Love Beyond All Understanding

Today, because I was watching a memorial service on streaming, I was reminded about the value of love for humanity. Sometimes, it is important to set aside positions or opinions that set us apart from each other. As a Christian, that person's relationship with Christ is first and foremost to what is important in a person to me rather than anything outside of that which might seem different in my values and belief system. I'm quite often invited to events that have all different types of personalities with political differences, social differences, socio-economic differences, etc. However, it seems God will bring a person to you that clues you into the fact that they are a Christian. Automatically, there is that commonality -- I have the ability to set everything outside of that in order to make that my primary focus. Yes, we should be unified with like minded people -- but first of all being like minded in Christian faith takes precedence over anything else.

For instance, my political affiliation is different than the Pastor who has most impacted my relationship with Christ and has done so for over 48 years. Have I let his political views influence mine? Absolutely not. I'll listen to his views and be open minded enough to accept his reasoning, however my core political values are not swayed. He has my 100% full attention when it comes to scripture and his teachings. However, even with that -- I do my own studying to validate my thoughts and stand on what I believe. What's unfortunate for me is said Pastor Greg Laurie has achieved celebrity status now and I have not personally met him in person. This is partly due to the fact that I moved around the state of California and Washington away from Riverside, CA and/or visited other local churches in my community. My daughter knows the great respect and love I have for this man (and his family) who influenced me at the young age of 17 in my relationship with Christ and how his teachings changed me from a legalistic belief system. I wrote about who first took me to Pastor Laurie's church in 1977 in my last blog. Because of my admiration to this vessel of Christ, my daughter worked with AI to create the following picture for me. When she sent this to me via messenger, it brought enormous tears to my eyes. She sent me two versions of her creations. However, I chose the more reserved pose to share. I've always admired my late brother and my sister as they both had the privilege of meeting Pastor Greg. I've also looked forward to receiving the Christmas Card from the Harvest Ministries inclusive of his family, children and grandchildren for many, many years. The Laurie card is front and center on my mantle of Christmas cards I receive.

Another person who has impacted my life in a musical way has been Donny Osmond. Although I had the privilege of going to an Osmond Brothers concert at 12 years old, I too have never had the privilege of meeting Donny personally. However, I still have many of the original albums of his I bought in my youth and also have his music downloaded in my Apple Music application. I have watched his family grow from the time he first married his wife Debbie all through all his five sons and grandchildren. I love his wholesomeness and how he has managed to stay out of trouble even with his celebrity status. I also love that he has great faith and church values as a Mormon. By the way, I don't know Donny's political affiliation. So again, my daughter knew of my admiration for Donny Osmond and also created an AI generated picture of Donny and I. She sent this via messenger as well. Again, I was so moved to tears by it. My daughter sure knows how to get to my heart!!

It is so funny to me how in our capacities as humans we can grow to be very fond of people we have not directly met, but also how they can genuinely indirectly impact your life. These two icons have gotten me through some very dark moments in my life through their ministry and music. I quite often hear of other people like myself where a minister or celebrity has also impacted their life in some way. Once they win your heart, you are a fan forever!!

So thank you Pastor Greg Laurie and Mr. Donny Osmond for having made your mark on my heart.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 -- "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."