Dear Brothers & Sisters,
First off, thank you so much for reading this magazine, it means so much to me!! I wanted to share an experience I had recently. A good friend of mine and I were having lunch at a Thai Restaurant in Temecula. As we were chatting and enjoying our lunch, we witnessed the gentleman at the table next to us stand up quickly as he grasped his throat and began to choke. My friend immediately jumped from the table and ran over to him. She started doing the Heimlich Maneuver as we all watched in horror. I began praying out loud, "Dear Lord, please remove the object from, please release the object from his throat." After what seemed like forever, he coughed up a large piece of meat. I was so elated and so proud of my friend for saving this man's life. The man and his wife reacted completely different than I would ever have imagined. They politely turned and said, "Thank you." That was it!!
Then I sat down and began to eat like nothing happened. I was SHOCKED! I just kept thinking how unappreciative this man and his wife were acting. I would have thanked the person over and over for saving my life or asked if I could at least pay for the hero's lunch. About a week later, I happened to drive passed the restaurant and that horrific event played back in my mind. As I thought about the man, I got a little annoyed recalling his unappreciative attitude for what my friend had just done for him. My friend Michelle SAVED his life!! Why didn't he react like he should have?
Suddenly, I thought of our Lord and Savior. In the book of Luke, Jesus heals 10 Lepers. Only one returns to say thank you. I thought of how JESUS must feel. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, yet so many of us don't stop to say thank you. We live our lives as if we deserve HIS love, when in fact we ABSOLUTELY do NOT! Sometimes I lay in bed late at night and wonder, why and how God can love me so much? He LOVES us so much that He gave His ONLY Begotten Son. Please stop and think about that for one moment. Imagine watching your ONLY son (if you don't have children, imagine the person you love the most in your life at this moment) be brutalized, tortured, die a HORRIFIC death for someone else's sins. God did that for us! Jesus did that for us! Please don't take that gift for granted. Thank God and His son today for that AMAZING gift of LOVE!!
May our awesome God bless each and every one of you reading these words today! May the LOVE of God fill you and your family's heart! I pray for Holy protection over this reader, and I pray that you stay close to them always!
Love you all so much!
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