Dear friends,

This week has been somewhat like riding a roller coaster (which I only did once when I was young). The temperature has fluctuated from extremely cold to mild to cold, while driving conditions have ranged from dangerous to “normal” for winters in Quebec. The most exciting “ride” for me has involved looking for a missing key and two passports at home. On Wednesday, I went to bed discouraged because my search had been unsuccessful. The verse that kept going through my mind was Philippians 4:6 (please see “Scripture for the weekend below). Yesterday, I found the key beside my gloves in a storage bin in the closet and then Karen suggested that I check between the seats of the car for the passports. Guess what? She was right! What a relief, especially since we have been invited to the Missions conference at Tulsa Bible Church next weekend. Our emotions went from being excited to go to this wonderful supporting church to being anxious that we would have to hurry to get replacement passports, until joy “flew” back in.

In his book “God in the Mirror,” Miles McPherson, a pastor in San Diego, tells about a conversation that he had in an airplane. After a man asked him if he believed there was only one way to heaven, he answered that there were actually two ways to get to heaven. McPherson writes: “When I told the guy that there were actually two ways to get to heaven, he froze where he sat, with his mouth open … I broke the silence with a soft voice and told him that one way to heaven is to live a perfect life as a perfect mirror image of God, inside and out, and then you can VIP yourself right through the gates. But if you’re not perfect inside and out, you can get someone to stand in for you, someone who is a perfect mirror image of God to pay the death penalty you owe for your sins. Once this perfect image of God pays the price for your sins, He will live inside your image, like a hand in a glove, and begin to move the fingers of the glove in the way they were originally created to move.”

Another pastor from San Diego, Dr. David Jeremiah, writes in the study Bible that bears his name: “Scripture gives at least five reasons why Jesus became a man: (1) to satisfy the Old Testament prophecies; (2) to show us the Father; (3) to save people from their sin; (4) to sympathize with human weakness; (5) to secure the hope of heaven for His own. Praise the Lord for His great love for us! If you are ever discouraged and think that nobody loves you, remember that God loves you with an everlasting love. Your true “Valentine” can be found in John 3:16.

                                                     For God so loVed the world

                                                           that He gAve His one and

                                                                     onLy Son,

                                                          that whoEver believes

                                                                      iN Him                                                                                                                                                    

                                                           shall noT

                                                                perIsh but have

                                                      everlastiNg

Thought for the weekend: “The prayer of a Christian is not an attempt to force God’s hand, but it is a humble acknowledgement of helplessness and dependence.” – Dr. J. I. Packer

In His grace,

Steve