To My Son and Daughter

Dear Tom and Erika,

Today was your wedding.

It has been a long wait and the last months have been very busy with all the preparations. Does it seem like a blur to you too?

I remember a couple years back when Tom was getting ready to run out the door to meet a girl at Casa Bonita. I was trying to hold him back, cautioning him not to move too quick. Who was this girl that he was all of a sudden smitten with?

Tom has always been one to put his hand to the plow, take a firm grip and move forward with determination. That’s what he did with you Erika. He fell in love with you and wanted to be your husband from the start.

That is one of the qualities that will make him a good husband. He will not be afraid to take the lead as you grow together and build your home. Tom loves Jesus and will endeavor to make your home a place where Christ is the head and you both live to honor him.

The Bible talks about leaving your family and cleaving to your spouse. It is your home that you establish. It will be different from the ones that both of you have left. You are both young and that will make the merge easier than when you are older and more stuck in your ways.

Your families will always be a part of you but a good marriage requires a clean break from those families. It’s now Tom and Erika. Together you will both lengthen your existing families and make a new one. You will decide new traditions and pull in some that you grew up with. Together you will decide what the Tom and Erika Faustin family will look like.

Your loyalty will be to each other. You will have secrets that no one else will ever know. You will be careful of how you talk about your spouse to others, even when you are mad at them. You will defend each other from attacks from the outside.

In many ways, the world will try to make you like itself. Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God remake you so that your whole attitude of mind is changed. Thus you will prove in practice that the will of God is good, acceptable to Him and perfect.” Study God’s Word so that you will know how he wants you to live. The world is crafty in how it tries to trick us. It will send things our way that will rob us of the blessings God wants to give us. The only way to avoid this is to know what God says in the Bible so we can recognize the counterfeit.

Be bold in your trust of God. He loves to amaze us. Let Him expand your vision of what is possible. You will never be disappointed by trusting Him too much. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Look beyond what is possible with just two and see what God can do with three. He will be your provider, your strength and your protector.

I want you to know that I will continue to pray for both of you daily. I look forward to seeing what God has for Tom and Erika Faustin. I know it will be amazing!

Dad

Graffiti

I live in the City of Denver. I used to live in Lakewood. There are many differences between the cities. Denver picks up the trash as a city service. We had to pay separately in Lakewood although in Denver we do pay through taxes – probably more. The police are less responsive in Denver. We always appreciated the quick, caring response in Lakewood. Denver cleans up graffiti for free. In Lakewood, neighbors organized to keep neighborhoods clean.

A few months ago, there was a big meeting in Denver about what to do about the graffiti problem. The City spends about $1 million annually to clean it up and that is increasing. A committee formed after the meeting is now recommending that the City quit doing the cleanup and make home and business owners do it within two to three days.

I am not in favor of government doing things for us that we should do for ourselves. It may be a good idea for each home and business owner to be responsible to take care of their own area and you may have to force the lazy ones to do it. So, I can’t really oppose this new idea.

But here is what bugs me. It seems like a copout on the City’s part. They call a meeting to figure out what to do and then announce that they are getting out of the business and are going to put more pressure on the little guy. Thanks a lot.

There is a nice white fence down the street from me. It looked good when it was installed. Now it has become a favorite target of paint vandals. I feel sorry for the owners. I wonder if they now regret their choice of material. It seems that as soon as they clean up one mess, another appears.

From what I read awhile back, gangs are doing most of the graffiti and they use violence to protect their marks. They will go after another group who covers their tags. I hope that the homeowner will not become a target as well.

It seems what was left out of the committee recommendation was more enforcement by the police. As I said before, the Denver Police are not very responsive. If you look out the window and see a crime being committed don’t expect them to come running. Now there are times they will turn on the lights and siren but small crimes are a low priority. If they show up, it may be 20 to 30 minutes later, long after the criminal is gone.

If the attitude of enforcement was changed then maybe the graffiti problem could be curbed. It also does no good if once someone is caught they are allowed to breeze through the system with little consequence. These are two areas that government can do something where the average citizen can’t. I hope they will.

Philip

Bong Hits for Jesus

Is this statement pro drug, pro Jesus or nonsense?

The U.S. Supreme court heard arguments related to this controversy yesterday. Back in 2002, a group of students held the banner as the Olympic Torch passed by. I would think anyone with common sense would see the banner as a publicity stunt with a nonsense message. Would anyone think the message made sense?

The kids were across the street from their school and on their own time when this happened. The school principal ran across the street, took the banner and suspended a student. Click here for more details.

I can relate to the suspended student. I take a group of prolifers to local high schools each spring and fall. The students are usually receptive; it is the teachers and administrators who have a fit. Of course, we are not welcome in the schools so we have to set up on the public sidewalk in front of the schools.

On many occasions we have had officials from the school tell us we are not allowed on the sidewalk. After we educate them on the constitution, they usually leave us alone although the police have been called many times. If they had their way, we wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the schools. Thank God for our constitution!

In the Bong case, we have students on their own time across from the school. No laws were violated yet a principal decided her authority supersedes the right of free speech.

I hope the court rules the right way on this case. If they don’t, it would set a row of dominoes falling and you can be sure the Christian and prolife message would suffer harm.

Philip

He is Praying for Me

The following is from a devotional I read by Bill Bright called Promises. It is usually very encouraging and thought provoking. This entry from last week really spoke to me.

Promises for: March, 15

"Therefore, because he always lives to intercede for them, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him." Hebrews 7:25

George had tried to live a Christian life for many years, but finally gave up.

"It's no use," he said. "I have tried and tried and failed and failed. I have dedicated, rededicated, consecrated and reconsecrated my life to Christ, and nothing happens. I am a total failure."

Whereupon I read him this and several other key verses of Scripture, emphasizing the role that Christ plays in our behalf at the right hand of the Father.

"Did it ever occur to you," I asked, "that Jesus right now is aware of your every need and is interceding for you?"

That very thought overwhelmed him, and he fell to his knees with tears of gratitude.

"Oh," he said, "I knew that Jesus died for me and shed His blood for my sins. But somehow I had never made the connection between the cross and His present role of interceding for me."

"If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room," declared the famous Christian statesman, Robert Murray McCheyne, "I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me. 'He ever liveth to make intercession.'"

When Satan tempts me with discouragement and frustration, often I can visualize a scene that brings instant victory over the enemy. At the right hand of God is a room - a prayer room, if you please - and kneeling there is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, praying specifically for me and my needs. He is interceding for me!

Bible Reading: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:31-34 ESV)

TODAY'S ACTION POINT: I will allow no burden or problem or need or frustration or discouragement to defeat me any longer. Instead, I will visualize Christ Himself praying for me, and since all authority in heaven and earth belongs to Him, I will expect victory over Satan and all the unseen forces of evil in order that I may live a supernatural life according to my spiritual heritage. I will also seek to share this exciting truth with someone else today. Oh, what good news to share!