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Merry Christmas beloved!
 | We've had this old-school plaque since we got married in '82
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In this digital age of "your name here" communications, it is my prayer that God would mark these words with the highlighter of His favor, that they might cut through all the noise and land squarely on your heart.
Especially today, because in this season of gift-giving, Deanna and I want you to know how much you really are a gift to us. And not just to us. Because of God's connect-the-dots multiplier effect when we all agree in prayer, your prayers and your financial support are truly a gift to the nation. Thank you. I want to share some news with you, but first...may we stop and pray for the folks in Connecticut? I know you've already been praying, but let's employ that multiplier effect and pray in agreement: Lord, You alone are the Comforter; You alone are the Prince of Peace; You alone are the Great Physician. Your peace passes all understanding and Your wisdom transcends all unanswerable questions. Come Lord Jesus! Pour out Your grace and peace; pour out Your wisdom, especially in the counseling and care of the children. For all the survivors and their loved ones, including the first responders, blot out nightmarish memories, and renew their minds. May the glory of Christmas drown out the microphone of any who would exploit this tragedy for political gain. As a nation united, may we bow before Your manger in humility, thankful for the ultimate gift, Your forgiveness. Thank You for the joy of Your salvation. Thank you for that joy made manifest in Newtown. Thank You for the joy of Christmas. Amen. Where do we go from here? I've prayerwalked across the state of Connecticut and I'm blessed to have some warm friendships there. Prayerwalking a place changes one's heart about that place. Prayerwalking with people changes one's heart about those people. I'm not talking about merely a geographic, cultural or even a social affinity; I'm talking about a transformational sense of spiritual co-ownership. And that's precisely what I believe to be conspicuously absent from most of the body of Christ in America: a transformational sense of spiritual co-ownership. If you've known me awhile, you've heard me say this (almost) a million times: As the Church goes, so goes the nation.
So here's what we're gonna do about it, IF THE LORD WILLS...
Six m onths from today, Pentecost Sunday, 5/19/2013, will mark the start of our final prayerwalking initiative across the country to the White House. This has been on my heart since I returned from my 28,000-mile, 50-state journey. Details will follow after the holidays, but we're planning to cover all 50 states, with even more cities, lingering longer with the pastors in each one, and connecting them with miles and miles of prayerwalking.
Merry Christmas from Deanna and me...
An important postscript from our pastor:  If you haven't read the letter from our pastor after last month's culmination of CapitalWalk, please click here. In it, Pastor Rick encourages folks to make a special year-end gift, in order to fully fund our faith walk. We would greatly appreciate your help before the end of the year. Thanks. BTW, our blog site was down for a few weeks, due to some technical glitches, but it should be up and running (writing) again soon. I'll let you know.
To send a year-end gift today, please click here. Thank you. |
