It's the journey ... not the destination. ... The journey ... my eyes were opened and I knew Him and my heart was changed. ...
Won't you join me in my travels, meandering here and there, journeying within my mind and beyond, on paths great and small, through this world that was created by and belongs to the Lord God Almighty.
Richard Cook, husband of my cousin Katy, wrote a historical screen play he has titled "Forgiveness." It is a documentary that takes place during World War II in Oak Ridge, Tenn. A place that wasn't, became.
I have visited here a few times. My cousins, Katy, her older sister, and two older brothers, grew up here. Katy, with her husband, and her mother, still do.
Today I have combined entries from my first blog, IN...SIGHT," with my current blog. Dates are from August 2005 to August 2008. This will hopefully make it easier to search.
A blessing is placed on an individual and remains until it is changed into a curse. -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The first blessing occurs after God created man and woman. "The God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:28)
The first curse occurs after the serpent intervened in the way of God and Eve and Adam listened and reacted, choosing their own desires over God's preferred way.
God cursed the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." (Genesis 3:14-15)
God cursed the woman: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you." (Genesis 3:16)
God cursed the man: "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying You shall not eat of it: Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you And you shall eat the herb of the field In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:17-19)
This curse affected all of mankind from that day forward and continues to be so.
God asks, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?" (Genesis 4:6)
"If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." (Genesis 4:7)
"Where is ... your brother? What have you done?" (Genesis 4:9-10)
We follow our own personal thoughts, we listen only to our needs and desires. We do not seek guidance from the Lord God. We seek any and every means of personal gratification. The Lord punishes us and we are filled with remorse and fear .. for a moment. The Lord is merciful. He seeks our fellowship all along the path of life we lead. We are grateful ... for a moment. We return to ways of before. The days of darkness and evil escalate. God responds. He is grieved. Some find grace in the eyes of the Lord Almighty. Some walk with God. Violence does not falter, but continues. Death and destruction are imminent. It will come. The end is near. God is. He is who and what and when and where. His response. His answer. It is near. It will come.
What should be our response?
"Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:6-7)
"for with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light." (Psalm 36:9)
The first light, to separate the darkness, the formless deep, was formed / created by God. It is in light, through light, that we as created beings are enabled to see and also understand.
Light -- the light comes from the sun, the moon, the stars, ...
"Then God said, Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day." (Genesis 1:3-5)
"Then God said, Let there be light in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth; and it was so." (Genesis 1:14-15)
"Then God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day." (Genesis 1:16-19)
... and from Jesus. The Light IS Jesus.
"...Let us walk in the light of the Lord." (Isaiah 2:5)
"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." (Ephesians 5:8)
God and Spirit.
Two-thirds of the Trinity were an awareness to those who lived during Old Testament days.
The foretelling of Jesus was present, but when He came to earth as a human baby, when He grew to manhood and proceeded to do the works of His Father, the awareness of what was to be stopped. Unbelief, refusal to believe was the standard.
"Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will rise over you; And His glory will be seen upon you." (Isaiah 60:1-2)
Jesus came. He is the light that overcomes the darkness/the evilness that penetrates our very being. He came to his own, but they received him not. The peoples of Israel / Jerusalem were to be instrumental - they were a city on a hill.
"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16)
Yes, the peoples of Israel were to be instrumental in leading others to God the Father through Jesus Christ, His Son. But their light was hidden, their light did not shine to glorify God, but was tarnished.
"The Gentiles shall come to your light," (Isaiah 60:3)
The light / the revelation of Jesus, the message of the gospel was given to the Gentiles - you and me. And as Christ'as followers, we become, individually and collectively, the light of the world - we show others the way to Christ.
"... the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness ... He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." (1 John 2:8b-11)
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." (John 1:1-5)
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
Before Jesus began his earthly ministry, John the Baptizer was chosen / sent by God to be a witness for Jesus Christ, the true light, "that all through him might believe." (John 1:7)
John preached repentance - a turning away from the sins of the flesh ("adultery, fornication, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like" - Galatians 5:19-21) to a changed life ("love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" - Galatians 5:22-23).
Jesus, the true light, was baptized by John, the foreteller of He who is and was and is to come. Baptizing by water became a symbol, a witness of this changed life. Prophecy was fulfilled with Jesus' baptism by water.
"And John bore witness, saying I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him." (John 1:32)
"Then Jesus, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice from heaven, saying (audibly, for all to hear), This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:16-17)
"For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:34-36)
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (John 3:16-17)
"... the light has come into the world..." (John 3:19a)
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Added Jan. 28.
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Light creates form. In total darkness there is no form.
Like us, God's created beings, until we "know" God on an intimate level, we are in darkness. The light (that separates the darkness) is Jesus. He came. He suffered. He died. He was resurrected.
"He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." (John 1:10-11)
We, the world, did not recognize / do not recognize Jesus as The Christ, "The Light," thus they were and we are in darkness. When we believe, accept Jesus as the light that saves us from the darkness of hell and damnation, we are re-born and truly alive.
"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God ... who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13)
("More About Jesus," by John Starnes, with subtitles in Portuguese)
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Added Jan. 30.
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"In Your light we see light." (Psalm 36:9b)
It's interesting how what we read one day says something to us and then just a few days later, there is more said on the same subject. God speaks and if we are in tune with Him, we hear, we see, our blindness is stripped away and we are in awe of what we have found.
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10)
"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined." (Isaiah 9:2a)
"I will bring the blind (those who do not acknowledge, understand, follow the True God) by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known, I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them. And not forsake them. They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, who trust in carved images, who say to the molded images, 'You are our gods.' " (Isaiah 42:16-17)
"I will deliver you ... to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me." (Acts 26:17-18)
"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (II Corinthians 4:6)
The tree
a glimmer
hope radiates
each branch
each strand
each needle
to another
a highlight
a memory
long ago
forgotten
dreams ...
The tree
like a prism
bright
in
noon day sun
do you see?
the colors
playing
the golds
and reds
and turquoise blues
and greens
Silvery blue
like wide open spaces
sky
with storm
looming
and
cool swift water
lazily
flowing
over rocks
and stones
Bright green
like fresh grass
and flowers
budding,
bursting forth
in
springtime
beauty
gold
the fabric of life
born and reborn
and born
again
The richness
of God's grace
springs
eternal
red
embers glowing
stop.
Be mindful
Reflect
Listen
to your heart
The wheel
round and round
spinning
specks
of light
travel
up and up
to the top
and down
again
Warmth
and
coldness
together
apart
"To Everything
there is
a
season
a
time
for
every
purpose
under heaven."
(Ecclesiastes 3:1)
The seasons
continue
begin
and stop
again and again
"That which is
has already
been,
and
what is to be
has already been. ...
that which
has been
is
what will be
That which is
done
is what will be
done."
(Ecclesiastes 3:15, 1:9)
One season
to
another
We live
We die
We live again
The tree
Is it lifeless
Is there no beauty
Is there meaning
or has it been lost
Is there peace
"A man's heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps."
(Proverbs 16:9)
"Without counsel, plans go awry,..." (Proverbs 15:22)
A study I started a couple of years ago I am to return to. It was a study on stones. Biblical stones. I have been waiting, waiting for a sign, I guess, on where to go with it. One sign came last Sunday. The church bulletin said, "The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone." (John 8:7)
Tuesday I was looking on YouTube.com and came across the music video, "Agent of Grace," a compilation of the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The music title: "Broken Road: 12 Stones."
Thursday I was reading in Proverbs, coming across this verse: "A present is a precious stone in the eyes of its possessor;" (Proverbs 17:8)
Today I thought of the words "step by step He leads me." I found the song, "Oh God, You Are My God (Step by Step)", presented live by Michael W. Smith.
We want to have a vision of the whole of our life, not just bits and pieces, and then pursue that vision based on our personal thought. The trouble is our vision is not always in line with God - our path goes crooked, we are unsure where to go next, what the next step would be.
If we follow the Lord and let our vision be directed by Him, we will discover what the next step is ... for He will tell us, in His time. We must be patient. We will accomplish so much more when our steps are entwined with His and He's doing the leading. He guides us step-by-step, and He will show us the way IF we are abiding with Him, in Him. IF we are listening intently for His voice, we will know what the next step is. And His way will become our way.
As I side note, I found a Messianic ballet/interpretive dance of "Oh God You Are My God." Go here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3DcBovotT4 for an experience not soon to forget.
The glory of God .... "Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I've been listening to Christian music in German of late and tonight I found "By Gracious Powers So Wonderfully Sheltered." The video below is sung by the Laki Pop Choir, but the words are by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His poem, "By Gracious Powers" follows the video.
By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
And confidently waiting come what may,
we know that God is with us night and morning,
and never fails to greet us each new day.
Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented,
Still evil days bring burdens hard to bear;
Oh, give our frightened souls the sure salvation
for which, O Lord, You taught us to prepare.
And when this cup You give is filled to brimming
With bitter suffering, hard to understand,
we take it thankfully and without trembling,
out of so good and so beloved a hand.
Yet when again in this same world You give us
The joy we had, the brightness of Your Sun,
we shall remember all the days we lived through,
and our whole life shall then be Yours alone.
I find rest
from the days' struggles
Through Him
in music
soothing to my soul
in worship
in prayer
in fellowship
I rejoice and thank Him and praise Him
in that it is my soul
as much as yours
He came to save
Through His Son
Through Jesus,
The Christ, The Messiah.
But still,
I do not understand
why You,
IF you really believe in God
and of God
Why would you not believe
Jesus and God are one?
God created.
Period.
God gives life
And He takes it away.
Period.
The miracle of birth
is because of God.
God created.
The stars, the planets,
the mountains and valleys,
all that is and was
and is to come --
God created.
He is more,
above and beyond more.
God created.
This is His world,
His creation.
How dare we put God
underneath us?
How dare we claim
to know more ...
oh we know so much ...
what we believe we think is true.
How dare we?!
Before us
There was no us.
God created.
Before the earth was formed,
There was no earth.
God created.
God is
Today
Tomorrow
Yesterday
God spoke
To prophets
and apostles
Men and women
And speaks still
To you and me.
He is
He was
He always has been
He continues
He came.
God can do
and be all,
at anytime.
God created.
He planted His seed
In Mary, the young girl
engaged to wed Joseph
And Mary gave birth
It was prophesied
Isaiah foretold
what the Lord would do
who the child would be
"for unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
(Isaiah 9:6)
God created.
He is.
Jesus is.
It is enough.
Cathy Orrick Luders
1.10.2011
"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)
"...you believe in God, believe also in Me." (John 14:1)
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (John 3:16-17)
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing." (John 15:1-2, 5)
I always come away stimulated after devotional readings by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. One reading he had talked about a song by Paul Gerhardt that had special meaning to him. He listed the title, "Beside your cradle here I stand." But I struggled to find that exact title on the Internet. In fact I found variations of it, and it appears the actual title might be "Before Thy Manger, Lord, I Stand." There are several verses; here is one, translated:
"Beside Thy cradle here I stand,
O though that ever livest
And bring Thee with a willing hand
The very gifts Thou givest.
Accept me; 'tis my mind and heart,
My soul, my strength, my every part,
That thou from me requirest."
Paul Gerhardt was a well-known German Lutheran hymn writer and poet, second only to Martin Luther. He was born in 1607, apparently orphaned as a teenager by the end of the Thirty Years War, and died in 1676. He had authored 132 poems/hymns, with the majority of them published from 1649 on. Much information was gleaned from "Paul Gerhardt as a hymn writer and his influence on English hymnody” by Theodore Brown Hewitt, www.ccel.org/ccel/hewitt/gerhardt.toc.html
I came across a PDF file, "Heirs of the Reformation: Treasures of the Singing Church," and found the hymn, "Evening and Morning," which was written by Gerhardt in 1666. It was originally titled "Morning Blessing" and contained 12 verses in German. The verses most common are the ones written below, stanzas/verses 4 and 9.
Evening and morning, sunset and dawning,
Wealth, peace and gladness, comfort in sadness,
These are Thy works; all the glory be Thine!
Times without number, awake or in slumber,
Thine eye observes us, from danger preserves us,
Causing Thy mercy upon us to shine.
Father, O hear me, pardon and spare me;
Calm all my terrors, blot out my errors,
That by Thine eyes they may no more be scanned.
Order my goings, direct all my doings;
As it may please Thee retain or release me;
All I commit to Thy fatherly hand.
You don't see this poetic language as much today.
On YouTube.com I came across another of Gerhardt's hymns, "Befiehl du deine Wege." Of course it is in German - I don't know what it means in English. The information with the video indicates the text is based on Psalm 37:5. Every strophe begins with one word of this one verse. The whole song is a comforting one and spiritually edifying. "Command your way and what's hurting your heart to the most faithful care of the one, who governs the heaven" is the beginning of the first strophe. In all your sorrows the Lord stands beside you and leads you.
It is beautiful music, truly comforting and uplifting, praising our Lord. May you be blessed.
“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
God gives. He created. “And it was so” … “And it was good.” (from Genesis 1)
A time for every purpose set forth by the Lord God Almighty.
That time is our lives … lived for (or against) God.
God’s choice is for us to live for Him. But it is also His choice for us to have free will. So it is up to us, each individually, what our lives will really be.
When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, our road of life takes a turn to live for Him instead of seeking out personal delights.
Through all our travels the Lord is with us. In every step we take the Lord is there. He provides everything we need. We have become free from all that formerly enslaved us – our selfish desires.
We are in Christ. We lift up our burdens to Him; we lay them down at His feet.
“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.”
Jesus will come again. A season.
“the fullness of the times”
The culmination
All things in Christ He might gather together in one
In heaven
And on earth
In Him. Him alone.
“That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth _ in Him.” (Ephesians 1:10)
In Galatians 1, the Apostle Paul says to the peoples of the Galatia church ... 6 "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ... 7 (that) there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ ... 9 if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received (through revelation of Jesus Christ), let him be accursed (eternally condemned).10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
What is gained when we turn away from the gospel of Jesus Christ? What have we achieved when God's message is watered down with untruths? How can you say you are a servant of the Lord Jesus when you do not follow Him, His ways?
Seek what is pleasing may be your motto. But who is it pleasing? Who do you follow?
Jesus himself has said, "if you have faith as (small as) a mustard seed, ... nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20)
But when you allow your faith to be swallowed up by others who purpose in their minds, a better way, you are not living the life Christ called you to.
Being a Christian means we are saved solely by faith in the Lord Jesus, believing and accepting His birth, death and resurrection. The Christian walk is in making the Lord the center, the pivot point in our life, and living our lives in obedience to Him, in fellowship with Him.
We are not saved by what we do (our works), or by what we experience (our emotions) or by what we know (head knowledge).
When we remain silent over so-called truths that are wrongly being promoted as God's Truth we cause great injury to others -- to lost people who may never come to Christ, to new believers who may spiritually stumble because of confusion, and even to our fellow Christian brothers and sisters.
God's Truth, His Word, is the only truth that matters. We cannot let our fears prevent us from confronting another in the errors of their ways, however, it must be done lovingly. Being a Christian means we need to stand firm in God's Truth.
We have begun a new year. It is 2011.
New resolutions. New goals. And dreams.
Are they the same? I think not. Resolutions are usually made at the beginning of a new year. Sometimes they are not too well thought out. Sometimes, though, the goals we make are our resolutions and sometimes our dreams become a goal which becomes a resolution. Sometimes.
One can resolve to lose weight, to exercise more, to study the Bible more.
One can resolve to listen more closely to what the Lord says to us, to be open to opportunities to do what the Lord may be telling us to do.
One can resolve to write that book we’ve put off for far too long. One can resolve to get started, to put pen to paper and state our thoughts and feelings and dreams and Bible study insights. One can resolve to be a better listener, to keep our focus on Jesus Christ and not on our own personal vendettas. One can resolve to write more letters, send more cards, bake more cookies, share more meals, and share the Gospel with all, not just a select few with which we feel at ease.
Sometimes resolutions are kind of like wishful or hopeful thinking that may never be accomplished.
Just like our prayers, we must be specific, to the point. God may know what you mean, because He knows your heart, but it is His discretion on how He will answer.
A goal I might say I have is to write a book. It is a dream as well. To actually do that, accomplish that, I must know what type of book. I must write, not when the mood strikes me, but every day. I must study God’s word and listen, with my heart and soul and mind. I must actively pursue and not be wishy-washy about any of it.
There may be many good routes to take and God may bless any of them, but to do them well, it must be one at a time, not several at once.
Now, this would be a resolution for me -- To write specifically toward one goal, one study to finish before moving on to another; To determine if prose/poetry written is to result in a published book and to follow through if determination warrants it.
Resolutions should not be made instantaneously, but thoughtfully considered.
Perhaps this is the year you resolve to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
“For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the Lord; … ” (Proverbs 8:35)
Perhaps this is the year you resolve to be generous, a cheerful giver ….
“But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” (II Corinthians 9:6-7)
Giving is not determined by the size of our pocketbooks. It is not just about money. It is not about obligations. We should not feel obligated to do something, to give, not even to the Lord. All giving should be about love. If you love the Lord you will abide with Him and He with you, and you will give of your abundance; you will give and give, and your gifts will be cheerful and generous because they are given in love.
Perhaps this is the year you resolve to establish God as your center and let your life move around Him, instead of around you and your whims.
To refocus, re-energize, reorganize, regroup, remember.
Listen to the following song, “My Heart Your Home,” with words and music written by Nathan and Christy Nockels, 1997.
Perhaps this is the year you resolve to be at peace ....
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)
Perhaps this is the year you resolve to believe His promises, to accept His love, to follow wherever He leads, to obey His teachings, to be One with Him.
To learn more about accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, click here or for an interactive flash presentation of the Gospel: www.thekristo.com
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will direct your paths." - Proverbs 3:5-6
