| Hi Pete!,
>I just want to tell you how much I've enjoyed our friendship and
>fellowship.
Likewise, my friend. It was really a blessing just being able to
hang out with you, a brother in the Lord and a friend. Not only
that, it warms my heart to know that you will henceforth root for
the Packers to beat the Bears as you know I grew up in Wisconsin!
(Just kidding and the Lord is drawing me away from watching sports,
but Pete is from Illinois and I thought I'd throw that in!)
>You challenge me to the very core of my being on a number
>of different fronts, most notably your voracious study of the Word,
Man, if there were a couple of things I would want someone to want
to be challenged about, it would be to want to be just immersed in
the word. I do need to temper this with the powerful truth that
the Lord would also have us not lean on our own understanding
(Prov. 3:5) which is something I always had some awareness of, but
not like lately. And study can be so very stale and with my propensity
for intellectualism...well, the Lord has so much to show me.
BUT, the MESSAGE is the power. The latter rain will largely come in
the form of a message that will so allure and captivate us.
>your humility,
Well, I'm really not so humble, but thanks!
>and more than anything else I think, is the fact that
>the people around you know what you stand for and kid, joke, and
>ridicule (might be too strong of a word but I don't think so) you about
>it and you deal with it so admirably that I'm finding it hard to
>describe in words. And I'm not like that, but I want to be like that.
I've been in this plant for over 11 years. A lot of the people that
kid around do so in a friendly sort of way (though they might go over-
board sometimes!). I came from being so much like Peter when he denied
Christ to at least being a little bit less so and to be very comfortable
with who I am with regards my relationship with the Lord. A lot of the
guys that do the most kidding actually like me pretty much.
Lord knows what it will be like to be ridiculed by one who loaths you
for your Christianity.
Pete, I see some real admirable qualities in you among which are the
ability to listen as once in a blue moon, I can talk a wee little bit!!!
You also have a keen mind and I am sure the Lord is and will continue
to use you to convey truth to others.
One of the negatives to my deciding upon these hours was you in mind...
Take Care Pete,
Tony
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