Thursday, May 12, 2005

11:06 AM Here are some pictures of the Allied Force Senior Banquet. And here are pictures of the Allied Force Senior Class of 2005 (Hat tip to Eric Rubio). 8:41 AM Several months ago we sent several thousand copies of An Anchor for the Soul to Word of Life in New York. They packaged the books with copies of the New Testament and a Quiet Time Diary and sent them to chaplains in Iraq who distributed them to the troops. This week we got our first response from a soldier who found my email address (the correct one!) in the back of the book:

Dear Pastor Pritchard, I am a Marine serving in Iraq. I received from my Chaplain a box with a Bible, your book, An Anchor for the Soul, and a daily bible study planner. Unfortunately your e-mail address was in your book, so I decided to bother you with some questions of mine. (that’s a joke) I was raised in a Christian home and eccepted the Lord at an early age. I have always thought of myself as a Christian. I knew that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and that He is the only way to heaven. Upon reading your book, I was recently convicted that I may still be lost. In your book you used the analogy of the logic question about frogs deciding to jump off a log to illustrate the critical difference between deciding to do something and actually doing it. That convicted me that maybe I was still trying to earn heaven by being sorry for my sins. You also said that we need to realize that if Jesus isn’t good enough to get us to heaven, then we’re not going. I had never thought of it like that before. That, however, is very true. Jesus is our first, last, and only escape plan from sin. There is no “plan B”, no contingency plan, just Him. I had been burdened with my sins and was trying to bear that burden with my own strength. I feared going to God with them. Your book made me realize that my sins aren’t a shock to God, they don’t catch Him off guard. I am already forgiven. That takes a lot of pressure off my insufficient shoulders and places it on Jesus’ very capable shoulders. I’d like to thank you for pointing that out. So now my question. In your book, you said that our part was to be hopelessly lost. I was wondering if you could give me some scripture references to illustrate this point? I would appreciate it, thanks.

I have written him back with some Scripture verses and with other information that will help him come to assurance of his salvation. Pray for him. 8:14 AM Here are the latest entries on the Crosswalk weblog: Unspeakable Sin and the Goodness of God A Quick Comment About Forgiveness Six Blog Quickies 8:12 AM A happy Thursday shout-out to Joanne Gill, the Commander of our Awana program, and to all the Awana Cubbie workers: Pauline Reynolds Carolyn Cullison Susan Georgopolus Peter DiPalmares Carolyn Lundgren Julie Norton Heidi Eric Cullison Abigail Childs Nancy Smith Charity Jirsa Laura Viise Karl Reynolds Courtney Moran Megan Childs Sofie Miller Faith Jirsa Vicki Saraceno Ed Sagan Bryan Martin Laura Hruska