Friends, You Have Helped Us

I was reminded today of a stirring letter written from a couple in our church to the others at LFC who they've 'done life with,' since the couple began to follow Jesus a few years ago. Last Sunday, we unveiled another aspect of Lake Forest Church's M.O. (or motivations):  Journey Like Jesus (doing life together).   Let's listen to Kristie and Patrick Gantt-Bean  tutor us in how to Journey Like Jesus, doing life with others.  I'm so proud of them, and all their friends to whom this was addressed:

 

Hello to our friends in our church!  

 

This Sunday (March 27, 2010) during the 11am service we will stand before you in our church to do many things.

1) Baptize our son Corey as a child of God

2) Make our commitments as a family to raise him in a Godly home

3) Realize answered prayers, fulfill dreams...and heal

Before we were blessed with the gift of Eva and of Corey... when our church had a dirt floor yet, and exposed beams....still a raw building taking form.... Mike asked us to pray thoughtfully inside our church home.  He asked that we write our prayers as a part of the celebration of what lies ahead for our church.  We wrote our prayers on little slips of paper that he later buried at the threshold of our church. 

 

Our prayer was that one day we might have the joy of baptizing our children in this very place and of raising our children in this church home.  That we might HAVE our long-awaited hearts desire of our children.   Or that if we were not meant to have children that our heart's desire would change. 

 

Friends, you have in some way helped us in this long path of struggles and waiting to have our children.   You have prayed for us, with us.  You have cried with us.  Offered an ear.  You have put a hand on a shoulder without saying a word.  You have offered insights into God's plan.  And sometimes you may not have known you did anything, but through the way you live life... you just showed us what it is to be a Christian family and living in faith.

 

Thank you all.

 

Mitch will baptize Corey.  Thank you Mitch - it is special to us that you will lead us through this baptism celebration, again!  You and Mike have each been an integral part of our journey as newish Christians.  Corey will be marked as a child of God and as Mitch will describe much more beautifully, with an engagement ring for future salvation.

 

With joy and full confidence we do this.  (I'll admit we do have some lingering concerns about how Corey is going to behave.  :)  It's okay, we'll smile and roll with it however he is.)   So as we do so, we know that we have you among us and we want you to know we appreciate your support and friendship.  

 

Thank you for your place in it all.

Kristie & Patrick  (shared with permission)