The 25th was our last Sunday on staff as the youth pastors at Faith Tabernacle, Thank You to every one who came to support us and to those who donated financially to your ministry we really cannot express enough how grateful we are that you would do such a thing. Tuesday night was our last youth night and we had a great turn out, it was quite the night of reminiscing about the funniest things and the most spiritual things that have happened in our youth group the 4 years that we were on staff. Tonight (Wednesday) was officially our last ministry night for these amazing students.
We are absolutely going to miss these young people and we are so excited to follow them and see where they end up and what they become. We fly out of San Francisco on September 26th and have a few stops/layovers along the way before we finally make it to Pemba on the 28th of September. We will arrive on the base in Pemba on the 29th and will be there until we board our plane to come home on December 28th. We have about a million things left to get in order before we leave in less than a month but things are coming together. I am really going to miss the Holidays here in the states with our family, we are however fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take part in the Christmas Celebration in Pemba this year, but I am going to miss Thanksgiving and all the fun fall decorations. It will also be strange coming home after Christmas and right before we welcome in the New Year. We are in the middle of the biggest transition our family has ever experienced, it is emotion and exciting all at the same time and I am so thankful that the Lord has beckoned us to such an amazing adventure. These last few weeks will be flying by and we will be headed out before we realize it. I cant believe its right around the corner. God help me I need your comfort and Grace.
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LOVE... what is love? What does love look like? love looks like stopping to help someone who is in distress, a simple compliment to someone, buying a strangers groceries at the supermarket. Continuing to give compassion and mercy to someone who never receives it. Not doing something for your gain but for the gain of the individual. I often ask myself, how much can I give one person how far does my love and giving go before I can no longer give to that one person? I end up with this answer, if I would sell all that I have and move to another country to give love and compassion to complete strangers then why wouldn't I do the same for someone I love and care about at home in the States?? I have been told by other people and most of these are what we would call "Christians" that sometimes you just need to have tough love. Please tell me where is it written in 1st Corinthians 13 that love is tough. What would we as humans look like if our father God decided one day after us running from him and abusing grace that he was going to have "tough love" I know that I would not be where I am today, it is easy to come to a father that had open arms of unconditional love towards his children and he SEES THE DARK SECRETS of a mans heart but still he is LOVE and we always have refuge in him. So we as Sons and Daughters ought to be a PURE REFLECTION of our Father. When will we get to the point that we look at people who are walking in a lifestyle that we "don't approve of" and still simply love them, and I mean REALLY love them.!!?? It is easy to say that you love a person but when you see that person or hear of that person and their trials and hardships you can easily see if this is true love - you will have one of two reactions #1 - This person will disgust you and you will be appalled by their lifestyle and the decisions they have made. You may even believe that this is a tough love, and you are simply letting this person get to their lowest point before you are available to "Help". They created this mess anyway now it is time for them to deal with it. #2- When you see this person you are so grieved by this situation because the compassion and love you have for them is so overwhelming, you would give anything you could to see that this individual is getting the help that they need, and you are daily trying to show them the Gold that is hidden beneath the dust and demonic influence in their life. We do not fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. What can we do as Gods children to show love to those around us, what about the addict on the corner, or the bum that stands on the intersection everyday, what about the one trapped in homosexuality?? How can we carriers of : JOY< PEACE< PATIENCE< KINDNESS< GOODNESS> FAITHFULNESS> GENTLENESS< SELF-CONTROL and most importantly LOVE radiate the character of our creator in a way that will change the face of our planet. If God is LOVE and we are made in HIS image we should strive everyday to let it ooze out of us. |
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