Warning: The author has noted that this contains the highest level of violence.
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Today is my born-again birthday;
I received Jesus Christ as my Savior.*
It wasn't my achievement or efforts,
but God, who showed me favor.
But to remember this favorable day,
please let me direct your attention,
to the plight of seventeen hostages,
that God shows them His best intentions.
On a humanitarian mission,
in Haiti, where few dare to go,
brave missionaries went to do God's work,
with their young ones held, or in tow.**
Yes, with five children among them,
they went to orphans, with cheer,
but then their tour bus was stopped on the road,
by a dangerous gang people fear.
Kidnapped! This gang wants money;
a million dollars for each soul.
Sixteen Americans and one Canadian;
seventeen million demanded, all told.
Now the FBI has become involved,
many people pray for release;
of seventeen -- men, women and children.
Oh Lord, in Your mercy, please!
Would you kindly, for my special day,
add your loving prayers to mine?
Please ask Our Lord to keep them safe,
that they would be set free, and fine.
Please pray that God would comfort them now,
and their young ones especially,
and give their families, at home, peace and strength,
until they are safely set free.
Author Notes
Many thanks to Cindy Sue Truman on FanArtReview.com for the artwork, "Ye of Little Faith."
Praise God Almighty -- the Father, Son and Holy Spirit-- for His help in writing and presenting this to you! And I thank Him for my life in Christ.
* On October 19, 1983, I prayed to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior -- 38 years ago. This makes me 38 years old, in my faith. (That's younger than my chronological age ;-)
Here is a beautiful and very touching song, Is He Worthy, performed by the West Coast Choir:
Bible verses about the born-again life, for anyone who's interested:
If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Romans 10:9-10 NIV
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (Thanks, Kimbob/ Father Flaps! :-)
Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
John 3:5 NIV (see John 3:1-8)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
1 Peter 1:3-7 NIV (see also verses 8-12)
