"We Really are His Hands"

This last week, I had a chance to set under the teaching of a pastor who has been loving God's church for some 57 years in full time work. One of the afternoons, we talked about a church in Europe that had a statue of Christ that had it's hands blown off during the war. After the folks returned to the church and saw the damage, they decided to leave the statue as it was, for to them, it was a perfect picture of us today. We are the hands of Christ.

Doing a quick look on the net, I came across this story and picture of a simpler Christ.

It's from a blog written by Liz Nelon

Here is the following blog of the day ...

While in Soweto, we also visited the famous Regina Mundi church, which opened its doors to shelter four thousand children and teens during the violent Soweto uprisings in the 1970s. The authorities entered the church and fired on the children; bullet holes, the statue of Christ with its hands blown off, and the marble altar defaced by a rifle butt still stand as evidence of the violence that happened in this place.

Wonderfully, though, we visited today during a lunchtime service. The altar steps were full of children singing, dancing and praying as their teacher beat an African drum. So although this place is a National Historic Site due to the tragedy that happened here, we found an oasis full of hope and joy this afternoon.

Have a Great Day

David

"God Cares about your Marriage"

I have been doing some reading about why God cares about marriage and I came across this ... enjoy. It goes to answer the question ... why God cares about Marriage.

1. Because marriage is God’s second most valuable gift to us in this life (Gen 2)

Singles can enjoy intimacy of relationships with fellow worshippers.
No closer relationship than marriage.

2. Because marriage is most important social structure.

More important than local, state or national government. More important than schools. More important than Sunday school, home church groups, neighborhood associations, Rotary club, fraternities and sororities, Association of Former Students.

▪ Defined by God in the beginning. Genesis 2
▪ Destructiveness of mixed-marriages and divorce on children
▪ National Marriage Project at Rutgers University: only 63% of American children grow up with both biological parents -- the lowest figure in the Western world.
▪ God can make you a whole and mature person even without a father and mother at home. Single parents can raise healthy children.
▪ Ideal – father and mother love each other for a lifetime; faithful; worshipping God together

3. Because our marriages affect His church

▪ Mal 2:10 – marital unfaithfulness is treachery to our brothers and sisters in Christ
▪ 1 Cor 12 – one member hurts, all members hurt, and intermarriage and divorce WILL cause hurt!
▪ Contrary to our society’s opinion that marriage is a private affair – it’s not! The quality of my marriage affects your spiritual life.

4. Because our marriages reflect God’s love and faithfulness to the world

▪ Statistics on divorce among evangelicals = atheists and agnostics
▪ Reflects on God’s power in our lives
▪ Reflects on God’s faithfulness to us; He is husband to His people
▪ Eph 5 – reflect Christ’s faithful love to the church

Have a Great Day

David