January 2007

Greetings my friends!

I thought I would start out the new year by sending an informal note to say thank you for all your insight and responses to the articles over the years. It is exciting to see the ways the mailing list keeps growing every year, both in numbers of people and in the number of countries into which He is allowing outreach. We continue to desire to share the reality of who Jesus REALLY is with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus is using Living Reflections all over the world. The Kingdom of God IS moving!

I hope to be more diligent in sending out the Reflections in 2007. After having several weeks off for rest and recovery, I have a renewed sense of enthusiasm and energy for ministry this year. We sense God leading us in many new directions and in many different venues. I am sure that will have a direct impact on the things I share in LR. It will be fun to show up each week and see what He has for us.

In years past, all my energy has been consumed with counseling. This year He is giving us the freedom to pursue many new opportunities for teaching and training. I will try to keep you informed about what is happening as things unfold. It is my prayer that He will make a way for me to visit and fellowship with many of you who are in various corners of the world. I request that you would stand with me in prayer, that He would provide the means for me to travel and share Christ with you in a more personal way in the coming years.

All of us here at LCMI love to hear what God is doing in your lives, and we thank you for writing and sharing your journey with us. We also want to thank you for your part in our journey. Your emails and words of encouragement and your questions and comments both inspire and challenge us to more fully seek His face.

We greet you with the grace and peace that comes from God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ. Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God's Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. It's not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality. You have, after all, stuck with me all the way from the time I was thrown in jail, put on trial, and came out of it in one piece. All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God. He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does! So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:2-11 MSG)