Public Displays of Affection For God In France!

It has been 17 days since leaving on our journey to Europe to use basketball to communicate the Gospel. Our team came together for this effort in ways only God could have orchestrated! Even then, His hand had to be influenced by the power of the prayers of many of you who are reading this very message. No injuries; no accidents; and incredible acts of love and kindness became the symbol of your team in France.

France has gone to great extremes to avoid public religious expression in their day to day activities. How do you respect that nuance of their culture and still uphold what God has called us to do in letting our “lights shine” so that all around you can see what God has done in our lives? Of course, you start by being different in how you conduct yourself both on the basketball court and off of it. To accomplish this, your team stopped in the middle of the day, on the sidewalk, and in the gymnasium to give thanks to God and to pray for all of those around us. At the end of the games, we invited all of the team and anyone who wished to join us from the stands to join us in our prayer circle. Not only did almost all of our “opponents” and their fans join us, we sensed you were in that circle!

Just as the attempts to limit God’s influence have not worked in other parts of the world, the yearning for something deeper was very evident in the people we touched in Paris, Lyon, and Valence. The people we met in France were just like the people everywhere who are seeking God and don’t even know it. Their emptiness and searching will only be satisfied when they come to the realization that John 14:6 can become the center of their life. All the sophistication and complexity of a country like France is minimized by the truth of the Gospel and people responded to that in the areas that we visited! Thank you for your part in supporting us!

John 14:6 (NIV) “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Monday Morning Message Sent 9/14/09

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