ROMANIA MISSION – Final day!
Our mission to Romania was very fruitful indeed, and it was a real thrill to see many people give their lives to Christ at each of the meetings and events in churches and prisons.
Please go on praying for this nation to somehow grasp the width and length and depth and height of God’s love, which passes all knowledge…
LOVE LOCK
A recent online petition set up by two Americans living in Paris aims to rid the city bridges of their popular love padlocks.
The concept behind these love locks is simple: lovers write their names on a padlock, attach it to the bridge, then throw the key into the water below, symbolizing their undying love for one another. These tokens of affection first arrived in Paris over a decade ago, and this is not the first time officials have tried to rid the city of them.
In 2010, officers wielding wire cutters stealthily removed all of the padlocks on the Pont de L’Archevêché, near the Notre Dame Cathedral, in the middle of the night. But it wasn’t too long before they reappeared. Now there are love locks on bridges all across Paris – it is estimated that there are some 700,000 on the Pont des Arts alone. Romantics see them as an expression of undying commitment in the form of colourful, glittering mosaic; pragmatists see them as an act of vandalism, a metal tumour dangerously weighing down the city’s most beautiful bridges.
The seemingly innocuous romantic gesture of the love lock also occurs at the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, the Ponte l’Accademia in Venice, and less renowned bridges in Liverpool, Hamburg and many other romantic locations in cities throughout the world.
Regardless of whose side you are on in the case of the love locks, it is certainly heartwarming to consider how so many people are looking for love that they will travel thousands of miles to express hope that their love will endure forever with a tiny little padlock. Love really does catch our attention!
A computer virus known as “The Love Bug” spanned the globe by e-mail, infecting millions of computers in less than 24 hours. It seems that even wary people like top software engineers couldn’t resist opening a message titled simply, “I Love You.”
Some analysts have said that the success of the destructive computer virus reveals as much about the longings of the human heart as it does about the vulnerability of the machines in our cyber-society. Deep down inside us, every person on planet earth is looking for love whether or not we are willing to admit it.
It’s no accident that one of the best-known verses in the Bible is John 3:16. It says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Also, Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
This event that actually took place in human history was the most permanent love lock even given to humankind. Multitudes of people that have given their hearts to God throughout generations have discovered for themselves that Jesus Christ is the most special person in their lives! However, with God’s “love lock”, he does not just drop the key into a shallow river that may even be found – He drops the key deeper that the Mariana Trench, which is the deepest known place in the ocean that goes 7 miles down
For most of us, it’s hard to fathom just how deep the Mariana Trench is – but much more difficult to comprehend is the love of God. The Apostle Paul was hard-pressed to describe it, but he prayed that his readers would be able somehow to grasp “the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18).
The reason we can never reach the depths of God’s love is that it is infinite – beyond measure. If you ever feel alone and unloved, that you’ve sunk to the depths of dark despair, think about Ephesians 3:18. God’s love for you is deeper than the Mariana Trench! You’re never beyond the reach of God’s love.
The death of Christ is the measure of God’s love for you.
How will you respond to Him today?
Please take a little time to examine this message:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Ex2FpwqvI