Grateful For A Second Chance

Most of you know that I was an orphan kid.  My dad left my mom and two older sisters before I was born.  When I was five, my mother passed away leaving us wards of the state of California where we were passed around to various foster homes for several years.  Thinking back now, if I had stayed at any one of those homes, my life would have been radically different. 


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A Grateful Heart

I will always remember the day my brother and I became men.


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Hold On

I can still see the picture clearly. I was about ten years old and we were on vacation at Hume Lake, California with our best family friends (Teri’s family) and having a picnic on the smooth rocks at the east end of the lake where it drains into a rushing gorge. We were enjoying lunch on a warm summer day with the sounds of rushing water only a few yards away. Teri’s little brother, Kevin, about five years old at the time, was reprimanded a couple of times for getting too close to the edge.


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In for the Longhaul!

Dear Westside Family & Friends,

I recall a while back, as we were worshipping the Lord at Westside, I had the most wonderful picture drop into my spirit.


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Preferences Or Convictions?

Here is a recent Supreme Court of the United States definition of preference
versus conviction. “A preference is a very strong belief, held with great
strength. You can give your entire life in a full-time way to the service of the
preference,


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Come and See

Hey Westside!

I love Easter! I think it’s my favorite day of the year. It’s the day believers all over the world celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus.


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What About Our Kids

Dear Westside Family & Friends,

When did you come to Christ?  Become a Christian?  Get “born-again”?  How old were you?  Had your life been an absolute wreck?  Were you broken and wounded?  For most of us, that’s when we came “back” to Christ.  For most of us, we responded to the Gospel message when we  . . .


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Full of the Spirit

Dear Westside Family and Friends,

As A.W. Tozer once said, I believe that: “You are as full of the Spirit as you want to be.”


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The Body of Christ

Guest blogger: Teri Barr

I get to be a “guest blogger” today in Steve’s column so that I can share something so precious to me that God let me not only have “head knowledge” of, but really experience in my recent unexpected hospitalization.


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God is in Control

Dear Westside Family and Friends,

Two days ago, Sam LaCara, a local school principal was shot and killed in broad daylight.  It was a tragic and senseless experience that this community will not soon forget.  Our hearts go out to the family, friends, co-workers and students of Sam.  Many of our own church folk fit into these categories, and our hearts go out to them in this season of sadness and searching.


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