Proposal	Chapter 1: Hungry
Chapter 2: Feeding	Chapter 3: Attention
Chapter 4: Compassion	Chapter 5:Resources
Chapter 6: Nutrition

He poured great draughts of water down parched throats;
the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.
Psalm 107:9 (The Message)

Menu Item #2
Compassion

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way." Mark 15:32

"Ever since I opened my email this morning and saw a note from my girlfriend, and realized I'm going to call her this evening, my heart's been beating a bit faster. I'm smiling and can't seem to stop. I read her note and pulled up an email with her picture in it and I'm pretty sure my heart is doing somersaults inside my chest. This love stuff's pretty good :)" Matt

"I am currently in love. It is a wonderful feeling. I love being a person who brings joy to someone else. i love doing things that make the other person feel happy or doing things to surprise them and get them excited. And being loved is incredible. Knowing that there is another person out there fully devoted to you and wants to be your everything and do everything for you. It's like a cycle of love, the more you love the other person the more they love you and they more they love you the more you love them. It's a beautiful cycle. It feels great. I feel complete when I am with the one I love." Sherry

INT. LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

Jerry enters. Dorothy is seated toward the back.

JERRY
Hello. I'm looking for my wife.

Dorothy looks up, robbed of words. Stunned, she does not move.

JERRY
(continuing)
Alright. If this is where it has to happen, then this is where it has to happen.

Dorothy says nothing.

JERRY
(continuing)
I'm not letting you get rid of me.
How about that?

He shares a look with some of the other women. She's not
going to say a word. Neither do they.

JERRY
(continuing)
This used to be my specialty. I was good in a living room. Send
me in there, I'll do it alone. And now I just... I don't know... but
on what was supposed to be the happiest night of my business
life, it wasn't complete, wasn't nearly close to being in the same
vicinity as complete, because I couldn't share it with you. I
couldn't hear your voice, or laugh about it with you. I missed my
wife. We live in a cynical world, and we work in a business of tough
competitors, so try not to laugh --
(directly)
I love you. You complete me.

DOROTHY
Aw, shut up. You had me at hello.

This scene from Jerry Maguire brings the arrogant, career-minded sports agent Jerry face-to-face with his adoring, but estranged wife Dorothy. The culprit in the disintegration of this relationship - distance. Jerry has come closer to an understanding of himself and his wife. His speech reveals his needs, his weakness, his view of the world, his emptiness and his fulfillment.

We love this scene because it has compassion. Words don't need to be said, because Jerry's love entered the room before his mouth uttered a sentence. He pours out his love in front of total strangers without regard for their thoughts of him.

Many great love scenes from movies still work today.

Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa): You're saying this only to make me go.

Humphrey Bogart (Rick): I'm saying it because it's true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You're part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa): But what about us?

Humphrey Bogart (Rick): We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.

Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa): When I said I would never leave you.

Humphrey Bogart (Rick): And you never will. But I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. Now, now... Here's looking at you kid.

From World War II to a galaxy far, far away.

HAN: Chewie! Chewie, this won't help me. Hey!

Han gives the Wookiee a stern look.

HAN: Save your strength. There'll be another time. The princess -- you
have to take care of her. You hear me?

Han winks at the Wookiee, who wails a doleful farewell. In a flash the guards have slipped binders on Chewbacca, who is too distraught to protest. Han turns to Princess Leia. They look sorrowfully at one another, then Han moves toward her and gives her a final, passionate kiss.

LEIA: I love you!

HAN: I know.

No matter what the time or the place these expressions of love work because they reveal one's heart. We know Jerry Maguire's heart, Rick's heart, Han Solo's heart. Tough guys with tough personas break down and admit that they have feelings of love.

We love these cinematic moments because secretly we wish to be Dorothy, Ilsa and Leia…loved totally, completely, wholeheartedly. But to experience the love, we must receive the love.

I remember the first girl I loved. Diane. It was second grade. It all started with a dream I had the night before. I remember seeing her face and her smiling at me, maybe fluttering her eyelids. Whatever it was I woke up in awe. Breathless. Smitten. All I could do was think about her. Every thought consumed with Diane's face. I couldn't sleep.

I couldn't wait to get to school. (Now you know something is wrong) I saw her at recess and the sun always seemed to backlight her, creating a glow around her head. All week I stared at her and tried to get her attention. Then, sometime that week, my heart was sealed.

While standing in line to go back to class, I found myself next to her. I noticed my shoe was untied, but before I could get to it, for some unexplained reason, Diane leaned over and tied my shoe for me. My mouth dropped. I stopped breathing. She loved me!

This torrid second grade affair continued for at least…two weeks…until I found some other object of my desire, like Hot Wheels or Battleship. The point is…it's great to be in love and to be loved. Your whole body, soul and mind respond to love.

In one of those rare father-son moments where hearts spill out on the fast-food table, I asked my son Riley what he thought about dating. He took a thoughtful bite of a Thickburger, wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and said, "It would be nice to know that there is always someone out there thinking about you."

Wow. That's it.

Married to Barbie, I understand love more than ever. I have someone in my life who promised to love me until I die and loves me every day no matter what kind of jerk I am and who always thinks about me even when I think I'm unthinkable.

I am loved.

That thought has the power to transform everything. Especially if the one loving you is God.

Who does Jesus love? We easily answer that question by saying, others or all people. But usually we leave one person out of the equation.

Ourselves.

"God so loves the world, and maybe even me."

Not true. God has compassion for everyone, even you. No matter who you are or what you have done.

Many are unaware that there were two mass feedings. The 5,000 gets so much publicity maybe because the numbers were greater and it's mentioned four times in the Bible, where the 4,000 only gets two mentions. (only!)

So why did Jesus perform this miracle twice?

The answer to why is revealed in the where.

The main difference between the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000 is the nationality of the crowd. We know the nationality of the crowd in the feeding of the 5,000.

Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near. John 6:3-4

These were "good" Jewish people who celebrated the Passover.
In Matthew 15:21 we see Jesus' location for the feeding of the 4,000.

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to Him…

Where is He? In a place both feared and hated by any good Jew-the land of the Gentiles. In our modern terminology, it would be called "the other side of the tracks," that area where those "not like us" live. You know the area. You have one near you. That place where you roll up the car windows and the lock the doors when you enter their territory. It's where the poor, violent, down-and-out and out-of-work live. Only an organized mission trip would ever get you there.

My son called me a "mutt" once. Interested in our heritage, I told him I'm half German, part Irish, part Danish and part English. Then I informed him that he's even "muttier" than I am. His mom is half Norwegian, half Swedish. That makes my son a walking European League of Nations.

Jews kept accurate genealogical records. Mormons, today's protectorate of the family lineage, effectively use the Internet, while Jews relied on paperwork. Their old temple included a building just for genealogies. Their dedication to tracking family lines came down to three reasons:

1. For the priests who had to come from a Levite descent (Exodus 28)
2. For ownership of the promised land, divided up by the 12 tribes (Joshua 13 - 21)
3. To track the coming of the Messiah through King David's family line (2 Samuel 7:11-16; Luke 1:29-33; Luke 2)

Your descendants made all the difference in that culture. The Jew saw the world as either Jewish or not. Their term for the "not" was Gentile. This term labeled anyone not-Jewish or someone with a partly Jewish heritage. If the Gentile worshipped other gods, he received the name "pagan."

To be a Jew, it was required that pure, thoroughbred Jewish blood run through your veins. Racial lines ran deep ever since that trek across the desert with Moses and Joshua. They made few friends when cities saw millions marching towards them, wondering if their story about being "lost" was true. The nations drew lines of hate those 40 years.

Once settled in Jerusalem, outside nations (Assyrians, Philistines, Cushites, Amonites, Ammorites, Amalekites, Canaanites, Jebusites, Egyptians, Babylonians) took potshots at invading Jewish territory. What was the common denominator about all their enemies: they weren't Jewish.

Four factors led to Israel's nationalistic pride and extreme prejudice:

Pure bloods: The Israelites took God's warning about marrying outside their racial lines to the extreme and started hating everybody not like them. God did not want them mixing the blood of their descendants because ultimately it led to a mixing of religious beliefs. God didn't want them to adopt the gods of other nations, not hate other nations.

Playing favorites: Imagine if you were a Jew and history taught you that God picked you out of all the other groups in the world as His "chosen" people. He tells you not to mix with other groups, but to stay pure and undefiled. This sends the message that those other people are "dirty." Though God's choice of the Israelites had nothing to do with them being better or worthy, the people could not help but get cocky.

North vs. South: Racial prejudice deepened among the Jewish people after a civil war around 931 BC. The Jews divided over a misinformed king, the son of Solomon, named Rehoboam. Ten tribes in the northern part of Israel set up their own kingdom, run by Jeroboam, leaving two tribes to the south. The North adopted the name Israel, while the South called itself Judah, named after the tribe of Judah who aligned with the tribe of Benjamin. Judah retained the capital city of Jerusalem. The North called their capital Samaria, which became a haven for idol worship. They became known as Samaritans. Even the United States can understand the aftermath of sentiments from a Civil War.

Inter-faith marriages: The story of Jonah becomes clearer in light of prejudice. God asks the prophet Jonah to go hand out religious tracts to the Ninevites, who were Assyrians that lived in the city of Ninevah. It would be like sending Scotsman William Wallace (Braveheart) to go make peace with the people of England. Or sending Rush Limbaugh to the Democratic Convention. The Ninevites were hated and despised so badly, Jonah refused the assignment and ran away. It took a big fish to spit him back on land and in the right direction.
Despite Jonah's efforts, in 722 BC, those same Assyrians invaded the Northern kingdom of Israel. This resulted in the massacre of some Jews, scattering others to all parts of the world. However, some stayed in the area and hooked up with the Assyrians.

The South, though, stayed pure marrying their own kind, while it watched the rebellious North disintegrate into a melting pot of cultures and religious confusion.

Now we understand the emotions surrounding Jesus' time. Jews still despised Gentiles. Maybe a Jewish prostitute birthed a baby of a Gentile. That baby was treated as all Gentile and non-Jewish. Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan tells of a compassionate Gentile who helped a Jewish man that was rejected by a Jewish priest and a Jewish Levite. The story confounded the listeners. They couldn't understand the moral, stuck on the immoral proposition that Gentiles had an ounce of good in them.

Prejudice is not a new emotion. Black versus white. Protestants versus Catholics. Muslims versus Christians. North versus South. Mets versus Yankees. East coast rappers versus west coast rappers. One peaceful denomination versus another peaceful denomination. The hate never changes throughout time, only the target.
The Gentiles knew they weren't liked. In Mark 7:24-30 a Syrophoenician (a Greek born in Syrian Phoenicia) woman who lived in Tyre (Gentile town) spoke to a Jewish-born Jesus and referred to herself and her people as "dogs."

"We know we're the lowest of the low in your eyes, Jesus…right?"

Nothing could be further from the truth.

So imagine Jewish followers of Jesus standing before a crowd of 4,000 Gentiles (really 12,000) and suddenly, collectively, the stomachs of their enemies growl.

For a traditional Jew, the answer is "let 'em starve to death. Serves them right for turning to other gods and hating us for so many years."

For Jesus, the answer is "feed 'em as if they were your own people."

This incident spoke not only to the Gentiles as Jesus revealed His compassion for them, but it was more for His Jewish apostles. That's why Matthew and Mark communicated the story of the feeding of the 4,000. Their primarily Jewish readers needed to hear this and see this. Jesus gave them a visual representation to the commandment, "Love your enemies" and "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."

Jesus drove this point home in the baskets of leftovers. That's right. Jesus reinforced his love for both Gentiles and Jews by the number of baskets of bread they collected afterwards.

Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?"

"Twelve," they replied.

"And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" They answered, "Seven."

He said to them, "Do you still not understand?" Mark 8:11-21

What's the big deal? Is this some kind of hidden code? Yes.

The Jewish patriarch from the Old Testament, Jacob, had twelve sons. God renamed Jacob, Israel. These twelve sons began twelve families or tribes. They are the twelve tribes of Israel. See it now?

Twelve baskets of leftovers.

During Jesus time, the Gentiles from a number of different places, really too numerous and diverse to count, who not only inhabited ten cities called the Decapolis, but a wider area that broke down into seven regions.
Seven baskets of leftovers.

Jesus used the same miracle and the same code in the leftover baskets to prove His point. Jesus said, "Don't you get it, man! Take these leftovers and feed them all - the Jewish tribes and Gentile regions!"

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Jesus loves everyone. Jesus asks that "all" who are hurting come to Him. He loves the "world." "Everyone" means everyone. Jesus desires everyone to follow Him. Not everyone will follow Him, but that doesn't mean Jesus doesn't still want it to happen.

Before his ascension into heaven, Jesus departed in Matthew 28 and asked them to go into all the world - specifically Jerusalem (other Jews…that's easy), Judea (the region around Jerusalem or suburbs…oooo-kay), Samaria (the closest stop into Gentile World…whoa, hold on here) and to the ends of the earth (the entire Gentile World…stop right there!). This command extended way beyond the Jewish national boundaries. It's everywhere and to all people.

His apostles would have to put aside all prejudices and obey. Even harder, they would have to look at these "dogs" as people that God loves.

God's heart has not changed for all people on this earth today.

No matter where you are from-Jew, Arab, Palestinian, Taliban, Iraqi, Iranian, European, Asian, African, Australian, Latino, Anglo-Saxon, or Mutt-listen, God loves you.

And He wants you to love each other as He loves them all.

Revelation, the last book of the Bible that gives us a glimpse into heaven, paints this picture:

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb." - Revelation 7:9-10

There's a United Nations in heaven. Every nationality is invited to attend.

No matter what color your skin-red, yellow, brown, black and white- listen, God loves you.

Even David Berkowitz understands God's love.

"Ten years into my prison sentence and feeling despondent and without hope, another inmate came up to me one day as I was walking the prison yard on a cold winter's night. He introduced himself and began to tell me that Jesus Christ loved me and wanted to forgive me. Although I knew he meant well I mocked him because I did not think that God would ever forgive me or that He would want anything to do with me.

Still this man persisted and we became friends. His name was Rick and we would walk the yard together. Little by little he would share with me about his life and what he believed Jesus had done for him. He kept reminding me that no matter what a person did, Christ stood ready to forgive if that individual would be willing to turn from the bad things they were doing and would put their full faith and trust in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross by dying for our sins.

He gave me a Gideon's Pocket Testament and asked me to read the Psalms. I did. Every night I would read from them. And it was at this time that the Lord was quietly melting my stone cold heart.

One night, I was reading Psalm 34. I came upon the 6th verse, which says, "this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him from all his troubles".

It was at that moment, in 1987, that I began to pour out my heart to God. Everything seemed to hit me at once. The guilt from what I did... the disgust at what I had become... late that night in my cold cell, I got down on my knees and I began to cry out to Jesus Christ.

I told Him that I was sick and tired of doing evil. I asked Jesus to forgive me for all my sins. I spent a good while on my knees praying to Him. When I got up it felt as if a very heavy but invisible chain that had been around me for so many years was broken. A peace flooded over me. I did not understand what was happening. But in my heart I just knew that my life, somehow, was going to be different."

We've heard these kinds of testimonies thousands of times. Even from prisoners who come to realize in jail that God loves them. But you have to understand who David Berkowitz is-the Son of Sam, who killed six girls, wounding seven others, a Satan worshipper and tormentor of New York City from 1976 to 1977. This serial killer is incarcerated behind bars for 365 years.

God loves convicted killers? Many have a hard time with this thought, but the answer is yes. God's compassion is so great, it includes everyone. Those hated and despised by this world.

If God put limits on those He loved, His love would be limited. What if God drew the line at those who killed two people? Those who kill three go to hell and those who kill one can enter heaven? If that's the case, then what about stealing? Those who steal more than $5,000 go to hell and those who steal less than $5,000 can enter heaven. What about lying? Lust? Hate? Love with limits is not love at all.

Jesus said in Mark 2:17, "Those who are healthy don't need a doctor. Sick people do. I have not come to get those who think they are right with God to follow me. I have come to get sinners to follow me." He came to rescue the sinners.

No matter what sin you have committed, listen God loves you.

An event that occurred before the feeding of the 4,000 showed Jesus' limitless love for others. Once, when Jesus informed His disciples that they were taking a boat trip to Paganville, their eyes lit up. "There? With all those people-not-like-us?" Their fears were confirmed when they encountered the following scene from Mark 5:1-20:

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. Mark 5:1-5

You can just see the disciples. "I told you so, Jesus. Coming here was a bad idea." Here they are, face-to-face, with a wild and crazy guy. This outcast had been thrown out of his community and forced to live in an area with a low real estate value-the cemetery. He was despised in the land of the despised.

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!"
Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"
"My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Mark 5:6-13

The disciples sighed. "Good, that's over. Can we go now? We get the point, whatever that point was." But the story was not finished.

Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man--and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. Mark 5:14-17

"You see Jesus. These people don't want you. They don't appreciate you like we do. They're Gentiles through and through. Let's get out of there."

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. Mark 5:18-20

The story did not end there, because Jesus requested that the man return to the city. "Don't come with us. Go home and tell everyone what happened." And he did.

Back in the boat, the disciples were relieved their trip was over. However, that was not their last time to the area. They returned later. Once feared and run out of town, Jesus received a hero's welcome from the locals on his return.

Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. Matthew 15:29-31

What happened? Someone must have told the town the amazing things Jesus had done for him. Someone like the once-demon-possessed man. Seeing him in the right mind, not screaming, cutting himself and smacking stones against his head, the town wondered who could do such a thing. When word spread that Jesus was on the shoreline, they ran to Him.

The lame…the blind…the crippled…the mute…the pagans…

What do we read next?

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way." Matthew 15:32

The next verse, Matthew 15:32, Jesus looks at the hungry multitude and wants to feed them. The feeding of the 4,000 now begins. All this because of the testimony of one man, a Gentile, a crazy man, an outcast, and now a converted Jesus follower.

Our politically correct world uses a new term to describe the lame, blind, crippled, mute-it's "challenged." A handicapped person is "physically challenged." A crazy person is "mentally challenged." A divorced person is "relationally challenged." A demon possessed person is "spiritually challenged." I heard a friend call another friend who couldn't keep up his yard as "horticulturally challenged." I thought that went too far. But, you get the idea.

We walk by the "challenged" all the time. They smell like urine. We think they should get a job instead of carrying around "War Veteran" signs. They drink all day. If we had our choice, we would prefer that they leave us alone.

But God loves the challenged-those facing difficulties physically, emotionally and spiritually. Jesus always found the lepers, the promiscuous women, the demon possessed and restored them with his love and power.

No matter what condition your mind, body or soul is in, God loves you.

In college I had my first encounter with born-again Christians. You see, I was your traditional college partier, tapping the keg after school on Friday and continuing until early Sunday morning, then recovering all day Sunday. Church was out of the question. I didn't want to be a hypocrite, you know.

An evangelist named Jed visited our college periodically with his sidekick, Sister Susan. The two stood in our square and pointed fingers at us calling us "drunkards and fornicators." I had to ask others what a fornicator was. Once I understood, I agreed with the accusations. "Yep, they got that right. Drunkards and fornicators. That's us."

They presented God as angry and disappointed in us. God hated me and all my sin. He couldn't wait to pass judgment on me. We all laughed and went on our way, drinking and fornicating.

Then I saw the other side of God.

While everyone in our dorm partied hard, one group did not. We referred to them as "The Jesus Suite." These four girls definitely were different. They never drank, never did drugs, never slept around. Usually they would be ostracized and mocked like the Jeds and Susans. Not them. They were nice.

I remember one particularly crazed night that involved grain alcohol and shaving cream, leaving our hall a disaster zone. I was laying in the hall, on my back, unable to get up, blasted out of my mind, covered in Right Guard. I looked up and there stepping over me was one of the Jesus Suite Girls.

I expected condemnation. Maybe a finger in my face and rebuke. "Drunkard and fornicator!" Bible verses attacking my lifestyle and behavior. Warnings of judgment day. I got none of that.

Just a smile. The sweetest smile I had ever seen.

I remembered that smile to the moment of my conversion, as I laid on the floor of my apartment, surrounded by alcohol and porn, pouring out my hardened heart to a God I knew loved me.

Me. Not just everyone else. Not just the world. But me.

God had me at that smile.

We love because he loved us first. 1 John 4:19

The great love scene of my spiritual life went something like this.

ME: Hello, God....
GOD: You had me at hello.

Or

GOD: I love you!
ME: I know.

Once I accepted God's invitation of love, no matter who I was, what I have done or where I was from, the relationship began. Like those hungry and off in the distance, Jesus saw me, starving from spiritual malnutrition, weary from earthly pursuits and left for dead in a desert of sin, and He said, "I want to feed that one with the food that only I can offer." His heart hurt and broke for my condition.

Now, with His heart fully revealed for us, we must accept that compassion. Only then can the love story begin.

But God loves us deeply. He is full of mercy. So he gave us new life because of what Christ has done. He gave us life even when we were dead in sin. God's grace has saved you. Ephesians 2:4-5

Wherever you are in life…whatever you have done…God serves you His love.

"I've never been in love and it hurts to know most the people around me have been in love and in relationships and I never have. It's a desire I know comes from my heart and through prayer god is really there for me to understand that I'm not ready for it but he loves me and no matter what I look like and what flaws I have he loves me unconditionally and its that love that keeps me going and I know one day I'll be in love with someone. With him I'm never lonely even when I feel alone I'll close my eyes and pray and feel his love and his love warms me and gives me the power to love others around me." Ashley

"It makes a huge difference to know that you're not alone. It's really the only relationship that you have complete acceptance from. In all other relationships its dependant on other things…with God it isn't. He is there for you even when you aren't realizing him. It's amazing to wake up and know that you have the person behind you who knows u because he made you. He knows just what his goal is and that provides a security. It makes you aware that if you abide in him and give him your trust you never have to feel alone." Kristen

TABLE TALK

1. What love story (book/movie) do you like?
2. Where you live, what would consider to be the "other side of the tracks"?
3. How do you feel about mass murders becoming Christians?
4. Who is the most despicable person you know? How would you feel if they became a Christian?
5. How do you feel knowing God does not turn anyone away from the love He serves? Is His love too cheap knowing anyone can eat there?

 

© Troy Schmidt, 2009