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Living a Legacy

Friday, July 1st 2011 · 1 COMMENT

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of officiating a wedding ceremony. The best way I know to explain the whole experience is to say that this couple “got it right.” They dated for six years, and from the very start they entered the relationship assuming that dating was the pathway to their marriage. This spiritually mature young couple made sure they didn’t handle precious things casually. Every decision carried significant long term implications.

Through the course of their premarital counseling we took an inventory through their family tree and discovered they possessed something amazing. Looking back three generations, their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents had never been divorced. They were living a legacy of marital fidelity, and this certainly led to the serious way they had treated their own relationship.

Every day we have the opportunity to handle precious opportunities, treasured relationships, and eternal stewardships seriously or casually too. It is my prayer that everyone associated with this Ministry would look at each moment as a gift from God – one whose value should be weighed on eternal scales.

When we handle things wisely, we are able to multiply spiritual blessings. We are able to ignore the quick pay-off for the long term benefits. We hold fast to relationships, careful not to devalue people God has placed in our lives. We are better, and we treat things and people better.

At the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding something incredible happened. I had the blessed opportunity to hear the grandparents pray for this young couple. Each of their prayers shared a similar theme: “Keep God first in everything.” Prayers that knew how much that young couple needed

God and the experience to know that He has all they need to make it through their life together.

As the night continued, we counted over 250 years of faithful marriage around those tables that served as examples to us all. Rather than hold onto that night just for me, I want to encourage you by echoing their prayer to you. Dear friend, the stakes are higher than we imagine. There are no small decisions when we consider legacy. Thanks for the way you continue to make life change possible for the people we serve, and: “Keep God first in everything.”

True Love

Tuesday, March 1st 2011 · 0 COMMENTS

When we see the perfect example of God’s love in Jesus, we can begin to get a grasp of what true love really is. True love sacrifices for another, it chooses to lose in the short run so blessings can be shared in the long run, it pursues the best for another, and when wronged love even forgives.

Forgiving love is hard to imagine in our society. When business deals can no longer be trusted to a handshake and when marriages can so easily be thrown away like the daily trash we can get a tainted view love. As a Christian, I am not bound to a natural life. I have been raised up by the supernatural work of Jesus, and by His power I can overcome. Paul talked plainly about this in Colossians.

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. …Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:1-2, 13-14)

I am glad that I am not bound to live this life tossed by every situation. Because I have been purchased by God’s forgiving love, I can forgive others in love. I can walk above this world’s circumstances – far above. I must leave my disappointments to God and let the Spirit of God minister peace inside of me.

I can forgive because I can love; and I can love because I have been forgiven. Let’s thank God for His mighty love and forgiveness, and let’s change our community with the love and forgiveness He so freely gave!