Fred Dostaler is a remarkable man. A stranger shot him with a high-powered rifle. Fred called his brush with death “a gift from God.” Not only did he forgive the shooter, he advocated in his defence during the court appearance.
The attraction of the early church was looking at how believers loved each other. People want to be a part of that kind of community. You find that community in the one anothers of the Bible.
Stuck? You know, at a place in your thinking where you can’t find a solution. No matter how long and hard you think about a solution to a problem you face, nothing comes to mind except ideas that don’t work. How do you get unstuck?
Saturday morning, I laced up my running shoes as I’ve done many times during the pandemic. Only this time I wasn’t heading out for a walk, I was on my way to do what the shoes were designed to do.
.It started small with only three people at first. The Bantseevs, Janet & Ilya and their infant son, Josh. An immigrant to Canada, Ilya was from Russia, so at least he spoke the language. But it was tough slogging when the Lord called them to plant a church in Ilya’s home town of Novokuznetsk…a city of about a half million in central Siberia (a four hour plane ride east of Moscow).