Friday Update For 5/11/2021

Romans 5:8

"But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Hello Everyone,

I apologize for the LATE post-- Facebook kicked me out twice when I was trying to write it. I was so frustrated I walked away!! SO....last Friday was good. We celebrated Bethany's birthday with a card and cake. She seemed to be thankful others had thought of her. Many know my thoughts on birthdays... I am always saying everyone deserves a Bible, Christmas tree, and a birthday cake!! We also to our surprise saw our old friend Christine...been a long time since we have seen her. She shared how she is clean and sober and working hard to be a good mom and allow Christ into her life.

Saw Marcus and he has graduated from another rehab place and as always does great in programs. The prayer is he will continue to stay focused on his health. He's a wonderful friend to us and many others and I hope he stays with his sobriety. We have lost so many over the years and it's been heartbreaking.

We talked Friday about the above verse. We have all most likely heard that verse many times. We shared though how ALL of us wants to be accepted, to feel included, to know they are heard, seen, and LOVED. Everyone wants to know there's at least one person who still stand by them in the good, bad, and even ugly. There are so many things in life that we try to be accepted at. We try out for sports teams, try to get into college, interview for a job, try to volunteer places, try to be a part of a club or even a church. There are those moments when rejections happen... won't make the team, didn't get into that college, turned down or fired from the job, are not accepted at church and the list goes on. The beautiful thing is God created us to love, be loved, and be a part of a community. Often when we are rejected for something we feel completely alone and unloved. The beauty with Jesus is He died knowing we would not give Him the time He deserves, would take advantage of grace, mercy, and forgiveness, that we would choose to not even believe in Him, and yet He died for us ANYWAYS!!! That love is beyond anything I or you could do. We definitely have conditions on how, when, or even to who we will love and that is wrong.

So we talked about how we are ALREADY picked! We have the ability to accept Christ into our hearts and lives. We have the freedom to ask Him to forgive all our sins and be a part of us--to be inside of us. He was not willing to allow anyone to ever feel REJECTED, ALONE, and or UNLOVED and that is why He died. So understand you're picked! As a friend of mine said God looks at us as if we are His only child!!!! LOVE THAT!!! We had a great time Friday and hung around a long time and got caught up with some people. Heard some rough stories and some good ones. We handed out some items and thankful for that. Quick reminder please do not leave us any women or children's clothing because we do not need those. Thank you for thinking of us, we just need men's items at this point.

Thank you to Pathway Community Church, Grace Summitt Church, Hamilton Church of Christ, Renee Eich-Curneal, JoAnne Emerick, Mr. Swartz, Claudia Wessner, Linda Wyrick, Mjs Apparel, and to our fabulous team of volunteers each week. All of you sure make our team fun and perfect!