God loves me?

(Work in progress...) I'm sure you've heard of Adam and Eve (if you don't know their story read Genesis chapters 1 thru 3 at www.biblegateway.com). Why do you think God created them?... He created them to be in a relationship with Him. God wanted to share His love with Man and His desire was that Man love Him in return. Their choice to eat the fruit reflected their lack of trust in Him. Immediately their relationship changed.

In Genesis, at the end of chapter 2 it says that Adam and Eve were "naked" before God and they were not "ashamed." Ok, get over the literal "nakedness" to the deeper issue- their "nakedness" implies that they were completely open and vulnerable before God. They weren't hiding anything. That's the way things are in a loving relationship. There are no secrets. There is openness.

In verse 7 & 8 of the next chapter (3), after they chose not to trust God, it says Adam and Eve realized they were "naked" so they covered themselves and tried to hide from God. They realized that they were unfaithful and they tried to hide it. Yet even though their relationship had changed, God doesn't abandon them or disown them. It was his desire to restore the relationship and he already began to reconcile Man to himself.

This is God's nature. To reach out to us first. He stands, even today, with His hand stretched out to us. He...



Have you ever FORCED anyone to love you? It's not possible to make their heart love you... a person must be free to love; If a person doesn't have the choice to give their love then they are a prisoner, a robot.

God loves us with passion. He is also a gentleman. He doesn't FORCE us to love Him. He gives us the choice, and He honors the choices we make.

He wants to take care of us and give us all that is good. Jesus holds his hand out to us. He won't take hold until you give the ok...

Jake and Tami's beginning

It all began in a galaxy far, far, away...actually not really. The truth is this: God was working on our hearts and preparing us separately so that when we met each other we would be at the right point in our lives.
We met about 3 years ago through church. We never imagined we would find each other there. It ended up that we both had similar interests and passions, which eventually brought us to a point where we had small talk. Both of us had a passion for missions ( helping people in underdeveloped places in God's name) and went on separate short term mission trips.
While at a young adult gathering one night, we started talking about our separate trips. (Tami went to Mexico to build houses and it happened to be with Jake's Dad. Jake went to the Dominican Republic to help with construction needs and share about God.) That conversation sparked some interest in one another but nothing was done on our parts....God had to bring us together and intervene (in a good way!)
A mutual friend of ours (Eric) wanted to start up a ministry of young adults at the church making regular trips to the Navajo Nation in Arizona to help the missionaries already there and just share God's love. We started working on that but the team needed one more person. Paul (Then, the missions pastor at Central Christian Church) suggested Jake and I was excited at that point but kept it only about God. I then asked Jake if he would like to be a part of that team and without hesitation, he accepted the invitation. We then began making plans for our first meeting to get things set up. The meeting was supposed to be the following Thursday...God had different things in mind.
That Wednesday night I received a phone call saying that Jake's dad passed away. This immediately became personal because I knew him and just served alongside him. I immediately called Jake and he was responsive to me. For the next month or so we talked frequently. We became immedate friends, and I was happy to be there for him in his time of grief.
One day when he was in Michigan with his family, we asked each other to go to one another's best friend's weddings that happened to be a week apart. To make a long story short, our 1st and 3rd dates were weddings (God already knew).
5 months later, on Thanksgiving we became engaged and 7 months from then (June 25,2005) we were married. We recognized that God has his hand on our relationship and we could not deny that.
Because God is the center of our relationship, we find so much harmony and love with one another. We trust God completely and are growing closer to Him and each other.
That brings us to this chapter in our lives. We are now attending a Christian college together in Australia and will be heading out for a 6 week mission trip soon.
God Bless you and thanks for letting us share "Our Beginning" with you!