Her light breaking forth like the dawn...

    For a few months now I have been praying about something. A couple of times I have said, "Really Lord? Really? Is she really ready for this?" Tonight we are stepping out to do this very thing. I have felt like I am supposed to ask Ravenna about going and serving the homeless with a ministry called Bridgetown Ministries. When I asked her fist response to going and seving people who have no home and sleep under the bridges in the city was, "Yes!". When I told her it meant being up really late and having to sit through an hour of training she still smiled and said, "Yes!" When she found out she would miss her favorite 'Families in the Park' event, I was so suprised when my little girl yet again said, "Yes! How soon can we go?" and turned around to tell her brother, "You get to go dance at the park and eat cotton candy but I get to go and serve the homeless!"...I was stunned. I have no idea what tonight will hold but we are jumping in with both feet to follow what God is obviously doing in Ravenna's heart. As I read Isaiah 58 today I found my heart again saying, "Lord this is what I want for our family far more than anything else." Faith that is deeply real, a relationship with God that is powerful, life on the very edge and full of miracles.

     “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:


to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

 Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness will go before you,

and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;

you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.



“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,

then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday.

 The LORD will guide you always;

he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land

and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose waters never fail.

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins

and will raise up the age-old foundations;

you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,

Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.



“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

and from doing as you please on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight

and the LORD’s holy day honorable,

and if you honor it by not going your own way

and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the LORD,

and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land

and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
 Isaiah 58: 6-14