AN EARLY MORNING FUNERAL

Rich was digging a hole in Christy’s front yard that night to bury a box that contained all the letters they’d written each other. There were over one hundred handwritten pages inside it.

Had his feelings for Christy changed? Not at all. But he realized that he couldn’t be guided just by his feelings. He had to act on principle and do what was in Christy’s best interest. He couldn’t just do what felt right; he had to do what was right. Even though it hurt, he knew that the most caring thing he could do for the girl he loved was to get out of her life and end the relationship that was distracting both of them from serving God and obeying her parents.

It took Rich nearly two hours of digging to finish the hole. He made it two feet wide by three feet long and eighteen inches deep so it would be beneath the frost line. He picked up the box of letters and laid it gently into the ground. He had wrapped it tightly in several layers of plastic. Rich wanted his hopes to be able to stay in the ground for a long time… maybe even forever.

For eighteen-year-old Rich, that moment was the funeral of his dreams. He was submitting his feelings and longings to God. He stared at the box one last time, looked up at the quiet house, and then pushed the dirt he’d unearthed back into the hole and packed it down with his foot. If you want to dig this up someday, I know You can, he told God. But if not, this is where it will stay.

He covered the spot with sod, then quietly stole away.

Written By: Joshua Harris

From his Book: BOY MEETS GIRL (Say Hello to Courtship)

God Bless Us..

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THREE WORDS

Ending what he and Christy called the “us” part of their relationship wasn’t easy, but they both knew it needed to happen. They went back to being just friends. They interacted at church but didn’t act like a couple. They thought of each other as brother and sister, not boyfriend and girlfriend.

The plan worked… for a while. Even though they both knew what was right, their hearts were deceitful. They wanted the feelings. They wanted the thrill of expressing how they felt. They wanted the security of knowing they belonged to each other. As a result they began to compromise their commitment to keep the relationship strictly a friendship. In a letter, Rich told Christy that he loved her. She did the same. They did nothing physically, but before they knew it, they were back in a full-throttle romantic relationship, this time behind her father’s back.

But after several months, conviction set in. Deceiving Christy’s parents began to take its toll on them. “We have to tell your parents,” Rich told Christy one day. “We can’t go on like this.”

They never got the chance. A day later, Christy’s dad walked by while she was on the phone talking with a girl friend about her relationship with Rich.

“Christy, what were you talking about?” her dad asked when she had hung up. “Tell me in three words.”

“Personal  prayer requests,” Christy answered.

“Really?” her dad asked. “It sounded more like, ‘Richard Guy Shipe.’”

They were caught.

Christy broke down and confessed her deceit. Rich met with Christy’s parents a few days later. Like Christy, he was brokenhearted at the way he had deceived them. He’d gone back on his word to Mike. He’d stolen more of Christy’s affections when he knew they didn’t rightfully belong to him.

Rich asked Mike and his wife, Vickie, for forgiveness. This time, he promised, the relationship really was going to end. He understood now that this would require drastic measures. They couldn’t simply be casual friends. “If we didn’t pull back, we would be moving forward,” Rich says. “You can’t stand still in a relationship like that.” They had to get out of each other’s lives.

That when Rich asked Christy to give back all the letters he had ever written her. Reluctantly she handed them over. “I wanted to serve her,” Rich explains. “I wanted to take everything from her that represented my feelings for her. Those letters were the record of our love and all we had shared. We cherished them and reread them over and over. I knew that in order to truly lay the relationship down at God’s feet, we both had to part with them.”

Written By: Joshua Harris

From his Book: BOY MEETS GIRL (Say Hello to Courtship)

God Bless Us..

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ios.florinac@gmail.com

UNTIL LOVE SO DESIRES

Romance is a very good thing. But just because it’s good doesn’t mean that we can enjoy it whenever and however we please. Like all the other good gifts God has made, romantic love can be misused.

Even the Song of Solomon, which reveals in the ecstasy of romantic passion, is filled with reminders not to remove that passion from the boundaries of God’s timing and purpose.” I charge you,” Solomon bride says, “do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires” (Song of Solomon 8:4).

Rich and Christy’s feelings for each other were real and deeply romantic. But were those feelings being awakened in God’s timing and purpose? Christy’s dad, Mike Farris, wasn’t so sure. When he found out how emotionally involved Rich and Christy were, he decided to intervene.

Mike had the chance to interact with Rich on a regular basis – he was his boss. Mike was running for the office of lieutenant governor in Virginia and had hired Rich to drive him to the different rallies and events being held around the state. On most of these trips, Mike worked quietly in the backseat or made phone calls. But to Rich’s surprise, one day Mike decided to sit up front. As soon as they were under way, Mike turned to Rich and asked, “So what’s this I hear about you and Christy?”

Rich gulped.

As Rich drove, Mike talked to him gently and with fatherly concern about the importance of wisdom in romance. Mike had many regrets about the years he had spent dating girls in high school and college. “When you’re close emotionally, you give away part of your heart,” he told Rich. “There are long-term consequences.”

To his credit, Rich really listened to what Mike had to say. The truth sank in. Rich wasn’t ready to support a family – both he and Christy still wanted to attend college. And it was also too soon for them to stoke the fires of romance. A premature romantic relationship would only distract them from preparing for their future.

“I had never heard anything like that before,” Rich remembers. “Mike convinced me. It wasn’t a case of him forcing me to break up with his daughter. As he shared his own understanding about relationships, I saw that he was right.

Written By: Joshua Harris

From his Book: BOY MEETS GIRL (Say Hello to Courtship)

God Bless Us..

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ios.florinac@gmail.com

THE AMAZING GIFT OF ROMANCE

Before I explain why Rich Shipe was digging a hole in Christy Farris front yard, I need to back up a little. This is a quite story – in fact, it’s one of the most romantic I’ve ever heard. But that’s not my only reason for sharing it. This story will do more than merely warm your heart. It’s an inspiring example of what happens when romance – and all those feelings of passion, excitement, and urgency that go with it – is guided by wisdom. And that’s what this chapter is all about.

Four years before his secret excavation in her front yard, Rich had met Christy at the small Bible Church they both attended. They were fourteen years old. Rich thought Christy was really cute; Christy thought Rich was really annoying. Fortunately for Rich, he didn’t stay fourteen. And as time passed, he and Christy became good friends. During their senior year of high school, their relationship became romantic. They began to write each other – not email, mind you, but old-fashioned, handwritten letters – to express their feelings. Each letter was written from the heart of love.

Falling in love wasn’t something Rich and Christy could easily explain. Who among us can describe the mysterious and powerful urge to pursue another person’s affection? Words just don’t do it justice. Defining romance is like trying to capture the grandeur of the Grand Canyon with a disposable camera. No matter how many snapshots you take, your attempts fall short.

And guess what? Falling in love was God’s idea. He was the one who made us capable of experiencing romantic feelings. He was the one who gave us the ability to appreciate beauty and experience attraction. And He was the one who invented marriage so that the blazing fire of romantic love could become something even more beautiful – a pulsing, red-hot ember of covenant love in marriage.

Why did He do it? For the same reason that He made sunsets and mountain ranges and fireflies! Because He’s good. Because He wants to give us a million different opportunities to see just how wonderful He is.

Think about the first man and woman God created. The story of Adam and Eve is the original “boy meets girl.” Their love story shows so clearly that God is the Author of romance. Though we don’t usually think of Adam and Eve’s story as a love story, it is bursting with romance. They were humans like you and me. They saw, they felt, they desired. Can you imagine the moment their eyes first met? Picture it. What would it be like to behold a beautiful member of the opposite sex when you had never known or imagined an opposite sex existed?

Sparks flew.

There was chemistry between those two like nothing you’ve ever seen. And here’s the most incredible part: God was watching and rejoicing over it all. He was the one who arranged the original match. God, who spoke galaxies into existence, was finding joy in the beauty of romance between a man and a woman. I can’t help thinking that God was smiling as He watched the hearts of the first two humans beating faster than ever before.

Written By: Joshua Harris

From his Book: BOY MEETS GIRL (Say Hello to Courtship)

God Bless Us..

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ios.florinac@gmail.com

WHY YOU NEED MORE THAN JUST INTENSE FEELINGS

This spot will do, Richly thought sadly. He peered over his shoulder into the darkness to make sure no one was watching, then raised his shovel and drove it into the earth.

Clang!

The sound of steel hitting rock rang out in the stillness of the night. He dropped to the ground, his heart pounding. Good grief! At this rate he’d rouse the whole neighborhood. He clenched his teeth at the thought of waking someone inside Christy’s house. What if her dad came out to investigate and discovered him? What explanation could he possibly give his ex-girlfriend’s father to being in his frontyard with shovel at 3 A.M? He tried not to think about it.

Rich held his breath and waited. A minute passed, and no one in the house stirred. All was quiet. Slowly he stood up and resumed his work, this time with greater care. The noise of his digging still seemed unbearably loud, but he decided to keep at it. Christy and her family lived in the Virginia countryside and had a big front yard. Rich was probably a hundred yards from the house. They’d never hear him. At least he hoped they wouldn’t…

Written By: Joshua Harris

From his Book: BOY MEETS GIRL (Say Hello to Courtship)

God Bless Us..

cabreraflorina.blogspot.com

ios.florinac@gmail.com

REAL MEN LOVE DISCIPLESHIP

They love guidance.

They love rebukes.

They love corrections.

They are willing to set aside their pride to learn new things and grow.

They love God more than anyone else.

They put God first in everything they do.

They serve God with alltheir all.

They hate sin.

They hate secrets.

They hate mediocrity.

That’s why we honor you.

We respect you.

We admire you.

Thank you for listening

Thank you for humbling down.

Thank you for being who you are.

Don’t let the past rule over you.

You are not your past mistakes.

You are not your past failures.

You are God’s greatest asset.

Continue to grow in Him.

Continue to cling yourself to Him.

Continue to shine in your own way.

We salute you!

God Bless Us..

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HANGGANG KAILAN NATIN HINDI BABANTAYAN ANG ATING MGA PUSO

Lagi nalang ba sasabay sa agos ng mundo?

Gagawin kung ano man ang sabi nito?

Hindi na ba tayo marunong makinig?

Sa sabi ng Diyos bago magpadaig?

Hanggang kailan mo lolokohin ang sarili mo?

Na kaya mong kontrolin ang ginagawa sayo?

Na hindi ka mahuhulog kasi sabi mo ang lakas mo.

Na kahit anong gawin nila sayo,

Hindi sila makakapuntos kasi ayaw mo.

Hanggang kailan mo kami lolokohin?

Na walang mayroon sa inyo pero hulog ka na pala?

Na okay ka at wala kang problema pero lugmok ka na pala?

Hindi mo kayang mag-isa.

Kailangan mo ako, Siya at sila para tumatag ka.

Kailangan mong maging tapat sa akin, sayo, sa Kanya at sa kanila

Para matulungan at maiahon ka.

Hanggang kailan ka hindi magsasabi?

Kapag natabunan at walang-wala ka na?

Bangon na hanggat kaya pa.

Humingi na ng tulong hanggang mayroon pa.

Matauhan ka na.

Bago ka mapalo ng disiplina Niya.

By:Mitchelle Santiago

God Bless Us..

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