I love Jesus!  I love what happened to us when He came.  I love that He interrupted the old way of existing and the old way of relating to God.

I love the fact that Jesus reconciled us to God, uniting God and man in His own body and being.  And I love that we live in Him, we move in Him, and we have our very being in Him.

We are all wrapped up, hidden In Him, like slipping a dollar bill into a book.  Whatever happens to the book also happens to the dollar.  Set the book next to God, and the dollar is next to God. We are always together.  We are secure, full of life, righteous and holy.

Before I turned to Jesus, I did a lot of selfish things, even wicked things, some harmful to others. Yet the whole time I was precious, valuable and loved by God. I didn’t know who I was. I did not know God or anything at all about abundant life. I was lost. I was blind. So rather than condemn me, torment me, or punish me, God simply opened my eyes. He gave me an eyesight that would begin to heal my heart. God is not about retribution, He is about redemption and restoration. 

Jesus came to seek and save what was lost. 

Mankind had lost its way, lost its vision, its identity, and its purpose of love. Jesus brings us home.

Are we underestimating God?  To me, the obvious answer is yes.  I strongly suspect that God is bigger and better than we can imagine.  Have you thought of that?  Have you ever asked God how good He is, or how much He truly loves you?

Whenever I do that, I come away more amazed.  I feel my heart opening to receive more of His goodness.  I get a deeper sense that all is well with my soul.

I remember being in the sixth grade, walking toward the door of my classroom.  Once inside, I made my way across the room to my seat, which was in the row farthest from the door.  The room was full of kids, some standing, some seated as class would be starting soon.  All was normal and well.  Then I looked down and noticed that I was wearing nothing but my underwear.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son...” ~John 3:16

God loved before He gave.  God did not start loving us after He gave His Son, and He certainly didn't start loving us after we believed it.  God was always loving the people of this world.  That's why the Lamb of God was slain before the foundation of the world.

The cross of Jesus did not change the Father's mind about us.  He loved us.  The Father didn't need a new nature.  He did not need to become nicer, more patient, more merciful, or gracious.  In other words, He didn't need to get saved.

Before God formed you in the womb, He knew you.  You came from the Father, and you were wonderfully made.  You were loved, lovely, and precious, a shining life in this world.

Later, maybe you forgot who you were.  Maybe, there were words or experiences that made you feel flawed, like something was inherently wrong with you.  You might have felt inferior to others at times.  You felt shame, and it was painful.

This is a common tale, and people will often begin to behave from that sense of insufficiency, failure, or weakness. 

Most of us know the biblical story of the demon-possessed man of Gadara.  This man was in horrible shape!  It was so bad that I don't think I know anyone who relates to him.  They might relate to to the adulterer, or the thief, or the presumption and weakness of Peter, but I've not heard anyone say that they relate to this Gadarene.

Here we are, and 2025 is in full swing.  This is our first newsletter of the year, and we are grateful for so much.

First, we are grateful that we get to live in another calendar year.  We’re thankful that God continues and will always be the source of Life for us.  I often say to the Lord, “Thank you for giving and supplying life to me.”  Anything good that comes from our ministry is according to the grace that He supplies.

Jesus was the expression of God come to earth. Heaven’s voice if you will. He brought a sound that was contrary to the world He came into. He was full of grace and heavenly truth. He brought the sound, not of a vengeful judge, but of a loving Father. The sound of Jesus broke dividing walls and revealed the equality of all people in God’s sight.

"Truly He taught us to love one another. His law is love, and His gospel is peace." -  O Holy Night

One of the most beautiful and emotional Christmas songs is "O Holy Night" by Placide Cappeau.  I love the lyrics that speak of Jesus saving us from our error and revealing our soul's worth.  I love the thrill of hope, and the announcement of a new and glorious morning for the world.

It seems that this song is loved by everyone I know, but I can't help but wonder, if this song were written in modern times, by the kind of people that were involved originally, would all of us embrace the song so generously? 

I can look back on my life and I can see where Thanksgiving began to be a lifestyle for me. It happened because I began to see in a big way all of the goodness and blessing that was upon my life. I didn’t always see this. In fact, I felt like a good portion of my life was about trying to become blessed. It seemed I was chasing blessings, often ending up frustrated. 

The proverbial log in the eye and the splinter in the eye that Jesus spoke about is a very good lesson for humanity. Especially in our day of binary thinking. We’re always RIGHT and “they” are always WRONG. 

"The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding." - Isaiah 11:2

Today is the day after our presidential election. I am seeing a full spectrum of reactions to the outcome. We have friends that are extremely emotionally invested, and others that are less emotional about it.  Also, we are blessed that we have good friends on all sides. We have some that strongly support the candidate on the right, and others that strongly support the left.

"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies..." - Psalm 23:5

When we read this passage in Psalm 23, we think of being under siege or under attack by someone or something that is set out to harm us in some way.  This is certainly a valid way of looking at it, I've often used it to encourage myself and to find peace in hard situations.

I used to think that my relationship with God began with a realization that I am a detestable, wicked flesh creature, and that I was deserving of the worst things imaginable.  I was so detestable that even God, who was Love Himself, could not love me.

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; (Luke 19:9, NKJV)

In Luke 19 we read a story of a lost sheep being found by the Shepherd. The sheep’s name was Zacchaeus. This lost sheep was cut off from the church, from his countrymen, and from his own identity. In his lost state, he was considered unrighteous, a traitor and a crook.

God is always with us. He does not come and go in our lives. He never leaves us. He never forsakes us. He is with us always. Therefore, we don’t need a visitation from God. We don’t have to invite Him into our situation. We don’t have to make a journey into His presence. If we know this truth, we don’t even have to seek the Lord because we have an awareness that He is with us always.

Each of us have experienced some sort of trauma during our lifetime, whether it was from something seemingly small or something extremely disturbing. Living in this fallen world makes a mark on us. The experience of trauma causes us to disconnect from ourselves and from God. Shame creeps in and we begin to shape-shift ourselves in order to get the safety, the belonging, the approval we so desperately require as human beings.

We live in a culture where it seems that the goal is to get us “fixed” in some way. Even in our Christian culture, the majority of ministry is about getting healed, getting blessed financially, getting relationships to work, praying for situations to go our way and hopefully to avoid as much discomfort as we can.

All of creation began out of the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three were one. They weren’t divided. There was no bad guy, only a divine connection.

When God made man, he was included in that connection. We were in God’s plan for creation. We were to be blessed and have dominion, an integral part of this divine connection.