June 20


Uncovering His Love


God showed how much he loved us ... This is real love.

I John 4:9a, 10a (NLT)


Don’t just pretend that you love others. Really love them ... Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

Romans 12:9, 10 (NLT)


And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should ... how deep his love really is.

Ephesians 3:18 (NLT)


I did not know how deeply I cared for my friends until now. Until this month. I have always liked my friends, even loved them with an easy-going kind of love, but now I treasure them. Truly, I do.

Our friends, the McBrides, were a part of our church before we even arrived, and they’ve always been a part of our church experience: so many times up front, sometimes behind the scenes. They have led; they have followed; they have always been there. They have been there for us.

And now we have been there for them.

When their son and brother was killed in Iraq, early this month, their pain became our pain. Their loss was shared. And the love we felt in our hearts, the love I harbored deep in my own soul intensified beyond anything I could imagine. I was caught by surprise.

There is pain, but it recedes like an ebb tide. And as it slowly drifts into the sea of yesterday, it reveals a certain goodness—so much good that hard loss is softened and our melancholy is colored with a deep-down and gentle joy.

God has drawn us in. He is showing us, this month, a little more of His love ... His compassion ... His big heart. And it is good.


Father, help us to love deeper ... like You. Amen.