PEOPLE NEED THE LORD: LET'S TELL THEM OUR REMEMBRANCE STORIES!

MEDITATION MONDAY

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Last night, as our plane lifted off from the Nashville, Tennessee airport, I marvelled at the size of the city below. What a sight! This week's theme song came to mind as I peered out the window and began to quietly sing this part of it:
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"WE ARE CALLED TO TAKE HIS LIGHT

TO A WORLD WHERE WRONG SEEMS RIGHT

WHAT WOULD BE TOO GREAT A COST...

FOR SHARING LIFE WITH ONE WHO'S LOST?

THROUGH HIS LOVE OUR HEARTS CAN FEEL

ALL THE GRIEF THEY BEAR

THEY MUST HEAR THE WORDS OF LIFE

ONLY WE CAN SHARE...

PEOPLE NEED THE LORD..."

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I turned to talk to the person sitting next to me in the plane. It's amazing how many times I run into someone that I know in an airport. Unlike most times, I had arrived at my gate in plenty of time to sit and enjoy a little snooze and some people watching until time to board the plane. I had seen alot of people with guitars over their shoulders, western attire, and big smiles. After all, we were in Music City U.S.A. the weekend after the Country Music Associations awards.

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Over the intercom I heard someone say that the boarding pass of Rachel Cooper had been found...would she please come to the gate. Well, that perked me up because that is the name of one of the young adult daughters of one of our transformed moms. Sure enough, that's who it was. Rachel and her friend had been visiting friends in Nashville and had already made arrangements with my husband, Steve to pick them up when he picked me up.

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Yes, Rachel was the person sitting next to me on the plane that I turned to talk to. I asked her about her interest in connecting with a christian group for CHRIST at a local university. She has done this recently in a quest to find out how to reach out more for CHRIST to college students. She shared with me that soon she will begin leading a women's Bible study on campus. What a great conversation we had...what a heart for JESUS. I could not help but think how wonderful it was that Rachel was wanting to share JESUS with people she did not know because she knows that PEOPLE NEED THE LORD.
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After awhile, our pilot said that we had been put in a holding pattern over Washington, DC for about 15 minutes. As I looked down over the vastness of lights, I looked for familiar landmarks in the distance and thought of the wonderful gift of FREEDOM OF RELIGION that we have in this great land of ours. Yet, as we circled the capitol city, I wondered how many of its people did not know THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD....had not taken advantage of the freedom given them to intimately know the Creator of the universe. All of those five million or so people in the greater Washington DC area NEED THE LORD.

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The pilot came on the speaker again to say that we would need to go in another holding pattern...this time over the city of Baltimore, Maryland. More lights...same thoughts....THE PEOPLE OF THE BALTIMORE AREA NEED THE LORD.
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As we approached home, we circled over Wilmington, Delaware, then we circled over South Jersey, then we circled over Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ...lights everywhere...people everywhere...PEOPLE WHO NEED THE LORD.
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There are many people who are ready to hear. There are people right now who would listen to you and me tell them the great gospel story. They would listen to us tell about what JESUS has done for us. We have a different view than they do. Just because they don't see Him the same as we do does not mean that they don't need Him.
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Some of you who read this may have never been on an airplane, so you've never seen the view of a city below that I referred to...looking from an airplane at a city below in the daylight or with its bright city lights. You can certainly learn more about it through my experience and my description.
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Some of you have heard stories told but have never experienced running into someone in a faraway land or city who was a "sight for sore eyes" like Rachel was for me yesterday. You can certainly imagine how I might have felt through my description.
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Some of you have never been to Buena Vista, Colorado but if I keep showing you the pictures from my brother-in-law Stanten of this town in which he lives and / or tell you some of his inspirational stories of living there...you can begin to imagine the grandeur and breathtaking experience that it might be...so much that you might want to plan a trip to the Colorado Rockies soon.
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All of us have a little different view of JESUS because of what we have heard about Him or actually experienced with Him. Others will never know unless we share our stories with them. They deserve to hear.

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Steve told me last night that Danny, a new brother in CHRIST, just keeps marveling about his "new life in CHRIST" of the past six months. Danny can already look back and see the difference that JESUS has made in his life. He's had a dramatic change for the better in his quality of life! Part of that has to do with moving in with a wonderful family who live and breathe Jesus. They are loving him, nurturing him, giving him boundaries, grace, and mercy. He is thriving! Thank you Cooper family (Rachel's family) for letting JESUS shine through you.

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For some, our changes won't be quite so dramatic. Yet, each of us can share our view of JESUS and what He has done for us - no matter how long it's been since our first experience. Last year, I remember people at our Pitman church sharing their stories and we called it "Seeing GOD in my rear view mirror!"
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So, what will you do with JESUS today? Can you view all the things that He has done in your life and then share Him with someone else? PEOPLE NEED THE LORD!!!!

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Yesterday morning, I know that the Pitman church heard a sermon about “HOPE for the Hungry and Thirsty”.
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• JESUS is the BREAD OF LIFE for the hungry.
• JESUS is THE LIVING WATER for the thirsty.
• JESUS is the LIGHT OF THE WORLD for all of those living in darkness.

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We can all REMEMBER something that JESUS has done for us and tell that story. It will give someone else HOPE. So, let's start digging up some of those REMEMBRANCE STORIES, dust off the covers, open them up, REMEMBER our blessings IN CHRIST, and start sharing our stories......... because PEOPLE NEED THE LORD.

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Yesterday at Pitman, in our women's Bible class, Melva shared more remembrance stories of raising her children for the LORD. These are stories that she has TREASURED IN HER HEART. Since I was not there yesterday, to hear her part two, I would love for some of you to share comments here. If you were in Melva's class to hear her "treasures" or "stories" ...let us know some of them. Thank you, in advance.

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