Coming Home

By Juan Fernandez

I have come home. No. I’m not referring to coming back home from the Philippines after a two months hiatus. I am referring to finally finding my ‘spiritual home‘. Today was my first time visiting The Moody Church in Chicago. I did not think that I was going to like it. But I did. After so many years of searching for a place of worship coming to Moody felt just right.

Appropriately Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer’s message was based on Acts-27-28, which described how Paul and his followers survived a very tumultuous storm in the sea. Dr. Lutzer stated that in our own lives we will always face storms that toss us around, from side to side, up and down. I felt that his message was speaking to me.

For many years I had been in a boat, roaming the sea aimlessly. Always enduring, suffering pain and anguish through many storms of my life. I traveled to many cities in the US, even other countries like Mexico and the Philippines, trying to find a place of worship I could call my own. Yet, I did not know that God always wanted me to come back home--to Chicago. The first time I saw The Moody Church was when I was 14 years old and I came to see Gremlins the movie, in the now closed Village Theater.

As I got older I would drive by this same neighborhood when going downtown. In 2004 my dream came true, I was part of a major art exhibit in the Chicago Historical Museum. Amazingly, four years earlier I attended the exhibit of my all time favorite artist, Norman Rockwell.

The Chicago History Museum as Moody Church casts a shadow

When I came to the Norman Rockwell exhibit there was Moody Church, just across the street. I remember gazing at the church building as I entered and left the museum. I cannot imagine how different my life would have been had I paid attention. Everything would have been so very different.

This is the bus ride that took me to the door steps of the Moody Church

But still I am so very happy. Overjoyed at the future prospects. I thank God for bringing me home…

“….Precious Lord, I love Your name, when I look back from whence I came;
Sometimes stumbling, sometimes falling, sometimes alone.
Friends and loved ones I love so dear---many are gone, but still I’m here.
Take my hand, precious Lord, and lead me on.”
---Thomas A. Dorsey

God is Bigger

Oh, no! The swine flu is starting to be called a pandemic. Hundreds of people have been infected, dozens have died and Mexico City has been completely shut down. The media has a nice way of scaring people don’t they? We know that these things must occur because the Bible said they would over 2,000 years ago. But we do not need to run in fear thinking that we are going to die. When I went to visit my fiancée the SARS epidemic was hitting Asia. No threat of a deadly virus was going to stop me from visiting my true love. I wore a mask to be cautious from California all the way to the Philippines. I did so because I did not know what else I could do. Years later I have found out that there is an answer for these pestilences. It is too obvious not to have noticed them. The Black Plague that swept across Europe killed millions of people. But not all of them died. There were millions of people that did not die.

Having good health is based on the measures we take to take care of ourselves. It does not surprise me that this swine flu started in Mexico City. Mexico City has the worst pollution of any other city in the planet. Pollution destroys the body’s ability to defend itself against deadly strains of viruses. Many medical doctors will say that there is no cure for these viruses. They say that virus cannot be killed. Below is a list of herbal supplements that have been reported to kill viruses and they are all natural. I’ve used many of them myself. Another thing that we should consider is that Jesus Christ, God, is bigger than any doctor, media conglomerate, the government and disease. He loves us so much that I believe in earnest that he has given us everything we need to fight sickness. Take precautions as needed and continue to worship our Lord and Savior.

Oregano Oil

Olive leaf extract

Cinnamon

Organic virgin coconut oil

Echinacea

Hypericum Mysorense and Hypericum Hookeranum
(don’t know what this is yet, but it was discovered in India)