A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

Dear Friends,

Recently, I was interviewed on a radio station in Bellingham, Washington. During the final minutes of a 30-minute “call-in” program, a woman asked to be allowed to say a few words about Heartlight. She was the mother of a youn lady that lived with us 10 years ago, and she sang nothing but praises for what the Heartlight program had meant to her daughter. She concluded taht Heartlight saved her daughter’s life, and was, in part, responsible for how well she was doing today.

The next day, I received a call from a young woman who was involved with Han and me in a youth group that we directed during our college years in Tulsa, Oklahoma, more than thirty years ago. She just wanted to say “thank you” gor the time we gave, and that the words she speaks to her 15-year old son remind her of the words we spoke to her so many years ago

As I think about those phone calls, two things come to mind. ONe is a book titled A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. The second is a scripture that states: “Don’t grow weary in doing well, for in due time you will reap what you surely sow.” Both the book and scripture remind me of the path Jan and I took 33 years ago that began when agreed to lead a Young Life group in 1975. NOw, thousands of kids and families later, we find ourselves asking, “What will we be doing for the next 33 years?” (Personally, I plan to retire at 85). So the answer is simple for me: Keep on doing what I’ve been doing and take advantage of every opportunity God puts before me.

I stand amazed as I see all that God has already done through the years, and all the wonderful opportunities that are at our doorstep. With your help, and in any number of ways, we’ll continue to walk the path as God directs, and reap good things from what we have diligently sown through the years.

This newsletter, The Hope of Heartlight, is dedicated to telling you about the exciting things happening in our ministry - what we are currently working on, and some of our new plans. I hope it will inspire you to consider being a part of something that started 33 years ago and will continue as a long obedience in the same direction for the next 33 years. Your support helps to bring hope and encouragement to struggling teens and their families across the country

“Dont grow weary for doing well, for in due time you will reap if you surely sow.” -Galatians 6:9