Can you imagine the absurdity of several panicked women reporting to you that after several days your dead friend had come back to life? For much of my life I responded as the disciples did to these women: I dismissed them. “They are telling idle tales.” After all, dead stuff stays dead.
Or…
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Kathy Anderson knocked it out of the freakin’ park.
The witty CanucksTV reporter shot a Valentine’s Day video with the Canucks last week and she was prepared like few reporters would ever be - she made the guys custom valentines.
First things first, watch the video.
Now, the Fort Nucks exclusive, every valentine Kathy made for the Canucks. Print them off, cut them out, give them out, do whatever you want with them. It’s our valentine’s gift to you!
Which valentine is your favourite? The Jannik Hansen, Cory Schneider and Kevin Bieksa ones realllly got me. I’m still in stitches.
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Romans 8:32
Sewage Land Cleaned and Transformed Into 600 Person Christmas Event
On December 23rd, a community Christmas celebration was held in Svay Pak with well over 600 people in attendance. While 600 people is a significant number, it is the actual location of the Christmas event that is striking. These Christmas festivities were held in Svay Pak under a tent with many kids and adults enjoying drama performances, Khmer dancing and singing. Several months ago, in May, this exact plot of land used to be drastically different. The land was swamp-like and filled with sewage and garbage.
Ratanak International strategically purchased the plot for its location in the brothel district of Svay Pak behind the Sanctuary building, which we had previously purchased in 2009. The Sanctuary building serves the needs of approximately 500 people per day with education, medical and church programs, yet it has limited recreation space. The purchase of the garbage-filled land was made in view of plans to clean out the sewage and convert the land into a courtyard area where children in Svay Pak could play safely.
During the Spring and Summer of 2012, the land was arduously excavated, cleaned and is now a place where children can play games like soccer. We call this transformed place, the Courtyard. This land has come along further than we could have imagined. During the cleaning process, we could not have foreseen that this same land once filthy when cleaned out would play host to a 600-person community celebration for Christmas. God is doing big things here. So much has happened in 2012. Yet, today there are still so many kids who are trafficked, abused and suffering.
Much more is yet to be done this year as we work to contribute to hope and freedom for precious girls, boys and young women in Cambodia. Your support is instrumental in helping to end human trafficking and child sex slavery! We wanted to keep you updated and share photos of the land transformation, the Svay Pak Christmas event and some beautiful pictures of the staff and young women from the Ratanak Achievement Program (RAP) home enjoying a New Year’s Day picnic!
God’s commandment, revealed in Jesus Christ, is always concrete speech to somebody. It is never abstract speech about something or about somebody. It is always an address, a claim, and it is so comprehensive and at the same time so definite that it leaves no freedom for interpretation or application, but only the freedom to obey or to disobey.
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| — | Bonhoeffer, Ethics (via victorfei) |
