This is my man and I am so proud of him. He takes care of his family, loves his wife (yay for me!), is loyal to his friends, works hard at any task given him, and is a faithful servant of the Lord. The past week and a half he's been working relentlessly on a troubled dam down in South Mississippi, a dam dangerously weakened by Hurricane Isaac. He's used all his training, knowledge, experience, and God-given wisdom in the process. He's worked day after day, and sometimes even around the clock, to do what is needed to help down-river homes from being destroyed.
Yeah, I'm kinda crazy about him.
Okay, a whole lot crazy about him.
Today, he'll be sharing about another kind of crisis. A spiritual one.
At the We Will Go Sunday afternoon worship service, he'll be sharing the story of how and why God has moved our family from our idyllic, peaceful, farm life to a house situated on a busy street corner in an inner-city neighborhood infamous for drugs, crime, intense poverty, gangs, and prostitution. And once again, I'm reminded of why he's my hero. Over the next 14 or so months of living here, Jim will be using all his training, knowledge, experience, and God-given wisdom to also help homes and lives from being destroyed. But this time, it won't be knowledge, skills, and wisdom related to breach analysis or water sheds, it will be those things God has taught him about living the life of a strong Christian man.
He's not perfect. He fails and falters. He doubts and gets dismayed.
But, he keeps on going.
He keeps on this path that the Lord has set before him despite the trials, despite the temptations, despite the hurts, despite it all.
Jim didn't grow up knowing the Lord. His life, as he describes it, was very "pagan". His choices had him on a path headed straight to death and destruction.
And then he met Jesus.
He truly became a new man. He was totally transformed. Even his mother commented once, after we'd been married a few years and had a couple of kids, that she didn't even recognize him because he was so completely changed. She was amazed at the kind of father and husband he was, knowing that he'd not grown up with good role models of either.
That's what he has to share today and in this season of life in Jackson.
Yes, his life before Jesus wasn't spent as an alcoholic homeless man caving in some abandoned crack house in an inner-city neighborhood. Neither was his life pre-Jesus spent as a drug lord with deadly authority over numerous drug dealers or a young run-away turned to prostitution out of desperation.
Yet, his sins were just as destructive, they just looked different. But they were all eating away at his soul and they were ultimately leading to death. They were keeping him far away from His Heavenly Father who had created him and wanted to bless him with a life more abundant than anything this world had to offer.
I praise God for transforming my husband's life 25 years ago. I met him when he was a brand new baby Christian. Though we didn't date til nearly three years later, as his friend, I had the blessing of watching him grab hold of this Jesus-way and going full force after a new and better way of living. I saw him quickly move from baby steps to giant leaps in the faith. He was hungry to know God and let God change every area of his life that wasn't in life with God's plan for him. He truly became a new creation.
The God that changed my husband from an arrogant yet deeply wounded, party-hard paratrooper is the same God that wants to transform addicts, prostitutes, gang bangers, drug lords, alcoholics, and dead-inside religious folks.
He's the same God that wants to transform me and you. No matter where we are on this spiritual journey, an enemy of God or someone who has loved him our whole life, He is powerful and able to keep turning our losses into wins, our defeats into victories, our struggles into strength, and our brokenness into beauty...if we'll only say "yes".
Today, my husband will stand before the group at We Will Go as an example of where saying "yes" to God over and over again can lead you. Not to someone who never fails, never doubts, never stumbles, but someone whose life is being used in beautiful and incredible ways for the kingdom.
Just like God wants to use you.
If you'd like to join us today at the We Will Go service and hear Jim share his story and our family's story, we'd love to see you! The service starts at 3:00 and lasts til around 4:45 or 5:00. After the service, you are welcome to stay for the fellowship meal. This is a chance to sit down with our neighbors plus our friends from area churches and just get to know each other. It is a beautiful opportunity to minister and be ministered to. The worship pavilion at We Will Go is located on the corner of North Congress and Barksdale. That's exactly one block north of Two Sisters restaurant and one block south of the Manship House. You'll see the signs on our ministry houses. For more information, you can visit our ministry website:
http://www.wewillgo.org/main.html
Yeah, I'm kinda crazy about him.
Okay, a whole lot crazy about him.
Today, he'll be sharing about another kind of crisis. A spiritual one.
At the We Will Go Sunday afternoon worship service, he'll be sharing the story of how and why God has moved our family from our idyllic, peaceful, farm life to a house situated on a busy street corner in an inner-city neighborhood infamous for drugs, crime, intense poverty, gangs, and prostitution. And once again, I'm reminded of why he's my hero. Over the next 14 or so months of living here, Jim will be using all his training, knowledge, experience, and God-given wisdom to also help homes and lives from being destroyed. But this time, it won't be knowledge, skills, and wisdom related to breach analysis or water sheds, it will be those things God has taught him about living the life of a strong Christian man.
He's not perfect. He fails and falters. He doubts and gets dismayed.
But, he keeps on going.
He keeps on this path that the Lord has set before him despite the trials, despite the temptations, despite the hurts, despite it all.
Jim didn't grow up knowing the Lord. His life, as he describes it, was very "pagan". His choices had him on a path headed straight to death and destruction.
And then he met Jesus.
He truly became a new man. He was totally transformed. Even his mother commented once, after we'd been married a few years and had a couple of kids, that she didn't even recognize him because he was so completely changed. She was amazed at the kind of father and husband he was, knowing that he'd not grown up with good role models of either.
That's what he has to share today and in this season of life in Jackson.
Yes, his life before Jesus wasn't spent as an alcoholic homeless man caving in some abandoned crack house in an inner-city neighborhood. Neither was his life pre-Jesus spent as a drug lord with deadly authority over numerous drug dealers or a young run-away turned to prostitution out of desperation.
Yet, his sins were just as destructive, they just looked different. But they were all eating away at his soul and they were ultimately leading to death. They were keeping him far away from His Heavenly Father who had created him and wanted to bless him with a life more abundant than anything this world had to offer.
I praise God for transforming my husband's life 25 years ago. I met him when he was a brand new baby Christian. Though we didn't date til nearly three years later, as his friend, I had the blessing of watching him grab hold of this Jesus-way and going full force after a new and better way of living. I saw him quickly move from baby steps to giant leaps in the faith. He was hungry to know God and let God change every area of his life that wasn't in life with God's plan for him. He truly became a new creation.
The God that changed my husband from an arrogant yet deeply wounded, party-hard paratrooper is the same God that wants to transform addicts, prostitutes, gang bangers, drug lords, alcoholics, and dead-inside religious folks.
He's the same God that wants to transform me and you. No matter where we are on this spiritual journey, an enemy of God or someone who has loved him our whole life, He is powerful and able to keep turning our losses into wins, our defeats into victories, our struggles into strength, and our brokenness into beauty...if we'll only say "yes".
Today, my husband will stand before the group at We Will Go as an example of where saying "yes" to God over and over again can lead you. Not to someone who never fails, never doubts, never stumbles, but someone whose life is being used in beautiful and incredible ways for the kingdom.
Just like God wants to use you.
If you'd like to join us today at the We Will Go service and hear Jim share his story and our family's story, we'd love to see you! The service starts at 3:00 and lasts til around 4:45 or 5:00. After the service, you are welcome to stay for the fellowship meal. This is a chance to sit down with our neighbors plus our friends from area churches and just get to know each other. It is a beautiful opportunity to minister and be ministered to. The worship pavilion at We Will Go is located on the corner of North Congress and Barksdale. That's exactly one block north of Two Sisters restaurant and one block south of the Manship House. You'll see the signs on our ministry houses. For more information, you can visit our ministry website:
http://www.wewillgo.org/main.html
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