Mid-days With Lauree

The way you hear this verse says a lot about how you view God. It's 1 John 4:18, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." That last sentence "The one who fears is not made perfect in love" is interpreted by many of us as a criticism to ourselves and others as we question if we are made in love due to the fear that we express. That criticism, nowadays, is defined as "legalism". Kind of an inner critic that if we listen to it too much, it can result in us projecting our pain onto God as if God is responsible for that view. We all know the voice of that inner critic: demanding, relentless, impossible to please. But the singular, true voice of God says All the work has been done, there's nothing left for us to satisfy. There's no earn left to acquire. We're free to relax in that love today. That's the gospel.

If you haven't gotten a piece of great news yet on this Monday, look no further!This past weekend was the HeartStrong Faith Women's Bible Conference and one of our awesome sponsors for the event was Pre-Born Ministries. If you have hung around KCBI for any amount of time, then you're probably familiar with that name. What Pre-Born does is put ultrasound machines in crisis pregnancy centers across the country. We love partnering with Pre-Born, but I heard a statistic this weekend that shocked me. Because of the work of Pre-Born and their ministry, 6,300 moms who went into these pregnancy centers ended up making the decision to accept Christ just in 2020 alone. As incredible as that statistic is, this is actually the good news I was referring to: Because of the generosity of the women that attended the HeartStrong Faith Women's Bible Conference this weekend, 1,000 babies lives will be saved through the ultrasound machines provided by Pre-Born! Thank you to everyone who attended this conference in-person or virt

There are 3 ancient guys with some funny sounding names who have a great lesson for us about what it looks like to trust.Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are pretty well known, but we want to share their story with you in case you're not familiar with them. They are characters in the Old Testament that can be found in chapter 3 of the book of Daniel. They were essentially commanded to worship an image of gold that was set up by King Nebuchadnezzar or were to be thrown in a blazing furnace if they refused, which they refused. When asked by the King if this was true, this is what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said:"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”Did you catch that phrase of trust? "But even if he does not"? Should he deliver them, awesome. If he doesn't deliver them,

Baby blankets can bring comfort, but so can coffee mugs.Random I know but I was thinking about those things that bring us comfort after a photo came up in my memories of an old coffee mug that has been to me in my adult years what a baby blanket is to a child. This polish pottery coffee mug was given to me a long time ago from a friend and since I was given it, I've moved 9 different times. I've moved across oceans, I've restarted my life, I moved in and out of people's homes and now I've moved into my own home! But no matter where I've been and how much transition I've experienced, this coffee mug has been with me in my purse. It's been an item of comfort in my life. I bet that equivalent to a baby blanket looks very different for all of us. What is that thing for you that brings you comfort?

It's always fun when we can have friends drop by and today that friend is Luke Smallbone but you may know him better as 1/2 of the FOR KING & COUNTRY. Today, Luke is celebrating the small joys in life that we may miss if we don't take time to stop and appreciate them. What are you celebrating today?

I don't like it when my kids mess up. None of us do. But should we as parents be judged for those mess up's?There will always be people that will judge us as parents if and when our kids mess up and that doesn't feel right. We do our best with our kids, but ultimately our kids are responsible for the choices they make. But the more I thought about it and came to the conclusion that it's unfair, why do we do it with God? Why do we make conclusions about God's character based on imperfect actions of his children?Lets be careful about drawing conclusions about who God is as a result of our experiences with broken individuals. People mess up, God doesn't.

You may have heard of these community drop-off libraries where people can pick up or leave a book, but what about a similar concept for dogs?That's the idea that 10-year-old Jerimiah Carter had as he began thinking of ways he could help his 4-legged friends in his home of Saskatchewan, Canada. But instead of books or household items, Jerimiah decided to make a stick library with the help of his dad, David. So as dad built the library, Jerimiah collected the sticks so now everyone in his community can head to the brand new stick library and play fetch with their dogs! I'm telling you, acts of kindness can come in all shapes and sizes. This one just happens to be in the shape of stick!

"A friend should treat a troubled person kindly, even if he abandons the fear of the almighty." This heavy statement comes straight from the mouth of Job and it's a statement that proves how crucial friendship is in hard situations.

So the beloved Chick-Fil-A is making some changes to their menu and are saying goodbye to a couple current items!Will you miss them?

With everything else we've just been through, it feels a little cruel to remind you tax season is almost here. But we come with some good news for you!

Whether it's a literal storm like the one we just faced or a storm that you're currently facing in your life, here are 5 things that you should absolutely do to help you weather the storm.1) Have courage. You are not alone, Jesus is with you. 2) Don't argue with the fear, just tell it where to go. (Go to Jesus)3) Take a risk in faith. Don't ask God to bless what you're doing, instead do what God is already blessing. 4) Stay focused on Jesus. When you're starting to sink, just like Peter did, keep you eyes on him instead of the storm.5) Don't doubt. That's easier said than done, but even a little bit of faith in Jesus is all you need to keep hanging on. *Bonus* Praise God. Even when you're sinking, even when you're scared you won't make it through, praise him and thank him the whole way through.

Our buddy Darren Mulligan, lead singer of We Are Messengers, dropped by the show today to take part in our Celebration Hour!What are you celebrating today?

Now being on the other side of the Texas Freeze, here a couple things we'll take away from the frigid week

Looking for ways to improve your odds of getting hired? Data shows that a certain day of the week may be your best shot at scoring your next employer.Research shows that Tuesdays are actually the best day to apply for a job! Tuesday is not only the best day out of the week for job seekers to apply for a job, but it's also the day most people are hired. A study by hiring platform SmartRecruiters looked at more than 270,000 job postings and found that Tuesday is the most popular day for companies to post jobs and although nearly 58 percent of jobs are posted from Monday through Wednesday, Tuesday is where most of the action happens. To increase your odds of getting that first interview, apply to a job within the first week that it's posted. According to data, 11 a.m. is the most popular time for companies to post new job listings during the week, while the majority of candidates apply for jobs around 2 p.m.Now get out there and apply away!

Do you have any skeptics in your life? Probably so, and maybe you're even one at times! Here is a message and a story of hope from a couple of skeptics that should have you encouraged today.

What do you do when life feels like it's coming apart at the seams? It's not a stretch to say that things have gone haywire over the last couple of years, but believe it or not, we're not the first people to go through crazy. King David experienced crazy. Just read Psalm 3.So whatever it may be that causing your stress to rise: job stuff, weather, covid, whatever it is that's caused your life to feel like it's falling to pieces doesn't define you. Who you are is secured forever in the tender, loving care of Jesus. Remember what Jesus said, "I am with you, always. Even to the end of the world."

Do you have any experience with debt collectors in real life? The job of a debt collector is someone who paid to collect a certain debt in anyway that is legally possible and when I look at a job like this, I know that the key to success is persistence. As unpleasant as this experience can be, I think there's still hope from the perspective of the debt collector that the debt will be paid. I believe a lot of us will spend, in some cases, years trying to collect an emotion debt that will never be paid. I believe many of us could be classified as emotional debt collectors as we seek emotional repayment from someone were mad at, someone who hurt us, someone we hold a grudge against. There is almost zero hope in search of collecting that debt. So we have to ask ourselves "Is there a better way?" We don't have all the answers, but from experience we can say sometimes it's just better to cut ties with that baggage you're carrying and allow yourself to move on.

Here's the truth: people fail, but God doesn't.I read the same headlines you do and it's disheartening to see people who we recognize fall and see their name be tarnished by their actions. Sometimes we lose that perspective that it's in our nature as humans to fail. There have been moments in our lives where we have been influenced by pastors and leaders and theologians, we've read their books, we've soaked up their ideology. They've helped come to know God more, but it doesn't mean they can't fail. They live in the same sinful, broken world that we do. We must be reminded of what it says in Genesis 4:7, "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Take heart: people are going to fail, but God never does.

Lauree found a reality show on TV that doesn't involve roses and she think's it breath of fresh air!

With Valentine's Day just a couple days away, we thought it'd be fun to share with you how we met our spouses and celebrate the love that God has given us through our marriages. Here is Producer Josh's story of how he met his wife, Meagan.