no greater love

every day i check my email.

i'm sure you do, too.

whether sitting with coffee at my home desktop computer, at the church office with my laptop or on the go with my smart phone - i stay connected as best i can.  i check my email.

many people have talked about the drawbacks of technology.  it's a time drain, or it's impersonal, or whatever.  i say, 'it works for me!'

sure it can be annoying when you open your email account ("you've got mail!") and it's full of ads and spam.  but tucked into the ads, there are stories.  pictures of a far-away friend's new baby.  a note from someone encouraging you.  updates and reminders that you rely upon.  and within those daily emails there are often requests for prayer & proclamations of praise.

today as i sifted through the junk mail (on one of those good days where my coffee is near by), i came across more of the same, but there was something that stood out as different.  prayer chain requests for healing and hope sandwiched around an ad from a website i like to frequent.  the subject line said:

"no greater love than Jesus"

it linked me through to dayspring.com (LOVE dayspring!) where they were previewing a new line of Christmas product, but that subject line stood out to me as though it were a bigger, bolder font than all the rest...

"no greater love than Jesus"

so many people hurting and broken and needing answers to their deepest needs.  walking through deep waters of confusion, grief, and disappointment.  asking for prayer and asking for hope....

"no greater love than Jesus"

even for me - as i struggle through a trial i didn't expect or ask for, wishing it would just go away...

"no greater love than Jesus"

i was reminded by a friend speaking at a women's retreat i went to this past weekend, that everything we need and hope for was already met in this:

"God demonstrates his own love for us in this: 

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 5:8

~God do you see me? Do you see what's happening down here?

"God demonstrates his own love for us in this: 

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

~God can you hear me? Are my prayers stopping at the ceiling?  

"God demonstrates his own love for us in this: 

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

~God do you love me?  Do you care?

"God demonstrates his own love for us in this: 

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Christ died and rose again.  There is hope.  God loved me even before i loved Him.  There is peace.

There is no greater love than Jesus.

He is everything we need.

(so technology can't be all bad, am i right?)