"Welcome Home!", said Denny Quigley cheerfully with an outstretched strong handshake and warm smile. We were slow to respond with the lumps in our throats. The instant silence caused when trying to hold back sudden tears. "I'm so happy to see you!"

Home. Yes. Home. For four years, as seasonal campers, each time we pulled up to Kozy Rest Kampground each weekend, we flipped off the radio, put down the windows, and I sang quietly in the passenger seat, "Feels like home to me. Feels like home to me. Feels like I'm already back where I belong." There is a busyness of young campers, a slowness of older campers, a briskness of the workers, constant waves of energy in the atmosphere. The air, oh the air, sounds of joy and peace, happiness and relaxation, smell of firewood, slight fog of smoke, and the air radiates with its own pace of time not connected to the hands of a clock. Even once having left, there is no mistake that you've been here as the air permeates into your clothing, your emotions, your personality, into...you.

"Welcome Home!", said Denny Quigley.
Yes. Home. Feels like home to me. "We are happy to be home!"

Saturday, we were welcomed as visitors at Kozy Rest Kampground. We joyfully had the opportunity to give testimony complimenting only a bit of how extraordinary this campground is, how meaningful it is to us and our past, how God has used this campground to heal, restore, and move us to action. We are forever thankful for the way that God has used Kozy Rest Campground to change our lives.

Fast forward past the healing and restoring. Talking about moving us to action: This is where it all began. This is the Karaoke that God Used To Change My Life! Yes. You've heard the message. Now, a gracious gift and blessing from God, Gary Quigley invited us to stay for Karaoke that evening. There's that lump in my throat caused by holding back tears. "God, you are so good. Are you really giving me the chance to do this again? Thank you!" And in that dark room with party lights and rows of tables and chairs, I sang Elton John, Your Song -- The bed time song that I sang to my children years before. This is the first song that I sang at Karaoke after silencing my singing for 10 years prior. This is the song, this is the place, this is the atmosphere, this is the audience, this is where The Devine Inspirations Family Concerts began. Oh What Joy to be here again! Thank you, Jesus!

Also in this dim room as people were singing about girlfriends, marriages, fishing, and many other pop and country songs, Princess Lillian, the gorgeous Jesus filled heart of Princess Lillian, stood confidently, not singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as she had last performed on this "stage" when she was 3 years old, but rather, now, years later, sang "Let Them See You in Me." That's right, Baby Girl, You let your light shine into all the world. Let them see Jesus in You! You be the light and sing about Jesus wherever you are! I'm positive that you, Princess Lillian, were planting seeds for Christ. One day, He'll show you the gorgeous garden that you planted. God bless you!

Rebecca Devine

The Devine Inspirations -- Public Speaking and Family Concerts
Phone 724-376-7362
Email: [email protected]
To learn more about The Devine Inspirations, see our web page www.TheDevineInspirations.com
LIKE The Devine Inspirations on Facebook at www.facebook.com/devineinspirations2012

Have you ever tried to sleep and no matter how hard you tried you just couldn't? Tonight is that night for me after the week that just ended. Sleep is something I pray I find soon.

Last Sunday morning, at just after 4am, my wife and I were woken up by people’s voices right outside our window. When I pulled the curtain back, all I could see was flashing red lights and a line of fire trucks. I jumped out of bed and ran through the house wondering if it was my house on fire! I was relieved it was not our home but sadly my neighbor’s house was fully engulfed and within a few minutes was gone. I have been thanking God all week that my neighbor was not home at the time of the fire. What an eye opening experience for us. I have not had sound sleep all week thinking about what would have happen if it would of have been my home. Do we have enough fire alarms? Do my children know how to get out? I mean, we have gone over fire safety and we have practiced, but that "what if "questions still linger. I didn’t get a chance to talk to my neighbor until Monday afternoon and I told him how happy I was to see him. He said he was very lucky because Saturday he was out bar hoping until late and decided to stay at a friend’s house. He said that he was lucky. If he would have been home, he would have never made it because he sleeps in the basement where it is cool. I patted him on the back and said “Luck had nothing to do with it. God is not done with you yet my friend. He is giving another chance at the life he has given you. Now, what are you going to do with it?” It made him pause for a moment and I could see in his eyes that hit home.

Then midweek, I heard that a dear family from our church lost their son in a terrible accident at work. A family that has already been through so much and now has to walk this valley of grief once more. My heart broke for this family as I began to ask God to comfort them during this time.

More tragic news came when a local police officer and his son died in a car accident. I didn’t know them personally, but my sister and several of my friends knew them. Once again, I cried out to God to comfort this family and community.

If that wasn’t enough in one week, my dad called me this morning to let me know that a dear friend of our family passed away unexpectedly last night. So once again I found myself praying for God’s comfort and asking what He is trying to teach us and the only thing I can come up with is this. Life is too short or as the Bible says, our life is but a vapor that appeareth for a little while then vanishes away (James 4 -14). Our homes, cars, money they are only material things. So what is really going to matter when we take our final breath here on earth? What will happen next? I don’t know about you, but I know when my time on earth is done and I take my final breath, I will find myself in the presence of the one true God. The one who spoke this world into existence. The one who sent His son Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. When I die, I will be reunited with ones who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. My dear mama, grandparents, uncle, cousins, and friends will be there to welcome me home.

There is not a day that goes by that I don’t thank Jesus for the sacrifice of his death on the cross. A sacrifice that became a free gift to all people who accept his sacrifice and his resurrection from the grave.

So let me ask you, if you’re reading this and you were to find yourself taking your final breath, do you know for sure you’re going to heaven? Have your accepted the fact that Jesus went to the cross for you. He bore your sins. He bore your pain. He bore your trouble. He bore your heartache. He bore it all because he loved you so much. If you were to die today, do you know for sure that you would go to Heaven? If not, do you want to have the peace of knowing? If you do, take just few minutes and pray and thank Jesus for his sacrifice. Tell him you want to spend eternity with him by believing in His death and resurrection. Tell him that you understand that it was your sins that he bore on the cross and that he loved you so much to give up his life for yours. Invite him to be the Lord and Savior of your life.

Don’t wait! Don’t test your luck like my neighbor! Pray today because tomorrow may never come. If you prayed today, I pray that no matter what life throws at you, you will have the peace that passes all understanding and that as you begin this new journey with God you will see all he has for you.


Adam Devine The Devine Inspirations -- Public Speaking and Family Concerts
Phone 724-376-7362
Email: [email protected]
To learn more about The Devine Inspirations, see our web page www.TheDevineInspirations.com
LIKE The Devine Inspirations on Facebook at www.facebook.com/devineinspirations2012