My precious friend is in Romania with her beau- this email is Amazing
12/19/2006Dear family and friends, As December rolls in, so does the Christmas spirit. We remember you all during these special times and we send our greetings to you and yours with the warm wish of blessings from God. Looking back just a few days we come to thoughts of Thanksgiving as well.
It is no wonder that this is the favorite Holiday of so many people as we turn our focus from ourselves and ascribe value to the things that we are thankful for. This Holiday season we are thankful for our families and our friends, for the work that we have and for the fact that our needs are met. We are also thankful for the love that God has for us, and that as precious as he is, he offered his life for us so that even though we were opposed to him and far from him, we could come to him. We could find forgiveness from the only one who does not need forgiving.
It is good for us to ask forgiveness from someone who also needs forgiveness, but it has no power of reconciliation between us and God. By this I mean that a human relationship can be reconciled giving a feeling of freedom, but this does not change a person’s position before God and reconcile our relationship with Him.
Does one cellmate say to another, “I forgive you, man, you are free.” No. But it is the judge that must release the man. And a fair judge must still uphold the requirement that the penalty be paid. What greater purchase is there than the one requiring a man’s life?
It is with this life, this perfect life, we have been redeemed, the penalty having been paid, the judge having spoken. And to those who ask for his forgiveness he gives this freedom from guilt and from condemnation. Do we then have freedom from responsibility? No.
For now we have the greatest responsibility. We must live the life of integrity, putting on the outside what we have been given on the inside.
It is this wonderful season that brings all of these things to the surface once again, if perhaps they have slipped from our minds and our deeds.
Thanksgiving was a wonderful time here in Transylvania. Here in our town, in our small private school we were able to host 55 some locals and around 15 native English speakers for a wonderful and tasty traditional Thanksgiving meal. We were able to share these things that we are thankful for as Bryan Damron and I shared our stories to the group.
We are very encouraged by all of the things going on here at the school and are really glad to be a part of it all. It is really incredible to see how the school puts us into contact with so many people from so many different personal backgrounds and then gives us the opportunity to have real and meaningful relationships with them. God is drawing people to himself and we look forward to sharing more with you in the future about the lives that are being changed.
We also have recently gone to a Gypsy village for the first time to see a church service that they were holding there. It was a wonderful time and experience and we plan to go back soon. The community there is in desperate need of love and attention from people who care and understand.
We have a lot to learn but hope we can contribute more soon.
Thank you again! – Bryan and Alina
Prayer Requests
Please pray for:
• Rest during this Christmas break.
• Safety for Alina’s family as they travel here to visit us!
• Language ability as we learn Romanian
• Safety in general and in the spiritual battles that exist here.
• Our students, that they would be drawn closer to the Lord.
Financial Info:Please contact Bryan’s Mom, Lyn, if you did not get an envelope from Global Outreach (GO) to send in your support, or you have any other concerns.LynGullett@aol.com
posted by jana @ 4:18 PM
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