Love goes on

I am sure you have heard stories of where a soldier from the United States was on assignment over seas and he fell in love with a local native girl. Then he suddenly found out his unit was being shipped back home or he got wounded, or whatever happened, and the romance was sort of left hanging while he had to leave. Perhaps the frustrated soldier did not even get the opportunity to say "Good bye," to the girl he had fallen in love with.

 

Then, as these stories generally go, years go by, and then one day, these long separated lovers somehow find each other once again, and finally the romance blossoms into marriage.

 

These stores have a happy ending, but in the middle, the couple who are in love are torn apart by the ravages of war.

 

In a way, all Christians are at war. Jesus told us that the world would hate us, because they don't understand or know us.

 

But the good news is that God won't ever forsake us or leave us. In fact, even though this war for our souls may grow really severe and prolonged, it cannot separate us from God's love.

 

We read what Paul wrote in Romans 8:38-39, "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

 

Wow. NOTHING is able to separate us from God's love. The devil may even kill us, but even death will not separate us from God's love. God will simply resurrect us back to life (much like the solder reuniting with his lady friend) and take us to heaven to be with Him.

 

In fact, Jesus second coming is likened to a bridegroom coming for his bride.

 

Oops, I am out of time for for today. But we will continue this thought in part two tomorrow.

 

Sincerely,

David A. Youngs

5000 men

Jesus fed 5000 men (plus women and children) with five loves of home made peasant bread and 2 small fishes.   We can read about this amazing miracle in Matthew 14:15-22, "And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.  But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.  And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me.  And he  commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.  And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.  And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away."   This was a super miracle. Everybody had been there all day and many of them had not brought anything with them to eat. One little boy had a lunch his mother prepared for him. He was willing to share it, and then Jesus prayed, and shared it with the disciples, who shared it with the people. And when all was said and done, after all the people had eaten all they wanted, 12 baskets of fragments, of leftovers if you will, were gathered up.   Where did all these people come from? Five thousand men, plus woman and children. That is a whole lot of people. Jesus did not advertise, "come to hear the gospel by the sea." There were no newspapers, or radio or television in those days. They did not have the internet with UTube to promote things. In fact, Jesus did absolutely NO advertising of any kind.   These people could have all been someplace else. They had jobs. They had other things that probably needed doing. So what was it that caused them to skip work, to stop their house cleaning, to set aside all the plans for that day to go and listen to Jesus instead?   I am trying to put myself right into the story. WHAT was the thing that drew these people to Jesus.What could he have possibly said or done that would make all these people from all different walks of life, from poor people to wealthy people, from the leaders to the lowliest followers come  out to hear Jesus?   It was the fact that Jesus LOVED them. He was talking to them about a kingdom founded on LOVE. His ideas and concepts were so startling and innovative, so mind boggling and yet compelling that these 5000 men (plus women and children) not only came to hear what Jesus said, they stayed all day. They were spell bound by what they were hearing.   It made sense. It fed the deep longings of their hearts. Jesus showed them he loved them. There were entire villages  where Jesus had passed through where there was not even one sick person. Jesus had healed them all. He LOVED them.   He did not just TALK about love, he WALKED the walk about love. He healed them all. And here we find that the disciples were concerned. These people had been listening to Jesus all day!!! They had not gone anywhere. They could not get enough. And now it was almost night. The disciples were suddenly aware that THEY were hungry. They said, "Jesus, send the people away so they can go into the surrounding towns and villages and get something to eat." And Jesus said, "no.I have a better idea. YOU feed them."   With WHAT? the disciples asked. Even if we had thousands of dollars, we can not buy a meal out here away from all the towns and villages. There are no facilities here to cook anything. How are we supposed to feed this vast multitude. There were probably at least 10,000 people there including women and children as well as the men. Imagine the expense of catering for that many people. It would have cost a fortune, if it could have even been done. I mean a simple wedding meal today costs several thousand dollars for a few hundred guests.   And Jesus said, YOU feed them. One disciple said, "all we have is this one little boys sack lunch." All it is is 5 small loves and two tiny fishes. What good is that among 10,000 people? It barely will feed the boy who brought it. You have got to be kidding Jesus. Feed these people. HOW???   Then Jesus blessed that tiny bit of food and started giving it to his disciples. They started handing it out to the crowd of people. And everyone ate all they needed, and there were twelve baskets of left overs. One basket for each disciple. YES!! It was a miracle.   The disciples knew it. The people knew it. The little boy who shared his lunch with Jesus knew it.   Imagine the story he had to tell his mother.   "Mom!! You won't believe what happened!! Jesus took that little lunch you gave me and fed over ten thousand people."   Why did not Jesus send the crowds away hungry? It would have been the sensible thing to do. It was what the disciples suggested.   I would suggest that he did not send them away hungry because He felt their need. He loved them. This was just a graphic illustration of God's love, of Jesus love. He was teaching everyone, including the twelve apostles, a lesson. It was a lesson that they never forgot. And now we can read about it in the bible.   The reason all those people came out to hear Jesus was that he LOVED them.   Sincerely, David A. Youngs

John the Revelator REVEALS!!

John the beloved disciple of Jesus says that the person who does not love his brother whom he HAS seen has not got a clue about how to love an invisible God who he has NOT even seen.   Then in the parable of the goats and the sheep, Jesus separates them according to how well they loved other people. He sets the sheep on one side and the goats on the other. Then he tells all the people in both groups why he put all them in that particular group.   To the Sheep he says, "you fed me when I was hungry. You clothed me when I was naked. When I was homeless you took me in. You visited me in prison." In other words, you LOVED on me.   They of course ask "When did we do any of these things to you?"   And Jesus answers, "As you have done it to the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me."   Wow! Jesus is calling all of us his brother. That means that we are related!! When Jesus came as a human, now we are all his brothers and sisters. He was given to the human race, and will forever be a human through eternity.   And Jesus says, because we are all brothers, how we treat people around us right now is just like doing it to Jesus.   Now this is incredible love. To voluntarily become part of your creation. For example, I have created several computer programs. But I would never consider lowering myself to the point where I would become a lowly computer program, and give up my humanity. I can't even imagine considering doing that, even if somehow I could.   But in effect, that is what Jesus did. He was so much higher than us it is like comparing us to ants. How many of you would become an ant to save the ants? Right. I would not do it.   But Jesus loved us so much, he volunteered to become human. He stepped out of His Omnipresence or ability to be everywhere at  once and is now limited by his human body. He can only be ONE place at a time now. He gave up far more than we will ever be able to comprehend.   I believe we will be studying His great gift to us for all of eternity. This gift is so huge, so big, it will take us forever just to begin understanding it. I understand only the tiniest portion. But I love the fact that God loves me!! That is tremendous.   People name drop from time to time. They say, "I know so and so, (always a movie star, or very important person like the president of the United States). In fact, some have their picture taken with other people. They proudly display this picture.   One lady I know had her picture taken with Willy Nelson, the singer. She proudly displays this picture and will tell any one who will listen about that moment when the picture was taken.   But God loves me. He is far more important than Willy Nelson, or even President Bush. He created EVERYTHING, including these people, and me. And he loves me. I have His word saying so.   In fact, Paul asks, "if God be for us, who can be against us?" It doesn't matter. God is for us, he loves us, and that is allthat really matters, isn't it?   And someday soon we will see Him face to face. And He will LOVE us personally. I can hardly wait. Heaven awaits us.   Let's go!!!   Until next time, David A. Youngs

Modern Psalm of David (me)

I praise my God

Today I praise Him for the sunshine
that finally follows after rain.
I praise Him for the loving Spirit
that heals my heartache after pain.

There is a pathway He lays before me
a long and narrow winding road
That leads at last into His kingdom
where I may enter in the fold.

And if I choose to walk that pathway
to take my cross and follow Him
He will fill me with His Spirit.
Yes nothing more I need but Him.

So today I praise His tender mercies
and recall His constant care
For my Redeemer is so awesome
and I know He's always there.

dayo 04-03-2008