This month’s Journey will take you on my travel over the past 30 days across the ministry of CBMC. As our early church leaders shared from Acts 15, “They reported all the good things that God was doing through them.” I am blessed to share with you some of what God has been doing through His work here at CBMC!

Marriage, Grace, and the Gospel

The first part of my February journey began as my wife, Ginger, and I traveled to North Carolina to share God’s work in our lives at two Valentine’s outreach events: one in Raleigh on Friday, February 12th, and the other in Charlotte on Saturday, February 13th. Our journey of 7 ½ hours in our mini-van was mostly uneventful other than the occasional disruption we heard when our boys disagreed over which movie they would watch or the notification of the need to make another bathroom stop not far up the road from the previous stop. That is, it was uneventful we unloaded the van at our Raleigh hotel when I discovered I had forgotten to load the pack containing Ginger’s two dresses and far less significantly my suit and dress shirts. This, needless to say, gave my wife some good material to work with as we were speaking together to a crowd of couples for a Valentine’s message of encouragement. My wife graciously included her growth in the area of forgiveness and her increasing freedom in the area of anger. Good thing for me!

The Raleigh dinner began with swing dancing lessons from a professional dancer. What a humbling experience that was for most of us guys! After the dancing time, we ate, and then Ginger and I shared how the Lord brought us together on July 5, 1996, and rescued us from a path of self-destruction into a life of blessing, peace, and fulfillment as we seek Him daily. We were spared from the embarrassment of swing dancing on Saturday night in Charlotte, but were equally blessed as we got to meet many wonderful couples at this outreach event.

It is truly amazing how the Lord brought Ginger and I together. After I had lived 31 years chasing my own happiness and desires, nearly dying on numerous occasions, I finally had the question of my purpose on earth so overwhelmingly placed on my heart just one week before meeting Ginger. She also had a divine experience just one week before our meeting. She felt God’s presence over her bed after she had returned from another evening of drunkenness. She had succumbed to a life of alcoholism while throwing away a very successful career in the mortgage business and as a personal trainer. She remembers crying out to God, telling Him that she cannot live this way anymore, telling Him that the only way she could walk with Him would be for Him to bring someone into her life to help her. That is how she got stuck with me!

Anyway, God introduced me to my beautiful bride a week later, and He introduced me to my savior, Jesus through her. God used Ginger to lead me to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ in August of 1996. Ginger and I were married in September of 1996, and the rest is history.

Oh yes, there have been a number of struggles that the Lord has graciously worked us through along the way! Life’s lessons of child raising, leaving the family business, financial ups and downs, losing a business, and many more thrilling moments of testing, learning, and growing. We now have three boys and are truly blessed as we get to share this story of how the Lord rescued us and continues to work in our lives!

It appears that God used the Valentine’s events in Raleigh and Charlotte to stir some hearts! Several indicated a first-time commitment into a relationship with Jesus Christ, a number of others re-committed their lives to their savior! Praise God for His work in Raleigh and Charlotte during these events. And thank the Lord for those that are in relationships with those who attended and many others on a daily basis. We all know and understand what this lifestyle of relationships consists of, but it is an extra special blessing when the Lord reveals fruit from this effort!

If you have witnessed the Lord change a life in your area, please forward your story along so it may encourage others to stay in the battle.

This one is humbly submitted by: Steve Casbon, Director of Ministry Relations, scasbon@cbmc.com, 919-423-2518