September 2014 Monthly Letter

Dear Family of Reconcilers,

I was struck by the message from Our Daily Bread devotional on August 16th. The title is “Walking Billboards.” The passage was 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. It’s the story of Pete Peterson’s experience in the Vietnam War being shot down in 1966 and taken as prisoner. I quote: “Over 30 years later he returned as U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam. One press article called him a walking billboard for reconciliation.”

The article goes on to say, “He realized that God had not saved his life for him to live in anger. Because he believed this, he used the rest of his life and his position to make a difference by pushing for better safety standards for children in Vietnam.”

Furthermore the article states, “It’s a great responsibility and honor to be appointed representative of your country or another. As followers of Christ we are ambassadors for Christ.” (2 Cor. 5:20). Just as God sent Christ to reconcile us to Himself (v. 18), we now have the ministry of “reconciliation” (v. 19). Our message is that “all can be redeemed in Christ because God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

That means that we all as servants of God are to be walking billboard signs for Him and to be lights of the world and salt of the earth. He can use us to continue to carry and expand His Message of Reconciliation to a broken world that desperately needs it.

All we have to do is watch the news and we see wars, strife and hatred. We see racism, sexism and divisions even within the Body of Christ.

This brings to mind a statement made by former Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian about ORM. He said, “ORM brings to the table a framework that makes it possible to discuss race in a very civil way. If I were to speak about it in a vacuum, it would not be as effective as associating with an organization like ORM.”

Let’s pray that God would continue to use us and other ministries to help solve some of these issues that so deeply break His heart. Again, Jesus died that we might be reconciled to Him, the Father and each other. And let’s all continue to be walking billboard signs for reconciliation.

God bless you all,

 

 

P.S. On October 3-5, 2014 we will be holding our biennial ORM Chapter Leaders’ Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. We ask for your prayers and would appreciate it if some are able to give a little extra to help fund it. Thank you!