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Hi Everyone -
I've been sitting here at Caffe Luce trying to make my "Eric's List of 20 Things to Pray for in 2011". A passage came up that God gave me back in July when I was starting school, and has brought up many times since then, so I thought I'd share it with you all.
It completely captures my heart for what I long for Tucson, and I often pray through it for my students and for Tucson as a city, so I thought you might want to join me in praying it as we begin our year of working out what it means for Jesus to send his good news and to use us to share it.
Zechariah 8, NLT
Then another message came to me from the LORD Almighty: "This is what the LORD Almighty says: My love for Mount Zion is passionate and strong; I am consumed with passion for Jerusalem!
And now the LORD says: I am returning to Mount Zion, and I will live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the LORD Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.
This is what the LORD Almighty says: Once again old men and women will walk Jerusalem's streets with a cane and sit together in the city squares. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play.
This is what the LORD Almighty says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small and discouraged remnant of God's people. But do you think this is impossible for me, the LORD Almighty?
This is what the LORD Almighty says: You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west. I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.
This is what the LORD Almighty says: Take heart and finish the task! You have heard what the prophets have been saying about building the Temple of the LORD Almighty ever since the foundation was laid. Before the work on the Temple began, there were no jobs and no wages for either people or animals. No traveler was safe from the enemy, for there were enemies on all sides. I had turned everyone against each other. But now I will not treat the remnant of my people as I treated them before, says the LORD Almighty.
For I am planting seeds of peace and prosperity among you. The grapevines will be heavy with fruit. The earth will produce its crops, and the sky will release the dew. Once more I will make the remnant in Judah and Israel the heirs of these blessings.
Among the nations, Judah and Israel had become symbols of what it means to be cursed. But no longer! Now I will rescue you and make you both a symbol and a source of blessing! So don't be afraid or discouraged, but instead get on with rebuilding the Temple!
For this is what the LORD Almighty says: I did not change my mind when your ancestors angered me and I promised to punish them, says the LORD Almighty. Neither will I change my decision to bless Jerusalem and the people of Judah. So don't be afraid. But this is what you must do: Tell the truth to each other. Render verdicts in your courts that are just and that lead to peace. Do not make evil plots to harm each other. And stop this habit of swearing to things that are false. I hate all these things, says the LORD.
Here is another message that came to me from the LORD Almighty. This is what the LORD Almighty says: The traditional fasts and times of mourning you have kept in early summer, midsummer, autumn, and winter are now ended. They will become festivals of joy and celebration for the people of Judah. So love truth and peace.
This is what the LORD Almighty says: People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem. The people of one city will say to the people in another, 'Let us go to Jerusalem to ask the LORD to bless us and to seek the LORD Almighty. We are planning to go ourselves.' People from many nations, even powerful nations, will come to Jerusalem to seek the LORD Almighty and to ask the LORD to bless them.
This is what the LORD Almighty says: In those days ten people from nations and languages around the world will clutch at the hem of one Jew's robe. And they will say, 'Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'"
How beautiful! What hope and promise from our great God!
This part of verse 13 is what I felt like God has impressed upon the last 6 months, "So don't be afraid or discouraged, but instead get on with rebuilding the Temple!" It just seems very appropriate with what The Village is moving towards for 2011.
So glad to be apart of this with y'all! | 
