The Love Pursuit

Things are winding down as I write at the Weeks house. Stephen is in bed reading and I realized its been awhile since we have written. At church tonight, Stephen was blessed with the opportunity to preach to the youth group. He taught from the passage in Matthew 9:1-13. We have been begun to pray that the Lord would open doors to give Stephen more opportunity to share and He certainly is the next few weeks he has several opportunities. It was so neat to hear my husband pour his heart. I even had my pen out jotting down points he shared. He is definitly filled with the grace and knowledge of the Lord. I am excited to see the Lord continue to develop a shepherds heart in him.

Powerzone camp went well. Stephen and I got to pick up and drop off the three sweetest girls all week long. We met them as we were prayer walking the downtown. All three were part of my cheerleading sessions. Their names are Alexis, 10, Asia, 7, and Shykia, 5. It was neat to see how through us taking these girls to the sports camp it opened up great opportunity to talk with the family. It is a very rough home situation and these girls just melt when you love them. Alexis said to us the last day, "alot of people do things with us and then forget us...please dont forget about us." So tonight, we went back to their house and picked them up for Wednesday night church. It is so fun...like our own little family- all piling into banana and we sing songs, laugh, and tell stories.

I just want to share a short story that is teaching me a huge lesson. Last thursday night, the last night of powerzone camp. This was the night that all week the girls had learned the cheers, dance, and stunts and now it was performance time for their parents. Well, Stephen and I pulled up at 5:30 to pick our girls up. Normally, they are sitting on the front porch and are running to our car before we can even get out; but this time there was no one. One man walked out of the house and said that the girls were not home and he thought they went to the park with some friends. Immediately Stephen and I began to get worried because we couldnt believe they would miss this night they have been looking forward too. So we went to go find them. We drove down a couple blocks looking down every alley in hopes of seeing their beaded braided hair. As we pull up to the park, we drive around to where there is water sprinklers. We see Asia climbing up the slide so we run to the fence to yell for her name. We say "Asia", she turns around and here comes Shykia- they are both smiling and waving holding onto the slide. We ask them, arent you guys coming tonight? and they both look at us with huge smiles and say "but this is so much fun" and they run off down the slide. I just break tears running down my face as we walk back to the car. I was a little upset that they were not coming but what really broke me was that this is what we do so many times to Jesus, my Savior. We get so blinded by things that seem so "fun". As I sat there in the car, Stephen looks at me and says, "Mon, what does Christ do to us when we stray from Him?" and in silent agreement we both knew it. Christ continues to pursue us. Wow! What a beautiful picture of His unconditional and steadfast love for you and I. I have alot to be humbled about, but specifically it is that I could even learn to grasp how much Christ loves us and desires to have an intimate relationship with us.

We would definitly love your prayers for these girls as we do feel the Lord has given us the ability and time to pursue after them. We love you guys. Psalm 33.

Love, Monica and Stephen