Second Stage Ministries

Edited by Kay Beam This post was prompted by a request that I received from a family member. She asked me to do a post on the passage noted above because she has a lot of people in her life dealing with the topic of the verses. Please read the passage below from the Message translation of the Bible: “So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. Love never dies.” (I Corinthians 13:4-8, the Message)  Love. There is a problem with love

Edited by Kay Beam A few months ago I prepared a lesson for the 4 th and 5 th grade students that I teach once a month at church. This lesson that I was getting ready for was on Hebrews 12:2-3 which says: 2”fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (NIV) Then I told them the story of Paul. Paul’s name was not always Paul, and he was also not always the most popular guy. When we first see Paul in the book of Acts his name is Saul, and he hates the Christian people. Saul is heading to Damascus where he has permission to arrest and bring followers of Jesus back and torture and kill them. But on the way, a bright light blinded him and he was carried to Damascus where he meets Ananias who restores his sight. Saul then immediat

Edited by Kay Beam Back in August I was preparing to teach the 4th and 5th grade students at church. We were learning about the book of Genesis and I was teaching about Abraham. But the week before we learned about Noah. At the Saturday night service, we were reviewing the stories, and I talked about the rainbow that God used as a promise: “Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all th

Edited by Kay Beam Ever moved? If you have moved, you know that it can be a big hassle. You have to go to the area that you are moving to so you can find a place to live. You also go to scout out neighborhoods to see what might be best for your family. In looking for the neighborhood, you look and see what schools are in the area for that neighborhood. You have to put your house up for sale and start the process of getting a new house or place to live. Stressful right? But think about it like this, you know where you are going and have time to prepare for the move. This is not how it was for Abram in Genesis 12. Abram was quite comfortable in Harran. He had family and many possessions. But God came to Abram one day and told him to pack up and go to a new land. But God did not even tell Abraham where that was. God told Abram to “go from you country… to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) Talk about stressful! So Abram, who is 75 at this time, gathers up hi

Edited by Kay Beam I put an abridged version of this on Facebook a while ago. But it was a moment that I cannot explain in the detail that it happened. However, I am going to try at this time. Several years ago I was on a worship team for a local church that I used to attend. I know many of you might be shocked at that first sentence. But it’s true. I can carry somewhat of a tune. So I guess you could say I have a hidden talent. I enjoyed my time on the worship team. It was a blast serving God in a different way. There were a lot of people who were surprised that I wanted to get up in front of people and sing. It was fun. One of the things that I have always enjoyed is hearing people sing back. The church was a smaller church, so they didn’t have the fancy in-ear monitors and stuff. They were still doing old school with the big speakers on the stage so you could hear yourself. This allowed me to hear the crowd. (Now in saying that, I have never used in-ear monitors so