A Brief Update and Some Thoughts About the Season:

The DDOMF has gone over the $17,000 mark. Praise the Lord.
We have also had the opportunity to be involved in several good conversations that may very well move our project forward. That is reason to pray.

Some of you may have seen some of these thoughts in another context, but I thought I'd edit something I wrote just after Black Friday and include it as an encouragement.

Giving Thanks, Black Friday, & PIU

Yesterday was a lovely day of offering thanks.
My wife Kathy, Joyce Owen, and some other ladies planned a Thanksgiving celebration for more than seventy-five. Some friends of PIU donated turkeys and hams for the feast. Various members of the PIU family provided the rest.

We had a time focusing on gratitude before our meal. A central part of our program was reading Psalm 136 together.

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

That refrain is the second line of each of the twenty-six verses in the Psalm. The oft-repeated line
contains the very common Old-Testament word “hesed.” I encourage you to look into the word. Here
are two online articles that will get you started: http://www.bible-researcher.com/chesed.html, https://www.ligonier.org/blog/what-hesed/.

God’s steadfast love is embedded in the reality of Who He is (vs.1-3), not circumstances and is demonstrated in His creative power and genius (4-9). God’s deliverance of Israel, both in the Exodus and throughout their history, flows from this steady-state attitude toward His people (10-22). God’s steadfast love is not limited to good times. To the thoughtful observer, it is evident even “in our
low estate” (23).

Since God’s steadfast love is enduring, our thanksgiving should likewise be continuous (26 & Eph. 5:20). It’s easy to be grateful when things are going the way we want them to go. Biblical gratitude, however, flows out of a heart that walks with God. By faith, God’s child can see, even in life’s
trials (Ps. 107, Rom. 8:26-39), our Heavenly Father’s hesed at work, guiding us to a blessed end.

What a contrast to the mad dash that so often marks the season Black Friday ushers in.




Don’t get me wrong, giving gifts is an appropriate expression of our affection. Good stewardship is as important in gift-shopping as in the rest of life. Just ponder a bit, though. Make sure that your celebration is in keeping with the supreme expression of God’s steadfast love that we celebrate at Christmas.

Give thanks to the

God of heaven, for

his steadfast love

endures forever.

Psalm 136:26, ESV

PIU is an institution that operates in the flow of God’s steadfast love—if you will, like the reformed
Scrooge, we keep the spirit of Christmas all year long. We survive based on God’s goodness. Our mission of making excellent, transformative, Christian, higher education accessible in this region is an expression of hesed. We try to live that out. Yesterday was an example. A group of our students shared music at a local church

I was privileged to share from God's word.

Your participation in DDOMF is a channel of God’s steadfast love. It flows from God to you, then to this school.
That flow continues as we minister to the students God sends us and as they serve in this community and the communities from which our students come.

The time between Thanksgiving and New Year brings a great deal of Joy—I certainly hope that is
true for you and yours. Our joy at PIU is certainly enhanced as we see reports of gifts to DDOMF. I believe it brings joy to our Lord's heart, as well. He loves cheerful givers (2 Cor. 9:7).

If you have included PIU in your Christmas giving, thank you. If you haven't, would you consider doing so? Stop by at https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/dr-dave-owen-memorial-fund, or https://piu.edu/welcome-to-the-piu-donation-page/. You don't even have to dress up to go out.

Merry Christmas 

and may your New Year be rich with God’s blessings.