Notes of Faith August 20, 2022

Notes of Faith August 20, 2022

Loving Those Who Hate

Are there things you want to tell God in your prayers but don't have the words to say? 100 Days of Prayer is a unique journaling book, with devotions and sample prayers to Jesus, written as letters, with room for you to write your own. These prayers are honest and speak straight to the heart, reminding you that you can always call on Jesus.

Dear Jesus,

Sometimes it’s really hard to love people, particularly when You ask me to love those who hate You and do evil things. Please show me. How can I hate evil and still love the haters?

Isn’t that what Paul did when he was in prison? In the worst of circumstances, he hated evil but continued to love. And You did the same, Jesus. When You were beaten, mocked, and crucified, You asked God to forgive Your enemies because they didn’t know what they were doing. That is pure love.

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Jesus, You are always in my heart, guiding me and leading me to be more like You. And for that reason, I have to pray for those who hate You and do evil things. I don’t love what they do, Lord — but I want them to know You, so I pray for them. I love them enough to ask that You will save them. Please, Lord Jesus, come into their hearts. Open their eyes to see You. They need You so much.

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

— Matthew 5:43–44

When Jesus was on the cross, He prayed for His enemies and asked God to forgive them. Can you love someone who hates the Lord or who willingly inflicts suffering? Love doesn’t mean that you accept acts of hatred and evil, but love requires that you pray for those most in need of salvation. Remember them when you pray.

Excerpted with permission from 100 Days of Prayer, copyright Zondervan.

Though this is one of the hardest things to do, it proves spiritual maturity, becoming like Jesus . . . isn’t that what you truly seek?

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 19, 2022

Notes of Faith August 19, 2022

Jehovah Elohim: Creator God of Everything We See

Rabbi Jason

Being around creative people lights my fire. Painters, actors, singers, and musicians, to name a few, use their gifts to reach deeply into our emotions, touching those hidden spots within our souls, causing us to cry, laugh, and remember. They inspire me. They encourage the world.

As a small child, renowned composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein wasn’t interested in music until his aunt gave her piano to his family. When Leonard sat down at the keys, things just clicked. With a natural ear for music, he could hear a song on the radio and immediately recite the tune on the piano. It was a rare gift.

Leonard Bernstein was a creator. He wrote several musicals, including his most famous West Side Story (1957), and he conducted world-famous symphonies for which he won countless awards and accolades. But nothing he created compared to the works of God.1

There are two primary names for God in the Creation account. The first is Elohim. “In the beginning [Elohim] created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). In Jewish thought, Elohim is associated with God as the Creator who providentially cares for His creation. As the Maker and Master of the universe, Elohim is revealed in and through nature. “The heavens declare the glory of God [El, which is the singular form of Elohim],” wrote the psalmist, “and the sky shows His handiwork” (Psalm 19:2). He is the all-powerful God who exercises complete authority over all creation.

Elohim is also associated with God’s attribute of strict justice, or middat hadin in Hebrew. Elohim is both the First Cause of Creation and the Supreme Judge and Ruler of the universe. Initially God wanted to create the world according to strict justice but knew the world wouldn’t be able to endure it. The divine attribute of strict justice, middat hadin, is connected to God holding the world accountable and judging people according to His general revelation in creation and special revelation in Scripture. For this reason, Elohim is the name of God used in the account of the giving of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). Judgment is the natural result when God withdraws His grace and kindness and allows people to reap what they sow. When God’s divine quality of strict justice deals with a person or nation, measure for measure, that person experiences the expected consequences for their actions apart from God’s attribute of mercy.

The heavens declare the glory of God

The Powerful Name of God

The Hebrew word for “name” most often means “sign” or “distinctive mark.” It’s the idea that a person’s name carries with it the nature of the person, describing their essential character. For example, “‘Noah’ means ‘one who brings relief and comfort’ (Genesis 5:29); ‘Jesus’ means ‘savior’ (Matthew 1:21).”2

Elohim derives from the Hebrew word El, which can mean “power” or “might.” For example, we find its use in Genesis 31:29 when Laban confronted Jacob, saying, “It is in the power [b’el] of my hand to do evil with you.” Elohim describes God as an all-powerful Omnipotent One who has absolute power and control over everything. This thought is underscored because, in the alphanumeric nature of the Hebrew alphabet, both Elohim and hateva (nature) have the same numerical value of 86 in their letters.3 Elohim/86 is the One who created and has complete power over all creation (nature/hateva/86).

One Bible encyclopedia says, “Elohim is best understood as expressing intensity. God makes Himself known by this name as the Lord of intense and extensive glory and richness as He exercises His preeminence and power in the created cosmos.”4

There is another significant connection between Elohim/God/86 and nature/hateva/86. The Ten Commandments state, “I am the Lord your God... You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:2–3 niv). Strangely, the word used for “other gods” in this verse is also elohim. This doesn’t seem to make sense until one understands that those who worshiped idols in biblical times ascribed divinity and power to them (connected to the El and Elohim/86) of nature/hateva/86.

At the root of all this is the numerical connection between nature and God. The power/86 of God/86 is concealed in creation, nature/86! Creation demonstrates the power and goodness of God our Creator, but sin impacted the ability to distinguish between the Creator and the creation. As Paul wrote,

The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. In unrighteousness they suppress the truth, because what can be known about God is plain to them — for God has shown it to them. His invisible attributes — His eternal power and His divine nature — have been clearly seen ever since the creation of the world, being understood through the things that have been made. So people are without excuse — for even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. Instead, their thinking became futile, and their senseless hearts were made dark. Claiming to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image in the form of mortal man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.

— Romans 1:18–23

Here again, there’s a connection between the name Elohim, God as Creator, and God as Judge, as Paul related in the above passage. In Jewish thought, Elohim represents God’s attribute of justice, and YHVH/Jehovah/ Lord represents His attribute of mercy and kindness.

Arnold Cheyney, Legends of the Arts: 50 Inspiring Stories of Creative People (Culver City, CA: Good Year Books, 2007), 16.

Gerard Van Groningen, “God, Names of,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988), 880.

“Here’s how the Hebrew numeric system works: the first ten Hebrew letters increase in value by a factor of one (aleph is 1, bet is 2, and so on). The next ten Hebrew letters increase in value by a factor of ten (kaf is 20, lamed is

30, and so on). The final Hebrew letters increase in value by a factor of one hundred (kof is 100, reish is 200, and so on) through the final letter, tav, with a value of 400.” Rabbi Jason Sobel, Mysteries of the Messiah: Unveiling Divine Connections from Genesis to Today (Nashville: W Publishing, 2021), 195.

Van Groningen, “God, Names of,” 881–82.

Excerpted from The God of the Way by Kathie Lee Gifford and Rabbi Jason Sobel, copyright Kathie Lee Gifford and Rabbi Jason Sobel.

One of the things left out in the excerpt above is that Elohim is plural which clearly speaks to our God existing in community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is most understood in English when God creates man…”Let us” make man in our image… Our God lives eternally in perfect love and unity as three in One. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 18, 2022

Notes of Faith August 18, 2022

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

— Isaiah 40:30-31

You might fall down, but you don’t have to stay down. If your hope is placed firmly in God, you will find the strength in Him to get back up. God doesn’t want you to live life beaten, demoralized, and hating yourself. He loves you, and He wants you to love yourself. He has faith in you and wants you to have faith in Him. He has good things planned for your life, so you can trust Him when you’re down.

Have you ever fallen flat on your face? Did it feel like things would never be good again? Maybe you’ve wondered if things were ever good to begin with. But those thoughts are not based in truth. God has blessed you… made previous dreams come true… brought the people you’ve needed into your life. He has always been working for you, always loving you.

Being knocked down hurts, so take the time you need to heal, but don’t stay down so long that you begin to believe that you belong there. You don’t. You belong out there in the world making a difference. Remind yourself of that, multiple times a day if you need to. It might help to create a mantra you can say to yourself when you need that reminder. Something like, “I’ve been down, but I’m never out with God.” Or “I learn every time I fall, and I get back up stronger than ever.” Use these examples to create a mantra that works for you. Write your mantra down so you can refer to it as needed.

All you have to do is ask

Ask for Help

I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word.

— Psalm 119:147

When we mess up or fail, our natural inclination is to try to hide our mistakes and fix the issues ourselves. This is nothing new. From the time Adam and Eve hid from God in the Garden of Eden, we’ve been trying to hide our messes from God. But it wasn’t a good plan for Adam and Eve, and it isn’t a good plan now. Hiding a mess doesn’t make it go away, and shouldering a crushing burden alone will eventually crush you.

Make no mistake, God can clearly see that mess you’re trying to hide. You aren’t fooling Him. But in hiding and turning away from Him, you’re only hurting yourself more. God wants you to turn to Him for help when you need it (and even when you don’t). He’s ready to make things happen on your behalf, to provide comfort and healing, or to inspire you with new dreams. All you have to do is ask.

It isn’t just God that you hide from, though, is it? You try to hide your missteps from people too, even from your loved ones. Maybe you’ve closed yourself off from the people who love you most and want to help you because you’re embarrassed or ashamed. But don’t forget the truth that everyone fails. Those who sincerely love you will understand, and they will be ready to support you and help you however they can.

What are some problems you are facing right now? How can you ask for help from God and from those who love you?

Excerpted from Live Your Dreams, copyright Thomas Nelson.

There are those in your life who love you, pray for you, and would help you with everything in their power and strength to share a burden, ease your pain. Be blessed by their giving heart and ask for help! God will bless them too!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 17, 2022

Notes of Faith August 17, 2022

The Prophecy Against Elam

Nathan Jones: Iran has declared that they now have enough nuclear material to build a nuclear weapon, though they might not use it on Israel. Rather, they’re threatening to use their missiles on the United States!

We have finally reached the red line that the former Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, so direly warned the world about a few years back. He solemnly warned that if Iran was left to continually build their nuclear enrichment they would eventually achieve a nuclear weapon. Iran’s leaders have announced that they finally have enough fissile material, but as Amir Tsarfati reveals, when Iran announces something it usually means they are already on the next step. So, we have to assume that Iran — a hostile nation that funds terrorism throughout the world — already possesses a nuclear weapon.

Where does a nuclear-capable Iran fit into Bible prophecy?

Tim Moore: This question weighs heavy on a lot of Christian’s minds. In one of our recent annual conferences, a guest asked about Iran relative to the prophecy against Elam found in Jeremiah 49. In that chapter, the prophet Jeremiah foretells the destruction that will befall Elam. Elam covers the area of south-western Iran. It’s located very close to the Persian Gulf, just across the Euphrates River, from Iraq and Kuwait. The prophet says that God is going to bring judgment against this portion of what today is called the nation of Iran.

But, I think the principle of God’s judgment applies to all of the nations that in the Old Testament were called out by Him for destruction and judgment due to their idolatry and hatred of Israel. Even the nations of today are going to come under God’s judgment for rejecting God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and for continually cursing His Chosen People, Israel.

And, wow, Iran has really multiplied its curses on Israel over the last 50 years! And, so too, their judgment.

Nathan Jones: Right now Iran’s been waging a proxy war against Israel by supporting the terrorist groups Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, and others. Iran funds their ongoing skirmishes against Israel by providing missiles and materials of war. Every time Israel has to go in and clean out the missiles from Gaza, it’s not too long before these terrorist organizations are restocked within a year or two, and all of this weaponry has been coming from Iran.

Why? Iran wants Israel destroyed and the Islamic Mahdi ushered in. Iran says they’re doing this for the Palestinians, but if they drop a nuclear bomb on Israel, how is that helping the Palestinians? Of course, it won’t. The Palestinians will die at the hands of their supposed benefactors.

When we turn to Jeremiah 49, we can read about God’s judgment against Elam where the Lord Almighty declares, “See, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might” (Jeremiah 49:35). What’s interesting about Elam, this southwestern section of what has long been know as Persia, sits along a fault line. Strangely enough, this faultline is also where Iran has been building their nuclear facilities. So, the prophecy could be saying that God will bring destruction to the area of Elam, particularly where their nuclear might — their bow — is positioned.

The Prophecy of the Gog-Magog Invasion

Nathan Jones: In Jeremiah 49:36, God promises, “I will scatter them [Elam] to the four winds, and there will not be a nation where Elam’s exiles do not go.” An Iranian exile is where this prophecy can get confusing in the overall biblical picture, for could God destroy Elam and yet Iran remains to fight Israel in the Gog-Magog War of Ezekiel 38-39? After all, we know Iran will be at its peak of power when it unites with Russia, Turkey, Sudan, and the other Islamic ‘Stan nations.

We’re seeing very recently all over the news Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Erdogan and Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi meeting and conspiring together. The relationship between Russia and Israel has soured greatly as of late, to the point where Russia has been joining Israel’s enemies in holding war games in Syria. Russia’s rhetoric as of late has been constantly threatening to Israel. It appears the Gog-Magog proto-alliance has already formed.

Because Iran cannot be in exile and still fight the Gog-Magog War, I don’t think that God’s going to supernaturally destroy the nuclear reactors and poison the Iranian people so that they flee to the four winds. It’s pretty obvious in Ezekiel 38-39 that God is going to show Himself great to the world by defeating the invaders, and one of those nations is Persia dwelling in their land. The prophetic timeline really does not allow for a long gap to permit an Iranian exile.

Tim Moore: It certainly does not. There’s a reason why Iran hates Israel so much. Every despotic regime tries to distract its people from the terrible conditions and the repression they live under by pointing to a foreign enemy, somebody else whom they can blame for all of their troubles. That’s been happening in the Middle East in most of the Arab nations since Israel was founded. It may be bad in these Islamic nations, but “just look at the terrible things the Jews have been doing to the Palestinians in Palestine.”

Many Arab nations are starting to realize that this blame-game strategy is a fool’s errand. Instead, they’ve been allying with Israel in the Abraham Accords because they recognize that Iran is an even greater threat due to the difference between Sunni and Shiite Islam.

Let’s identify the core of the problem — Iran’s hatred of Israel is satanically inspired. That’s the reason exactly why God is calling out Iran and other nations in these prophecies. Jeremiah 49 is a prophecy not only against Elam but against Ammon and Edom and against any other nations that would dare come against Israel for the purpose of making the Jewish people become extinct.

And so, the Genesis 12:1-3 principle still applies to the nations today. If we do not bless Israel then we will come under the curse of God. What a warning, for America has been a very fickle friend. Even in regard to Iran’s acquiring nuclear material, we have not as a nation kept our eye on the ball or used our influence and clout to stop some of these potential horrors. Our administration’s appeasement will create an arms race throughout the Middle East that will result in an eventual cataclysm.

Nathan Jones: The Middle East nuclear arms race has already begun. Most people don’t talk about Saudi Arabia having bought nukes from either North Korea or Pakistan, for they actually paraded these missiles down their streets a few years ago. So, yes, the race is definitely happening.

What’s amazing is that it doesn’t matter how powerful these nations get, or how much of a threat they become to Israel, God promised through the prophet Ezekiel that when the time comes when the Islamic world becomes an existential threat to Israel, where Israel’s IDF, as powerful as it is, can’t hold its enemies at bay, that God Himself will step back into history. Ezekiel 38-39 foretells how God will send down fire upon the Gog-Magog invaders. Iran and Russia and Turkey’s armies will all turn on each other and then be swallowed up by devastating earthquakes. God will then send fire back on their nations to destroy them so that only a ninth of their people are left alive. So, when a nation comes against Israel, expect the wrath of God.

Now, we know that the Israel of today is a secular nation. But, God still has a plan to bring a remnant out of its people to salvation, and that’s who we’re trying to bless. That’s who we’re trying to protect. We would be called Christian Zionists because we know that one day Jesus Christ is going to return to defeat His enemies. And once He returns in victory, King Jesus will set up His kingdom with the capital located in Jerusalem. That glorious Millennial Kingdom is what we support, and that’s what we look forward to.

Keep your eyes on Israel and you will be current with God’s plan for mankind. Our world seems to be giving itself to Satan and his evil against God and man. But God will use even Satan to complete His work and bring in His glorious kingdom on earth.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done one earth, as it is in heaven! Amen!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 16, 2022

Notes of Faith August 16, 2022

The Fruit of Suffering and Grief

Peter: The Reluctant Sufferer

I was talking to a group of about a hundred experienced pastors and church-growth leaders in a training seminar. The topic for the day was how to help people grow spiritually in ways that affect real life. I began by giving them a hypothetical problem to solve.

“If you had to arm your parishioners with protection from sin, how would you do it? What do you think would best equip them to not act out sinful patterns in their lives?”

Hands went up. “I would teach them to pray.” “I would teach them to stay in the Word.” “Fellowship.” “Not placing themselves in temptation.” “Getting lots of support.” “Those are all good,” I said. “Those are very important aspects of spiritual growth and becoming strong. But there is one aspect of spiritual growth that is particularly stated to be ‘armor’ against sin. Let me read it to you. It is from 1 Peter 4:1-2:

Since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.’ What the Bible says is that having an attitude of embracing suffering will protect against sin. Let me tell you how that works.

What I told them was the story of Peter, the reluctant sufferer.

When Jesus said that He was going to suffer and die, it was Peter who told Him there was no need for that (Matthew 16:21-22). Jesus promptly told him, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns” (Matthew 16:23).

Jesus did not stop there.

If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. — Matthew 16:24-25 NASB

Right in the midst of Peter’s attempt to get Jesus to avoid the suffering he came to do, Jesus says that we must instead pick up our cross and die. Think of what this means in terms of growth.

Dan had tried for years to “save himself.” Depending on his wit and abilities, he thought, would get him through and offer healing and salvation for life. Instead, Dan’s attempts to avoid his pain promoted the growth of the cancers eating away at his soul, his career, and his marriage. And he was close to losing it all.

When Dan decided to pick up his cross and follow Jesus, he “learned obedience from what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). As he faced his cross and the character patterns that needed to die, he found life as he had never known it before. He experienced salvation from his sin.

This is exactly what Peter found out. The same Peter who thought suffering and death should not be included in the plan later came to see suffering as armor! He came to see suffering as protection against sin. He came to see that if we go through the suffering we need to go through, then we are “done with sin” (or at least the sin that had to do with that particular growth step).

Picking Up the Cross

When Peter tried to get Jesus to forgo suffering, Jesus told us two things. One is that each person will have to pick up his cross; the other is that if a person tries to save himself, he will lose, but if he loses himself for Jesus’ sake, he will gain his life. We have to identify with that cross. We have to be obedient to the suffering that will bring about holiness. We have to give up our own defensive and offensive attempts to save ourselves.

This is a very real part of how people grow.

Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning

Grief: God’s Cure for What Isn’t Right

Grief is the toughest pain we have to deal with.

It is not the worst human experience (because it leads to resolution), but it is the most difficult for us to enter into voluntarily, which is the only way to get into it. The rest of our human experience just happens “to us.” Hurt, injury, anxiety, alienation, and failure all break through, and we suffer. Grief does not “break through.” It is something we enter into.

But its voluntary nature is not the only thing that sets grief apart from other kinds of suffering. The other difference is that grief is the one that heals all the others. It is the most important pain there is. This is why God calls us to enter into it voluntarily. It heals. It restores. It changes things that have gone bad.

Why is that? Why is it the “pain that heals”? Because grief is God’s way of our getting finished with the bad stuff of life. It is the process by which we “let it go.” And because of that, it becomes the process by which we can be available for new, good things.

The soul is designed to finish things. Just as a computer is programmed to run a particular path, so our soul is designed to go down the path of grief. Therefore, the Bible tells us:

Be sad, and your heart can be made happy. Cry it out, and it will get out. It will be over.

The emotional investment in whatever was lost is being given up. We are letting go of what cannot be. Reality and our heart, mind, and soul have all come together. Tears are shed, and after many, many tears, we let go. “I will never have it, so I will let go of the wish.” And like a leaf falling into a stream, it goes away. Then the heart is available for new things: new desires, new attachments, new hope, new energy, and everything that springtime brings. Winter has past, and it is the time for sowing new seeds of life.

We also bring to the new year the learning and understanding and experience that we learned in the old. Whether good or bad, what was lost was an experience, and from it we take understanding and wisdom for the rest of life. The process is complete, the person has grown, and the past is now the past and is not affecting the present, except in greater wisdom or the pleasant memories of a loved one who has passed on. The death experience has given way to the resurrection of a new life.

If Grief Is So Good for Us, Why Don’t We Grieve?

If grief is the answer to so many of life’s problems, why don’t we just do it? If a sad face can make a heart happy, as Solomon wrote, why don’t we have “sadness parties”? Well, we do. They are called funerals. They are gatherings where we can be sad and begin to process our grief. Funerals were a regular part of God’s family practices with the children of Israel, and we have continued that practice, although we have limited funerals severely. The phrase “time of mourning” is one that appears several times in Scripture. The Israelites saw it as the right thing to do. And Solomon says, there is a time “to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4).

We usually hold funerals only when someone dies, but we also need to grieve other things. The problem is that we don’t often see those experiences as losses. So we stay in denial or the protest and bargaining phase for a long time, robbing ourselves of a new life.

Another important reason people cannot grieve the way they need to is that they lack resources. In short, grief is a letting-down and a letting-go. And we cannot let down and let go if we are not being held up. If there is not enough love to sustain us, both inside and out, then we cannot let go of anything, even something bad.

This is the answer to the age-old question that people ask every day: “Why doesn’t he just get over it?” You don’t throw away even rotten food in a famine. But if a new truck of food shows up, you can let go of the stuff that has died.

I wish that I had understood this process when I was younger. When I lost my dream of playing golf, I tried to find a new life without grieving for the old. But until I found the God who designed grief, I did not have losses — I was lost. Then, when I found the support and structure that God and his Body gave me, I could finally have losses. I could process them, and then I was found.

So in your own life and the lives of the people you help, grief may be the answer to your rut. You may be denying a reality lost long ago. You may be protesting something that will never come true. Maybe it is time to give it up. Maybe it is time for you to mourn so that your heart can be made happy again.

The Psalmist was right when he said,

Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. — Psalm 30:5

The Bible affirms it and commands it, and science proves it to be true. There really is such a thing as “good grief.”

~ Henry Cloud

Excerpted from Growth Has No Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend, copyright Dr. Henry Cloud and John Townsend.

Jesus had to suffer in His earthly body, His human essence for us by faith in Him to receive salvation, sanctification, and glorification. Suffering was involved. Maybe, just maybe we will better understand our own sin and the need for putting it to death in our own suffering. Today, this was a good point for me to meditate on and ask God that my suffering would help make me strive toward holiness. Pray that through your own suffering you will remember the suffering of Jesus for you!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 15, 2022

Notes of Faith August 15, 2022

Article by David Mathis

Executive Editor, desiringGod.org

In 1977, California pastor Jack Hayford and his wife visited England during the Silver Jubilee (25th anniversary) of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne (1952). They were struck by the grandeur of the celebration, and the manifest joy of the people in their monarch. While there, they visited Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill, and famous for the magnitude and stateliness some Americans today know only through watching Downton Abbey.

Driving away from the palace, overcome with awe, Hayford found himself reaching for words — language that would transpose the weight of the earthly experience into the key of heaven. As he stretched, the word that seemed most fitting, both to describe the stunning magnificence of the palace, and how it pointed to the superiority of the reigning Christ, was majesty. According to a California newspaper’s retelling of the story,

As the Hayfords pulled themselves from that regal palace and drove away, Dr. Hayford asked his wife to take a notebook and write down some thoughts that were coming to him. He then began to dictate the lyrics, the key, and the timing to a song now being sung by Christians worldwide. (“Story Behind the Song: ‘Majesty,’” St. Augustine Record, August 13, 2015)

Hayford’s impulse to reach for the word majesty, however much he knew it at the time, was profoundly biblical. Majesty is indeed a frequent, and carefully chosen, attribute in Scripture of the living God — a trait often overlooked in studies of the divine attributes, but an important witness of both the prophets and apostles, one that sheds brilliant light on other well-rehearsed attributes, and one that is truly, deeply, wonderfully fit for worship, as Hayford intuited:

Majesty! Worship his majesty!

Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise.

Majesty! Kingdom authority,

Flow from his throne, unto his own;

His anthem raise!

Purple Mountain Majesties

Those, like Hayford, who reach for the word majesty often find themselves standing before, or remembering, some natural or manmade wonder that is both imposing and, at the same time, attractive. In our language, as in biblical terms, the word captures not only greatness but also goodness, both bigness and beauty, awesome power together with pleasant admiration.

Mountains might be the quintessentially majestic natural feature. Psalm 76:4 declares in praise to God, “Glorious are you,” and then adds, “more majestic than the mountains.” Alongside the illustrious plain of Sharon, which had its own peculiar glory, Isaiah’s hope-filled prophecy of future flourishing for God’s people hails “the majesty of [Mount] Carmel” (Isaiah 35:2). Yet alongside mountains, we also might attribute majesty to gold, or some precious material or gem, fit for a king, that dazzles the eye with its beauty, as Job 37:22 links God’s “awesome majesty” with “golden splendor.”

Not only natural phenomena, but also the work of human hands, when on a grand scale, might have us reaching for majestic. Lamentations 1:6 mourns the loss of such civic majesty after the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon, and not long after, Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon’s king, professes to have built his city “by [his] mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of [his] majesty” (Daniel 4:30) — this, just before his great humbling.

How, then, does the common use of majesty for mountains and mansions, gold and cities, relate to attributing majesty to God?

What Is Divine Majesty?

In bringing together both greatness and goodness, both strength and beauty (Psalm 96:6), majesty is not only a fitting term for mountain majesties but a particularly appropriate descriptor of God, who is, above all, “the Majestic One” (Isaiah 10:34).

At a critical juncture in the history of God’s first-covenant people, as they assemble under the leadership of Solomon, to dedicate the temple, the king prays, in his great wisdom, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty.” Consider those first three — greatness, power, and glory — often associated with majesty elsewhere, as revealing angles into the attribute of divine majesty.

His Is the Greatness

First and foremost is greatness.

The opening verse of Psalm 104 declares, “Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty.” Likewise, after their dramatic God-wrought exodus from Egypt, God’s people sing, “In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries” (Exodus 15:7). Later in Babylon, as Nebuchadnezzar tells of his great humbling, and restoration, he speaks of his “majesty” returning to him “and still more greatness was added to me” (Daniel 4:36; see also 5:18). Micah’s famous Bethlehem prophecy tells of a majesty that is greatness in one coming who will “stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth” (Micah 5:4).

“God has not only the might to rule, but also the right.”

Majesty often connotes some greatness in size, as with mountains and mansions: Ezekiel speaks of “majestic nations,” once numerous and powerful, but now humbled by God (Ezekiel 32:18). But that greatness also can include God’s divine right and prerogative, as God, to rule and do as he pleases. As Solomon prayed, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours” (1 Chronicles 29:11). God has not only the might to rule, but also the right.

His Is the Power

Majesty also is tied to God’s power and strength. “Yours, O Lord, is . . . the power.”

Not only does Micah 5:4 connect God’s majesty with divine strength in shepherding his people, but Psalm 68:34 forges the bond even stronger:

Ascribe power to God,

whose majesty is over Israel,

and whose power is in the skies.

“Awesome,” says David, “is God from his sanctuary.” He is majestic not only in the power he possesses, but also in the power he generously gives: “He is the one who gives power and strength to his people” (Psalm 68:35). So also in Psalm 29:4, we hear,

The voice of the Lord is powerful;

the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

While his powerful, majestic voice relates to the audible, the apostle Peter testifies of it becoming visible in God’s incarnate Son: “We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16).

His Is the Glory

Third, as Solomon prayed, “Yours, O Lord, is . . . the glory.”

Of greatness, power, and glory, ties are deepest with the third. Psalm 8, Scripture’s signature celebration of the majesty of God, manifestly sings of glory — God’s glory, set above the heavens (verse 1), and man’s glory, from God, as one he has “crowned . . . with glory and honor” (verse 5). And so that memorable opening line, reprised as the final note, hails the majesty of God’s name:

O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:1, 9)

As we’ve seen in Psalm 76:4 (“Glorious are you, more majestic . . .”), divine majesty is so closely connected to divine glory that we might even see the word majesty as providing God’s people with further language for expressing, commending, and marveling at his glory and beauty. Along with splendor (frequently paired with majesty), the term expands our vocabulary for glory.

Our God is so great, so admirable, so wonderful, so awesome in the eyes of his people, and so fearsome to his enemies, that the Hebrew kavod, Greek doxa, and English glory will not suffice. That is, not for his worshipers. We need more terms. We press more words into service. As we seek to keep speaking of him in his beauty, his power, his greatness, his glory, we grope for language: dominion, authority, splendor, majesty. At times, we even pile words upon words, as Psalm 145:5 does with “the glorious splendor of your majesty.”

Majesty, in particular, is emotive, or affective. It indicates greatness in sight or sound that is also wonderful. Bigness that is beautiful. Imposing size that is viewed with delight, imposing power received as attractive. While having significant overlap with divine dominion or lordship, majesty does more. Dominion and lordship are more technical and prosaic; majesty rings more poetic, with the awe of worship.

Meditate on His Majesty

In the end, it may be majesty’s poetic ring that makes it such a precious word, and fit for worship. As Jack Hayford groped for language to voice the wonder rising in his soul far beyond the legacy of English tradition and the largesse of its palaces — that is, reverence for the living God — majesty came not as a technical, functional, denotive term. It had a feel. It communicated soul-expanding awe. It was a mouthing of worship.

“God is not only great but good — good in his greatness and great in his goodness.”

The choice of the word majesty, then, says something about the speaker. Majesty attributes not only greatness, power, and glory to some object, but signals awe and wonder in the one who chooses the word. God’s friends, not his foes, declare his majesty. In Egyptian eyes, God was not majestic at the Red Sea but horrific. His striking size and strength were not for them but against them. But in the eyes of Israel, in the sight of his people, their God was indeed majestic in his greatness and power, and worthy of praise for terrifying and wiping out their enemies (Exodus 15:7, 11).

Perhaps you find yourself in need of fresh language for attributing greatness, and power, and glory to the God whom you worship in Christ. He is not only great but good — good in his greatness and great in his goodness. He is not only big, strong, imposing, indomitable, omnipotent; he is beautiful, attractive, stunning, compelling, glorious. He is the Majestic One, who delivered Israel at the Sea, and his church at the cross. And so, we say with the psalmist, “On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate” (Psalm 145:5).

Let us worship the MAJESTY of our God!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 14, 2022

Notes of Faith August 14, 2022

Jesus Revealed in Us

Those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. — 1 Peter 4:19

If our kids always behave

and our boss is always pleased and our home is always orderly

and our bodies always feel good

and we are patient and kind and thoughtful and happy and loving,

others shrug because they’re capable of being that way too.

On the other hand,

if we have a splitting headache,

the kids are screaming,

the phone is ringing,

the supper is burning,

yet we are still patient, kind, thoughtful, happy, and loving,

the world sits up and takes notice.

The world knows that kind of behavior is not natural. It’s supernatural. And others see Jesus revealed in us.

~ Just Give Me Jesus

You will seek the Lord your God and you will find Hm

You Can Know God

You will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. — Deuteronomy 4:29 NKJV

If Adam knew God as a beloved Father,

if Eve knew Him as the original Homemaker,

if Noah knew Him as the Refuge from the storm,

if Abraham knew Him as a Friend,

if Moses knew Him as the Redeemer,

if Rahab knew Him as the gracious Savior,

if David knew Him as his Shepherd,

if Elijah knew Him as the Almighty,

if Daniel knew Him as the Lion Tamer,

if Mary Magdalene knew Him as the Bondage Breaker, if Martha knew Him as the Promise Keeper,

if Lazarus knew Him as the Resurrection and the Life, if Bartimaeus knew Him as the Light of the World,

if John knew Him as the glorious King upon the throne,

surely you and I can know Him too!

~ Just Give Me Jesus

The Sufficiency of God's Power

To Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,… be glory. — Ephesians 3:20–21 NKJV

If you are questioning the sufficiency of God’s power to resolve your problems and pressures, your suffering and stress, your crisis and change, His answer is the same. The infinite power of the living Logos of God is adequate for any need you or I will ever have.

We may intellectually grasp the truth that God’s power is adequate, but we can never know that by experience if we stay in our comfort zone. If all you ever attempt is what you know you can do yourself, if all your needs seem to be met through someone or something other than God, if you never have any difficulties that are greater than you can bear — how will you know the awesome greatness and personal availability of His infinite power?

It’s when the Red Sea is before you, the mountains are on one side of you, the desert is on the other side, and you feel the Egyptian army closing in from behind that you experience His power to open up an escape route.

He has power to do the supernatural, the unthinkable, the impossible.

~ Just Give Me Jesus

Excerpted from The Joy of My Heart by Anne Graham Lotz, copyright Anne Graham Lotz.

I have never met a person who has lived a life of perfect peace and rest, meaning no troubles, no illness, no suffering, no hurt of any kind. I have met those who are in the midst of such trouble and still know perfect peace and rest . . . His name is Jesus, and in Christ, by grace through faith, we can live a life of perfect peace and rest. May we all come to Jesus in faith, and no matter the circumstances of life on earth, know His peace and rest, and one day, join Him for eternal peace and rest in the glory of heaven!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 13, 2022

Notes of Faith August 13, 2022

Prayer is Essential

According to BibleGateway.com, there was a significant increase in searches in 2020 about what the Bible says about politics. Two of the key topics people searched for: praying for government, and obeying government authority. Two of the most popular verses: “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Timothy 2:1-2) and “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1). It is a great privilege to press into prayer for the world, for our nation, for our leaders in government, for our leaders in communities and churches! Let us pray not just today, but every day. We hope you find IF MY PEOPLE a useful guide for how to pray for our nation. Here’s more from Jack Countryman…

In today’s world we are seeking hope as we reckon with a global pandemic, racial injustice, and an economic crisis that is unparalleled in our time. Many of the hardships are being wrapped into our daily challenges.

Today, more than ever, prayer is an essential element in our lives. We should turn to God for direction and the choices He wishes us to make for our nation.

There is tremendous power in prayer.

Since our nation’s first days, God’s greatest movements are fashioned and sustained by prayer. From the signing of our earliest documents to our triumphs over darkness, to the spiritual awakening that sustained our faith and resolve over the centuries. Throughout Scripture and our history as a nation, persistence, prevailing, intentional, and never-ending prayer has always brought the presence of God. Prayer is a wonderful power placed by the Almighty God into the hands of His saints. When we humbly seek His face in prayer, He is moved to act on our behalf and accomplish His desire for us. When we seek God in prayer for our leaders, we impact the very direction our nation will take.

Our God who never sleeps will hear our prayers 24/7

This 40-day prayer journey (If My People) is designed to help quicken your prayers, to encourage you to seek God’s will for our future, and ask Him to continually intercede on behalf of our nation. Prayerfully seek His face every day, believe that your prayers make a difference, and claim all victory that is and is to come. For there is tremendous power in prayer. We should recognize that freedom is never free. Throughout the history of our country, men and women were called to make great sacrifices and give their time and sometimes their very lives so we can enjoy freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. With every challenge we have faced, we have risen to defend the nation we cherish. We find ourselves at the crossroads of determining the direction of our country’s future and the role of Christianity in our nation. The devoted prayers of all citizens will impact the future direction of our beloved country. Our prayer is that this book will draw you closer to our Heavenly Father as you commit yourself to pray for our country. Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote, “Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed — else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.”

God desires that this great nation will turn to Him, read His Word, pray and obey His commands for the good of our country. Throughout history, God has faithfully led us through trials, wars, economic crises and social issues coming to boil. Every time He has seen us through and blessed our land with more than we deserve. Let us all seek the Lord in prayer for His direction and for our blessed land. The Bible encourages us to call upon the Lord in every situation in our lives and by extension in our land.

Our God who never sleeps will hear our prayers 24/7.

So, it seems right that the one duty of every Christ-following person blessed to live in this country is to pray for the nation. The One we call to has promised to listen.

When we stand together as one nation under God willing to defend the rights that have been granted to us, we will be blessed. The freedom we enjoy comes with the responsibility of each citizen to defend that freedom. God can also use His people in this land to share His love and offer encouragement to neighbors. May His Spirit be our guide as we move forward as His people and as Americans who should guard our land.

Praising God should be an everyday occurrence in this great country we call home. We are blessed with the freedom to live as we wish, vote as we choose, worship where we want, and express our opinion without fear of retribution. These are the privileges we should not take for granted. May God be our guide as we plan for the future and prayerfully exercise our right to vote.

Written for Devotionals Daily by Jack Countryman, author of If My People.

It is much easier to pray for ourselves, our family and friends, much harder to pray for unpleasant neighbors, those not like us, those in political leadership, earthly enemies . . . but God would have us pray for all of these and if He brings us into their sphere of influence to love them and strive to bring them to the throne of grace and truth, Jesus Christ. Prayer is essential! We must learn to pray, not only for the easy things, but for the hard things as well. May God grant you grace and peace this day.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 12, 2022

Notes of Faith August 12, 2022

Where Is God When I'm Grieving?

The Goodness of God

Can you truly say that God is good?

“One of the worst things you can do as a Christian is to go around with this plasticized mask on saying, ‘I love God, and He’s so good,’ when your heart is breaking inside,” says Dr. Joseph Stowell.

“Sometimes you may say, ‘God is good,’ with tears running down your cheeks, but He is good, and He will see you through, and He never wastes your sorrows. He didn’t waste the sorrows of His Son on the Cross. He won’t waste your sorrows. He, by His magnificent power, will transform them into that which is good — that which brings gain to the kingdom and glory to His name.”

Everything God does is good. Believe this with your heart, and hold on to this truth for unfailing strength in times of sorrow.

“‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good— except God alone.’” — Luke 18:19

Lord God, I cannot pretend that everything is fine, that everything is good because it’s not. But I want to be completely truthful when I say that You, God, are good. Amen.

Take one step at a time

He is Faithful

The Lord is faithful to you. He will not desert you.

“God, are you really here or what?” asked Shelly after the death of her son.

She says, “I’m so glad that I came out of that. There was just a faith that surged up and said, ‘Yes, You are; You’ve always been there; You always will be. God, You’re doing something here. And I know I’m not ready to see all of it right now, so help me walk in the healing that I have today.’”

So many things are overwhelming right now. Just remember to take one step at a time, one day at a time.

Join the psalmist David in this prayer to the Lord:

O Lord, do not forsake me; be not far from me, O my God. Come quickly to help me, O Lord, my Savior. — Psalm 38:21-22.

Amen.

If God is Good, Why...?

Grief often brings with it theological questions. Why did God allow this or cause this to happen? Why now? Why to this person? Moral issues often arise out of the cauldron of emotions in grief. A sense of outrage is embedded in the grieving process, especially when children and good people die, sometimes creating an inner demand for justice.

Dr. Ray Pritchard says, “There are questions for which answers are hidden in the mind and heart of a loving God. All we can say is this:

God has so designed the moral universe that, as the Bible says, the rain falls on the just and the unjust.

“We live in a fallen world, a world that’s distorted by sin, and ever since sin entered the human race in the Garden of Eden there has been sin, sickness, pain, suffering, and death. So I don’t think anyone will be able to know why one child gets cancer, why one marriage breaks up, why one person loses his job and another one is promoted. Sometimes we’ll come up with superficial answers, but truly I’ve discovered that the deeper and more heartrending the question, the harder it is to come up with an answer on a human level.”

While God does not always give answers to your questions, He always gives Himself. You can focus your attention instead on the faithfulness of God, His comfort, and His promise to work all things together for good (Romans 8:28). You can trust Him when you do not have all the answers.

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. — Matthew 5:45

Lord God, even though I do not understand why, I know I don’t need these answers in order to move on. Your ways and Your thoughts are truly higher than mine. Amen.

Excerpted from Through a Season of Grief by Bill Dunn and Kathy Leonard, copyright The Church Initiative, Inc.

Life is often difficult to understand the “whys” but God is always good and brings glory to Himself as we endure this sinful world. A day is coming filled with joy, with no pain, suffering, grief, or tears that will last forever! Praise the Lord!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 11, 2022

Notes of Faith August 11, 2022

Empty-Nest Syndrome?

Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands. — Isaiah 43:19 MSG

On the drive home from dropping our youngest daughter off at college, my wife and I both went silent for about two hours. Periodically, I looked over at Cathy, and more than a few times, I watched a tear take a stroll down her cheek. If someone had been watching us, they would have thought that instead of experiencing a beautiful transitional moment in our family’s life, we were mourning the death of a loved one. When we arrived home, the house that had been headquarters to constant action, no little amount of tension through the teen years, noise, movement, chaos, laughter, memories, traditions, and more noise was tomblike quiet.

We had just entered the empty nest, and not only were we unprepared, but we had been so busy with life that we hadn’t even seen it coming.

The following night, I sat down to dinner. Cathy had prepared a massive amount of food. She said, “I guess I need to adjust my cooking portions.” As I performed my nightly kitchen-cleanup duty, I put more food back into the refrigerator than we had eaten. Yes, we were going to have to make some adjustments, and we later realized it wasn’t just in meal planning but in practically every aspect of our lives. After all, we had just devoted 23 years to the daily parenting of our children, who had now morphed into adults (sort of), and we were no longer needed on a day-to-day basis. In addition, we had buried a few of our marriage issues under the “taking care of the kids mat,” and we had some work to do.

Just about the time we were getting used to the empty nest, our adult children started moving back home, and we had to learn how to do life with boomerang children. All three of our girls came back through our revolving door several times. Authorities tell us that the average age to begin empty nesting is 48.7 years. We think our last boomerang happened a few months ago, when we were 67. But hey, isn’t 60 the new 40?

No doubt the transition to the empty nest was harder on Cathy. I had my work and was overly focused on it. Cathy was still working as a teacher, but in our home, she had been the sun and we were all her planets. She was a bit lost without her leadership role. (I think she was depressed for a while, but a husband’s diagnosis should sometimes go unmentioned.) We later learned she was experiencing what is called the empty-nest syndrome.

As a bit of foreshadowing, I’ll share an observation from Heidi, our youngest, when she was about five years old. Trying to figure out the pecking order of our family, she asked, “Dad, if Rebecca [middle child] bosses me and Christy [our oldest] is the boss of Rebecca, and Mom is the boss of everybody, then are you the boss of anyone?”

But Cathy wasn’t the only one who discovered she needed to reinvent herself. I had some work to do in that department myself.

For many people, the empty nest brings other issues to the forefront, such as being caught in the middle of caring for aging parents, caring for needy adult children, health issues, menopause, and changing roles in marriage. Sometimes in-law issues get complicated, as do the problems of finances and future retirement. The list can quickly become a long one. Our road undoubtedly will be full of twists and turns and some unexpected thorns, but even with all that life naturally throws at us, I’m convinced that if you take just a little time to prepare, the empty-nest years can be your best years.

We can learn from our experiences

Many individuals spend more time in the empty nest than with their children in the home. Whether you are single, married, or in a blended family, the empty nest brings both the joy of victory and the agony of some defeat. You have to cope with loss and find your new identity. You make midlife course corrections. If you are married, you once again gaze into each other’s eyes as you did before you had kids, though those eyes may have more wrinkles and your faces may be fuller than they were two decades ago. Unless you did an amazing job preparing for the empty nest, and most of us didn’t, you may be looking at a stranger who is going through their own identity crisis.

I’ve spent my entire adult life researching, speaking on, and writing about the values of strong marriages, confident parents, and empowered kids. Yet the empty nest took me by surprise. It was much more difficult than I’d thought it would be — and if this makes any sense, much better too. I’ve told friends that I wrote Finding Joy in the Empty Nest out of my need (desperation?) to reinvent and recalibrate parts of my life, my marriage, and even my relationships with my adult children. Very quickly, the research for this book became personal because I found myself reading for my own benefit before I could write or speak one sentence to others. To be candid, some of the writing on this subject seemed a bit trite, even shallow. “Plant a garden, join a bridge club, and volunteer at the hospital.” These are great ideas, but as I listened to the people around me, I learned that empty nesting is more about a sense of loss and the need to find new purpose and passion, while changing the relationships we once had with our children.

It’s possible that your best years are ahead of you, and how you choose to live will determine the outcome. I believe that most games are won in the second half and that you, no doubt, have a beautiful though possibly not easy road ahead of you. It’s odd for me to give a brief illustration about good wine since I don’t drink, but it’s a fact that the aging of wine improves its quality. Sometimes an aged wine is dramatically better and more distinguished because it is stored with care. As we age, we can learn from our experiences and improve our lives to finish well. It’s my prayer that Finding Joy in the Empty Nest will help you do that.

I’ve kept this quote from the Old Testament close to my heart:

Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands. — Isaiah 43:19 MSG

As you launch your kids into the world, be alert, present, and prepared: you’re launching yourself as well. I hope you will make empty nesting a meaningful, rich, and even fun time amid struggle, perhaps a few tears, and grief. Your children are not who they once were. And neither are you.

Adapted from Finding Joy in the Empty Nest: Discover Purpose and Passion in the Next Phase of Life by Jim Burns.

I’ve heard people talk about the empty nest . . . some with much joy at not having the same day to day responsibilities in the home they once had, others grieving the loss of those same responsibilities. Robin and I began this empty nest experience two years ago yet did not seem to have much reaction to the newness until we sold our house. Thirty-eight years of life were spent in that house and the memories made the empty next come to life. We may be unique, our family, as two thirds of our family have planned to live together again, as parents grow old, as grandchildren grow up in a different home, a different culture (country), but having the closeness of being together to share joy, grief, pain and laughter. We like the full nest and always like to have friends and family around us. Many of you are part of our extended family. You are loved and appreciated for sharing this life’s nest with us.

Pastor Dale