It has taken me a few days to reflect and recover.   Your expressions of love and appreciation have been almost overwhelming.  Cindy and I feel humbled to serve in such a place, and among such a people.  It is the Lord in you and that is obvious. 

My normal tendency would be to jump right back into the week on Monday morning.  But the Lord spoke to me about pausing enough to let this sink in.  So I switched my day off this week and took Monday to read the book of thanks, have coffee with Cindy and reflect;  and spend some time visiting a few people, including being with my oldest son (after a word like that on Sunday night, what Dad wouldn’t). 

All of this has been a great gift to us. 

After reading through the booklet, I noticed one particular theme reoccurring.  It is something that we all do.  And I want to encourage you with this.  The entries were from a variety of people over a long span of time.  Many of the things written about were events or conversations of which I had forgotten.  But the Lord had used them mightily in individual lives.  They were most often the simple things that we all do: taking time for someone, listening carefully, bringing God’s Word to bear on a particular situation, opening up your home for a meal (or maybe longer)….

So here’s the point.  We all do this.  We all have that opportunity to share in one another’s lives.  And most often we will never know the affect upon another person.  But the Lord uses such simple things….and sometimes profoundly so.   --  And this is how we get to live. 

Thank you for letting me share life with you.  This is the life which comes from being in Christ, and there is no life like it. 

I love Him more because of the way you follow Him,

jeff