Hearts at Liberty Connect with Virginia Tech

FALWELL CONFIDENTIAL
Insider weekly newsletter to The Moral Majority Coalition and
The Liberty Alliance http://www.moralmajority.com

From: Jerry Falwell
Date: April 20, 2007

Hearts at Liberty Connect with Virginia Tech

On the Liberty University campus is a large rock boulder that is known as the Spirit Rock, on which students frequently paint messages. This week, the rock is painted in Virginia Tech orange and maroon and bears the inscription: “Today we are ALL Hokies.” It is a sentiment that people throughout the state have embraced.

All across the campus this week, a spirit of prayer has been evident, as our students and staff have issued heartfelt pleas to heaven for those who are left behind in the aftermath of the astonishing Virginia Tech slayings.

I have seen many students standing around the Spirit Rock, holding hands in prayer this week. Their hearts have been touched by the carnage of young people their age that held similar hopes and dreams that have now been pointlessly crushed.

In the aftermath of this local tragedy, our students have felt a bond to the college students on Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus, which is only about 90 miles from the Liberty campus. Several Liberty students attended a candle light vigil on the Tech campus earlier this week.

Thursday evening, we held a special prayer service at Thomas Road Baptist Church, with a host of Virginia Tech alumni attending. Our special guest at this service was Misty Bernall, whose daughter Cassie was gunned down in the Columbine High School slayings eight years ago. Her perspective on this type of situation is unique.

“On Monday, I relived that agony,” said Misty. “I know your pain. I don’t know all of it, but I understand so much of it. It is a difficult time for you, as it was a difficult time for us.”

She spoke of the long healing process that has encompassed her life over the past eight years as she dealt with the death of her daughter.

She said, “Eight years is a long road. The road of grief is very long. But we have found such hope in Christ. I don’t know what we would have done without our faith in the Lord.”

Her words were comforting at a time when many hearts cried out for encouragement in the wake of the evil that snuffed out 32 lives.

This Sunday, April 22, Thomas Road Baptist Church will continue ministering to the hurting. Our church has invited the public to attend a Special Memorial and Prayer Service in Support of Virginia Tech and the Families of the Victims. Misty Bernal will speak. The special service is at 5:30 p.m.

We want to honor the victims in Monday’s brutal slayings and to pray for the families of the young people who were killed. It is our responsibility as Christians to offer our heartfelt prayers and our support.

Immediately following this special service at 6:00 p.m., Wintley Phipps, known as the “Soloist to the Presidents,” will conduct a memorial concert. Mr. Phipps is a world-renowned vocal artist whose powerful singing is sure to touch hearts and help to mend hurting souls. I can think of no one better to lead this service than Wintley. (The service will conclude at 7:15 p.m.)

Finally, during times like these when unexpected tragedy strikes, I tend to refer to I Peter 5:7, which tells that we worship a God who is wholly concerned about us. It reminds us that we can “cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

I know of no more comforting words.

dW 04.20.07

scripture

James 1:17

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

 

story

Tasha and I were driving home from Fresno yesterday and decided to take a detour. When we hit the light at the base of the off ramp we saw a homeless couple on the corner. The car in front of us handed them something out the window and our hearts broke as we saw him run to the car with such a thankful, desperate look on his face. We remembered that we had a bag of dried fruit and granola bars that she had packed for the day. I made a u-turn and headed back toward the corner where we saw them. I went to the back of the car to get the food bag and noticed a bag with our toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste which I had packed that morning also. I didn’t know why I packed them for just a day trip but when I saw them there I remembered something a friend had shared with me that his pastor had said. “If you have two of something, one of them isn’t yours.” We got out of the car with both bags and headed over to the corner. It started to sprinkle as we crossed the off ramp to get to the couple. I offered them the food and they immediately lit up. Then I hesitantly pulled out the other bag. I began by saying that they weren’t new but… The man’s face exploded with excitement, his eyes got misty, and he was speechless. His wife looked at him and said how much they needed and wanted toothbrushes but he had explained earlier that they didn’t even have toothpaste but that bag had it all. We introduced ourselves and found out that their names were Frank and Cecilia Church. We all shook hands and I commented on how cold his hands were. Tasha immediately without hesitation took off her coat and gave it to Cecilia. She didn’t know what to say. I offered my sweater to the man but he declined either out of pride or shock. I told him that he could only have it on the condition that he gave me a hug. He laughed, and hugged me before I could pull it off over my head. Tasha was crying. I shared that we were moving to Fresno this summer. The man shared with us how he and his wife had met and that they had been married for 21 years. We talked and laughed for a few more minutes before we said our goodbyes. Before we ran across the off ramp back to our cars I looked back and saw Frank helping his wife put the coat on. They waved as we drove back past them and we honked back as we entered the on-ramp to come home.

 

challenge

This week look for opportunities to share the love of Christ with others, get out of your comfort zone and show love. Doing so is not extreme but simply uncommon.

Bag of Nails

My aunt sent this to me a few days ago. It is a story that I like because I can relate to it but I also don’t like it for the same reason.

 

Bag of Nails

 

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. 

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

 

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.”

dW 04.18.07

scripture

James 4:13-15

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

 

quote

We picture death as coming to destroy; let us rather picture Christ as coming to save.  We think of death as ending; let us rather think of life as beginning, and that more abundantly.  We think of losing; let us think of gaining.  We think of parting, let us think of meeting.  We think of going away; let us think of arriving.  And as the voice of death whispers "You must go from earth," let us hear the voice of Christ saying, "You are but coming to Me!" - Norman Macleod

dW 04.16.07

quote/scripture

O God, I beg two favors before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty or riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” And if I am poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name. (Proverbs 30:7-9) -Agur

 

thought

What would happen of more of us would risk:

·         contentment over consumption?

·         satisfaction over searching for more?

·         more gratitude over meaningless gratification?

·         resting in what we have over restlessness in what we lack?

·         connecting with the Joneses instead of competing with them?

·         giving more money to God’s work over getting a new toy?

·         careers for a cause?

·         having less on earth for more in heaven?

-Risk, by Kenny Luck