I got a very special treat when I saw the current edition of New Man magazine recently. I looked at the picture on the cover, knew the man looked very familiar and quickly realized it was an acquaintance from Elk River MN.
When we first moved to Elk River about 8 years ago we attended a church in Elk River where we met Chuck and Kathi Ripka. We invited them to our home for dinner and had a wonderful time visiting with them.
Prior to our moving there, several young people had commited suicide in the ER area. God had placed a burden on Chuck's heart to begin praying with and for school teachers in the Elk River schools. He would meet with some teachers early in the mornings and others at noon.
Chuck is a follower of Christ who really believes in the power of prayer. And God certainly did honor those prayers in Elk River. Chuck also began to meet with city leaders -- no political agenda -- just praying with and for them. This was all already happening when we met Chuck and Kathi and he was so excited about all that God was doing. He just bubbled over as he told us about it.
What a delight to see his story of faith and action being communicated across the nation in this magazine. Much of Chuck's testimony has been published in a book called, "God Out of the Box". I ordered mine from Amazon and have just about finished it. If you're interested, I think you can read the magazine article online at http://www.newmanmag.com/.
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