Tom Miyashiro

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to announce that yesterday we received the official paperwork from USCIS that our application for Ramin’s Corporate Invitation to become a paid religious worker here in the United States has been approved!

Two weeks ago, our office was audited by USCIS. It was unannounced and it was intimidating! However, it is clear that the site visit went well and now we can move on to the 2nd phase of the visa process, which is getting the family down to London to file. From there, we should expect final approval in just a matter of weeks.

There is still a lot of work to do for the Salehis. We are working on a plan for all of you to see to help the family transition to the USA. Here’s a couple of things we can pray together for as we prepare for the next steps:

1. Please pray that the Salehis house sells. This would be a major burden for them to manage living abroad. The sooner the better. Ask God that they get a fair (if possible, generous) price for their property.

2. Please pray for the final interview for the Visa that the family will have to do in London. Once scheduled, we expect an immediate turnaround.

3. Please pray that God will provide the one time expenses to bring the family to the US.

More information will be provided as it becomes available. We are preparing a special mailing in the next few weeks as we prepare for their coming. Keep an eye out for all communications about the family!

Thanks for standing with us!

In Jesus,

Tom & the f2fmi team

The word ‘evangelism’ used to make me wince a bit. On the one hand, “soul-winning” felt like sell-your-friends-out marketing in a pyramid scheme. On the other, I was convicted by the crushing indictment that people I knew, and maybe even cared about, would fall into eternal torment if I didn’t convert them. Together, this meant I seldom shared my faith with anyone, and when I did, it was delivered as an apology. It was like a dreaded conversation with a doctor: “Sorry to have to tell you this, but if I don’t you’ll burn in hell.”

God’s shown me a few things that have turn the “e” word around for me. In fact, you could say that sharing the Gospel has become something I love (gasp). Mull these over and see if they put a new spin on telling others about Jesus.

People Want Evangelism (Really!)

When Jesus and his followers picked the word ‘evangelist’, it meant something pretty far from TV preachers making teary-eyed altar calls. An evangelist was the soldier sent from the front lines to the city waiting for news of its fate. This image cuts straight to how the Gospel is ‘good news’ to our world. For one reason or another, 99.9% of us are holding our breath in some area of our lives, believing hope-against-hope that there might be some victory for us, even in while dreading that the ax might be about to fall.

It’s true that most people aren’t itching to sign up for church. There’s also not an over-abundance of curiosity about spiritual laws, biblical authority, or even life-after-death. But that doesn’t mean people aren’t open to Jesus, especially if we take a little time to get to know them and earn enough trust to be allowed into the places where they are hoping for a little victory. If we watch what Jesus did with such invitations, we can see how he always wrapped the Kingdom of God in a daring demonstration that people – who he gave the right to become children of God – have a Father who not only loves them, but also delights to make them overcome.

Witness this reality of the Gospel enfold in a few lives, and you’ll begin to believe that evangelism is the best job in the world. I’ve never had anyone say no to a little victory.

Think Nets, Not Rod and Reel

When Jesus told his disciples that he would make them fishers of men, they had just stepped out of boats that took at least three men to operate. Not a single one of them was picturing themselves casting a single line into the water and waiting for a bite. They knew fishing meant keen eyes on movements just beneath the surface, coordinated maneuvers to get into the right position, and all hands to the nets at exactly the right time.

Ask anyone you know about how they came to Christ or think about your own story. The journey people take to Jesus is seldom the result of a one-man-show. More often, it is the product of a series of connections, divinely woven into a web that catches and pulls lives into the embrace of God.

This means that evangelism is as much about a community as it is about a message. Think about this: Jesus wrote no books, but he invested in a handful of friends. He could entrust the fate of the world to the latter, but not the former. His greatest investment in this family was to imprint on them a way of being that allowed God to continually, deeply, and openly demonstrate the victory he was offering to all mankind. Jesus commands to love one another and seek each others interests have just as much importance for the salvation of our neighbors as they do for the harmony of our fellowships.

Nobody Does A-Z but Jesus

God gave a friend of mine the opportunity to be an undercover evangelist among NYC’s elite young talent in a couple of Fortune 500 companies. Needless to say it wasn’t easy. Proselytizing activities were strictly discouraged. Opportunities to share anything deeper than work information were pretty rare, and it took a lot to pay attention to anything not directly tied to productivity.

At first, evangelism just seemed hopeless. But then, when a few conversations, spread over the course of many months, lead to a colleague meeting Jesus, something clicked. Although my friend really hadn’t done that much, he was there to play his part at just the right times. He realized that the sooner we can leave the spiritual A-Z of a person in God’s hands, the sooner we can be ready to play our part. Maybe in one life it will only be G-to-H. The point is to play our part perfectly in the symphony of one of God’s kids coming home.

Again, this makes perfect sense if evangelism is done by communities. Only together can we begin to express the character, love, and power of the Father who takes people wherever they are and blazes a trail to bring them to Himself. One may have a special gift to help multitudes with a particular part of the journey. Another will find themselves relationally planted to make a major impact on one or two lives. Together, we can proclaim and live out a Gospel that is as deep as it is wide, and is as rich in the giving as the receiving.

Ben Cheek is the founder of Muddy Hudson and an f2fmi board member. He, his wife Susan, and their two children live in New York City. Ben has made major contributions to the development of f2fmi dating back to our beginnings in 2000.

Do you ever sin?  (Ever disobey your Creator?  Ever spit in the face of the Savior?  Ever rebel against the King?)  I do.  As a Christian, I am so frustrated at my own sinful behavior.  I love Jesus, so why do I oftentimes act as if I don’t?!

If it were not for God’s reassurances in the Bible, I would be utterly disheartened.  However, when I read His Word, He reminds me again and again that He’s not giving up on me.  I am frequently encouraged by phrases like “He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust” (Psalm 103) and blunt, practical statements like “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” and steady reassurances like “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” (1 John 1)

There is a character in the Old Testament of the Bible named David.  As my name is also David, I have taken particular interest in this man and in what his walk with God looked like.  Once, after David sinned grievously against God and hurt a bunch of people, he wrote a song expressing his sorrow and repentance before God.  I read this chapter recently and was amazed at how God reassured me through this psalm: Psalm 51.  It begins with these words:

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to Your steadfast love;
according to Your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!

As I looked at this passage the other day, my attention was drawn to three verbs: blot, wash, and cleanse.  As I considered these words, I realized that each of them describe a continuing action.  These are transitional words.  They speak of a process, not a single, one-and-done event.  Blotting a stain out of clothing takes time.  Washing your car can take a while if you do a good job.  Cleansing is a steady and sometimes difficult process.

God is far more patient with me than I am.  He is willing to work on me over the course of months and years and decades.  He is patient with you, too.  One of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, put it this way, as he was trying to explain God’s ways to the early Christians:

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3)

God wants everyone to “reach repentance.”  Repentance is turning away from your sin and turning to God, and it’s something a follower of Jesus needs to do every day.  I began this walk of repentance about 21 years ago, and God has been patient with me ever since, gradually transforming me to be more like Jesus.  Thank You, Lord!

One last thing.  Although God is patient and gives grace and mercy, His patience, grace, and mercy are no excuse for continuing in sin.  The whole point of repentance is to turn back to and connect closely with God.  God is good and perfect, and He cannot mix with sin.  Another one of Jesus’ early followers, Paul, after describing God’s generous grace and forgiveness, put it this way:

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6)

If you are caught in the net of sin, God is patiently waiting with open arms for you to turn back to Him in repentance.  I urge you to run to Him and find grace.

Your fellow work in progress,

Dave White

PS- God did have mercy on David (the Psalmist).  He cleansed him from his sin and used him to bless the entire world through his descendent, Jesus the Messiah.  God can forgive you, and He can use you to bless the world, too.

Picking up where we left off from part 1…

Friday morning we woke up early and went to meet with a friend of Toms who works for Mission Increase. After some catching up we spent the rest of our morning relaxing and preparing for the nights conference at Mission Connexion. After enjoying a nice lunch at a Mongolian Grill. After which we headed to Vancouver, WA where Tom was teaching a class that evening. It was really amazing to see so many people with a desire to serve the Lord in many different ways!!! At the conclusion of that class we headed back to the Robnett Ranch for our last night there.

It was great to be able to sleep in on Saturday morning and spend some time with the Lord. After spending our morning relaxing we headed back to Vancouver, for Toms second class. I was again blown away by the goodness of Gods people as our classroom was packed and people so eager to hear about how they could be involved sat on the floor! That evening we went out to dinner with Jeff , his family, and Phil and Pam Long (Phil is a spoken word poet who also had a class at Mission Connexion). It was a great dinner at a Mexican place in Vancouver. As we rounded out our second to last night in Oregon we headed to Jeffs house (where we were staying for the last two nights of our trip). We had a great time just hanging out; Tom played piano with Jeffs daughter Marisa and I sang along on and off.

Sunday morning we went to church with Jeff, his wife Mindy and their daughter Marisa, its always nice to visit other churches and see what they have going on, and I personally really enjoyed the worship bands music. We went to lunch with the family after which Tom and I headed into the inner city of Portland where we were meeting up with Sam Sharnessa where they were doing an outreach with some people mostly youth from their church. They were handing out sandwiches, hot chocolate, and coffee to the homeless and people around different shelters. It was truly a blessing to spend time with theses people and see the joy it brought them to receive what we were giving and some even asked for people to pray with them right there and then.

After packing up we went with the group to and exhibit, put on by Medical Teams International called Real Life. Where we walked though and got to experience some of what the people that Medical Missions International help go through. It was eye opening and heartbreaking to see this exhibit. Tom and I then headed back to the Pieper house to spend the rest of our evening and time in Portland with them. It was a real blessing and honor to be involved with what were were and it was very hard to leave after making such good new friends. I am thankful for the time Tom and I had to spend together and with others as we grew in ministry together.

As I write this I can still feel the adrenaline running though my body as I ran from terminal 3, gate 86 at San Francisco International Airport to gate 70 (although it may seem like a small feat at only 16 gates), when your faced with the threat of the door closing to your plane it takes forever. This is basically how Tom and I started our trip but as usual God was watching over us and the plane was held and the door shut shortly very shortly after he and I ran though.

Upon landing at PDX we were meet with the weather we would be spending our week with, rain, rain and more rain plus some fog here and there. We were greeted by Dr. Tim Robnett and thus our trip the the Pacific North West began as we had our first lunch catching up with Dr. Tim. at the local Oyster Bar. Then we headed to his house (where we were staying for the majority of our trip) It was a great pleasure to meet him and hear his amazing story, and see that he is still doing work for the Lord (he was leaving the next day for Ghana, West Africa). He and his wife, Sharon took great care of us.

Wednesday morning we were meet with what I’ll call our second bump in the road. Tom and I awoke to find that there was no power but there was snow, which is pretty rare for this region. Thus, led to Tom leaning a bit how water pumps and electricity are connected. Sadly, his learning experience led to me brushing my teeth with snow… After breakfast, we met up with Jeff Piper (from Next Generation Alliance) who was bringing us to the Luis Palau Association Headquarters where Tom spoke at chapel about how their team has help us become who we are today. We got a tour (it was amazing to see all of the history of the Palau team) and a chance to meet Dr. Luis Palau!

Wednesday evening we made the hour trip north to Longview, Washington to meet up with the Sandens a family close to our ministry. Sam (who is on our board of directors), Sharnessa and their kids Chase and Weston. After settling down my theory that Tom and I attract kids and bring out there best behavior was proven yet again when we were attacked by a seemingly endless supply of various weapons (foam swords, nerf guns, pillows and a few other hard objects that which Im unsure of). I must say our natural instinct to defend ourselves probably didnt help put this war to an end. After the kids were put to bed it was amazing to learn some details about how seven years ago to the week Tom was sitting in that very room on his first trip to the Pacific Northwest and how the friendships that were built then are still so strong. After many hours of talking, reminiscing, and for me building new friendships we went to bed. When we awoke on Thursday morning we were shocked to find out that the Kids seemed not to even remember falling asleep because the war started where it left off. After a few hours we were off back to Portland, but even in the short time we spent with the Sandens I will never forget what a blessing it was to meet them and spend time with the family.
The rest of our day on Thursday was spent in downtown Portland with Jeff and an old friend of Toms where we experienced some of the culture of the city. Eating at a sushi bar, which was spectacular, then had the best hot chocolate of my life (Im sure Tom would say the same about his coffee) the afternoon ended with us sitting in a nice little coffee shop just hanging out. That evening we had a dinner that Ramin (our incoming president) set up, it was a very nice relaxing evening spent enjoying great food and fellowship with Ramins friend John.

Please read part 2 to hear how our trip ended.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.   And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

…

And [Jesus] said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”   And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things.

…

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.   Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God.This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.

On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

…

Then [Jesus] said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.

Christmas is coming and with it comes many things. For adults it’s complicated, for kids, it can’t get here soon enough.  Time slows down for the younger ones, and there isn’t enough time for the adults trying to get all their lists done.  We can’t always afford to get someone special exactly what they want; sometimes we get them the completely wrong gift and then the awkward moment happens as the person tries to say thanks for something that wasn’t even on their list.  Ask and Receive comes to my mind during this season.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:7 in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you”  NLT

I don’t know about your life, but this is a tough one for me.  Sometimes I feel like I am waiting and waiting for the receive part.  I tire of the seeking and asking parts and throw in my metaphorical towel.  I was thinking of how children can’t wait for Christmas, they count down to the date on the calendar because they know that is the day they may get just what they ask for all year long. They are able to be good and make right choices because they see the end date.  And in some situations; the closer the day gets the more the behavior improves.  Selfishly sometimes I wish God would give me a date on the calendar when I will get all I have been requesting from Him. Wouldn’t that be great? Then we could just watch the calendar and then one day wake up and all the requests are fulfilled.  We would have all our answered prayers and we could relax and finally rest in Him because everything is tied up in a pretty package with a nice red bow!

I can honestly say I have waited and am still waiting for God to answer specific requests. But I can also say He has answered beyond all that I could ever imagine or ask for, to the point I felt like I had to carry an umbrella with me because the blessings were just falling out of heaven quicker than I could say thank you. (Eph 3:19-21)  And I have never been disappointed when He answers my requests and I receive from Him.  We as gift givers can make mistakes and confuse requests easily, but not Our Lord.  He is always spot on.  No standing in the return line or exchanging for a different color, or getting a credit.  He knows what He is doing and exactly how to answer our requests and prayers.  So why not work like the man in the red suit? Why not set a date and just bring it to me? God knows the easy way isn’t the best way.  He has the ultimate plan of love, redemption and grace. He doesn’t want to simply give to us, He wants to get to know us and what better way than to communicate with Him, spend time with Him and learn more about Him.  We get so much more than an answered prayer when we continue to ask and seek and knock, we get relationship with Him as we take action and ask.  And sometimes as we stay persistent, He works in our hearts through our requests and crazy things happen. Our requests can become limitless, like Him.  We begin to climb that mountain of faith and we find ourselves enjoying the journey and the wait time….the calendar becomes insignificant, it’s not about getting to the top or the date on the calendar.  We get to know the deep character of God and call Him Father as we trust and wait and we are caught up in His Glory in our season of waiting.

This season of Good News, should be every season of our lives.  Always living with expectancy; waiting for the gifts from above to be more than we ever imagined or thought to ask for….and being fine without knowing a date on the calender when we will recieve them…all tied up with a red bow on top and then some!

This year’s Overtime was the largest to date; with 624 students staying with all all night and around 700 at the main event. During our 5-Friend Challenge, students were encouraged to invite 5 unsaved friends to Overtime and give them a special golden ticket to attend OT at a discounted rate. In all, 98 golden tickets were turned in, many of them being urban youth from New London.

Several things happened differently this year than at last year’s event. The momentum leading up to Overtime was due to the hard work of Scott and Kelly Dean, who co-hosted Mission and Music Radio. In addition to pumping Overtime on-air in the six months leading up to the event, Scott, Kelly and Tom embarked on a 5-Friend Challenge Tour training students in personal evangelism holding more than 15 trainings at youth groups all over Southeastern CT. Many youth leaders felt that the trainings at churches were more effective than the one larger 5FC event we held in previous years.

An additional difference in this year’s strategic planning is that we combined our schools week model with Overtime. Pro-Flatland skater, Tim Byrne went in to New London High and shared his story encouraging students to overcome obstacles in their lives. He also did a skate demonstration, which students really enjoyed.

A final component that contributed to Overtime’s success this year is our partnership with the United States Coast Guard Academy. Through the partnership, we were able to have both the opening carnival activities and the main event on the base. Additionally, the coast guard gave us around 20 cadets to help us through the first half of the night. It was a massive blessing! The carnival was held in Roland Field House and featured new inflatable games, the rock wall, food and a video game truck. The main event took place in Leamy Hall, which is newly refurbished; an ideal venue for the Good News to be proclaimed!

During the main event, we had wonderful performances from Aracelis Vazquez-Haye, Patrick Lynch and Tim Byrne. Tim issued a challenge for students to compete against him, but none could match his trick. The 5-Friend Challenge winner was also announced and the winner and their 5 friends got to rotate all night in a limousine! Later in the night, he did a gnarliest-board competition and gave away his skateboard to a student whose skateboard was the most beat up. Later, he delivered the gospel to a packed house and we saw a tremendous response to the message. 59 decisions were made in all and 12 were from the first time!

This past weekend, f2fmi used the first night of the deliberatePeople tour with Phil Joel to follow up with decision makers from Overtime. Several came out for the event and we were able to build a stronger link with these kids. Thanks for all who made this year’s Overtime the most successful experience to date!

To live a life persuaded – convinced – set is what we are called to. This however, doesn’t just happen. It isn’t just a decision that we make although that plays a part. We need something more, because without the something more, we will flounder and fall at the first second or third hurdle. I believe Paul being persuaded came by a revelation of the person of the Lord Jesus and as a result he was set, or ‘steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord’. He saw Jesus and the price that He paid, and that was enough.

C. T. Studd said, “If Christ be God and died for me, then there is nothing too great that I can do for Him.”

The Apostle Paul was many things (Tent Maker, Old Testament scholar, evangelist, church builder, disciple maker, fearless missionary, and probably many other things I can’t think of at this moment). All of this flowed from a passion or for Jesus.

Let’s look at what Paul wrote in Romans:

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 creation, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

Was Paul certain about his claims to the Love of God? He says he was convinced – that sounds certain to me! How convinced was he? He uses some pretty solid comparisons to show his conviction.

He says neither angels nor demons – the absolute extremes of good and bad. He says neither the present nor the future – the only two points in time we can impact. He says, nor any powers – not just some powers or a select group of powers – any powers. Then he finishes with, height or depth or anything else in all creation – that sums up all other possibilities. I think he was very certain of his conclusion.

Paul indicates a certainty, a conviction beyond any condition that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Why was he so certain? Paul had a history with Jesus (see Acts 9:3-6). After meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul entered into a relationship that would last the rest of his life and across the known world. He endured stoning, beatings, shipwreck, angry mobs and many violent responses to his message of love from above. And by and through all of this he developed a conclusion about the ability of the world to separate us from God’s love through Jesus.

Maturity as a Christian takes time. I wish I could say it comes at the point of acceptance of Christ’s Lordship, but all of us must grow to maturity after we accept Christ. Hopefully, our growth does not come with the trials that Paul endured as he developed his certainty of God’s love, but we must grow if we are to ever be more than baby Christians eating baby food and doing baby things. Hopefully, as we grow, we will come closer and closer to the certainty that Paul had concerning God’s love through the Lordship of His Son.

I hope you are growing. I know from experience that growth is not easy. The growth we want comes only with effort on our part. We must run the race.

I hope you are growing. I hope you become more convinced of God’s love each day. I hope your confidence grows more and more as you see God’s love through the Lordship of His Son.