The Heart of the Gospel

A young boy is standing next to his Father staring at the cross.
boy: Why did he die on the cross?
Father: because He loves.

For God so loved the world that He gave his only son....

sometimes in the muck of it all we tend to forget that simple reality.
If we could have saved ourselves the cross wouldn't have been necessary.
Equally: If He didn't love, the cross wouldn't have been necessary.

I hate when someone says, "I am just a worthless sinner that has been saved by grace."

Tell me, could something that cost God so much really be worthless?

Miracles

We were super blessed recently to be able to attend a friend's ordination ceremony.

This one was very special because when we first met him about 5 years ago he was getting out of prison. At the time he had almost spent more years of his life in prison than out.
Of all the incredible miracles Father does on a daily basis the one that inspires me the most is a transformed, restored life.
This is a life truly transformed by God. No man can take credit for the transformation not even Richie himself.

A few years ago he and I sat on my back porch and prayed about his son who he had not seen in almost 4 years and his parents who he couldn't forgive. Just the thought of these relationships somehow being mended was way too big and much too painful to even talk about.

We met his parents at his ordination and his son comes to stay permanently with him this June. (over the past year he has been able to spend quite a bit of time with his son).
Praise you Abba that your goodness is beyond my compre-
hension.
Congratulations Richie!!

New Found Family

For the past few months we have been hanging with the folks at Extreme Faith Church. I thought the name was kinda hokie at 1st but once I got to know these beautiful people and hear their stories I understand just how extreme their faith really is. Check out Hb 11:36-40 for some scripture that deals with what I am saying.
Let me introduce you to some of the family.

What better place to start than with John or better knows as "Mr President" Politics is his subject but I think he got his nickname because he will always agree with anything you say. "yeah, I like that too."

This is Terry. He loves to talk about science. We are to take him to see Ironman on Saturday.

Meet Mike and Melony. Melony was burned at a young age. She just got two new legs about a week ago. She is an amazing person.

Wendy works with the kids on Sunday. Ernest loves to talk about colleges and fraternities. On Friday nights you can often find him sitting quietly listening to praise music.Mike loves to talk about Jesus forgiving him. It's great. Here's some more of the folks sitting out back. That is David in the blue. A couple of years ago he was beat up by a few teenagers for no apparent reason other than being homeless. Kimberly is the lady on the left in the gray dress. She recently moved out to live in Daytona. She comes back every now and then and we have gone over to visit her.
I set up a link to their website "Extreme" over on the right. You can check out more pics of the family as well as prayer requests and stuff.