Trust Him like the little ones He feeds

Behold the lilies of the field

Words: Cecilia M Caddell (1813-1877)
Tune: Flora

Behold the lilies of the field,
they neither toil nor sow;
yet God does all things needful yield
that they may live and grow.

Not Solomon in glory shone
like one of these poor flowers,
that look to God and God alone
for sunshine and for showers.

And does His mercy value less
the offspring of His grace?
And will a Father's love not bless
the child that seeks His face?

He is our Father, and He knows
His earthly children's need:
on all our daily wants and woes
He looks with careful heed.

O then away with fear and care
for all that may betide;
and turn to God in trustful prayer,
and in His love confide.

Selah.

The ant and the contact lens

Here is a neat story recounted by Elisabeth Elliot, as told to her by Brenda Folz. The original version in the first person can be found here, on Elisabeth's website.

Lost and Found

It was Brenda's first climb. Halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff, she stood on a ledge and took a breather. As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens . "Great," she thought. "Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry."

She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there.

She felt anxiety rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she might find her contact lens.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of a partial verse, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth."

She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."

Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!

The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it."

Perhaps when we carry something heavy that we can't understand, we can pray, "God, I don't know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if you want me to carry it, I will."

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called!

Carry, trust and smile!

Selah.

Note: This story is often wrongly attributed to people who forward it on email. But the real story comes from Brenda Folz via Elisabeth Elliot, and retold in Elisabeth's book, A Quiet Heart, under the title of "Lost and Found."
Note: I can believe this story, because I've had at least one similar story happen to me personally. You can read that story here: The Miracle of the Lost Lens.

Note: And remember that God doesn't always lead us to the items, even though He surely does know where they are! A good friend recounted a story of a lost item, in which God chose to answer with a larger lesson -- larger than the item itself! So always trust and hope!

I shall know as I am known

Loving Shepherd of your sheep

Words: Jane Leeson (1809-1881)
Meter: 77 77

Loving Shepherd of your sheep,
keep your lamb, in safety keep;
nothing can your power withstand,
none can tear me from your hand.

Loving Lord, you chose to give
your own life that we might live;
and your hands outstretched to bless
bear the cruel nails' impress.

Help me praise you every day,
gladly serve you and obey;
like your glorious ones above,
happy in your precious love.

Loving Shepherd ever near,
teach your lamb your voice to hear;
let my footsteps never stray
from the true and narrow way.

Where you lead me I will go,
walking in your steps below;
till, before my Father's throne,
I shall know as I am known.

Selah.

God's help is sure, but His methods seldom guessed

Say not, my soul, 'From whence...?'

Words: Thomas T Lynch (1818-1871)
Tune: St. Ethelwald

Say not, my soul, 'From whence
'Can God relieve my care?'
Remember that Omnipotence
Has servants everywhere.

God's help is always sure,
His method seldom guessed;
Delay will make our pleasure pure,
Surprise will give it zest.

His wisdom is sublime,
His heart profoundly kind;
God never is before His time,
And never is behind.

Hast thou assumed a load,
Which few will share with thee,-
And art thou carrying it for God,
And shall He fail to see?

Be comforted at heart,
Thou art not left alone;
Now, thou the Lord's companion art;
Soon, thou wilt share His throne.

Put all your faith in God's great goodness

Put all your faith in God's great goodness

Words: Amos Cresswell (born 1926) based on Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten by Georg Neumark (1621-1681)
Tune: Neumark

Put all your faith in God's great goodness
and hope in him for every day;
through all your anguish, pain and sadness
his shadow guards along life's way:
and if he leads you by the hand
you never build on shifting sand.

When we are lonely and despairing,
when visions fade and hopes are dim,
he comes, our depths of sorrow sharing,
invites our faith to turn to him;
he never will forsake his child;
his hold is form though storms are wild.

Our Lord is present in our weakness,
for this he left his heavenly throne.
His power and strength lie in his meekness,
'You will not agonise alone;
I drank the bitter cup for you;
my crucifixion proves this true.'

Sing, pray and tell the mighty story;
God comes to us in vibrant Word.
The wonder of the heavenly glory
is seen by us in Christ, our Lord.
Our God has never left in need
a soul who trusted him indeed.

Selah.

The positive of negative past

All things work together for good

"The greatest value of the past is how wisely we invest it in the future."

Jim Rohn

A place of rest in Almighty Hands

Here's a point of meditation for today: rest... rest in Hands much larger than you! Dare to be a child in heart, trusting and dancing to life, perhaps like long ago you trusted... or perhaps like you've never trusted but always longed and hoped to do. The time is now; it's not too late, you are a called, loved child of God!

Selah.

The loving slowness of awful omnipotence

How God conquers evil
Subtitle: Why this long valley of suffering, waiting and pain?

There are many who think to reverence the Most High by assuming that He can and should do anything or everything that pleases Him in a mere moment. In their eyes power is a grander thing than love. But His Love is higher than His omnipotence. See what it cost Him to redeem the world! He did not find that easy, or to be done in a moment without pain or toil. Yes, God is omnipotent -- awfully omnipotent. For He wills, effects, and perfects the thing which, because of the bad in us, He has to carry out in suffering and sorrow. Evil is a hard thing, even for God to overcome. Yet thoroughly and altogether and triumphantly will He overcome it. But not by crushing it underfoot -- any god of man's idea could do that! -- but by conquest of heart over heart, of life over life, of life over death, of love over all. Nothing shall be too hard for God that fears not pain, but will deliver and make true and blessed at His own severest cost.

Selah.

George MacDonald, "Down the Hill," The Gentlewoman's Choice, edited by Michael R. Phillips.

Thanksgiving gold: All which God doth touch and own

Teach me, my God and King

Words: George Herbert, 1633
Music: Carlisle

Teach me, my God and King,
in all things thee to see,
and what I do in anything
to do it as for thee.

A man that looks on glass,
on it may stay his eye;
or if he pleaseth, through it pass,
and then the heaven espy.

All may of thee partake;
nothing can be so mean,
which with this tincture, "for thy sake,"
will not grow bright and clean.

A servant with this clause
makes drudgery divine:
who sweeps a room, as for thy laws,
makes that and the action fine.

This is the famous stone
that turneth all to gold;
for that which God doth touch and own
cannot for less be told.

Selah.

Thanksgiving vista: majesty and sovereignty

Here's a pic from last year's Thanksgiving -- high on a hill overlooking a Pennsylvania town: the clouds are high, the blue varied and layered, the misty landscape floating into the distance like an ocean, melting into the distant sky: painted majesty! It's actually a nice meditation point for Christ the King verses, so here you go! Look at the pic and then let these verses flow over your spirit!

He is above principality and power

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

All things created in Him; He is above all: Walk worthy

Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Alleluia!

Selah.

God is working out His purpose

God is working His purpose out

Words: Arthur Campbell Aigner, 1894
Tune: Purpose

God is working His purpose out
as year succeeds to year:
God is working his purpose out,
and the time is drawing near;
nearer and nearer draws the time,
the time that shall surely be,
when the earth shall be filled
with the glory of God
as the waters cover the sea.

From utmost east to utmost west,
wherever foot hath trod,
by the mouth of many messengers
goes forth the voice of God;
give ear to me, ye continents,
ye isles, give ear to me,
that earth may filled
with the glory of God
as the waters cover the sea.

What can we do to work God's work,
to prosper and increase
the brotherhood of all mankind--
the reign of the Prince of Peace?
What can we do to hasten the time--
the time that shall surely be,
when the earth shall be filled
with the glory of God
as the waters cover the sea.

March we forth in the strength of God,
with the banner of Christ unfurled,
that the light of the glorious gospel of truth
may shine throughout the world:
fight we the fight with sorrow and sin
to set their captives free,
that earth may filled
with the glory of God
as the waters cover the sea.

All we can do is nothing worth
unless God blessed the deed;
vainly we hope for the harvest-tide
till God gives life to the seed;
yet nearer and nearer draws the time,
the time that shall surely be,
when the earth shall be filled
with the glory of God
as the waters cover the sea.

Selah.

Thine own before thy feet we lay

All things are thine; no gift have we

Words: John Greenleaf Whittier, 1872
Music: Herr Jesu Christ

All things are thine; no gift have we,
Lord of all gifts, to offer thee:
and hence with grateful hearts today
thine own before thy feet we lay.

Thy will was in the builders' thought;
thy hand unseen amidst us wrought;
through mortal motive, scheme and plan,
thy wise eternal purpose ran.

In weakness and in want we call
on thee for whom the heavens are small;
thy glory is thy children's good,
thy joy thy tender Fatherhood.

O Father, deign these walls to bless;
fill with thy love their emptiness;
and let their door a gateway be
to lead us from ourselves to thee!

Selah.

A word for the day: God will make good His purpose for me

Before the gods I will praise the true God

Psalm 138

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I will sing your praise.
I will bow down towards your holy temple
and praise your name,
because of your love and faithfulness;
For you have glorified your name
and your word above all things.
When I called, you answered me;
you increased my strength within me.
All the kings of the earth will praise you, O Lord,
when they have heard the words of your mouth.
They will sing of the ways of the Lord,
that great is the glory of the Lord.
Though the Lord be high, He cares for the lowly;
He perceives the haughty from afar.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you keep me safe;
you stretch forth your hand
against the fury of my enemies;
your right hand shall save me.
The Lord will make good His purpose for me;
O Lord, your love endures for ever;
do not abandon the works of your hands!

Selah.

To be a Christian...

Patrick O'Hannigan at Paragraph Farmer quotes Jennifer from Et Tu, in a post about waiting for a tow truck driver:

"To be a Christian is not to make God part of your story, but to realize that you are part of God's story."

Rich. Apt. Counter-intuitive for postmoderns. Definitely counter-zeitgeist. Truly prophetic.

Thanks, Jennifer! And Patrick!

Selah.

Crown, O God, thine own endeavor

Judge eternal, throned in splendor

Words: Henry S. Holland, 1902, alt.
Tune: Komm, O komm, du Geist des Lebens

Judge eternal, throned in splendor,
Lord of lords and King of kings,
with thy living fire of judgment
purge this land of bitter things;
solace all its wide dominion
with the healing of thy wings.

Still the weary folk are pining
for the hour that brings release,
and the city's crowded clangor
cries aloud for sin to cease;
and the homesteads and the woodlands
plead in silence for their peace.

Crown, O God, thine own endeavor;
cleave our darkness with thy sword;
feed all those who do not know thee
with the richness of thy word;
cleanse the body of this nation
through the glory of the Lord.

Selah.

A dance with Abba

Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations, and say continually “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart has trusted in Him and I am helped. He is not only with me but in me and I in Him.”

Francis de Sales

Thy providence my guard

Lord, be thy word my rule

Words: C. Wordsworth, 1872
Tune: Quam dilecta

Lord, be thy word my rule;
in it may I rejoice;
thy glory be my aim,
thy holy will my choice;

Thy promises my hope;
thy providence my guard;
thine arm my strong support;
thyself my great reward!

Selah.

p.s. a prayer I ask this coming week, for all who read here with benefit... please lift me up for safety to and from youth camp, and for clarity of mind and heart during the camp! God bless you and thank you!

All nature sings and round me rings

This is my Father's world

Words: Maltbie D. Babcock
Tune: Terra Beata

This is my Father's world,
and to my listening ears
all nature sings and round me rings
the music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas,
His hands the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world,
the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white,
declare their Maker's praise.
This is my Father's world:
He shines in all that's fair;
in the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world,
O let me ne'er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world:
the battle is not done,
Jesus, who died, shall be satisfied,
and earth and heaven be one!

A sovereign grace in a packing mistake

Allen Patterson shared this story with me, and I just had to put it on the blog. It captures well the incredible sovereignty of God, the divine Love that works in and through what we would consider mistakes -- to bring many sons and daughters to glory. Enjoy! And let it open your heart for a new awareness of the grace at work in your life, this season!

“If you are missing Baby Jesus, call 7162"

Jean Gietzen

When I was a child my father worked for an oil company in North Dakota. The company moved him around to different parts of the state, and at some point between one move and another, we lost our family Nativity set. Shortly before Christmas in 1943, my mother decided to replace it and was happy to find another at our local five and dime for only $3.99. When my brother Tom and I helped her unpack the set, we discovered two figures of the Baby Jesus.

"Someone must have packed this wrong," my mother said, counting out the figures. "We have one Joseph, one Mary, three wise men, three shepherds, two lambs, a donkey, a cow, an angel, and two babies. Oh dear! I suppose some set down at the store is missing Baby Jesus."

"Hey, that's great, Mom," my brother and I shouted. "We have twins!"

"You two run back down to the store and tell the manager that we have an extra Jesus. Tell him to put a sign on the remaining boxes saying that if a set is missing a Baby Jesus, call 7162," my mother instructed. "I'll give each of you a penny for some candy. And don't forget your mufflers. It's freezing cold out there."

The manager of the store copied down my mother's message and the next time we were in the store we saw the cardboard sign that read, "If you're missing Baby Jesus, call 7162."

All week long we waited for the call to come. Surely, we thought, someone was missing the important figurine. Each time the phone rang, my mother would say, "I'll bet that's about Jesus," but it never was. My father tried to explain that the figurine could be missing from a set in Walla Walla in Washington and that packing errors occur all the time. He suggested we just put the extra Jesus back in the box and forget about it.

"Back in the box!" I wailed. "What a terrible thing to do to the Baby Jesus. And at Christmastime, too."

"Surely someone will call," my mother said. "We'll just keep them together in the manger until someone calls."

When no call had come by five on Christmas Eve, my mother insisted that my father "just run down to the store" to see if there were any sets left. "You can see them right through the window, over on the counter," she said. "If they are all gone, I'll know someone is bound to call tonight."

"Run down to the store?" my father thundered. "It's fifteen degrees below zero out there!"

"Oh Daddy, we'll go with you," I said. "Tommy and I will bundle up good. And we can look at the decorations on the way."

My father gave a long sigh and headed for the front closet. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered. "Each time the phone rings everybody yells at me to see if it's about Jesus, and now I'm going off on the coldest night of the year to peek in a window to see if He's there or not there."

My father muttered all the way down the block, while my brother and I raced each other up to the window where the tiny lights flickered on and off around the frame. "They're all gone, Daddy!" I shouted. "Every set must be sold."

"Hooray, hooray!" my brother joined in, catching up with me. "The mystery will be solved tonight!"

My father, who had remained several steps behind us, turned on his heel and headed back home.

Inside the house once more, we saw the extra figurine had vanished from the set and my mother appeared to have vanished, too. "Someone must have called and she went out to deliver the figurine," my father reasoned, pulling off his boots. "You kids get busy stringing popcorn strands for the tree and I'll wrap your mother's present."

We had almost completed one strand when the phone rang. My father yelled for me to answer it. "Tell'm we found a home for Jesus," he called down the steps. But the caller was not an inquirer. It was my mother with instructions for us to come to 205 Chestnut Street immediately and bring three blankets, a box of cookies, and some milk.

"Now what has she gotten us into?" my father groaned as we bundled up again. "205 Chestnut Street. Why, that's about eight blocks away. Wrap that milk up good in the blankets or it will turn into ice by the time we get there. Why in the name of Heaven can't we all just get on with Christmas? It's probably twenty degrees below out there now. And the wind is picking up. Of all the crazy things to do on a night like this."

Tommy and I sang Christmas songs all the way to Chestnut Street. My father carrying his bundle of blankets and milk looked for all the world like St. Nicholas himself with his arms full of goodies. Every now and then my brother would call back to him, "Let's pretend we're looking for a place to stay, Dad, just like Joseph and Mary."

"Let's pretend we are in Bethlehem where it is probably sixty-five degrees in the shade right now," my father answered.

The house at 205 Chestnut Street turned out to be the darkest one in the block. One tiny light burned in the living room, and the moment we set foot on the porch step, my mother opened the door and shouted, "They're here, they're here. Oh, thank God you got here, Ray! You kids take those blankets into the living room and wrap up the little ones on the couch. I'll take the milk and the cookies."

"Would you mind telling me what is going on, Ethel?" my father asked." We have just walked through below zero weather with the wind in our faces all the way. …"

"Never mind all that now," my mother interrupted. "There is no heat in this house and this young mother is so upset she doesn't know what to do. Her husband walked out on her and those poor children will have to spend a very bleak Christmas, so don't you complain. I told her you could fix that oil furnace in a jiffy."

My mother strode off to the kitchen to warm the milk while my brother and I wrapped up the five little children who were huddled together on the couch. The children's mother explained to my father that her husband had run off, taking bedding, clothing, and almost every piece of furniture, but she had been doing all right until the furnace broke down.

"I been doin' washin' and ironin' for people and cleaning the five and dime," she said. "I saw your number every day there, on those boxes on the counter. When the furnace went out, that number kept goin' through my mind: 7162. 7162.

"Said on the box that if a person was missin' Jesus, they should call you. That's how I knew you were good Christian people, willin' to help folks. I figured that maybe you could help me, too. So I stopped at the grocery store tonight and I called your missus. I'm not missin' Jesus, mister, because I sure love the Lord. But I'm missin' heat.

"Me and the kids ain't got no beddin', no warm clothes. I got a few Christmas toys for them, but I got no money to fix that furnace."

"Okay, okay," my father said kindly. "You've come to the right place. Now let's see. You've got a little oil burner over there in the dining room. Shouldn't be too hard to fix. Probably just a clogged flue. I'll look it over, see what it needs."

My mother came into the living room carrying a plate of cookies and a tray with warm milk. As she set the cups down on the coffee table, I noticed the figure of Baby Jesus lying in the center of the table. It was the only sign of the Christmas season in the house. The children stared wide-eyed with wonder at the plate of cookies my mother set before them. One of the littlest ones woke up and crawled out from under the blanket. Seeing all the strangers in his house, he began to cry. My mother swooped him up in her arms and began to sing to him.

This, this, is Christ the King, Whom shepherds guard and angels sing, she crooned while the child wailed. Haste, haste to bring Him laud, the Babe, the son of Mary, she sang, oblivious to the child's cries. She sang and danced the baby around the room until he settled down again.

"You hear that, Chester?" the young mother said to another child. "That woman is singin' ‘bout the Lord Jesus. He ain't ever gonna walk out on us. Why, He sent these people to us just to fix our furnace. And blankets we got now, too. Oh, we'll be warm tonight."

My father, finishing his work on the oil burner, wiped his hands on his muffler and said, "I've got it going, but you need more oil. I'll make a few calls tonight when I get home and we'll get you some oil. Yessir, you came to the right place," he grinned.

When my father calculated that the furnace was going strong once more, our family bundled up and made our way home. My father didn't say a thing about the cold weather and had barely set foot inside the front door when he was on the phone.

"Ed? Hey, how are ya, Ed?" I heard him say. "Yes, Merry Christmas to you too. Say, Ed, we have kind of an unusual situation here and I know you've got that pickup truck. I wonder if we could round up some of the boys and find a Christmas tree, you know, and a couple of things for …"

The rest of his conversation was lost in the blur of words as my brother and I ran to our rooms and began pulling clothes out of our closets and toys off of our shelves. My mother checked through our belongings for sizes and games she said "might do" and added some of her sweaters and slacks to our stack. We were up way past our bedtime that night wrapping our gifts. The men my father had called found oil for the furnace, bedding, two chairs, three lamps, and had made two trips to 205 Chestnut before the night was done. Our gifts were piled into the truck on the second trip, and even though it must have been thirty degrees below by then, my father let us ride along the back of the truck.

No one ever did call about the missing figurine in the Nativity set, but as I grow older I realize that it wasn't a packing mistake at all.

Selah.

A rainy day, a dog, and a witch doctor

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands... [Isaiah 55:11-12]

Sovereignty at work in a stray dog

If anyone is struggling to believe that God is still a God of details, of intricate grace, consider this true story that I heard last week!

Guillerma Zapata (Guille) received a Gideon Testament at an engineering university; and, after reading it, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Near his house was a small church where he began to worship God and grow in his new faith.

Eventually, Guille got a job as a petroleum engineer in a small town called Huancabamba in the north of Peru, believed to be a stronghold of witches and warlocks. His pastor commented that Guille would be the first missionary going out from his small church, and during the weeks before Guille’s departure for Huancabamba, the good pastor prepared him, among other things, to lead Bible studies.

Once in his new job, Guille put out a sign saying, “Mining Engineer gives free Bible lessons.” Not a single person attended his meetings.

One day, it began to rain very hard, and the water entered his little room. In desperation, Guille began bailing the water out with a bucket, throwing it through the open door into the street. Suddenly a dirty, mangy dog darted into Guille’s room, grabbed his Gideon Testament in its mouth, and ran back out the door. Guille sprinted after the dog, trying to save his precious Bible, but before he could reach the dog, it ran into the shack of a well-known witch doctor. Guille decided to give it up rather than enter that cursed place…

However, two weeks later, someone knocked on Guille’s door… It was the witch doctor! He asked Guille about the Bible lessons, wanting to learn about the holy book. The witch doctor said that one rainy evening an “extremely ugly dog” carried a little blue book into his hut. He opened it to Psalm 115, and began to read about the sin of idolatry. As he read, he began to sense something missing in his life, and wanted to know what he needed. So Guille shared with him God’s amazing love and forgiving grace…

Thus, the warlock, Leoncio Guerrero, accepted Jesus Christ, and then went out and led his whole family to the Lord. And that was not all… later Leoncio introduced his niece to Guille, and she is now Mrs. Guillerma Zapata! Together Guille and his bride pastor a church in Jaen, Peru.

Do you need to believe in this kind of grace? :-)

Perhaps a trip to Jaen, Peru, and a conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Zapata, will lift your heart! Or, perhaps their story will reach you across the miles, and you will find your own mirror in the pages of their holy book...

Selah.