BoldGrace

Peace
Geo

Over the next few days and or weeks I am going to post in 8-10 minute segments The Friday Night Session from Grace Gathering 2007 which took place at Cliff’s Church in August of 2007.  ENJOY!!! In part 9 at the end you will hear a few words from our best friend and brother Cliff.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

….and many more.

This meant a great deal to Colleen and she wanted to share it with all of you.

I continue to pray for you and your family. When I lost my daughter at an early age, I found the daily devotional "Streams in the Desert" to be a constant source of comfort and hope to me. Please let me know if I can send you one. It was a real moment of submission for me to acknowledge that "God is God, and I am not". I literally heard the voice of God convict me after many, many days of tears and the same monotonous unanswered question, "Why,God, Why"? God’s spirit spoke to me, commanding me to answer the question:"Am I God". My somewhat begrudged but humbled answer was: "Yes, Lord". His next question: "Am I Good"? My even more humbled answer: "Yes, Lord". And the final declaration from Him: "Then Praise Me anyway"! And so I have. I always cry even today when raising my hands to Him to sing the verse to that song: "Blessed be the name of the Lord, Blessed be His name, Jesus. …He gives and takes away, He gives and takes away, My heart will choose to say, Blessed be His name…" That was a real turning point in my life, as I am sure this will be for you and your family some way, some how. During our time of grief and seeking God, my husband had a similar experience, where he heard God’s voice say to him, "I know how you feel, I lost My Son". I am so thankful we serve a risen Savior who knows how we feel. I am so grateful to God for the refining by fire he has done in me, and I pray that you will experience that eventually as well. I thank you SO MUCH that your email to all of us at ACP demonstrates the grace and hope that can ONLY be found in Christ Jesus. Thank you for being a witness to those who do not know Him. May God Bless you and your family abundantly and I pray for you to feel loved, comforted, peaceful and assured that you and Caitlin will be together again for all eternity.

Carol

We will be having a celebration of Life ceremony Saturday, April 25th, 2009 (4:00p.m.-??) It will be held at the American Legion located at 109 North 6th Street, Richmond, Indiana 47374. We will laugh, sing, cry and tell amazing stories about Cliff! We will have pictures and videos so we can share some of his incredible moments with all of you.

Clifford L. Hazelbaker II, 57, of Richmond was born January 13, 1952 and was reborn on April 16, 2009. Cliff was the son of Clifford and Barbara (Goodwin) Hazelbaker. Cliff graduated from Centerville High School in 1970. He was married to Nancy McBride Hazelbaker on March 6, 1970. They recently celebrated their 39th Wedding Anniversary. Cliff enjoyed spending time with his incredible family. Their family motto is “Love Never Fails!” He also enjoyed sharing his love of God on www.boldgrace.com. Here is an excerpt from that site… “Clouds don’t seem to care where they’re going. They are content to follow the directions of the spirit of the air, enjoying the journey as they make their way to their purpose. Though they are unaware of their designation or their purpose as they travel along, they find themselves eventually called upon to join forces and deliver liquid life to the earth. Often exhausted, they whither and die, having given all of themselves in doing their work. But, as those clouds die, others are reborn from their seed to carry on the purpose.” Cliff is survived by his wife Nancy ; Mother, Barbara; Children: Tammy (Bob) Thompson of Centerville, Clifford (Bridget) Hazelbaker III of Richmond, Mindy (Charlie) Hill of New Carlisle, Ohio, Amy (Todd) Witter of Bath, Indiana; He is also survived by 9 grandchildren: Josh, Jacob, Paige, Samantha, Clifford IV, Abby, Emma, Lilly and Phoebe. Brothers: Andy (Teresa) and Doug (Cindy) Hazelbaker.

Dad was reborn at 6:40 this morning with all of his family around him singing you raise me up. It was the most beautiful thing we have all ever witnessed. We will see you again Daddy.

We are all together right now in Dad’s final hours. We have been playing all of Dad’s favorite songs and we have been singing to him. Lots of tears. Lots of pain. I can’t quite explain all of this, but I can feel God in the room. He is with Dad and all of us helping him to move forward. This is beautiful and painful all in each breath he makes. We keep telling him that he has prepared us well for this and that we are ready to give him back to God. I don’t know when Dad will be reborn, but I know we are close. Pray that God takes him soon.

Sometimes a person will comment here on BG and the comment is so WONDERFUL & INSIGHTFUL that it need to be seen as a Front Page Post. The following is from our friend Audrey.

The sign for our age is that a virgin shall be with child. The story of Mary is a picture of us and what is happening to us today. Mary’s name means bitter rebellion. (against the sham and hypocrisy of this world and it’s way of thinking). She was a virgin (we are all virgins because we have not yet birthed our spiritual identity, only our humanity). Mary was betrothed to Joseph (his name means to add or augment). Joseph had a dream and in the dream was a message to Joseph, son of David (well-beloved, loving) not to be fearful because Mary had conceived spiritually and would bear a son whose name would be Jesus (Savior of the world) Immanuel (God with us). Joseph rose from his sleep (he woke up to see with his spiritual eyes), took Mary who rode on a donkey (lacked understanding) to Bethlehem (the house of abundance especially bread). There was no room at the inn (our head type of thinking is unable to‘see’ these spiritual things), but there was a manger (our hearts) surrounded by the animals (our emotions). There Mary began to labor (those mixed emotions and spiritual aches we have) and a boy child ( of the spirit) was born, and she called his name Jesus, the ‘star’ child. He was the ONE who would rule over the house of Jacob (the flesh) forever. There were shepherds, wakeful – keeping watch over their sheep in the night (darkness – no truth). Suddenly the glory of the Lord shone round about them (they became spiritually aware) and the message of the birth of Jesus was given ( they knew who he was and where he was). Wise men (men who have been watching for this sign) came also bearing gifts – gold (spiritual awareness, clear sky) frankincense (purity) and myrrh (sweet smelling oil). These gifts are the feelings that begin to rise up within your heart as you turn from your humanity (worldly thinking) to your heart (your true identity where Truth resides).

THANKS Audrey!

This is one that I will think on a great deal in the coming days and weeks.

Peace

Geo