gain this month we want to thank you for being so faithful in helping to bear our burden. Without you and many other friends in Christ we know we could not make it. We have had many words and acts of encouragement and blessing come our way and we are grateful to God for each and every one. By God’s grace and with the help of His people we ARE going to make it!

With tomorrow being Valentine’s Day I have been thinking about love. As the years pass I have seen that, although there are feelings associated with love at various times, the real basis of love involves commitment – a commitment to make decisions that will benefit the other person the most and hopefully enhance the relationship in the process. I say hopefully because sometimes, when we do what we truly believe is best for the other person, they may not see it this way and become hurt and disappointed. But in a real love relationship we sometimes must continue to do what is best for the other person even when they can’t see it.

The most obvious example of this is in the parent/child relationship where misunderstandings often occur. But where this has really been hitting home for us is in our relationship with God. It has been almost 18 years now that Cora has been in a great deal of pain from one affliction or another and it sometimes is very hard to believe that God really loves us and is doing what is best for each of us. During this time Cora and I have been unable to do just the simple things most others take for granted like going to the store together or going out to eat. Our kids grew up without having Mom come to their performances or graduations. How can God’s love result in this?

But as I was thinking of this I began to realize that the other side of love involves trusting that the other person is doing their best for you. That doesn’t mean there won’t be times of doubt and/or minor failures, but the decision must be made to trust unless there is very strong evidence to prove otherwise. Cora and I have been through this many times in our 30 years together, but being committed to do our best for each other and trust each other has produced wonderful benefits for both of us. There is nothing better than having someone you love with your whole heart and who loves you back in the same way.

We’re sharing this because we realize we need to reaffirm our commitment to love God with all of our being. We want to rekindle our determination to do what is best for the Lord and His Kingdom. Lately we have been watching some shows on TV that we know are not pleasing to the Lord, reasoning that they have good story lines and we’re in a tough place with nothing else to do. WRONG! (See article Brownies with a Difference) We’re seeing this can only erode our relationship with the Lord. At the same time we need to renew our trust in the fact that God is always acting in our best interest through these times when it seems He has forgotten us. We must refrain from doubting His love and complaining.

So would you please pray that each of us will be able to renew our commitment to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? We want (and need) to grow in our love relationship with the Lord but realize how incapable we are to do that on our own, especially during these times when God’s actions are so mysterious. We pray that your love relationship with the Lord will be renewed at this special time of year as well. Thank you once again for being our faithful partners.

Brownies with a Difference by Annette Nay

Many parents are hard put to explain to their youth why some music, movies, books, and magazines are not acceptable material for them to bring into the home, for their youth to see, or hear. One parent came up with an original idea that was hard to refute.

He listened to all the reasons his children gave for wanting to see a particular PG-13 movie. It had their favorite actors. Everyone else was seeing it. Even church members said it was great. It was only rated PG-13 because of the suggestion of sex. They never really showed it.

The language was pretty good. They only used the Lord's name in vain three times in the whole movie. The video effects were fabulous and the plot was action packed. Yes, there was the scene where a building and a bunch of people got blown up, but the violence was just the normal stuff. And there was very little nudity. It wasn't very bad.

Even with all these explanations for the rating, the father wouldn't give in. He didn't even give them a satisfying explanation for saying, "No." He just said, "No."

It was a little bit later that evening that this same father asked his teens if they would like some brownies he had prepared. He explained that he had taken the family’s favorite recipe and added something new.

They asked what it was. He calmly replied that he had added dog poop. He stated that it was only a little bit. All the ingredients were gourmet quality. He had taken great care to bake it at the precise temperature for the exact time. He was sure the brownies would be superb. Even with all the explanations of the perfect attributes of the brownies, the teens would not take one.

The father acted surprised. There was only one little element that would have caused them to act so stubbornly. He assured them that they would hardly notice it if at all. They all held firm and would not try the brownies.

He then explained that the movie they wanted to see was just like the brownies. Evil tries to enter our minds and our homes by deceiving us into believing that just a little bit won't matter – you can just ignore it and enjoy the good parts. With the brownies, just a little bit makes all the difference between a great brownie and a totally unacceptable product. Isn’t that also true about entertainment?