daily Smile:
Did you hear about the scientist who crossed a carrier pigeon with a woodpecker? 
 
He got a bird that not only delivers messages to their destination, but knocks on the door when it gets there. 

In The News:
Christianity 'Close to Extinction' in the Middle East
According to a new study by the think tank Civitas, Christianity faces being wiped out in the "biblical heartlands" in the Middle East because of mounting persecution of Christians -- with militant Islam the primary reason for the oppression, The Telegraph reports. The report, entitled "Christianophobia," warns that Christians suffer greater hostility around the world than any other religious group, and asserts that politicians have been "blind" to the extent of violence faced by Christians in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It also claims that oppression in Muslim countries is often ignored because of a fear that criticism will be seen as "racism." Study author Rupert Shortt, a journalist and visiting fellow of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, wrote: "Exposing and combating the problem ought in my view to be political priorities across large areas of the world. That this is not the case tells us much about a questionable hierarchy of victimhood. The blind spot displayed by governments and other influential players is causing them to squander a broader opportunity. Religious freedom is the canary in the mine for human rights generally."

Plight of Syrian Christians Intensifies
The condition of the church in Syria is becoming more and more desperate as Christians, their property and their churches continue to be the targets of violent attacks, ASSIST News Service reports. A senior church leader reported that Christians in Syria face "inflation, poverty, growing of sectarian enmity, shortages of supplies of food and fuel, cold weather, revenge, kidnapping for big amount of ransom, risks of traveling, frequent Internet cut-off and [more]." While the Christian population of the city of Homs was once between 50,000 and 60,000, just 80 Christians remained in a Christian neighborhood of the old city as of December 2012. They are being held hostage by rebels and prevented from leaving, and are dying one by one as a result of serious hardships and lack of medication. According to Barnabas Aid, the Christians are being kept there as "human shields" by Salafist rebel groups to deter government forces from attacking the Christian area, which is now occupied by rebels. But despite the dangers they face, and the fact that many Syrian Christians have fled their homeland, church leaders have refused to leave their people. "It is our vocation to give our testimony," one senior Christian leader said. "We had a lot of persecution in the past and we have to find a way to continue." As observers predict the collapse of the Assad regime, under which Christians in Syria had been well-treated, the future for Christians looks bleak. "Pray that all Christians in Syria will know the Lord's peace in these desperate times, and that He will make a way for them to live in safety in their own country," Barnabas Aid said.

Fathers Vanish in U.S. as Single Motherhood Continues to Rise
In every U.S. state, the portion of families where children have two parents, rather than one, has dropped significantly over the past decade, the Washington Times reports. Even as the country added 160,000 families with children, the number of two-parent households decreased by 1.2 million. Fifteen million U.S. children, or one in three, currently live without a father -- compared to 1960, when just 11 percent of American children lived in homes without fathers. And in an America awash in crime, poverty, drugs and other problems, Vincent DiCaro of the National Fatherhood Institute ultimately points to absent fathers: "[People] look at a child in need, in poverty or failing in school, and ask, 'What can we do to help?' But what we do is ask, 'Why does that child need help in the first place?' And the answer is often because [the child lacks] a responsible and involved father."