Aches and Praise Four Hundred & Eighteen

September 12, 2019
 
 
Dear friends,
 
This has been a great year for Canadian sports, eh? The Toronto Raptors won the National Basketball Association championship in June and last weekend, Ontario native Bianca Andreescu captured the U.S. Open Tennis championship. More Canadians watched rising tennis star Bianca defeat perennial champion Serena Williams than any other tennis match in history. https://www.tsn.ca/bianca-andreescu-s-historic-us-open-championship-attracts-record-3-4-million-viewers-on-tsn-and-rds-1.1362975 While waiting for friends to arrive from France at the P-E-Trudeau airport on Monday, Karen and I saw hundreds of people stream through the arrivals area. Some looked for relatives or friends (or, as our friend, Jim Munn, says: people who are “relatively friendly”) and others had no one waiting for them.
 
Jim was the leader of our Operation Mobilization team in Alsace, France in the summer of 1977 and he and his wife, Lydia, met me a couple of times in England the following year. I wonder if anyone else at the airport on Monday hadn’t seen friends for 41 years. The scene at the airport seemed like a foretaste of heaven, waiting for loved ones to arrive. I don’t know if people in heaven will know that others are on their way or if they will just turn around and see them. In the Old Testament, there is a verse that begins with these words: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29) and in the New Testament we read: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).  Please pray for Jim and Lydia, as they recently retired from missionary service in France and are re-locating in Illinois.
 
In the ladies’ Bible study group that Karen attended yesterday, the question came up: “If you knew that you only had one day to live, what would you do?” This is a very thought-provoking question. We would all do well to consider if we are prepared to enter eternity. Praise God for His amazing love and grace, in sending His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to take our sins upon Himself on the cross of Calvary!
 
Scripture for the weekend: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:15 (NIV)
 
Thought for the weekend: “Man is born with his back toward God. When he truly repents, he   turns right around and faces God. Repentance is a change of mind…. Repentance is the tear in the eye of faith.” – D. L. Moody (quoted in “Restoring Broken Relationships” by Neil T. Anderson)
 
By His grace,
 
Steve

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