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| God Loves You Have you ever felt like God was out there, but He really didn't care about you specifically? I became a "born-again" Christian when I was 28 years old, but I felt like I got there by my own discovery of the way in, not really by God's plan. I imagined that when I got to heaven there would be this big crowd, but I would be hidden in the back somewhere where God's gaze would never fall upon me. Well, that view changed one day......... Have you ever seen or heard of the old MASH television series? It was popular in the late 70s and early 80s. It was about an American Army medical unit stationed in Korea during the Korean War. The main character was a physician named Hawkeye Pierce who had a very unique, a little sewed view on life, usually a rather funny one. This series ran on television for a long time. I really enjoyed this program and I was very disappointed when it was announced that the series would end. The evening of that final episode found me seated in my livingroom. That final show was promised to be a real heart- stopper, and I was anxious to watch it. If you don't remember that final show, or if you never saw it, I will fill you in... The show began with Hawkeye in a psychiatric ward. Something had happened to cause him to "flip out" and he was unable to deal with reality. Doc kept trying to pry out of him what had happened. So, the show went back and forth between the main unit and the psych unit with Hawkeye. Slowly, bit by bit, Hawkeye began to remember the details of the event that traumatized him.... Hawkeye was on a bus filled with refugees. He was the only American on the bus. As they traveled down the dirt road, they encountered some American soldiers who flagged down the bus. They informed Hawkeye that the enemy soldiers were ahead of them on the road and were headed their way. Hawkeye knew they had to hide the bus or the soldiers would find them and probably kill them all. Hawkeye was unable to speak Korean, so he successfully gestured to the bus driver to drive into a thicket that would hide them from sight. The problem was that the bus was full of noisy refugees and their animals, including oinking pigs and squawking chickens! He wildly motioned for them to be quiet, that danger was near, and he was successful except for one squawking chicken at the back of the bus. A woman was holding it and was trying to quiet it down to no avail. Suddenly, the enemy was in sight. It was as if everyone on the bus was holding their breath, hoping they wouldn't be found. The enemy walked by, laughing and talking to each other, making enough of their own noise, and they didn't notice the bus at all. Whew! They made it! Then Hawkeye realized that the bus was quiet, still quiet, too quiet! Hawkeye turned around to look back from his front seat in the bus, and noticed that everyone was looking at the lady seated in the back of the bus with that squawking, but now quiet chicken. Hawkeye got up from his seat and walked to the back of the bus, but wait, it wasn't a chicken squawking, it was a baby that had been crying! What Hawkeye couldn't deal with was that it was an infant that kept crying despite his mother's every effort to quiet him. It was Hawkeye that had insisted that she quiet the child down, and now the babe lay limp in his mother's arms, and huge tears streamed down her cheeks. The only way to quiet her son down so that they would not be found, was to hold him tightly to her breast and smother him. Now he lay dead in her arms! Hawkeye had "lost it" at that point, and so did I! I was so upset by that image that I ran crying from the room. How could they ever put anything so awful on television? I had an infant about the same age lying in a crib in the next room. I could never imagine ever killing my own son no matter what the situation! I hated that show and told anyone who would listen. Two years passed after that final episode, and the memories faded and were mostly forgotten, but something hapened one day to call them back........ I was very involved in having a tent revival in our area. I had never been to one, and it was exciting to be a part of it. I helped in some of the background preparation, and I took off a whole week from work so I wouldn't miss a minute of the event. I attended every session, morning and evening. Evangelist Peter Marshall Jr. came as our speaker. One morning as I was listening intently, something Peter Marshall Jr. said triggered the thought of that MASH final episode. Once again I saw that sweet, lifeless child in his mother's arms, and the tears flowing down her cheeks. Tears welled up in my eyes and began to overflow and run down my cheeks, and then I heard.....yes heard, audibly heard the Lord God say to me, "Bonnie, why does this bother you so? For that is what I did,........to my Son,........for you!" I sat in stunned silence. No one else heard what I did, they were all still focused on Peter Marshall Jr., but what I heard was clear and profound! I had never seen it this way before. I had always pictured Jesus giving up his life for us, but I had never seen it from the Father's perspecitve before. I had always thought that Jesus died for all of us collectively, but He never would have done it just for me. Now I saw it differently. It was the Father's plan, and it was definately for me, and for me specifically. God made it personal. He put value in me,..........in me! Now I see myself in heaven at the front of the crowd, and the Father's eyes meeting mine. But that is what is so amazing about God. He will look each of us in the face. We are all precious in His sight! He wants you to know that He loves you, yes you, specifically you! Jesus was obedient unto death to take the penalty for our sin upon himself. If we accept and believe that Jesus Christ hung on that cross to pay the price for our sins, and we repent (are sorry for and turn away from) our sins, then we are forgiven. We are seen as Holy by God through Jesus sacrifice. Now we can have a relationship with God through Jesus. The whole point is that it is personal. God loves each one of us, including you. It is why we are here, it is what this life is all about. But God didn't make robots. He gave us free choice. He desires that we will choose to love Him of our own free will. Jesus loves you. He paid the price and desires a relationship with you. He will be your intercessor between you and the Father. If you will ask, He will send the Holy Spirit to dwell in you. This is the promise of the Father, the way we are "sealed" for eternity. And it is the power of the Holy Spirit that will help you to overcome sin. Salvation is by grace. Grace means unmerited favor. There is nothing you can do to deserve it or earn it, it is a free gift of God. There is nothing you can do, and nothing you have done that can stop God's love for you. Jesus died once for all sin, and if you repent of your sin it is removed forever and no longer counted against you! You have to make this decision in this life. There is no second chance. The Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews 9:27 ...man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,... There is no second chance. My prayer for you is that you will desire a relationship with Jesus and eternity with God through the gift of salvation through Jesus' death upon the cross. Remember that God loves you!
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