This past month has overwhelmed
me. God’s grace at times has brought me
to tears out of love for Him. Still no
job but lots to praise God for.
The launch service went very
smoothly. Because of how we prepared,
John was able to be at peace and focus on preaching the Gospel at our launch
service. We had 112 people in
attendance. I counted at least ten
different churches, that were there to support us. We had coffee provided by Ghostlight, one of
the best coffee shops I’ve ever been to, and wings provided by Roosters. The launch service was a joyful time,
worshipping with my brothers and sisters in Christ, hearing the Gospel
preached, and then fellowship afterwards.
We have had a fairly steady stream
of visitors since launch. Every week there
is a new face, and also return visitors from the previous week. The members of Refuge continue to welcome
visitors and invite them to various activities.
This past Sunday, we had our first
baptism service. I was out of town, but
everyone said it was a great time.
Tyler, Alex, and Carrie were baptized, please remember them in your
prayers.
We are starting to look at some
options for a different building. We
will be moving out of where we are by next summer. We are only one week into looking and John
has already found a couple good possibilities.
Most of these options are minimal in cost and will put us in the heart
of downtown.
As some of you might have noticed,
for the first time in 33 years, I am now in a dating relationship. Her name is Cheri, widow of four years, and
she has two kids. I have found myself
several times this month asking God to forgive me of all the times I doubted
Him in this area. I doubted the words of
my family and friends, when they said, “Dave you’re a great guy. You’ll be a
great dad someday…” Forgive me for
doubting the evidence of God’s grace you were seeing in my life.
I was helping this past week and
the National Bible Bee, this is why I was out of town. One of Cheri’s friends heard about me the day
we were to go on our first date (less that a week before the bee began). They needed another person to help. So her friend had Cheri ask me that night, if
I would want to help. My thought was,
“Sink or swim, I’ll know by the end of the week.” I must have; shared my testimony 50 times
last week, talked about Refuge constantly, explained why I had been single for
so long multiple times, and every time people seemed to see God’s glory and
grace.
I found myself on Tuesday last
week overwhelmed. The week had just
started and already I was overwhelmed. I
got out to the car and called John Pope in tears. What an amazing God we serve. I was overwhelmed by the grace I was seeing in my testimony, Refuge, my singleness, my friends, Cheri, and her kids. I had only been there 24 hours and people
were already comenting to Cheri and me that they were happy for us. They confirmed all the things my friends and
family had noticed over the years but in my sin, doubted.
What an amazing month it has
been. Praise God for His steadfast love
and mercy. Just in this past month a
prayer of 13 years was answered and one of 33 years seems to be coming. To God be the glory for the things He has
done, and does!
1 Peter 4:10-11
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