The Myth of a Christian Marriage
by Judy Bodmer
“Larry, we have to talk,” I said as my husband prepared to go to work. The argument we had the night before still hung in the air. “There’s something wrong with our marriage.”
“Judy, I have to go.” He was clearly irritated.
“Don’t you love me?” I asked.
“Sure I do. I have employees waiting to be let in.”
“Larry, if you love me, why don’t I feel it?” I needed him to put his arms around me and reassure me.
But he didn’t. He just walked out the door.
What had happened to us? Two years before, when we had committed our lives to Christ, we had been like newlyweds. I was sure that with God as our partner our journey through life would be smooth.
But it wasn’t. Our first child, who was born shortly after we became Christians, needed major surgery when he was six weeks old. A few months later, Larry’s employer couldn’t pay him, so he was forced to leave his job. I thought about going to work, but then I discovered I was pregnant again. I was scared and I needed Larry to reassure me, but he couldn’t because he was dealing with his own fears. I felt alone.
We started to fight, sometimes over the stupidest things like the way he read the newspaper or ate his cereal. I felt guilty for my angry outbursts. Christians didn’t act that way. In the name of peace, I swallowed my feelings.
From the pulpit I heard that if I would spend time with the Lord every morning and study the Bible things would get better. I tried to have a daily quiet time, began memorizing scripture, and joined a women’s Bible study. Everyone I met seemed happy. I knew that no one would understand that Larry and I sometimes said ugly, hurtful things to each other, so I kept quiet.
After months of being unemployed, my husband started his own business, which meant he was gone long hours and came home exhausted. Our financial situation improved, but we still lived on the edge.
I prayed God would make Larry more thoughtful, loving, and romantic, and, what I wanted most, that God would help Larry open up and share his heart with me. But with each passing year, our fights grew in frequency and intensity. We were like strangers, sharing the same bed.
I began to question if my husband loved me. If he did, wouldn’t I feel it? I slugged through two years of hoping things would change, but they didn’t. Surely this wasn’t what God wanted. I could see no hope of future happiness with this man.
In the heat of one of our arguments I said the word “divorce.” Larry hardly winced. Maybe it was the solution to our problems. My youngest was now a year old, so I went out and found a job in preparation for my leaving.
I finally confided in my sister how unhappy I was. She and her husband arranged for us to attend a weekend marriage retreat. They took our kids and even paid the deposit. I knew it was a waste of time and money, but this would prove to everyone that we had tried.
On that weekend, Larry heard one of the presenters say that he was afraid of living up to everyone’s expectations. He too owned his own business and Larry closely identified with him. This gave him the courage to share these same fears with me. He dropped all of his defenses and told me how hard it was to please me, his employees, his customers, his friends, and his family. He shared the pain he carried from his childhood. His openness broke through the wall I had built over the years. We forgave one another that weekend and started all over again. At first we were scared that what we had discovered wouldn’t last, but as the months and then years passed, we slowly grew closer to each other and to God.
Looking back, we can clearly see the myths that almost destroyed our marriage. Perhaps you can learn from the truths that put it back together.
Myth #1: If you have a daily quiet time, tithe, and attend church regularly you will be happy.
Well-meaning Christians gave us easy-sounding formulas for successful living. We wanted to believe them, just as we wanted to believe the fairy-tales we saw in the movies. We thought if we did all of these “religious” acts, our marriage would be heaven on earth. When it wasn’t, we were disappointed. Not only did we become disillusioned with our marriage, it also made us question our relationship with God.
Truth: Every couple goes through tough times, even Christian ones. Yes, being more spiritually disciplined can help, but there are no magical formulas that guarantee happiness. Jesus clearly states that in this life we will experience trouble (John 16:33). We should expect the hard times and grow through them. Our financial struggles taught us to become more reliant on God. We never missed a house payment or went hungry.
Myth #2: If you both are Christians, it will divorce proof your marriage.
Larry and I believed that good Christians never divorce, so when we began to struggle, we felt alone and isolated. We waited to go for help until it was almost too late.
Truth: Christian pollster George Barna says the divorce rate among born-again Christians is now the same as for non-Christians. One of the reasons that CNN cited in an article on their Website was that the church gives couples “a fairy-tale view of marriage.” Dr. Roy Austin, a Dallas therapist and Southwestern Seminary graduate, calls this “magical thinking.” He says that he sees this often in the evangelical and fundamentalist couples he counsels. He says, “‘Magical thinking’ leaves them less prepared for the rigors of marriage.”
Myth #3: Scriptures can be a simple guide for your marriage.
One of our issues was who should handle the money. We thought that to be scripturally correct that Larry should pay the bills and balance the checkbook. He always felt pressured by the time it took to do this and since he handled all of our money, I never knew how much I had to spend on groceries and clothes. This added to an already tense situation.
Truth: Scripture can be a valuable guide for our daily living, but “Misunderstanding the scriptures,” says Gary Snyder, a local psychologist in the Seattle area, “has led more than one couple into trouble. If couples took advantage of each other’s gifts and time, they could make their marriage a whole lot better.”
Myth #4: We need to keep our marital problems to ourselves.
So many of the Christians that we were around during our hard years never allowed the conversation to break the surface. It seemed to us like we were the only couple who had any problems.
Truth: It would have been helpful to know that others argued over the disciplining of their children or the correct way to do the landscaping or that other husbands often came home late or forgot Valentine’s Day. We would have understood that we were normal and perhaps would have learned from them how to solve many of these problems.
Myth #5: Pray and God will change your husband.
I spent much time in prayer begging God to change my husband. I knew we would be happy if only Larry were different.
Truth: Praying for our spouses is a good thing. However, what would we learn if God zapped them and turned them into the perfect mate? Nothing. God is more interested in teaching us to be better people than fixing our problems quickly. I thought all of our marital problems were my husband’s fault. Our marriage turned around when I admitted that I was wrong too. My judgmental attitude drove Larry away and hurt him deeply, the exact opposite of what I wanted. My acceptance built him up and allowed him to become all that God designed him to be.
Myth #6: We arrive in God’s Kingdom as fully mature Christians.
When I recommitted my life to Christ at twenty-five, I didn’t understand that I was a sinner who needed daily repentance. I could see clearly every splinter in Larry’s character, but was blind to the log in my own eye (Matt. 7:3-5).
Truth: Growing in Christ is a process (Eph 4:15). The day I turned back to God, he started peeling off layers of old beliefs and sins. Today I read the scripture and ask God to reveal how I can be a better wife. When he shows me how I’ve hurt Larry, I ask for God’s forgiveness. Instead of shame, I feel clean and whole from the inside out.
Myth #7: Christian couples don’t fight.
I thought “peace” meant no fighting and so I denied my negative feelings. I would let things build up until I exploded over something trivial.
Truth: Anger needs to be expressed in a healthy way.The Bible clearly says, “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Eph. 4:26–27 NIV). Notice the latter part of that scripture. When we don’t deal with our anger in a timely manner, we are giving the devil an opportunity to get his hooks into our marriage. The best thing you can do is say, “I feel angry right now.” On the other hand, exploding over every little thing can be destructive too. Dealing with issues as they arise is healthy; burying them can lead to bitterness.
Myth #8: As leader of the household, my husband is responsible for my spiritual growth.
Early in our Christian walk, a woman told me that when her husband accepted the Lord he instantly became patient, loving, and romantic. I looked at Larry and wondered why his conversion hadn’t made a bigger difference in our marriage. I decided it was because he wasn’t spiritual enough, so I began a mission of helping him grow in the Lord. I gave him books, left him notes, and dragged him to all sorts of speakers.
Truth: We need to be patient with one another as we grow toward Christ in our own way and in our own time. I was critical of my husband’s lack of spiritual leadership. But in his thirties, Larry felt the call to go into ministry and is now a fulltime pastor. It took time, but he’s the strong leader and loving husband that I always wanted. When I backed off, my husband grew in leaps and bounds.
Myth #9: If my husband loved me, I’d feel it.
I didn’t feel my husband’s love because at my very core I didn’t believe I was lovable, even by God. I thought God was a strict disciplinarian who demanded perfection and who was too busy to notice me.
Truth: Feelings of love come from core beliefs about yourself. God loves you just as you are (Psalm 139).When your requirement for love is filled by God, then it frees you from needing to “feel” loved by your husband. After I put aside my faulty believes and allowed myself to feel God’s love, I was able to accept Larry for who he was and instead of always being a taker, I became a giver of love, a more fulfilling way to live (1 Cor. 13).
Larry and I survived those early years of mythical thinking. Now, after thirty-two years of marriage, Larry makes my coffee every morning, prays with me, listens to my gripes and complaints, gives me encouragement in my struggles, and accepts all of my quirky ways. It hasn’t been the easy journey that I thought it would be, but I think our love is richer for having struggled. I thank God every day for the reality of my marriage.
©Judy Bodmer 2007 All Rights Reserved


The legend is that at the beginning of the 16th century, a ship carrying a group of Portuguese Franciscan missionaries was hopelessly lost in the
In thanksgiving, the Franciscans built this church in 1516 and dedicated it to ‘Our Lady of Light’ (Nossa Senhora da Luz). Some historians dispute the date but it is the official view of the Madras Mylapore Diocese under which the Luz Church comes. Anyway, it is considered to be the oldest existing Catholic church in Chennai. I saw a mention on the Internet that Marco Polo had visited a church in Chennai. Perhaps there was one built by early Christians of the place at the spot where
The original church building at Luz was damaged during attacks by the
The Luz Church is small but beautiful. The exterior is modest but the interior, particularly the alter, is grand. Some pictures are reproduced below from http://luzchurch.org/ with permission of the parish priest.
On the left is
Fr. A. John Andrew, Vicar.
The feast of Prakasha Matha coincides with Indian Independence Day – August 15. Thousands participate in the celebrations regardless of caste and creed.
Also see: A historic church is no more.


Popular Nollywood actor, Williams Uchemba has revealed the greatest gifts God gave him.
He revealed this via his Instagram page.
The actor and Philanthropist who welcomed his first child months ago had shared a video of him travelling out of Nigeria.
In the video, Williams was also seen hugging his wife and daughter.
Sharing the video, Williams Uchemba revealed that his greatest gifts and blessing here on earth are not his cars or properties.
According to him, his family and the Holy Spirit are his greatest gifts from God.
Williams Uchemba hinted at how much he has missed his family.
“My greatest gifts and blessing here on earth is not my cars or properties, The Greatest gift God gave me is my Family and the Holy Spirit. Missed by babies,” he captioned the video.


Hello life. How are you right now? I hope that you are always enjoying the day which comes. Because you are not here right now if you were made for nothing. But now, you have been growing up and facing the world for twenty three years.
Do you still remember about the promises that you spoke when you met up with your God back then? About what you life for, who will you standing with, and how will you walking through. I hope that you are not forgetting that hard moment. When you agreed to be His Caliph for this world even the hills and mountains couldn’t. Verily, you have to remember it once again.
Oh life, what will you face tomorrow? Do you know? Ya, of course not. But is there any thing you have learned from your past? You have grown up for this years and you did know nothing? How poor if you didn’t.
To life. I remind you. Please do something. Don’t ever satisfied with the world given to you. It will not made anything good for you after this. But please make something for the day after you are coming again to another world. You know what I mean.
This is how I can speak to you oh life. Find something for your second life. Because today isn’t the time to play and watch. You are something for the big thing after tomorrow. 🙂


Allan (lead pastor) & Toni Fraser
Allan and Toni have been in church leadership since March 2014.
As well as being a primary school teacher for many years, Allan has also worked in labouring and catering and an assortment of other jobs. In his spare time he enjoys playing football, snooker and going to the gym, and is also a governor for two local schools.
Toni is a self-employed British Sign Language-English Interpreter. She is passionate about empowering people in their God-given abilities. She has a heart for the Deaf community, worship and telling people about Jesus. When she has a spare moment, you can usually find her watching TV in bed!
Together they have lived in the Northeast of England all of their lives, most of it in Darlington. They have been married since 1997 and have two grown-up children.
They have a passion for Darlington and its people, and love helping people encounter Jesus and grow in their Christian walk.
paul saxton (Evangelist)
Paul is married to Rebecca, they got married in 2006 and have two young sons, Noah and Jacob. Paul has been involved in many areas of church life, including youth work and evangelism. He has a real heart for discipleship and seeing the Kingdom of God expand in his hometown.
Paul graduated from Cliff College in Derbyshire with a BA (Hons) degree in Theology and went on to complete the Graduate Teacher Program in 2008. He is now a secondary school RE teacher in Middlesborough. Paul is a lifelong supporter of Darlington Football Club and enjoys time with his family.
alan & sue ormerod (Prayer & pastoral)
Alan and Sue have been married since 2005 and have been involved in pastoral ministry together, and both share a passion to build a strong church family in Darlington where every member is valued and plays a significant part.
Alan was born and bred in Darlington and is a life long supporter of Darlington FC. He currently works in the telecommunications industry and in the past has spent many years managing pubs and clubs. He enjoys a pint and a game of dominoes with his mates, he's a fan of Rod Stewart and likes nothing better than to put his feet up and watch a western movie.
Sue is from Middlesbrough, where she is also a life long supporter of her beloved local football team, the Boro. Sue works part time as a social worker for a national charity and also enjoys meeting friends or going out for a meal with Alan. Sue has a passion to see people grow in faith and maturity and in their relationship with God, and has a special heart for prayer.


St. Jude Iraq is a nonprofit foundation bringing hope to internally displaced children of religious minorities in Iraq and refugees in diaspora. We bring hope to the suffering, sick, and homeless children who are the victims of war and persecutions.
Our vision is to help children through multiple ways
- Food for hungry children (research, identify, contribute financially to organizations that serve the hungry)
- Provide baby formula and diapers
- Clothing drives for children including hats, gloves, coats, and baby blankets
- Hygiene for children
- Humanitarian relief for special needs and handicapped children
- Medical relief and healing to the sick children
- Health examinations and treatment support for children and youth
- Research the challenges these children face and seek ways to resolve the challenge
“We need to encourage and support each child so that they can reach their full potential, in order to lead full lives that our God intended for us. “
We plan to bring joy, inspiration, and hope to all whom we work with. We plan to forever change the village, community, country, lives and future of all the lives we touch through Saint Jude Iraq.
We have plenty of causes, missions and #goals we hope to achieve. Watch the video to learn more.


Siena, The Cathedral
6 April – 27 October, 2013
The Cathedral of Siena never ceases to amaze. Following the unveiling of the floor, which acquainted numerous Italian and foreign visitors with the intarsias designed by the ancient masters to depict a route of wisdom and of faith, the Cathedral now opens its door at the very peak of the building. As of 6 April, following lengthy restoration, visitors will be able to admire the ‘heavens’ of the Cathedral. A series of rooms that have never been open to the public, where no one has entered for centuries, except for the workmen directed by a succession of great architects who over the centuries left evidence in projects and sketches, at times drawn directly on the walls.


Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul.
Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before, O my soul.
I worship Your holy name.*
I worship Your holy name.*
My favorite seasons are Spring and Fall. I LOVE the spring for the flowers, the newness of everything, the bright colors, and for finally being able to open the windows. I LOVE the fall not only because it's back to school, but for the amazing smells, crisp air, and apples! I enjoy Summer too, but my favorites are most definitely Fall and Spring.
The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning.
It's time to sing your song again.
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes.In my journey towards fitness, it has not been the "weather" that has kept me back or moved me forward, for that matter. It has been me...my decisions whether to eat right or not, whether to workout or not, whether to take the stairs or the elevator. As an obese person, it was not even so much the image in the mirror that made me feel good or bad about myself. I felt out of control, overwhelmed and just didn't care. I was tired all the time, my joints ached.
What I failed to realize is all you need is to take the first step, couple it with determination and you can start the journey. It has been a long road for me, with several setbacks. When I fractured my thumb last March, I could not use my hand to do anything. This limited my workouts, so training was at a standstill. If I was not at the gym, I tended to eat whatever I wanted, and as much as I wanted. Ultimately, I did not give up. I kept moving forward. Looking back, it's easy to say, "If you had only fill in the blank a year ago, you would be . . . by now." But I needed that part of my journey to learn how to overcome the setbacks and to stop listening to my own self-defeatist attitudes.
This weekend, I attended a women's conference at my church, entitled, "Out of Hiding." There were some topics that stirred some things up in me. When I came home, I was feeling low about a particular situation and I wanted to eat. The old feelings of hopelessness and being out of control crept up. Unexpectedly, a dear friend invited me to a comedy show, something I definitely needed. We spent some time together before the show, so I had the opportunity to talk about what I'm going through. Instead of using food to help comfort me, I am seeking the Lord for direction, Consciously, I know He is the one in control and I need to trust in Him. At a deeper level, it is much harder than that. It's not easy...trusting God and at the same asking Him to help me forgive, surrendering to Him.
And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing your praise unending.
10,000 years and then forevermore.
With Spring approaching, I thank God for the sunshine, for warmer and longer days. It lifts my soul. The warm weather will bring new opportunities to go hiking, ride my bike, and to spend time with the Lord in His creation. I realized this weekend, that no matter what storm I am facing, He is with me and will satisfy my need. I only have to seek Him.
What journey do you want to begin, but something is holding you back? Trust in the Lord to lead your path and begin the journey. Challenge yourself to weather the storm. Endeavor to succeed. Accept failures as lessons to help you stick to your path. Whether you realize it or not, you just need to take the first step to begin the journey.
*10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman


The mission of Sts. Peter & Paul is to be a beacon of Orthodox Christian spirituality in the greater Boulder area. Our diverse church family encompasses many converts to the Faith, as well as Greek, Arab, Romanian, Serbian and Russian Orthodox members. We strive together to live our Orthodox Christian Faith by having a devoted prayer life, through fasting and almsgiving, and by participating regularly in the services and Sacraments of the Holy Orthodox Church.
We welcome everyone to visit our parish to experience the ancient forms of worship that existed in the early centuries of the Christian Church — which we continue to practice unchanged today. Please take a moment to look through this website to learn more about our parish and our Faith and, if you have any questions, feel free to contact our priest, Fr. Jordan, or come and join us at one of our services or events.
Saturdays @ 4 pm (verify with This Week's Activities)
Choir rehearsal has resumed! We are meeting in the church.
Church music is an integral part of the Orthodox Church. If you have a gift for singing, please share your gift of stewardship, and become part of the choir. If you have questions, please visit with Presbytera Marika or Presbytera Kedrann.
Sundays @ 12 noon (starting September 17)
The Orthodox Christian Faith classes will be offered this coming fall. This will be a 10 part series, and will be offered on most Sundays. See This Week's Activities and the monthly calendar for an up-to-date schedule.
If you are an inquirer, interested in learning more about the Orthodox Faith or preparing to become an Orthodox Christian through the sacrament of baptism, please join us. If you have any questions, please visit with our priest, Father Jordan. You can also reach Father Jordan at email@example.com or 303-581-1434.
There will be suggested reading. The books will be available in our parish bookstore.
September 24 - 27
Men, join us on the annual Front Range Men’s Retreat. This is a wonderful opportunity for great fellowship, growing in the faith, and enjoying the outdoors. The retreat will take place at the Water Valley Ranch located in Encampment, Wyoming. Please view the ranch website at watervalleyranch.com. Men from our sister parishes will be participating.
Registration is open through September 10. See more information, full schedule, and register.
If you have any questions, please contact Father Jordan.
Services & Activities This Week
Monday (August 14)
- 7 pm Lamentations service @ Cathedral
Tuesday (August 15)
Great Feast of the Falling Asleep of the Mother of our Lord
- 8 am Orthros
- 9 am Divine Liturgy
- 11 am Potluck brunch
Saturday (August 19)
- 8 am IOCC run/walk
- 4 pm Choir practice
- 5 pm Readers Vespers
Sunday (August 20)
- 8:15 am Orthros
- 9:30 am Divine Liturgy
- 12 pm Altar Boy retreat
11th Sunday of Matthew; Samuel the Prophet; Holy Martyr Luke of Bouleutos; Afterfeast of the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary; Stephen, First King of Hungary; Hierotheos, Bishop of Hungary; Oswin the Martyr, King of Deira


Jerusalem as a Christian Sacrament
In this article I argue that all Christian traditions understand Jerusalem as a sacramental place because of its ability to serve as an instrument of God’s grace. But I want to go even further and maintain that those who write about the value of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for a Christian tend to do so in the language usually reserved for the great sacraments. Therefore, a community’s explanation of why Jerusalem is a sacrament will differ depending upon whether they are Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant, and their justification of the pilgrimage will reflect the way their tradition understands and explains the great sacraments. Also, regarding the three aspects of pilgrimage (exegetical, tactile, and ritualistic), the three traditions will each put an emphasis on a particular aspect; so the Roman Catholics emphasize ritual, the Orthodox the tactile, and the Protestants the exegetical.
The Evolution of Pilgrimage to Jerusalem
Following the physical ascension of Jesus and His great commission to go into the world baptizing all nations in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, it appears that the special connection between Jerusalem and God is severed. When the temple is destroyed in 70 AD and then the city itself in 132–35 AD this seems to be a final confirmation that the place where Abraham sacrificed Isaac, David established the Tabernacle, and Solomon built the Temple is no longer God’s special home. The gospel story of the renting of the Temple Vail symbolizes this transformation within Christian thinking. Now Christ’s sacrifice on the cross substitutes for the temple sacrifices and Christ’s sacrifice can be made present anywhere the Eucharist is celebrated. Christ is now to be found not only in Jerusalem or Bethlehem or Nazareth but wherever two or three are gathered in His name. Now Jesus is present through the scriptures and the breaking of bread as a spiritual but real presence that is not tied down to a particular geographic location. Christ, and therefore Christianity, is freed from its homeland and becomes simultaneously at home everywhere and nowhere.
But as the eschatological expectations of the early Christians recedes into an indefinite future, the Christian story as presented in scripture becomes an increasingly important means of “knowing” the Lord. Therefore, the need to correctly interpret the complex layers of that story becomes a major concern. This desire to more completely understand scripture recruits many skills for the task – literary, philosophic, and linguistic. It is only logical that one tool of interpretation to be used would be a visit to those places where the story took place in order to gain a clearer understanding of the text. As a result, one of the earliest types of journeys to Jerusalem by Christians for Christian purposes is the exegetical tour such as that taken by Origen or Melito of Sardis in the second century. So the first type of Christian pilgrimage seems to be the exegetical.
However, if the scholarly tour of the biblical sites is an attraction to the literary minded, most Christian believers in the ancient world were more interested in the sanctity bestowed upon a place by the glorious death of the martyrs. Around the graves of the martyrs, churches grew and communities felt empowered by the physical presence of the remains of saints. These were places of grace and that grace could be acquired by a visit and especially by touch. What has been called a tactile piety arose around these saints and their tombs. Constantine’s conversion and the establishment of the Constantinian Holy Sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem meant these same acts of tactile piety could be engaged in at the very sites of Jesus’ birth, crucifixion, and resurrection. If a saint’s remains could bestow grace how much more potentially potent were the locations of the life of Jesus Himself. So to the exegetical type of pilgrimage must be added the tactile type.
By the visit of Egeria in the 380s AD, the exegetical and the tactile pilgrimages were conjoined so that at the various holy sites the appropriate scriptural passages were read as well as the opportunity of touching the “very spot” where a sacred event had occurred and accessing the power of grace it contained. Once Egeria was in Jerusalem, however, this pattern was given even greater structure by ritually reenacting the gospel events so that the visitor/pilgrim came to be an actual participant in the divine story. By doing this the scriptures were illuminated, the grace of the holy places acquired, and the presence of Christ “realized” – made present again or re-presented. It seems that this dramatic representational ritualism was constructed under the influence of Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 389 AD) “who devised a series of services, particularly for Holy Week, closely linked with the topography of the city where he presided as bishop.” This represents the development of a third type of pilgrimage, the ritualistic.
By the end of the fourth century, exegetical, tactile, and ritualistic pilgrimages had evolved and become, as in the case of Egeria, interconnected.
The Pilgrimage Theology of the Orthodox,
Catholic, and Protestant Traditions
While each pilgrim comes to Jerusalem with their own spiritual needs and expectations these are most often shaped by their own religious and cultural traditions. It is not strange, therefore, that the three major Christian denominational groups – Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant – would approach and view the pilgrimage enterprise in different ways. It is, however, my contention that these differences are primarily based upon their particular ways of understanding the sacraments. Also that each theological tradition will tend to emphasize one of the three major types of pilgrimage: the Orthodox the tactile; the Roman Catholics the ritualistic; and the Protestants the exegetical. This is not to claim that the other types of pilgrimage are not present, only that one type tends to dominate.
The Orthodox emphasis upon the tactile component of pilgrimage arises from their belief that because it was at particular sites in Jerusalem that the Incarnate God was born, lived, died, and was resurrected these sites are themselves witnesses of the events and display the divine mystery to those who approach in faith. The holy sites are icons of the divine mysteries and, like all icons, are windows on the truth that lies behind them and doors into God’s grace that can be attained by pious prayers, touches, and kisses. Like the icons, however, the Church is responsible for shaping them so that their divine element is evident. Therefore, it is entirely appropriate for the tomb of Christ to become an “icon encrusted shrine,” or Calvary to be covered with pious pictures and precious metals with only a hole to give access to the actual stone of Golgotha.
The Orthodox view of the Holy Sepulchre is expressed in this quote from Gary Vikan on the Byzantine perspective:
The Sepulchre itself [forms] a “living icon” of the Resurrection. For like an icon, they the [worshippers] by virtue of the iconographic verisimilitude, collectively joined that chain of imparted sanctity leading back to their archetype, to the biblical event itself. And in doing so they accomplished what Theodore the Studite said all artificial images achieved: “Every artificial image . . . exhibits in itself, by way of imitation, the form of its model . . . .” Thus these pilgrims did not merely touch the locus sanctus, they became, at least briefly, iconically one and the same with it, and with that sacred event which had made it holy.
The sacramental theology that lies behind this view of the holy sites as well as the icons of Orthodoxy is the same as the Divine Liturgy – it brings heaven down to earth, the divine to the human, the transcendent to the immanent, and immortality to the mortal. The liturgy, the icons, and the holy places are not only windows into eternity, but doors as well because one can pass over the threshold, and what one sees can also be participated in. That which is represented and symbolized is also, to the faithful, available because it is re-presented, made present.
It is this effectual nature of the holy sites as channels of grace that explains the desire of the Orthodox pilgrims to go to Jerusalem. They want to participate in the celebration and re-presentation of that victory over death on the very site where it happened, so that the victory can be theirs as well. This victory over death is what the Orthodox seek in all the sacraments – to be brought into the divine, eternal, heavenly Jerusalem. A journey to the earthly Jerusalem is therefore one of the sacramental doors into that heavenly Jerusalem, where one is freed from death and sin.
For the Orthodox, therefore, the Holy Land and Jerusalem in particular is sacramental because it was at these sites that the Incarnate God lived, preached, died, and was resurrected. These sites are witness to these events and are able to display the divine mystery; they become icons for viewing the holy mysteries and are also points of access to the grace of God.
Roman Catholic View of Pilgrimage
For Roman Catholics the primary way of speaking of Jerusalem from the Middle Ages up to the recent past is in terms of the plenary indulgences offered to those who journey there in faith and partake in the various rites performed at the Holy Sites. At first glance this might seem to make the Jerusalem pilgrimage a subset of penance. But the power of the place to awaken the hardened heart, to provide succor to those in grief, to grant an assurance of forgiveness to those alienated from God by sin, to return the pilgrim to the state of the newly baptized, to make Christ present in hearts and lives, to inspire the clergy with the sacredness of their vocation, and prepare the soul for death meant that Jerusalem was viewed as almost an all inclusive sacrament, intensifying and/or renewing the sacramental grace of the others.
The tendency in Roman Catholic sacramental theology from the early years was to adopt the
instrumental view which considered the liturgical acts as means used by God, acting through the mediation of the ordained minister, to give grace to people. In this perspective Christians come to the liturgy to receive sacraments, to be freed from their sins, to be blessed. This receptive approach to the role of the faithful coincided with the increasing exclusion from active participation in sacramental liturgy.
When by the twelfth century attempts are made to define sacraments even more precisely there was a problem of fitting them all into one category. The one common element seemed to be the liturgical ceremony. So that ceremony “by itself was identified as the sacrament, and the focus of understanding Christian sacramentality became more limited.”
This would help explain the importance in Roman Catholic pilgrimages of ritualistic acts performed at the Holy Sites usually by ordained priests. This is evidenced by the predominance of Roman Catholics who liturgically walk the Stations of the Cross with clerical leaders or the crowds who follow the Franciscans in their peripatetic prayers through the Holy Sepulchre. The format of these rituals tend to be a biblical reading which mentions the site, prayers which express the theological significance of what occurred at the site, followed by common prayers or antiphonal prayers which ask God’s blessing on those present that they might be transformed by appropriating the loving God revealed in the acts that took place on this spot.
Post-Vatican II sacramental theology has begun to reevaluate the “instrumental view” and allows the sacraments to be seen in a more inclusive, multifaceted way. Increasingly the emphasis is upon the ecclesial community created and nurtured by the sacraments. Again a Jerusalem pilgrimage fits the criterion since creating a sense of Christian identity and commitment is one of the most obvious results of a faithful pilgrimage, especially if done in conjunction with members of the same ecclesial group.
The Protestant View of Pilgrimage
The Holy Land and Jerusalem as a sacrament is a concept held by many Protestant pilgrims. At first glance this may seem to be an odd designation for these Protestants to use but it is quickly evident that it is a very Protestant understanding of sacramentality.
For Protestants the primal sacrament is the Word of God. In Jesus we encounter the Word of God made flesh and in the Bible we encounter the Word of God in narrative form transformed into an encounter with Christ Himself through faith. In Jerusalem the ability of the land, the places, to make the biblical narrative come alive and re-present the story of Jesus gives it the power to transmit the narrative of the Bible and therefore be a source of encountering the Word Himself – the living, resurrected Christ – through faith. The Protestant sacramentality is to either see it as an effectual memorial of God’s loving regard for the world (Zwingli, d. 1531) or to see it as a re-presenting to the faithful the spirit of Christ (Calvin). Jerusalem can and does do both in the eyes of the Protestant pilgrims. It is in this sense that Protestant pilgrimages are primarily exegetical.
Because the Protestants are mainly interested in pilgrimage events which enlighten them about the Bible – its history, customs, geography – they often find the traditional sites too altered (they would often say polluted) from their original appearance and therefore less able to serve their purpose to imaginatively bring them into the world of the Bible. So they prefer the Garden Tomb, discovered by General Gordon, to the Holy Sepulchre, the Mount of Olives to Golgatha.
The Jesus of the land rather than the sites was of the essence to these Protestant pilgrims, as their accounts and even the titles of their books proclaimed. The “land” seemed to serve for them two interconnected theological functions. First, in a very important and also very Protestant way, it was a sacrament, and second, it was a way of responding to the growing apprehension among the English literary classes that the Bible might not be historically true.
This Protestant idea of the Holy Land as a sacrament is an idea mentioned by John Kelman in his book The Holy Land:
A journey through the Holy Land may reasonably be in some sort a sacramental event in a man’s life. Spiritual things are very near us, and we feel that we have a heritage in them; yet they constantly elude us, and need help from the senses to make them real and commanding. Such sacramental help must surely be given by anything that brings vividly to our realization those scenes and that life in the midst of which the Word was made flesh. The more clearly we can gain the impression of places and events in Syria, the more reasonable and convincing
will Christian faith become.
Later he explicates this thought more closely:
The sacramental quality of the Holy Land is of course felt most by those who seek especially for memoirs and realizations of Jesus Christ. Within the pale of Christianity there are several different ways of regarding the land as holy, and most of them lead to disappointment. The Greek and Roman Catholic churches vie with one another in their passion for sites and relics there, and seem to lose all sense of the distinction between sublime and grotesque in their eagerness for identifications. A Protestant counterpart to this mistaken zeal is that of the huntsman of the fields of prophecy . . . [those who try and read the signs of the end times]. Apart from either of these are others less orthodox but equally superstitious who have some vague notion of occult and magic qualities which differentiate this from other regions of the world . . . . It is wiser to abandon the attempt at forcing the supernatural to reveal itself, and to turn to the human side of things as the surest way of ultimately arriving at the divine.
For this Protestant perspective the proper understanding of the sacrament is to understand its power to bring the Bible and its stories and characters alive, a dramatic way of impressing them more vividly on the memory and the imagination. In this sense the Holy Land is not just illustrative but makes Jesus and the Bible real in the same way that Jesus is real in the Lord’s Supper – a memory that re-presents Him to those who participate in faith. For most Protestant commentators on the Holy Land, this concept of the relationship to the land is related more to the sacramental theology of Calvin than to that of Zwingli. The re-presentation is more than just a memory (Zwingli); indeed it is a making of Jesus present once again, albeit in a spiritual manner (Calvin). Another phrase used to express this same idea is that the Holy Land is a fifth gospel or another Bible. J.M.P. Otts, an American but with an attitude very representative of the English Protestants, says of his book:
This is not a “book of travels,” though it never could have been written if the author had not travelled in Palestine; for it is the result of the careful reading of the Gospels in the lights and shades of the land where Jesus lived and taught. When so read it is found that the land of Jesus so harmonizes with the four written Gospels, and so unfolds and enlarges their meaning, that it forms around them a Fifth Gospel.
Otts drew the term from the nineteenth century French biblical scholar Renan’s use of it in his Life of Jesus, but he gave it a very different meaning because, whereas Renan saw the Bible as a human story mistakenly made divine, Otts saw the Bible as a divine story made human and therefore fundamentally sacramental. Tweedie reiterates the common Protestant theme that the Holy Land can make Jesus come alive in the hearts and imaginations of those who approach in faith: “A visit to the Land of Promise, so long the land of grief and oppressions, furnishes a thousand proofs and confirmations of the Bible. It is indeed a second Bible, all responsive to the first.”
To the extent that the Bible stands at the center of the Protestant faith as the primary vehicle of God’s communication to His people, then the Holy Land as a revealer of the Bible and its meaning is itself a form of revelation, making it a channel of grace – a sacrament. Not everyone can travel to the Holy Land, of course, and it is not necessary, in fact, because those who do so can communicate and preserve their experiences (just as the original disciples did) through books about the Holy Land and, eventually, photographic essays. Hence the plethora of Holy Land books produced in English in the nineteenth century. These testimonies allowed others to come to know the Jesus whom the Holy Land proclaims but whose true domain is in the hearts of believers.
Although the various Christian communities justify the sacramental nature of Jerusalem differently, and although each tradition is uncomfortable (although to different extents) with making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem seem obligatory, as the Haj in Islam, nevertheless the experience of many Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem – no matter what their denomination or theological orientation – is so transformative that they cannot describe it except in the terms of a sacrament. And so Jerusalem is both an historical site but also an access point to the heavenly Jerusalem where one can encounter Christ and therefore God, where God’s Kingdom has come eschatologically through faith.
1 John Gordon Davies, Pilgrimage Yesterday and Today: Why? Where? How? (London: SCM Press, 1988).
2 Gary Vikan, “Pilgrims in Magi Clothing: The Impact of Memesis on Early Byzantine Pilgrimage Art,” in The Blessing of Pilgrimage, ed. Robert Ousterhout (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1990).
3 Bernard Cooke, Sacraments & Sacramentality (Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 1994); Peter Fink, S.J., ed., The New Dictionary of Sacramental Worship (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1990).
4 Cooke, Sacraments, 118.
5 John Kelman, The Holy Land (London: A. & C. Black, 1909), 3.
6 Kelman, The Holy Land, 5–6.
7 John Martin Philip Otts, The Fifth Gospel: The Land Where Jesus Lived (Chicago: Revell, c.1892), 5.
8 Reverend W. K. Tweedie, Jerusalem and its Environs (London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1873), 102.


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Successful Businessman now walking with God realizing there is more to life than material possessions. Looking to help those in need achieve financial independence. We believe entrepreneurship is the most effective way to fight poverty and pull people out of its hold. We want to help you achieve this goal through owning and operating your own small business.
We offer FREE Entrepreneurship Mentoring FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO WANT TO ELEVATE THEMSELVES OUT OF POVERTY and own and operate their own small business. You do not have to be a Christian, but our mentoring and program is Christian based and revolves around God's plan for our lives.
If you would like to find out more. Please visit our website at:
do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers


I’ve been married over four months now, maybe the four best months of my life. I am married to a man I love, respect, and greatly admire. He is my hero! My whole life changed after we got married, in many different ways. I now get up more than two hours earlier every day to make him breakfast and see him off to work. I have to remember to pack him a lunch every evening to take to work the next day, and to pick up his shirts from the dry cleaners. I no longer answer for social engagements after consulting my planner…I ask him also before answering. I can never make fish for dinner (he is allergic), and I have to use an extra blanket at night, because he likes to sleep with the air conditioning on…and I’ve never been happier.
He takes care of me, he plans nice evenings for us together, he enjoys being with me, he compliments me, he gives me massages, he kills spiders for me, he protects me, he gets mad when someone raises their voice at me, he carries heavy things for me, he takes out the garbage, he pays the bills, he makes me laugh….I feel very lucky to have found such a wonderful man.
Someone once sent me a marriage prayer, for newlyweds I was told, but I expect anyone married will appreciate it. Here it is, the most beautiful Marriage Prayer –
Lord Jesus, Grant that I and my spouse may have a true and understanding love for each other. Grant that we may both be filled with faith and trust. Give us the grace to live with each other in peace and harmony. May we always bear one another’s weaknesses and grow from each other’s strengths. Help us to forgive one another’s failings and grant us patience, kindness, cheerfulness and the spirit of placing the well-being of one another ahead of self.
May the love that brought us together grow and mature with each passing year. Bring us both ever closer to You through our love for each other. Let our love grow to perfection.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Our photographer has recently provided us with our thank you cards, and I’ve spent four solid nights writing over one hundred cards. I still have a few more to do, but have over 80% done. I ordered cards with no pre-printed message, so that I could write a special message to each guest. I’m so grateful for the kindnesses of each, that I feel they deserve more than a pre-printed note (if my wrist cramps a bit after so much writing, I remind myself of their warm wishes and generosity).
Our next project together is selecting our photos for enlargements and for our photo albums.


The primary purpose of this body of believers is to worship God through preaching, teaching, singing, and witnessing, to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This provides for our spiritual growth, and keeps us mission-minded before a lost world. We fulfill this calling through corporate worship services, through a program of Christian nurture, through proclamation of the Gospel by word and deed, and through ministering to human needs in the Name of Christ.
Recognizing Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church, we ascertain and obey the will of our Lord in all matters of faith and practice. Christ gives authority for governing and reaching decisions for the church, to us. We hold that such authority and responsibility is vested in the active membership of the congregation.
In carrying out the wider ministry for which Christ has made His Church responsible, we adhere to, and are a member of, Potomac River Baptist Association of Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Inc., The National Capital Baptist Convention of Washington, D.C. and Vicinity and The National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc.
We accept the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired record of God's revelatory actions in human history, and as the authoritative basis for its doctrine and practice. The confession of faith adopted by this Church is regarded as an expression of doctrine of grace as set forth in the Scriptures.


Ernest O. Heise
1917 – 2005
Ernest Heise passed away at the Menno Home for the Aged, Grunthal, MB on Wednesday, March 9, 2005 at the age of 87.
He is survived by his wife Anna, two daughters, two stepdaughters and one son.
The funeral service will be held at Birchwood Funeral Chapel, 150 Penfeld Dr., Steinbach, on Monday, March 14, 2005 at 10:30 a.m. Interment to follow at Glen Eden Memorial Gardens, West St. Paul, MB
Cole Daniel Friesen
2004 - 2005
Job 1:21 “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Our son, Cole Daniel, completed our family on February 21, 2004. He, being the fourth child received and gave much love, joy and attention. He made this world a beautiful place for his family. He was a wonderful, content baby. We know that he was a piece of heaven and a special gift from God. Cole was just starting to experience the joy of walking and the freedom it gave him to explore the world (like getting to the open dishwasher). Cole made you feel like you were the special person he was waiting to see and he was always ready for a good giggle.
The joys he brought to us as a family, the good times he generated, and the radiance that flowed from his heart, and hopes we had of his influence for good in this world, made this heartbreaking accident more difficult. On Saturday morning, March 12, 2005 at approximately 9:30 a.m. Cole went home to be with Jesus. The one year and 19 days we shared with him, leave us with precious memories and we thank God for each and every one of them.
He will be greatly missed by us, his parents Jeff and Janet Friesen; his siblings Keara, Karlee and Dean; both grandparents Dick and Betty Friesen and Peter and Anne Harder; one great-grandmother Mary Toews; aunts and uncles and cousins, Tony, Mona and Rick; Lavern and Joelah, Lauren, Iain, and Vaughn; Barry and Norine, Sharayah, Jayden and Myka; Dwayne and Sheila, Ty, Tess and Romi; Mat and Carmelle, Tanner and Declyn; Paul and Bev, Sarah, Lisa, Ryan and Marissa: Ron and Phyllis, Justin, Kristin and Kayla; Ken and fiancé Sarah.
We wish to express our gratitude to our families, friends, medical staff, first responders, John and Gary, also Officer Blanchette whose kindness was greatly appreciated.
The funeral service will be held Tuesday, March 15, 2005 at 2 p.m. at the Bergthaler Mennonite Church, 101 Southwood St., Grunthal, MB with viewing prior to the service. Interment at Grunthal Cemetery.
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and
The power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God!
He gives us the victory
Through our Lord Jesus Christ”
I Corinthians 15:56, 57
1992 – 2005
Andreas Weiss, of Steinbach, MB passed away at his residence on Thursday, March 17, 2005 at the age of 12 years.
He is survived by his parents Deana and Andreas Dietrich and two sisters Anna and Juliana. He was predeceased by his father Alexander Weiss in 1998.
Viewing will be held at Birchwood Funeral Chapel on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 from 7 to 9:00 p.m. The funeral will be held at the Ridgewood Evangelical Mennonite Church on Thursday, March 24 at 12 Noon. Interment at the church cemetery.
Brian Wayne Chambers
August 29, 1954 to March 17, 2005
It is with great sadness that we announce that Brian Chambers of Steinbach went home to be with the Lord following a short and brave battle with cancer.
Left to mourn his passing are his loving wife Hilda Anne, daughter Jessica Marie, son Tyler Kenneth Scott all of Steinbach as well as son Devon Wayne and stepdaughter Tamara Marie of Taber, Alberta. Brian is also survived by his parents Don and Ida Chambers of Brandon, MB, two sisters Barb (Nigel) Packwood of Swan River, Cathie Shaw of Whitehorse, YK and brother Carl (Lois) of Winnipeg, MB; sisters and brothers-in-law Helen and George Kehler, Kathy Fehr of Steinbach, John and Mary Stahn and Neil and MaryAnne Fehr and John and Heather Fehr of Mitchell. Brian has many cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles who will miss and remember him always.
Viewing will be held at Birchwood Funeral Chapel on Monday, March 21 from 7-8 p.m. with a private family devotional to follow. A Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday, March 22 at 2 p.m. at Birchwood Funeral Chapel. Ash interment at Heritage Cemetery.
If friends so desire donations may be made to the Family Trust Fund set up at the Scotia Bank in Steinbach.
Nick G. Hiebert
1920 - 2005
Sunday, March 20, 2005, Nick G. Hiebert passed away at the age of 84 at the Grace General Hospital, in Winnipeg, MB.
Nick was born as Klaas Hiebert to David W. and Susana Hiebert on September 21, 1920, the 11th child of 12 children. He grew up on a small farm in Chortitz (now Randolph), MB. He had various occupations in this lifetime, from hauling beets and logs for telephone poles, to being a missionary dentist in places like Sexsmith and Valhalla Center, Alberta. In Esperanza, British Columbia, he worked at moving houses and doing maintenance at the local hospital. In 1964 he moved the family to Imperial Beach, California to work as a missionary dentist in Tijuana, Mexico for several years. After that he helped elderly people at the rest home where Elsie (his now deceased wife) worked, and in later years spent many hours catering to grandchildren.
He married Elsie in 1948 with whom he shared 55 years. Together they raised a family of five children: Ruth (Bruce), Dan (Shirley), Allan (Sue), Larry and Ron (Patty). His nine grandchildren include Tanya, Charlene, Theresa, Mark, Laura, Nathan, Jennifer, Kyle and Melissa. Of his siblings, Peter, Henry, Helen, Peter, Susana, David, Jacob and George predeceased him. He is survived by his brothers Abe, Ben and Philip.
The memorial service will be held at Birchwood Funeral Chapel, 150 Penfeld Dr.; Steinbach, MB on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 at 2 p.m.
1928 – 2005
It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden passing of our husband, father and grandfather David Kauenhofen on March 24, 2005. He is lovingly remembered by his beloved wife of almost 50 years. He is survived by his wife Agatha, sons Richard (Val) and their children Marilee, Daniel, Bethany, David of Carbon Alberta; Mike (Elaine) and their children Nikolai, Noa of Blumenort; Jim (Sandi) and their children Spencer, Paige of Steinbach and daughter-in-law Madeleine (Andy Thiessen) and their children Mandy, Alex, Lucas of Steinbach.
Dad was predeceased by his sons Raymond and Brian, his parents Bernhard and Maria and two brothers. He is survived by four brothers and three sisters.
Dad was born in Gretna, MB. He married Agatha Braun on November 20, 1955. They moved to the Landmark area in 1964 and farmed for approximately 20 years before moving to Steinbach. He enjoyed doing many things, but his pride and joy was when his children and grandchildren came to visit.
Viewing will be held Mon., March 28 at 7 p.m. with a devotional a 7:30 p.m. at Birchwood Funeral Chapel, 150 Penfeld Dr.; Steinbach. The funeral service will be held Tues., March 29 at 2 p.m. at Steinbach Mennonite Church, 345 Loewen Blvd. Interment at Heritage Cemetery.
If friends so desire donations may be made to Mennonite Central Committee, 134 Plaza Drive, Wpg, MB R3T 5K9
“Dad, you will be greatly missed and fondly remembered.”
Margaret Neufeld (nee Funk)
1918 - 2005
Margaret Neufeld, age 86 of Steinbach, passed away peacefully on March 31, 2005 at Bethesda Hospital.
She is survived by four daughters and five sons and their families. She was predeceased by her husband Abe H. Neufeld in 2003.
The Funeral Service will be held at Birchwood Funeral Chapel on Sunday, April 3, 2005 at 2:30 p.m. with viewing one hour prior to the service. Interment in Randolph Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Bethesda Palliative Care, Box 939, Steinbach, MB R5G 1A3
Katherina (Neufeld) Friesen
1914 - 2005
Katherina was born in Hochfeld, Manitoba on October 14, 1914 to Abraham and Aganetha Unrau. Mother passed away peacefully at 8:10 p.m. at the Bethesda Hospital on April 4, 2005 at the age of 90 years.
Mom grew up on the family farm in Hochfeld together with seven brothers and six sisters. In 1933 she was baptized upon confession of her faith in the Chortitzer Church. On October 16, 1934 she married our father John H. Neufeld who predeceased her in 1967 after 31 years of marriage.
She was also predeceased by her parents, seven brothers, four sisters, one son-in-law, one grandson and one great grandson.
After 12 years of widowhood Mom married Cornelius M. Friesen in 1979. They shared 21 years of marriage before Cornelius’ death in 1998.
Mother leaves to mourn her passing five children: son John (Sarah) Neufeld of Steinbach, Nettie (Henry) Kehler of Niverville, Mary Peters of Colony Bergthal, Paraguay, Bill (Dorothy) Neufeld of Steinbach and Martha Neufeld of Steinbach, 21 grandchildren, 33 great grandchildren and three great great grandchildren as well as six stepchildren: Helen Hiebert, Ed (Anne) Friesen, Cornie (Mary) Friesen, Paul (Tina) Friesen, Abe Friesen, Albert (Anne) Friesen, 23 grandchildren, 36 great grandchildren and eight great great grandchildren. She was predeceased by one son-in-law and one grandson from the Friesen family.
Mother worked hard all her life. After Dad passed away she worked for nine years at the St. Malo Sewing Factory and then for two years at the Ste. Adolphe Nursing Home as a Nurses Aid. Mom loved to travel and entertain company. She greeted everyone who visited her home with smiles and enthusiasm. She was well known for her “faspas” and was an excellent cook.
Mom became ill and passed away very quickly. In the last few weeks she often expressed that she was tired and she looked forward to going home to be with her Lord and Saviour.
“Rest well Mom, you earned it. We will miss you always.”
Viewing will be held at Birchwood Funeral Chapel in Steinbach on Friday, April 8 at 7 p.m. with a devotional at 7:30 p.m. The funeral service will be held Saturday, April 9 at 2 p.m. at the New Bothwell Sommerfeld Church. Interment at Niverville Cemetery.
If friends so desire donations may be made to Heart and Stroke Foundation of Manitoba, 200 - 6 Donald Street; Wpg., MB R3L 0K6


The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards.
10:30am & 6pm
"That through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known"
We teach the authority of Scripture Alone which testify that Christ Alone atoned for our sins by His Grace Alone to give us eternal life through Faith Alone that we may give Glory to God Alone. Ephesians 2:8-9


It has to do with that which I believe, and with the way in which that belief is expressed and practised; in other words with faith and religion and the (to me at any rate) apparently increasing distance and difference between the two. It’s also very subjective and carries weight only for me. That could make it very self-indulgent, but what I mean is that I’m just trying to work out where I am, and not trying to prescribe where anyone else should be.
I’ve been a Christian in an active and personal sense for most of my life. At times, especially close to the beginning of that journey, I have bought in fairly uncritically to the faith system promoted by that part of the Christian church that I encountered – the evangelical end of he Church of England. There have been times of questioning and doubt, times of learning and change but I’ve stayed with it both personally and professionally as a priest in the CofE for more than 40 years now. Retirement 7 years ago brought a freedom from the “daily round” of parish commitments and the space to stop and think and face up to questions that had been somewhat buried under timetables, deadlines and expectations, and while that’s a good thing, it has also proved quite unsettling. Hence this exercise which is something akin to the notion that “I think I’d better think it out again” (to quote a song).
I begin with what I observe in the human condition. At the moment we are in the midst of the Brexit “debate” (the inverted commas feel right, perhaps because I’m not sure how much of a real debate is going on, it feels rather more like a shouting match from entrenched positions!). That polarisation shows people at their worst – destructive, opinionated, dismissive of others, selfish, greedy for personal advance / victory, insecure and thus unable and unwilling and afraid to reach out to others. Charlie Brown in Peanuts all those years ago surely had it right ….. “I love mankind, it’s people I hate!”
The curious thing is that exactly the opposite is also true. Humanity is wonderful; creative, compassionate, self sacrificial. People are capable of a concern for justice and righteousness that can be truly costly to the individual, and that price is paid willingly and even joyously because the cause is right. The music of Bach, Beethoven, Mahler and Sibelius (and many, many others) conveys sadness and pain, joy and peace in ways that truly uplift the soul. Great poets, artists, sculptors, architects and yes even politicians, diplomats, priests and rulers show themselves to be truly great in their analysis and understanding and thus bring untold good to generality of the social round.
The sheer creativity of science seems to hold together the tension between the goodness and the badness of humanity. Nuclear power is in some ways a cliched example, yet the capacity for healing, for benign power sources, for physical, chemical and biological development contrast horrifically with the destructive power of nuclear weaponry …. “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds”
Then there is the planet and indeed the universe in which we exist. It is at times a fearsome and even terrifying place. A place of earthquakes and tsunamis; a place of volcanoes and avalanches; a place of climatic change, however caused, which seems to threaten our very existence. Yet also it is a place of stunning beauty whether in the local glories of the hills and dales of Yorkshire, or in the mind boggling glimpses of infinity in the countless stars of a clear night, that vista itself made all the more extraordinary by the discoveries of space exploration and science.
The potential for unselfish goodness in humankind; the creativity of humanity expressed in both science and the arts; the breathtaking wonder of the natural world …….. all of these I think point beyond the mundane to “something else”. I do believe in the theory of evolution, but I find it hard to accept for instance that goodness and creativity have merely evolved out of our instincts for survival and are thus in themselves intrinsically selfish. So for me, it’s here that begins a wondering about the “other” that leads even the worst of us to have a potential for the best.
If I say “that’s where God comes in” that lays me open to accusations of looking for a “god of the gaps” and I recognise that. I can’t think quite how to avoid that. Is it so wrong to look for an explanation of the inexplicable that stands outside the very greatest of human intellects and thus acknowledges the limitations of art and science? Both of those disciplines have grown and progressed over the centuries of humanity’s existence and we undoubtedly know much more than we used to about “the world the universe and everything”. The conundrum though is that despite the evolution of knowledge, the human spirit still embodies the good and the bad. Violence is still if not (in physical terms anyway) the very first resort’ certainly not the last resort. I’m re-reading Bernard Cornwell’s “Last Kingdom” series based in the 9th century, and undoubtedly the leaders of people in those distant days were wont to kill and destroy their enemies with swords, shields, spears and axes. These days the destruction is not on the whole as physical and we have a veneer of civilisation, but beneath the veneer lurk the same attitudes and emotions; the basic mix of good and bad hasn’t changed – as recent events make clear.
For me then, that searching for a power, a force, a spirit that expresses itself in the glories of the natural world, and which transforms the purpose in humanity from a mere instinct for survival to a sometimes self sacrificial generosity to others finds a resting place in “the God who is seen in Jesus” (to quote David Jenkins).
I’m currently reading (yes, two books at once!) “Jesus, a new vision”, by Marcus J Borg, which I am finding both helpful and challenging. I read Chapter 5 this morning, entitled “The Shaping of Jesus”. This was somewhat coincidental with trying to write this piece, and whether serendipity or the Holy Spirit, I find it extremely relevant to my question and very useful. So I’m going to quote it extensively as he develops the idea of Jesus, whom he describes as a mystic, and as one for whom “God was not simply an article of belief, but an experienced reality”
“Speaking of God:
The notion that God can be experienced is foreign to many in the modern world. Atheists of course deny that such experiences are possible, and agnostics are sceptical. But even many Christians in our time find the claim strange. To a considerable extent, this is because the most common Western concept of God, shared by Christians as well as by many atheists and agnostics, is that the word ”God” refers to a person-like being separate from the universe. Because this “superbeing” is not here, but somewhere else, “out there”, beyond the universe, God is not a reality that can be experienced.
The term commonly used for this way of thinking of God – as being separate from the universe – is supernatural theism. This form of theism seems orthodox to many Christians because of its familiarity (from the Bible) …….. but when taken as a concept of God, as the meaning or referent of the word “God”, it is misleading and inadequate, for it is only half of the biblical concept of God. It speaks only of God’s transcendence, God’s beyondness.
The Bible also speaks of God’s presence everywhere and in everything. …… Paul suggests that God is the one “in whom we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28) …… God is not somewhere else, but right here, all around us, the encompassing Spirit in whom everything that is, is. ……. God is everywhere, God is omnipresent ….. this is God’s immanence. …… for orthodox Christian theology through the centuries, God is both transcendent and immanent, both more than the universe and present in the universe.
A term increasingly used to name this way of thinking about God is panentheism (which) affirms that everything is in God, even as it also affirms that God is more than everything.”
He goes on then to discuss the ways in which God might be experienced, but while that’s well worth reading, I think I’m making a slightly different connection here. I wonder if the transcendent God of supernatural theism is the god defined and described in creeds and doctrines and which the church (in its many different guises) has sought over many centuries to own, control and administer in its sacraments. The immanent God of panentheism is perhaps the elusive Spirit of John 3:8 “the wind / spirit / pneuma blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes”. This is God who far from being a remote tweaker of knobs and puller of strings is in us and around us, that power / force / spirit that is ever nudging us from the bad to the good, from the destructive to the creative. Above all this is the God “who is seen in Jesus”. It occurs to me that this sounds very like what I have read of Celtic theology – which was of course “defeated” many centuries ago by the imported orthodoxies of Roman christianity. That begs one of the great “what if” questions of the history of Christendom … if only the Council of Whitby had found a different result!
If I find myself becoming slowly more at ease with my understanding of my own faith as a Christian, the other side of that is an attitude to the CofE and to the institutionalised church in general which is becoming increasingly less comfortable. If I look back I think there has been an undercurrent of unease with church / religion somewhere in the back of my mind for much of my Christian experience. I will and do accept that the CofE (which is of course the outfit that I know best and which has had the greatest influence on my spiritual life) has the right to decide on and order its way of doing things. What I now begin to accept (and it feels a touch pathetic that I only really begin to accept it after nearly 45 years of close involvement with the church!) Is that it doesn’t in any sense control the work of the Spirit. The institutional church has the potential to be of great value to the cause of the Kingdom of God. Sometimes it fulfils that potential and I hasten to add that I have at times drawn great spiritual benefit from it. It feels a bit like going to the gym though ….. it’s not the only way to stay fit!
More to be said on this theme, but that’ll do for now!


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Table of contents
- 3 Stages of Healing from a Toxic Relationship with Your Mother
- BBC - Religions - Christianity: The Miracles of Jesus
- World Leading Books, DVDs and CDs By Margrit Coates
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First, James speaks clearly about the relationship of sickness to sin in v. James agrees with Jesus John and Paul 2 Cor.
3 Stages of Healing from a Toxic Relationship with Your Mother
Sometimes it is see 1 Cor. In other words, if sin was responsible for his sickness, the fact that God heals him physically is evidence that God has forgiven him spiritually. Second, the sin James has in mind may be that of bitterness, resentment, jealousy, anger, or unforgiveness in our relationships with one another, or conceivably any number of sins we may have committed against God.
He probably has in mind either confessing to the person against whom you have sinned, or confessing to another believer your more general transgressions or violations of biblical laws. What this tells us is that God has at times chosen to suspend healing mercy on the repentance of his people.
- The Redemption of Pilate!
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- The Therapeutic Situation in the 21st Century.
Third, take careful note of the example of Elijah vv. The argument has been made by some that biblical miracles were clustered or concentrated in only three major periods of history: the days of Moses and Joshua, the time of Elijah and Elisha, and the time of Christ and the apostles. The point of their argument is that Elijah and Elisha, for example, were special, extraordinary, unique individuals who cannot serve as models for us when we pray.
But James says precisely the opposite! The point of vv. James wants us to know that Elijah was just like you and me. He was a human being with weaknesses, fears, doubts, failures, no less than we. You are just like him. Therefore, pray like he did! The point is that we should pray for miraculous healing with the same faith and expectation with which Elijah prayed for the end of a three-year drought.
Let me explain.
BBC - Religions - Christianity: The Miracles of Jesus
I say this both because of the way Paul describes this spiritual phenomenon and the misconceptions surrounding it. The significant thing about 1 Cor. Evidently Paul did not envision that a person would be endowed with one healing gift operative at all times for all diseases. His language suggests either many different gifts or powers of healing, each appropriate to and effective for its related illness, or each occurrence of healing constituting a distinct or separate gift in its own right.
Some are able to pray more effectively for those with back problems while others see more success when praying for migraine headaches. One of the principal obstacles to a proper understanding of healing is the erroneous assumption that if anyone could ever heal, he could always heal. But in view of the lingering illness of Epaphroditus Phil. Therefore, a person may be gifted to heal many people, but not all. Another may be gifted to heal only one person at one particular time of one particular disease. Clearly, Paul could not heal at will.
Aside from Jesus, no one else could either! And there is doubt if even Jesus could read John ; Mark It seems better to conclude that healing, whenever and wherever it occurred, was subject, not to the will of man, but to the will of God. No one, not even Paul, could always heal all diseases.
If Paul was distressed that Epaphroditus was ill, almost unto death, and that initially his prayers for him were ineffective, I doubt seriously if the apostle would have drawn the same conclusions that modern cessationists do.
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Paul understood the occasional nature of gifts of healings. Healing is not the payment of a debt. God does not owe us healing.
I believe we should have faith for healing. But there is a vast difference between faith in divine mercy and presumption based on an alleged right. The primary reason God healed through Jesus prior to Pentecost and why he continues to heal after Pentecost is because he is a merciful, compassionate God. God is no less merciful, no less compassionate, no less caring when it comes to the physical condition of his people after Pentecost than he was before Pentecost. I would like to suggest that the reason why many are not healed may possibly be answered in any one of seven ways.
But it does mean that faith is very important see texts cited above.
But in some cases not necessarily all this is undoubtedly true. Some people who suffer from a chronic affliction become accustomed to their illness and to the pattern of life it requires. Their identity is to a large extent wrapped up in their physical disability. I realize that sounds strange to those of us who enjoy robust health. Why would anyone prefer to stay sick? They are convinced that the only reason people take note of them and show them kindness and compassion is because of their affliction.
Remaining sick is to their way of thinking a small price to pay to retain the kindness and involvement of those who otherwise would simply ignore them.
This is not a common phenomenon, but it does happen in a few cases. Perhaps they pray once or twice, and then allow discouragement to paralyze their petitions. Prayer for healing often should be prolonged, sustained, persevering, and combined with fasting. It takes considerable discernment, time, and patience to determine if an illness has a demonic cause, together with even greater commitment to praying for that individual and leading them to address the reasons for their spiritual oppression.
When these factors are ignored, healing may not be forthcoming. There are undoubtedly times and seasons in the purposes of God during which his healing power is withdrawn or at least largely diminished.
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God may have any number of reasons for this to which we are not privy, whether to discipline a wayward and rebellious church or to create a greater desperation for his power or to wean us off excessive dependence on physical comfort and convenience or any number of other possibilities. How then do we account for on-going physical affliction?
In other words, healing the sick is a good thing and we should never cease to pray for it , but often there is a better thing that can only be attained by means of physical weakness. More important to God than our physical health is our spiritual holiness. He values and has redeemed our bodies and now dwells within them as his eternal temple. But while we live in this corrupt and decaying world, inner and spiritual conformity to the image of Christ often comes only at the expense of or at least simultaneous with physical deterioration and suffering see 2 Cor.
What, then, ought to be our response? But why should Paul bother to pray for release from something that God wills to inflict?
And neither do you or I with regard to any particular illness that we may suffer. Otherwise, short of death itself, you should persevere in prayer. I know you love me and desire what is ultimately of greatest good for my spiritual growth. Therefore, my prayer now is that you maximize in me the beneficial effects of this pain. Teach me everything I need to know and sustain me that I might be a platform for the glory of Christ and a source of comfort to other suffering saints.
Finally, we must be willing to bear the stigma of perceived failure. We have succeeded when we have obeyed the Scriptures to pray for the sick. Whether or not they are healed rests with God. I agree. Although all gifts are "workings" energemata or "energizings" by divine power cf. As you can see, the word often translated "miracles" is actually the Greek word "powers" dunamis. Healing is less about fixing yourself than it is a practice of letting go. It helps you release blocks -- physical, emotional, and mental blocks and behaviors that keep you limited in your potential and true health.
For example, you might suddenly realize that certain people in your life don't make sense any more, or you may lose interest in certain foods or activities you used to enjoy. In healing you often receive clarity and insight about your life path. Healing moves you closer to your true, authentic self. It helps you experience greater peace, balance and freedom. It is also instrumental in helping you live your true potential. This includes being sensitive to your environment such as sounds, energy and the people in your surroundings.
You can be easily overwhelmed. You prefer nature, as well as quiet and calm spaces.


BUCK HILL CHURCH
2139 Buck Hill Road, Gerrardstown WV
Welcome to Buck Hill Church, the Sister Church of Martinsburg FGPC.
Buck Hill is a small Country Church tucked into the beautiful woods of Gerrardstown WV.
Buck Hill is filled with people who love the Lord, His Holy Word & prayer! If you enjoy the Old time Hymns & Southern Gospel Music, teachings & preaching from the Word of God, & sincere prayer you will enjoy our Worship Services!
Sunday School (All Ages) 10AM
Meet Our Pastor
Giving Honor Where Honor is Due
Late Rev Charles Conley had a Mission & Vision for Buck Hill Church & Gerrardstown. With his passing the Conley family gifted Buck Hill Church to Martinsburg FGPC. We are so grateful and honored to keep his Vision & Mission of this Church Alive!


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Plymouth Heights Church of the Nazarene will be in revival with The Lore Family January 7-10, 2018.
Winter Revival with The Lore Family at Plymouth Heights Church of the Nazarene
Plymouth Heights Church of the Nazarene, 25 Arnette Drive (behind Green High School) Franklin Furnace, Ohio will host a winter revival with The Lore Family beginning Sunday, January 7, through Wednesday, January 10, 2018. Rev. Darrin Lore will be preaching and the Lore Family will be providing the special singing. Sunday services are at 10:30 AM. Sunday evening service is at 6:00 PM, with Monday through Wednesday services beginning at 7:00 PM.
The Lore Family consists of Darren, Sandy and their two children, Fayth and Samuel. For over two decades, they have shared the responsibilities and joys of having a family ministry. Over the past several years, The Lore Family has ministered in hundreds of services. Although the churches and venues have been diverse, most have been very receptive to the message shared. The Lore Family sings a variety of music including; classic & current southern gospel favorites, as well as, originals written by Darren. Whether singing with tracks, live music, or a cappella, The Lore Family ministers to all ages. It doesn’t take long for others to be inspired by the passion and the anointing of this spirit-filled family. They certainly have a desire to see souls saved, the church strengthened and God’s name exalted!
Pastor Andy Ramey invites the public is invited to attend. For further information call 740-354-9021.
Minford Youth Rally
The Minford youth rally met on October 9th 2017
There were 72 total in attendance
The faithful attendance banner was awarded to Hamilton Glades Freewill Baptist church.
The banner for the largest attendance was presented to Hamilton Glades Freewill Baptist church.
Next rally will be held on November 13th 2017.
The results including team members :
First place-hamilton glades fwb members include. Bristol Stickley, Haylee Skaggs, Delaney Toland
Second place – Berean Baptist. Members include – Brooklyn Fankell, Zachary Fankell
First place goes to Berean Baptist- members include- Daniel woodring
Second place goes to Swauger Valley FWB members include- Landon Lundy, Jeremiah Smith, Lexi Murphy, Kristen Bailey, and Madi Clausing.
Third place goes to second guynandotte missionary Baptist church members include- Mary Young.
Senior sword –
First place goes to Swauger Valley FWB members include- Ester Campbell, Austin Smith, Bethany Simpson,and Alyson Bailey
Second place goes to Berean Baptist- members include- Seth Stevens, David woodring,
Third place goes to 2nd guyandotte missionary Baptist- members include Desiree Gerald, James Gerald and Derick Young
And as of quiz bowl.here are the results
First place is Swauger Valley FWB- members include- Landon Lundy Kristen Bailey, Jeremiah Smith, Lexi Murphy, Madi Clausing
Second place is Berean Baptist- members include Daniel Woodring, Brooklyn Fankell, and Zachary Fankell
Thrid place goes to Hamilton glades FWB- members include- Keira Cart, Savannah Stickley, Bristol Stickley, Haylee Skaggs, Annah Hall, and Delaney Toland.
First place is Berean Baptist- members include- David Woodring and seth stevens
Second Place 2nd guyandotte missionary Baptist- members include- desiree Gerald, James Gerald and Derick Young
Third place is Swauger valley FWB members include- Ester Campbell, Austin Smith, Bethany Simpson, and Alyson Bailey
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About the Conference
November 4–6, 2021
Beauty, Truth, and Goodness
CIVA, Christians in the Visual Arts, is thrilled to host the 2021 biennial conference in vibrant downtown Austin, Texas!
We can’t wait to share this conference with you. It’s like none other before.
Conference at a Glance
Local Art Exhibition and Welcome Reception at conference headquarters, St. David's Episcopal Church
Explore Groups - Learn More
Connection and Community
Prayer and Worship Time
Book Table and Author Signings
Late Late Show
Transcendentals are objective features of everything that exists, they are in a sense attributes of God. As God has revealed Himself through three transcendentals, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, we speak of these transcendentals as being complementary. If something is Good, it is also True and Beautiful. Likewise, if something is True, it is also Good and Beautiful. But when we consider Beauty, apart from her sisters, things begin to get complicated. We are all drawn to Beauty. It is part of our nature. It is a spark of the Divine imparted to us by the Creator. Beauty is a part of God, and as such, it is a way in which we are connected to Him.
The eastern fathers of the Church have contributed much to our understanding of the connection between Beauty and the Arts. We owe much to their thoughts and meditations on the place of beauty in our lives and that has helped us understand the value of a theology of Beauty. What we’ve learned is that Beauty has the power to draw us beyond itself and point to its source. When we consider a beautiful painting, we are initially drawn to its superficial aesthetics - but then it should draw us beyond the painted surface to contemplate the Truth and Goodness behind the image.
Of the three transcendentals, Beauty is the one we seem to understand the least. It is easy to see how the pursuit of what is True can lead us to a greater understanding of God. The same applies to Goodness. When we act rightly, we learn more about God and the reality of creation. This is no less true with Beauty. Beauty speaks to us through our imagination, allowing us to perceive reality on an intuitive, spiritual, and poetic level.
Traveling to Austin
The estimated average ride service cost $30 for a 25-minute journey between the airport and downtown Austin.
All conference activities will be within walking distance from most downtown hotels.
Street and garage parking are available throughout downtown Austin. Hotels may also offer guest parking based on individual hotel guidelines.
Registration / Conference Check In
After you’ve registered for conference we will send updates and conference schedules via email. Please be sure you have whitelisted email@example.com in your email settings in order to receive our group communications.
Not sure if you’re signed up for CIVA emails? Sign up here.
Once you arrive at the conference opening reception on Thursday evening, November 4th, there will be friendly CIVA faces ready to welcome you.
Lodging for conference is different this year. Please note that lodging costs are not included in the price of registration. Attendees should practice free will and arrange accommodations of their preference.
There are many hotels near our conference headquarters, St. David's Episcopal Church. Check the map for locations and hotel websites.
Omni Austin Hotel Downtown
Holiday Inn Express & Suites
Hotel Indigo Austin Downtown
JW Marriott Austin
The Westin Austin Downtown
Courtyard by Marriott Austin
CIVA will not be reserving hotel blocks for our attendees. We believe there are plenty of options for every size, shape, and budget in the downtown Austin area.
CIVA will not be facilitating any room shares. However, you are more than welcome to make your own arrangements with those you know. After you register for the conference, you will be invited to a group in the CIVA Network specifically for conference where you can chat with fellow attendees and express a desire for a roommate.
You can find answers to other frequently asked questions on the FAQ page.
We look forward to gathering with you in Austin!


Over time, Covenant Health’s strong, trusting relationships with Dioceses and Congregations, as well as affiliated and managed organizations have resulted in the sponsors, leadership teams and boards of independent organizations making the decision to become full members of the Covenant Health family of organizations.
- Membership is open to organizations that currently identify as Catholic and those that do not.
- Membership establishes the most formal relationship possible between Covenant Health and a historically Catholic or non-Catholic organization.
- The “Membership Agreement” details the nature of the relationship and the rights and responsibilities of each party.
As a Public Juridic Person of Pontifical Right, Covenant Health Systems has the ability to sponsor Catholic organizations, as well organizations that desire to identify with the Catholic faith. As such, Covenant has the responsibility to maintain and strengthen the Catholic health ministry. All newly sponsored organizations are subject to all Covenant Health policies and procedures.
For Organizations that Identify with the Catholic Faith:
- Transfer of sponsorship, including canonical leadership, to Covenant is available to those Catholic organizations that wish to ensure the continued Catholic identity of the organization.
- The discussions regarding potential transfers of sponsorship from Congregations or Dioceses come at the initiation of the Sponsor. Understanding that these are major decisions, Covenant Health collaborates with the Sponsors to:
- Identify the major considerations that the Sponsors have in transferring sponsorship.
- Understand the mission for the institution, its commitment to the community and other mandates and expectations.
- Following a planned transition, Covenant Health actively engages in efforts to preserve these commitments and to carry on the mission of the Sponsors.
For Organizations that Do Not Currently Identify with the Catholic Faith:
- In some circumstances, Covenant may accept a change of ownership by an organization that has no formal connection to the Catholic faith. Once sponsored by Covenant Health, the organization would generally be recognized as a Catholic entity.


- Change closes the doors we no longer use and opens the doors to greater, better blessings.
That alone is absolutely amazing. According to the Bible, God did good to those who did bad things to you. That’s a good metaphor and a mirror of what changes in our lives.
- Change the farmer things, situations and people who do not work for our best and best hle
… And that is not to help and motivate us to the desires of our hearts and to help us achieve our goals. Therefore, the change comes from cutting and eliminating and reducing those lifeless things, giving you life or helping you to prosper. And as we all know, when the leaves of a plant are cut or pruned, what happens? We experience duplication of growth. That is how change works in our lives. It changes things up. It doesn’t always sound good, but the result is better than we thought.
- All good comes from change.
Let me do it again. All good comes from change. Growth is inevitable in our world, in our lives. Every day we emerge, every day we change. And our last days are designed to be better than our former days. That means that as we change and evolve, we have only good. It is only better that we look forward to using and after our transformation process.
View change as a positive, more rewarding, rewarding experience, and allow the change to enrich not only your daily life, but also make that vision your way of life.
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This week my grandmother went into a home where she could be better cared for. These kinds of things are never easy. They can be emotionally exhausting and even physically challenging. This past weekend, I needed to empty her apartment. I didn’t know HOW I was going to do that. But family and friends continue to amaze me. The “workers” quickly jumped in to help. But I still had no idea what I was going to do with all the STUFF.
Mark VanDellen, our Eastside Campus Site Leader, reached out to the Keystone staff about a homeless man he had met. It was a compelling story. The gentleman is in his 60’s and disabled. Mark spent some time with him and heard his story. He really took some time to listen to him and encourage him. Mark’s a great encourager. Mark left the man with his phone number in case he might ever be of service.
This week, of all weeks, that man called Mark to tell him he had finally gotten his own apartment! Mark spent more time chatting with him, listening to his excitement and congratulating him on such an epic new chapter in his story. In that conversation, Mark learned that all this man had in his new place was a blow up mattress. While thrilled to be there, he had no other belongings to start his new life.
Some people would say this man is lucky, given my need to unload some things and his need to acquire. But I see God’s hand in all of it.
If we listen, it seems God speaks louder in tough times. I see him using Mark to serve and lead. I see him helping us make hard decisions to best care for his children, young and old. I see God changing lives by using each of us to help another along on the journey.
That man now has a kitchen that is fully stocked with everything you would need, a couch, chair. His apartment looks like he’s been there forever.
We put up fences. But God continues to jump them.


Krystyna Pawłowicz was born On December 15th 1896 and died in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1971. She was the elder daughter of Kazimierz Pawłowicz and Helena Jełowicka, and Bohdan Pawłowicz’s sister.
She married three times. First to Piotr Olewiński but as the marriage was not consummated, it was dissolved and Krystyna returned home. Then, she got married to Mirosław Szabuniewicz but this did not last long. Finally, she met Aleksander Hauke-Nowak, with whom she remained until he died in 1956 in Rio de Janeiro. As he was already married in the Roman Catholic Church, which did not recognize divorce, they made their relationship official in the Evangelical-Reformed Church in Warsaw.