September 2020

EXPERIENCING LIFE

I remember a time when I was sick all the time. Shortly after my birth, my parents fought all the time. My father drank a lot, and my mother always cried. So, they divorced, and my mother took my three brothers and myself to an orphanage in Indian Head, Saskatchewan called the Orange Home, and I lived there until I was sixteen. During that period of my life, I fell sick often, but I still went to school and different events; I even played sports because it provided an escape and helped me forget my pain. Years later, I was doing a course where I had to fill out an emotional inventory of my childhood years on a scale of zero to ten, and I scored straight zeros across the board, which meant, according to the assessment, it was a miracle I survived childhood. I was empty emotionally, but not completely, because I had the love of my grandmother, who showed me the way and took me to her new church. I learned to pray, to get comfort from reading and studying the Bible, and I also found the love I lacked as a child when I was baptized and became an active member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church at the age of twenty-one. In fact, the church became my new family. They filled me with the love I lacked as a child, and I have never been healthier or happier. Love supplied the essential nutrients I required to experience life. The Bible gives this definition of love: “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16). When your life is supplied with the unlimited love that flows from the heart of God, you become a living source of the essential nutrients your family, friends and neighbours must have to experience life.

When I share these experiences, I do not want to give the impression that once I chose to follow Jesus, all my problems simply vanished. Far from it. Jesus suffered in this world, and we, His followers, no greater than our Master, will suffer too (Matthew 10:24). However, though we are assured of trials in this world, Jesus promises that those who remain in a committed relationship with Him “will have peace” (John 16:33).

This is the key to EXPERIENCING LIFE. Around two thousand years ago, John the disciple of Jesus expressed the truth about EXPERIENCING LIFE so conclusively when he wrote these words: “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13).

Yesterday, I received sad new: a very good friend, by the name of Brian, died of COVID-19. So, so shocked, I thought of how the world had sustained a major loss. Brian, always so alive, was a tower of strength and support for me at one of the worst times of my life. I thought of the extreme pain and sorrow his wife, son and daughter were experiencing, and I contacted them to extend my condolences and prayed for God’s arms of love to be around them all, to provide strength and comfort at this time of intense suffering and sadness. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought Brian would no longer be with us on this side of eternity.

However, in the midst of the anguish, we have hope. Brian, a solid Christian who experienced a life of deep communion and faith in Jesus, saw the big picture. He knew this world was not his home, and he helped his family, his friends, his colleagues at work, and even strangers see the big picture too.

Like my friend Brian, It Is Written Canada’s purpose is to reveal the big picture, to connect Canadians to the abundant life found in Jesus in a way that is personal and relevant. So, I want to personally thank you for your ongoing, faithful support of this ministry. Through your loyal financial contributions this year, we have been able to reach people across our nation and around the world with life-changing messages.

I also want to invite you to join us for our virtual partnership September 18-19. The theme for the 2020 It Is Written Canada partnership event is EXPERIENCING LIFE.

You are an invaluable part of this mission, and meeting with you and showing you the results of your commitment is a vital component of this media and evangelism work. We look forward to sharing with you the results of this past year at our online partnership event.

Thank you for partnering with the Holy Spirit to spread the Gospel across our great nation and beyond. Through your generous, sacrificial giving, intercessory prayers for this ministry, and faith in the mission of It Is Written Canada, you have enabled lost and lonely people to witness messages of hope and healing.

~ Mike Lemon