“Light the Night Walk” for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

You may not be familiar with this organization, but it is an important one helping to fight the blood cancers that people are stricken with. Known as the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, they hold the “Light the Night Walk”. This annual walk is an event to raise funds for cures. It’s the nation’s night to pay tribute and bring hope to thousands of patients and their families.

Funds that are raised through the “Light the Night Walk” support the work of hundreds of the world’s best and brightest researchers in their search for better therapies and cures for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

Three years ago I became involved in the Portland, OR Light the Night Walk. It was thrilling to see the thousands of people, touched in some way by the blood cancers, come together. This was my first event of this nature and was deeply touched by the number of people who were walking in honor or in memory of a family member or friend.

It hit home how serious these blood cancers are. I lost my mother to lymphoma in 1999, and have set out to help raise funds for this important cause. There are several ways to get involved with the Portland, OR walk (which will be October 3, 2008). You can make a donation to support my goal of raising $300. Donations can be made on line at my personal web site that I’ve created. All contributions are tax deductible, and transactions are through a secured web server. Or, you can join me the night of October 3, 2008 in downtown Portland at the World Trade Center as a volunteer to help with set-up or registration; then walk with “Team Dale” as thousands of others wind through the city. The walk is not long, and is easy.

Please visit my personal walk site at http://www.active.com/donate/ltnPortla/2366_dalershafer where you can find more information. Please give me a call if you have questions! Let’s find cures for these blood cancers!

Celebrate God’s Greatness!

By now if you’ve read any portion of my blog you know that I’m officially on the worship team at my church. I’m amazed at how God has given me “the joys of my heart” … I’ve heard from several church friends who have heard the news and they are excited for me! The encouragement has been great! Several of my church friends are also fellow worship teammates! Brad, Micah, Bob — I’m looking forward to joining you for a weekend of worship very soon. This will be so much fun!

God IS alive today folks, despite what we hear on the news, in the print media, and on the television. During the past several years I’ve seen God perform what I consider to be miracles! Maybe not the “turning water in to wine” type of miracle that we read about in the scriptures, but healing miracles where dear friends of mine have been healed from health problems! There are so many examples of how God is ALIVE today and working in our lives, even if we don’t acknowledge Him.

I’m seeing how God wants us to truly worship Him, trust Him and as a result will please Him! The book I am currently reading, True Faced, is showing me the difference in pleasing God and trusting God. We have good intentions to please God, but what He really wants from us, (and listen folks, it isn’t much so give it a try) is to trust Him! The road to good intentions isn’t going to get you to the place God wants you to be. I highly recommend reading this book to strengthen your faith and to give you that “spiritual boost”.

Just call me “Dr. Dale” I guess — I truly love to share how God has worked in my life and how He is working in it now.

Trusting God!
Dale

What’s Dale reading?

There are four books I have going right now. I know, you wonder how do you read four books and keep up with what each has to offer! It isn’t easy!

• The first one and perhaps the best I’ve read in a long time is True Faced – Trust God and Others With Who You Really Are. Written by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch. Published by NavPress. This little book, which is easy reading, but one you need to go back and read a second and even a third time. True Faced draws a clear distinction between two motives: our determination to please God or to trust God. The resulting difference from these two starting points could not be more profound.  The words will speak to you in a way you never realized!
• The other book I have just started is Strengths Finder 2.0. Written by Tom Rath. Published by Gallup Press. This book helps you uncover your talents, gifts and strengths. The first two chapters present an overview of how we find our strengths (gifts, talents, etc…) and how to apply our strengths in the workplace, at home, at church, in ministry, etc. The remaining sections in the book cover a wide variety of “strengths” that detail characteristics and give you a brief overview of each. From these chapters you begin to see what your strengths are. The book comes with a login and password to the web site where you can take the strengths survey and see first-hand your own personal strengths! Excellent and easy reading!
• Last fall when I spent a long weekend in Phoenix, AZ I took with me Become a Better You the second book by Joel Osteen. The book is published by Free Press. Pastor Joel Osteen gives the reader seven keys to improving our life every day. The author shows us throughout the book how God is preparing us for greater things, how He’s going to take us further than we ever thought possible. It’s a good book to take along on a cross-country flight, or just to have as your on-going reading! Highly recommended.
• Completely different than the other three books I’ve listed here, but fascinating reading, is a small paperback titled Be My Guest written by Conrad Hilton, founder of the Hilton Hotel chain. From a proprietor of a small hotel in a dusty Texas oil town to the world’s premier statesman of international hospitality, Conrad Hilton’s spectacular rise helped rewrite the boundless opportunity of the American Dream. Being a frequent traveler, I found the book fascinating. It’s given me a perspective of how the Hilton Hotel chain began. If you stay at any Hilton family property (Hilton, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Conrad, and Hampton Inn) you will find a copy of this book in the nightstands!

Dale

“Delight Yourself in the Lord…”

This quote is from Psalms 37:4...“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart”.

This has become my life scripture, and just recently I experienced how God was working in my life. Last year I left my church that I had known for a lifetime. God was working in my life and I was resisting. I was trying to “make a deal” with Him. It wasn’t working. God’s plan was for me to search for a new church, and I knew that I was home when I walked into Salem Alliance Church last year. Many months of struggling with which church to attend was very hard for me, and that’s why I resisted the change. The more I heard the sermons and music at Salem Alliance Church, I knew this was where God wanted me.

In January I took a bold step and joined one of the many shepherding groups at Salem Alliance. This gave me a new perspective and made the church (which is BIG) feel small. The Legacy shepherding group welcomed me and I knew this is where God wanted me. I have felt a part of this loving and supportive group over the past several months, and have grown in my walk with God.

This month I was invited to audition for the worship team at Salem Alliance. I was nervous, scared and afraid I wouldn’t be good enough for this ministry. There were a lot of prayers that went up to God about this audition, and if it was indeed the “ministry place” for me. The audition on June 7 went well, despite the keyboard cutting out in the middle of one song! Approximately one week later I received an email, with the subject line reading “Congratulations…” I was now a part of the worship team ministry! I am waiting to see where I will be on the schedule for July and August!

I have to give God all the praise for giving me the patience to “Wait Upon the Lord” as to where I should serve in ministry. There is a song that is sung at Salem Alliance Church titled “Strength Will Rise When We Wait Upon the Lord”, and I sing this in my heart!

When I saw the email in my inbox, I was nearly shouting with excitement — shouting to God with a huge “THANK YOU”! I made some phone calls to share my good news and how God had worked in my life to get to this point. I tie this back to my life scripture found in Psalm 37:4. Once we take delight in Him, spend time in the scriptures and prayer, and worship, He will give us the JOYS of our heart! It is SO exciting to see this scripture literally come alive right before my eyes!

Dale

Back to the real world!

Yes folks, I had to come back to the real world in Salem, OR! The trip to Scottsdale was fun, even with record high heat! The weather felt “cool” compared to Arizona! This weekend it is suppose to be close to 100 degrees in Salem! I guess I’m well prepared for it!

Dale

Welcome to my Blog

Greetings friends, family and those of you who found my new blog! I’m so excited about having this form of communication available, instantly from anywhere in the world, to share snippets of my life as I travel, play, work, and have fun!

As my life takes place each day I will add something new, maybe a photo, a scripture, a thought, something just for fun, etc…check back often and see what I’ve written.

One thing I would like to share with you is my life scripture. It is Psalm 37:4. Take a look at it and see what the author of the Psalms has to say! It has been evident in my life recently!

Dale