The Lion's Den

�Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature,
old things are passed away; behold all things are become new."
II Corinthians 5:17

When I was growing up the finest man I ever knew, and the finest christian as well, was my Uncle James M. Smith. James was the closest thing I ever had to a real father when I was growing up and, I always knew if I needed him he would be there. His patience was boundless and he was easily the strongest man I've ever know, both physically and spiritually. His father, my maternal grandfather Sylvester, died unexpectedly, in the middle of the Great Depression, when James was only seven years old. At that time he became the man of his family helping my Grandmother Lily raise his two sisters, one of whom was my mother and a younger brother. During his life James was a highly respected local accountant, but once he retired he devoted his entire life to the service of his Lord through researching God's word in the Bible, writing poems and songs that were faith based and in organizing a ministry that he called Love Crest Ministry.
Despite my respect and love for James I only, at best, toyed with religion until the year 2002. My testimonyabout what happened that year is available for those who care to read it, but basically, three Sundays before Christmas 2002, I had the defining moment of my life and fully gave my life to God. My daughter Ashley adored James and regarded as her unofficial Pa Pa (Grandfather) so we had developed a tradition of going to visit James together every other Sunday. We did so the Sunday after I became a christian and while we were there I told James about my becoming a christian. He was, of course, very happy to hear of it and we were both looking forward to discussing our faith and the Bible together in the future. That was not meant to be however because the following Sunday after Ashley and I visited him, the Sunday before Christmas, my Uncle James passed away and went to what was most truly his just reward in Heaven. I never mourned James himself, I knew without a doubt that he was with our Father in Heaven and was joyfully busy meeting all the other Saints that had gone before him. I did mourn though, in fact, my heart was almost broken, because what Heaven had so gladfully gained I had lost here in the material world and I knew it would be awhile before I would see the man I considered my father again.
I have neither the skills nor the knowledge to see James' dream of Love Crest Ministry to the fulfillment he'd hoped for it. But through this web page I do hope to keep it alive in some small way, out of respect for him, and in hopes that in some small way it may help anyone it touches. I will be adding pages to this Ministry as time goes by, currently there is only my Testimony page, but in the future I hope to add some of James's poetry along with essays, both his and occasionally some of my own along with what I've come to think of as the Pearly Gates Question page for discussing questions that just can't be settled here on earth, but as my Sunday School teacher said, could be asked when we reach the Pearly Gates.
May the Grace of our Lord be with you; now and always.
Leo

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