Dear Friends of Calvary,

This week has been a rather sad and depressing for me.  As a sports fan and as one that enjoys college football, the news out of Happy Valley (Penn State) has not been at all happy.  In fact, it has been horrifying!  I have been trying to grapple with my feelings in how to deal with this terrible tragedy.

First of all this situation makes clear again the sinfulness of man's heart.  Jer.7:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?  This sinfulness of the heart is seen on many levels

This morning as I sat reading the Syracuse Post Standard at McDonalds (it's free!), my attention was drawn to the front-page article about two men who have been living together for 57 years who are finally going to get married by the Mayor of Syracuse!  Why?, because now it is legal and they are heroes for enduring the suffering for so many years.  My heart dropped as I read the article and thought

This week as I have been preparing for the July 4th Independence weekend, God has been speaking to my heart about the wonderful country that He has given to us.  Our forefathers were very aware as they fought for freedom from England and tried to design a constitution based on the principle of freedom for each citizen, that God was the Author of freedom and that they needed to turn to Him and appeal to Him for help and forgiveness.   Listen to the prayer of Thomas Jefferson for our country:

This Sunday, we will be honoring our graduates, as they leave the halls of learning and begin a life out in the “real” world.  It has been a lot of work for each of them to reach this milestone in their lives and we congratulate them for a job well done!  May God bless each of them as they seek to do His will for their lives!