Reckless Love

                Kim and Joey had been married for a couple years.  Joey remembered the words the older couple had given him while they were still dating.  He loved his wife more than words could ever describe.  Soon this young couple would find that their love for each other would only grow deeper when they found out they were becoming a family of three. 

                June 18 became the happiest day of Kim and Joey’s lives.  They welcomed to the world a healthy and happy baby girl.  Their bundle of joy came into the world with a head full of hair and the attitude to match it.  She was a gift from God for the faithful couple and they couldn’t wait until they could show her off to the church. 

                As the weeks passed and the baby started to grow, Joey decided it was time for Christine to be dedicated.  All the planning was complete, the families were making arrangements and the church was buzzing with excitement in anticipation of seeing the beautiful baby dedicated in the same church that her father had been dedicated in many years before.  The date was only a couple weeks away and Joey and d Kim knew everything was going to be perfect for their baby girl.

                The dedication was only days away and Kim could hardly contain her excitement for that day.  She had spent the entire week preparing their house for the families to come over after service to finish celebrating Christine’s day.  As Friday was winding down, Joey decided to go get Kim’s favorite ice cream to help her relax from the week.  He would only be gone a few minutes and he never worried about leaving Kim at home with Christine.  He had faith in God that they would be safe while he was away from the house. 

                But this Friday was unlike any other day that the young couple had faced before.  Not long after Joey had left the house, a fire erupted in back part of the house.  Several of the neighbors were able to get Kim out of the house before it became completely engulfed in flames.  Once Kim was outside, she realized that no one had gotten Christine from her crib.  Without even thinking, Kim ran right back into the inferno that was her house to look for baby.  Her reckless love for her child completely outweighed her rational thinking.  She was determined to find her baby and save her life.  There was nothing that would stop her from getting to Christine.

                The minutes seemed like hours to everyone waiting outside.  Joey had returned to the horrifying thought that his wife and young daughter were still in the house.  The fire department arrived to extinguish the fire and more than likely recover the bodies of Kim and Christine from the ashes.  The only thing that Joey could do was pray that God would protect his family.  Once the flames were put out, the fire department started their search of the house.  They went room by room looking for Kim and Christine.  And with each room, there was no sign of either Kim or the baby.  Finally they made their way to the basement; the fire chief prepared Joey for the worst because he knew no one could survive the heat that swept through the basement.  The fire fighters made their way around the basement until they found a small hole in the rock foundation.  They expected to find two bodies badly burnt but were completely stunned when they found Kim and Christine still alive.

                The reckless love that drove Kim back into the burning house to save her child is the same reckless love that God has for us.  The parable of the lost sheep from the gospel of Luke describes the reckless love God has for us.  In our thinking today, leaving the 99 sheep vulnerable to predators to find the one lost stray is completely crazy.  It would be a reckless decision made by the shepherd to leave his flock for one sheep.  But to God, the one lost sheep is more valuable than all the others and He will do whatever it takes to bring us back to the flock. 

                There will always be fires in our lives and every time God will walk right through the flames to rescue us even when we set the fire ourselves.  God’s love may seem reckless to us but it is the same reckless love that causes a mother to do crazy things to protect their children. 

                Lord, thank you for showing us a love that seems reckless to us.  You have never hesitated to walk through the flames in order to rescue us.  You are Love.  Lord I pray for anyone that may be going through the fires of life right now.  You know who needs your reckless love right now, so I pray that You can bring them through the fire and make them stronger.  In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Everyone Has A Story

                Have you ever sat down and really thought about your testimony?  Do you know what you would tell someone if you had the chance to share your story with them?  Everyone that calls themselves a Christian has a story to tell and it should be able to tell it without thinking about it.  Your story, no matter how grand or routine, can and will help someone that needs to hear it at the time God gives you to tell it.

                When we read through the Bible, we find some very extraordinary testimonies from people like Abraham, Moses, Mary and Joseph, Jonah, and Paul.  We also get to imagine the testimonies of all the people that were healed by the touch of Jesus.  In every one of these people, we see a glimpse into the life of each and every one of them.  And just like all of them, we all have a story that allows people to see how the hand of God has changed each one of us. 

                My own personal story started pretty much like most kids that grew up in a church.  My grandfather was a minister and my grandmother was the children’s director, so they drug us to church just about every time the doors were open.  And we were usually the ones opening the doors.  With my grandfather being a preacher, we were held to a higher standard by almost everyone in the church.  These standards were hard to live up to and made it difficult to want to continue going.  So I eventually drifted away from the church. 

                As I got older and realized something was missing from my life, I made my way back to the church and back to the loving arms of God.  I was in my early twenties and was on top of the world or so I thought.  I spent time reading and praying every day, was teaching a children’s Sunday school class and was part of several Bible studies.  My life was engulfed with the love of God.  But that was also when Satan put more pressure on my personal life than I thought I could take.  I was trying to finish up my bachelor’s degree and keep everything else up as well, but the pressure finally pushed me to my breaking point.  Depression soon set in and I was ready to give up on life.  The more I tried to fake my way through life, the more depressed I would become.  Soon the church I was attending turned their back on me.  The church friends I thought I had would not talk to me.  I felt completely alone for the first time in my life. 

                I spent three years trying to fill a void in my soul with a party.  Monday night was poker night, Tuesday night was stay home with a bottle of moonshine or tequila, and Wednesday through Sunday was all filled with going to the clubs.  There were very few nights in that three year span that I didn’t drink alcohol to help mask the hurt.  Even on the nights that I said I was not drinking, I would still drink a six pack of beer.  There were more nights than I want to think about that to this day I don’t know how I wasn’t killed or worse yet I didn’t kill someone else.  During those nights, I didn’t care if I made it home or not.  There was something missing in my life and I was determined to fill the hole with alcohol and a party.

                Don’t get me wrong, during those years there were some very good things that happened as well.  And looking back on it now, God had a hand in keeping me alive and steering me back in the right direction.  Even though I was still living my life in the clubs and drinking, God had a plan for me.  He brought a woman into my life that eventually became my wife.  We soon had a family and things seemed to be finally starting feel right; but there was still something missing in my life. 

                It took a simple question from my young daughter to get me back on the right path.  We had gone to a family reunion at a local park and ran into an old friend of mine.  Her husband was the preacher that married my wife and me but we didn’t stay in contact with them much after the wedding.  They had a family and a church to run and we had a busy life with two young children, but that day she invited us to come visit their church.  I did what I always did when people invited me to church; I was polite and said we would try to check it out.  I had no intention of stepping foot inside their church or any other church at that time.  I would not allow myself to return to another hypocritical group of people.  But that all changed when we heard from the back seat of the car on our way home that afternoon a very simple question.  My very young daughter asked the simple question of, “can we go to church?”  That simple question not only got me back into a church but also started filling that hole in my soul.

                This is only the first half of my testimony.  I am living the second half out every day and there are mountains and valleys in my life that I have to deal with all the time.  My walk with Jesus is still a hard road to walk and Satan still knows how to bring me down and will do it every chance he gets.  My testimony is an ever evolving story that hopefully will one day help someone else make it through a rough season in their life.  Even with God right beside me every day, I still go through seasons of loneliness.  It is in those times that I have to remember that Jesus is right beside me and I have to lean on Him more in order to make it through the hard times.

                We all have a testimony that needs to be heard.  Your story could be similar to someone else’s story but they will never be the same.  It’s in the little differences that make your story relevant to the person that needs to hear it.  I ask everyone that reads this to leave their testimony in the comments.  I would love to hear how God is working in your life.   Maybe it is something you say in your comment that will save someone else.  So please share some or all of you story with us.

                “Lord, thank you for the testimony that you have given me.  I pray that someone reading my testimony will turn their life over to you or it will at least help them to know there is a way out of their situation.  Lord, I also pray for the people reading this and are willing to put their story out there for others to read.  If through all of this it reaches just one person and they turn to you, then You have made it worth it.  Thank you Lord for all the hard times and all the good times that have happened to me over the years, those are the things that allow me to have a testimony for others to hear.  In Your precious name I pray, Amen.”