Many of you out there may have heard Janni and Steve testify Kole will be healed, if not already. They have received this message during several times alone with God in prayer. How can they be so bold? Do not get them wrong! It is not that they believe that their family is imune to death. The Bible says "where oh death, is your sting" anyway. God has just said in this instance, Kole is to stay. God can use us in our death and God can use us in our life. We believe that God has an appointed time for us to be born and for us die. It is not cancer that decides our death! It is our great and merciful Lord and Savior, who decides the best time for our life here to end! We have been created to want to live and to hope to live. It cannot be that all will get what they want, but what God decides is best! To say that Kole would be more blessed to stay here on this fallen earth, than a child called to heaven would be a mistake! We have such little understanding of our great God and King and His eternal home. We like what we know, and do not welcome change and loss. God knows that what seems to us a loss, is truly a gain for us and for His Kingdom and His glory. Janni and Steve have already experienced a loss in a sense. A loss of comfort and carefree living, a loss of being an average family with an average son. A loss of thoughts that do not trail towards fear, disease, sickness, and death. But through it all both Steve and Janni testify to great gain! Both of them have gained a greater knowledge of their heavenly Father and the depths and riches of His word. They have been catapulted into being a testimony and into having a ministry, which has given their lives meaning and depth. They have had the privilege of witnessing the Great God of the universe provide and lead them every step of the way down an unknown trail. They have grown their confidence in God and find Him faithful and delightful to belong to and know. God has been a real and present comfort and has poured out immeasurable grace and peace. Their has been tears and frazzled times, but each time God has taken them into His arms and bathed them in His love. They both testify that God's Word is the water that puts out the fire of their doubts and fears. The Bible is an incredible treasure. It cannot be fully understood without the key---the Holy Spirit. God's Word comes with great power and authority. The enemy of our souls does not want us to discover the great treasures that lie behind the black words on the thin white paper. Those words are God breathed and alive and so work to transform us from a life of death and destruction to a life of light and life. The Keller's have found God to be true to His promises and to His great might through the daily study of this vast treasure. I laugh because I have an old worn Bible from childhood, but not from use only from age! I loved this Bible because it was unique, in that the cover had a zipper. I did not love the Bible for it's living words that it contained, but for the outside cover. It was kind of like being fascinated by a candy wrapper. I found pleasure with the wrapper, and ignored the candy so to speak. As a child, I do not remember ever unzipping the cover and reading it's contents. God smiled at me, I am sure, for he knew one day I would discover His love letter to me. He takes great delight when we discover the endless treasures and promises of His living Word. It is through the Bible we get to know specific characteristics of God, though He can never be fully understood in His great magnitude. The words of the Bible are like a diamond. They are multi-faceted and gleam from every surface. They shed bright light in contrast with the "black velvet" of the despair from the earth. The enemy takes delight in keeping our Bibles zipped up, so that we will continue living in defeat and darkness. The scriptures speak to us God's words of encouragement, His love, and His direction and specific work in our lives. They are words of truth. There are times when Janni and Steve are beside themselves with fear. In those times, they dive for the nearest Bible and claim it's truth and power. Then diving to their knees, they pray that truth in faith. Both of them will testify that peace and safety is to be found "under the cover". Psalms 91:4 says "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and refuge". They have restored peace of mind, countless times, through seeking God through His Word. He has never failed them. That is why they believe. God is the only one able and has proven time and time again that He never stops keeping promises. He has been found to be faithful, powerful, and true. Numbers 23:19 " God is not a man, that he should lie,....nor a son of man that he should change his mind. Does he speak and than not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" In Romans 5:2 and 5 God says "...we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God....... And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us". God is sure and steadfast like nothing on this earth. A human doctor can promise a cure, but cannot always deliver. God cannot promise and not deliver. His promise is sure and we can take great comfort in it. God delights in our faith in His promises. He knows it is difficult for us to believe.

Well, I best lighten this blog entry with a little story about Kole. Kole has quite a lot of confidence in his dad and his dad's basketball team! He has also inherited a competitive trait---we will not blame anyone on this! Anyway, Janni told me this incident Kole had at one of his father's games. Steve is always polite, friendly, and a true gentlemen. He is friends with many of the coaches in his league. He takes great pride in Kole and so before one game, Steve decides to introduce Kole to the coach of the opposing team. In his boyish way, Kole wrinkles his nose in a snarl and growls. Steve and Janni were mortified until they heard the next phrase out of Kole's mouth. Kole lowers his voice, points in intimidation at this surprised coach, and growls "You're going down". To that, those shocked adults had a good laugh. Kole had hope that his dad's team would have victory. His hope in his earthly dad's success is not always a sure thing. It is not like our hope in God. I have been taught that "Biblical hope" means it will happen. It is unlike "earthly hope" which means it might happen. Kole's intimidation however seemed to work at this game. His father's team won the victory. The opposing team's coach, came over after the game and told Kole that he got them this time. He was truly a good sport and I like this coach for his humble response to this zealous and loyal child. May we be just as zealous and loyal to our great God and King, ruler of everything.

Jodi