ENCOURAGE - EQUIP - EMPOWER
IT STARTS HERE.
Matthew 22:36-40 tells us: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Who am I? Do I matter? Where do I belong?
Over the summer, our Jennersville pastors Doug Walker (student ministry) and Johnny Johnston (campus pastor) taught on these questions adolescents strive to answer before entering their adulthood. As they popped up on the screen, I thought, “as an adult, I still ask these questions!” In my twenties I struggled with depression, mostly because my answer to these questions were:
My husband and I celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary later this month. This Brad Paisley song with the words “I thought I loved you then” has been our theme song for many years. (It was not the song we danced to at our wedding…we eloped…a fact he has not lived down in 35 years!) Young love is wonderful and exciting, but “old” love is even richer and has so much more depth.
The effort started out simply enough.
I set out to pen a note to my sweet mister on the occasion of our 20 years of life together. Over two decades, we’ve exchanged countless expressions of affection and appreciation for one another. But as the 20-year mark approached, I was looking for a fresh way to let him know how grateful I am to walk this life with him.
This past year, we studied the book of John in Bible study. In chapter 15, Jesus uses the analogy of a garden and gardener to reveal to us how we are to live. God is the gardener, Jesus is the vine and we are branches and are to remain close to the vine in order to bear fruit and have life. We are also told that the branches are pruned in order to produce more fruit. In this story, Jesus reveals to us his command for us, his followers. Not once, but twice. In verse 12 he states, "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." And then again in verse 17 he says, "This is my command: Love each other." Sounds simple enough, right?
After hearing me speak at the Christmas Tea this last year, a woman walked up to me and asked, “Will you be my new best friend?” While others might have recoiled at this bold question, the woman had totally endeared herself to me, and I wanted to reply, “Sure I will!” I am a serial friender, an instant connector. Now, you may not be wired like me, but the truth still stands: friends are essential, even if you’re intimidated by the thought of having to make new ones.
Do you find that God uses just about anything to teach you something He wants you to know? That happened to me this week when I was reading an article about, of all things, Poland.
I was reading a rather alarming article in the news the other day. Poland recently passed a law saying that it is a crime to accuse that country of any involvement in the Holocaust.
