A message from the editor

Imagine it is an ordinary day. You get up in the morning; you take a shower, have breakfast and go to work. Then you get a phone call that will rock your world. On January 2^nd 1996 I got a phone call from my brother Joe, his voice was broken up, at times it was hard for him to speak. I said, Joe what is wrong. He said its mom. I knew something was very wrong because Joe has hardly ever cried in his life. He mustard up the courage and said mom has been in an accident. I asked him what happened to her. With his voice crackling and hard to speak he said mom has died. You need to meet us at the hospital to identify the body. That day was one of the longest drives in my entire life. So many things were going through my mind.

 

I asked myself “where do we go when I die?” I hope my mom is in heaven? After that day I have looked at life in a whole different way. I didn’t know what lay ahead in my life and with God. You see I was brought up Catholic so I knew about God, heaven and hell but I was not sure of my final destination. As the days moved on things would happen in my life to open my eyes to the real truth.    

 

On Tuesday February the 6th 1996 we had a pastor by the name of Cary Schmitt come to our house. He was from Lancaster Baptist Church. We talked for a while and he brought up an incredible question at the end. He said to us, “If we were to die today would we go to heaven?” Marie and I said yes because we were good people but we soon found out that was not good enough. Cary explained from the Bible just being good was not good enough. He showed us some verses in the Bible that really made us think about where we were with our walk with the Lord. He said, “There are some things from the Bible that you have to understand and that you must accept Jesus as your Savior.” After reading the verses Cary showed us that there was only one thing to do and we felt good about it. That night Marie and I accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and personal Savoir. What an incredible night that was!

 

So take it forward some years to November 2001. I received a phone call from my dad with his voice broken up a little. He said, son I have gone in for some test and test came in positive. I asked him what was the test for? He said, it was for cancer. I have liver, back and lung cancer. He told me don’t worry son I am going to beat this. I went to my dad’s house in California for a couple of days to fellowship and just hang out with him. We apologized to each others for the things we have done over the years to each others. I told that I loved him and he leaned over and we hugged and he said he loved me to. He told me son don’t worry were are Christians so if something happens to me we will one day see each others again in heaven. He told me to always share my strength, hope and experience (or my testimony). My strength comes through my relationship with Jesus, my hope is in Jesus and what He has done for me on the cross and my experience is in sharing my testimony.

 

As the days went on my Dads Cancer had gotten worse and I knew a time would come when I would visit him for the last time. Than one day I got a call from Alan who was a good friend of ours, He was crying and I thought that my dad had died already. Alan said, your dad said, he does not want to go out this way. His last wish was to see all his boys in front of him before he died.

 

But when we all got there the next day he was already on morphine drip and they said he would not wake up. I told them his last wish was to see all four of us, take the drip off. She said, the morphine is there so he would not be in pain. She also said that he probably would not come out of the coma. We said go ahead and take it off he is a touch Marine. We started to pray and within an hour he started to come out of his coma. When he woke up he was not in pain. He got his wish to see all four sons.

 

Still to the end through all that pain in his hospital bed where he was to weak to speak or hardly move, I woke him up and he looked at me with that look like it was okay and then my dad tried to put his hand on the back of my head like he always did and pat me and say it will be alright but he could not, so I put it there for him and then he patted my head with the look, it okay man. Then he slide his hand down and stuck his finger in my ear and smiled again. With in minutes he went back into his coma.

 

That was to be one of his last days on earth. I believe it was the next day we were gathered in that room with about 25 people. We locked up hands and said the Lords prayer. (Our father who art in heaven) it echoed through the hallways. Not one nurse, not one doctor came by to say anything.

 

I remember I was next to his side. I looked at a friend of ours, her name was Kay and she was a nurse. She had looked at me as if this was it? And than I felt his pulse and it was not there. I looked down at my dad’s chest and saw it rise and fall for the last time on earth. You see that was his last breath on earth but his first breath in heaven. Right now my dad is no longer in pain and he no longer has to imagine what it would be like to be with Jesus in heaven because he is there. That day my father went home to be with the Lord. He passed away on October 18^th 2002. My dad fought the good fight to the end. He was a tough Marine who was in the Korean War and he was a recovering alcoholic for eighteen years to the end.

 

I share these thoughts with you because I have dedicated the rest of my life to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to people. This web site is just one tool that I can use to His glory to share that dream.

 

You see Jesus comes to set us on fire! He walks as a torch from heart to heart, warming the cold and thawing the chilled and stirring the ashes.... He comes to purge infection and illuminate our direction. God loves it when we get on close proximity to people who desperately need Him. He enjoys it when we take risks in conversations and turn them from the mundane to topics that really matter. He finds joy in using ordinary Christians like you and me to spiritually affect others at close range.

 

People say, “It is unheard of to have a bridge that wide that separates us from God. It can only be Christ that can bring us together again. We are raggedy people with a tough, hard edge. And yet, we are all family now when we bring Jesus into our lives. You see God can use anyone, just ordinary people like me and you to change someone’s life forever. We can now say, “I am known, I am accepted. I am loved.” That’s what the church is all about.

 

Jesus said, in Matthew 5:13-14, “You are the salt of the earth, You are the light of the world.” 

 

If you have read this and you our not sure about your destination when you die let me end with this.

 

 No matter how many bad groups you have hung out with or bad choices you have made in the past, they are redeemed by one good choice and that is to follow Jesus. If you want to know you have a purpose in life or to know, is there really hope, I will tell you there is and that is through Jesus Christ.

 

So today lay everything down at the foot of the cross. Start with all of your bad moments in life, your bad habits, our selfish moods and white lies, Give them to God. Your binges and bigotries, God wants them all, every flop and failure every single one, why because God knows we can’t live with them.

 

Jesus kneels down and gazes upon the darkest acts of our lives. I had 37 years of garbage and sin in my life that God has totally forgiven me for. But rather than recoil in horror, He reach’s out in kindness and says, “I can clean that if you want me to.” And from the basin of His grace, He scoops a palm full of mercy and wash’s away our sins.

 

If you’re here today and don’t think you have a relationship with Jesus or if anything happened to you would not go to heaven let me ashore you if ask Jesus into your life you will know. Go to the “How can I have a relationship with God” section and read the info. It will change your life forever.

 

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to view this site.  God Bless, Cory D. Fuca