thanks for your patience....

Wow! It has been quite a while since my last post. So sorry to you all who faithfully check in to see what is going on. Well school is out for the summer and we are enjoying a little down time.

God continues to show Himself faithful and we are pressing in to knowing Him more and learning His ways in the midst of this life He has given us to live. I am convinced more and more that we are not our own and that because we have been bought with a price we really have no authority to call the shots. God calls the shots and He alone knows what is best for us and the Kingdom of God. God has continued to show me more and more depths of His love. It is awe inspiring to catch a glimpse of that love. We see it daily when we consider the cross but I think we forget to realize that it was love, not obligation that compelled Christ to the cross. Christ would have endured anything in order for our relationship with Him to be restored. That is what it is all about our relationship with Him. The Father said, "This is your bride." And Christ immediately fell in love with us. "However Jesus there is only one hitch. In order for you to have the relationship you desire with her you will have to take on flesh, live out a sinless life on earth, then if that is not enough you will be falsely accused and endure the punishment of a criminal--death on a cross. But once you do that you will be able to experience the ultimate in realtionships with your bride. Are you willing?" Christ response, "Am I willing, look at her isn't she the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. Of course I am willing. Knowing that after all of that I can have HER, I will do whatever it takes. I want that relationship." The Father then says, "Go buy back your Bride."

That love is hard for many of us to understand because we are so self-seeking and looking out for number one. We want to know what a relationship will gain us. We want to know that if we invest time and emotion we are going to get something back. However, that is the glory of agape love---it does not seek its own. It loves because the thought of not loving is more painful than the thought of not being loved back. Agape love truly has to give because there is more fulfillment in the loving than being loved. Christ has brought this love alive to me. This is so new to me but I am daily experiencing the love of Christ.

More on this later, I love you all. RW