God is my..."Father"?

Happy New Year! Following is a short article written by Rope - an account of his experiences during his recent mission to Africa. It is our prayer that the Lord will continue to reveal Himself in powerful ways - to us and to each of you. Blessings for a wonderful 2003!

Love, Candice

As many of you know, I recently traveled to Uganda, East Africa for a three week mission trip, and it was incredible. I had the opportunity to speak to over 6,000 students at 17 different schools. Between the schools, churches, and crusades, we saw over 4,000 people receive their salvation. In a country where poverty is so rampant, it was amazing to see people so hungry for the Word of God, and to see their circumstances so quickly changed when they began to believe and accept the Truth. In America, we often need to be "entertained" by the preacher to feel that church was "good". However, when people are hungry, both physically and spiritually, they don't want cake - they hunger for Bread.

An interesting thing I saw in Africa is that the people are quick to accept that God is big, powerful, wise, and good - but the thought of relating to Him as Father is strange to them. Uganda is called a "country without grandfathers." Because of years of famine, wars, and AIDS, the children are often without parents, and seldom do they have both parents to care for them. This has stolen from them a basic understanding of what a father-son/daughter relationship should be. In teaching them to know God as Father, I realized that we often forget that He wants us to always relate to Him that way as well. So I would leave you with this thought - since we have the Spirit in our hearts that cries out "Daddy", let us purpose to know HIm more intimately that way.

- Rope

Please pray for ...

• Our President, nation, and troops
• Wisdom and guidance in planning for 2003
• Healing - Val Stressman, Cash Myers (knee)