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Theme: Unshackled
Have you ever been startled to see someone you didn't expect to see?
I know a woman who says she actually felt her heart stop beating when she unexpectedly saw her son. I was living in Montana at the time… a long way from Minneapolis where two young men from our church were attending AFLBS. I received a phone call on a Friday from one of the boys saying that they were going to drive through the night on Saturday to arrive for church on Sunday morning. "And one more thing… no one is expecting us, so no one is to know, we want it to be a surprise. We'll call you when we get there." I received the next call about 10 minutes before the service was to start. I told them to park behind the church and snuck them in the back door where they quietly waited in a room behind the altar area. I was in charge of the welcome and opening announcements that Sunday. The greeting time went as usual and I proceeded to work through all the announcements for that week. Then, in a bit of a twist, I began to introduce a couple of visiting missionaries as the eyes of the congregation began looking around to see who I was talking about. Finally, to present themselves, the two boys entered through the door I was standing next to.
The first response was a group effort to inhale all the air in the room. (It must have been at this point that the heart of mom #1 stopped beating!) The second response saw both mom #1 & mom #2 jump to their feet and run up to the front of the church to embrace their sons. It was a very emotional encounter! This story reminds me of the women who were running from the tomb after Christ's resurrection and how they may have felt when they unexpectedly encountered their risen Savior. Wow! What a heart-stopping moment that must have been! It is our hope as a FLY Committee, to see many heart-stopping moments at this summer's FLY Convention "Unshackled" held in Estes Park, CO. We pray you will be there. Many of you maybe won't be expecting it, but Jesus wants to meet you there. He wants to show you that He indeed has risen and desires to take up residence in your heart. There will be others of you going up to worship at Estes Park who will be arriving in full anticipation of meeting with Jesus and seeing Him at work there. John 12:20-21 says, "Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip… and began to ask him, saying, 'Sir, we wish to see Jesus.'" I am confident that you will see Jesus at Estes. We are praying for you… for all of you… for those who desire and expect to see Jesus, and for those who may be startled at Estes and meet Jesus unexpectedly.
Will you be startled at Estes?
Pastor Paul Kneeland, FLY Committee President
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