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After Pastor’s Wife, Baby Horrifically Murdered, He Chooses Faith, Forgiveness
Davey Blackburn faced an absolute nightmare Nov. 10, 2015, when he arrived home from a morning workout to find his wife, Amanda, experiencing what he thought was an unexplained health crisis.
He soon discovered she had been shot by an intruder who barged into their Indianapolis home — and nothing would ever be the same again.
It’s a harrowing story told in Blackburn’s new book, “Nothing Is Wasted: A True Story of Hope, Forgiveness, and Finding Purpose in Pain.”
“I walked in and my wife of seven years and my 15-month-old were in the house at the time,” he said. “My wife was pregnant with … our second … and, when I walked in, I discovered my wife was lying on our living room floor, and she was surrounded by blood.”
At first, he thought she might have gotten dizzy and fallen, but, once she was transported to the hospital, he learned Amanda, who was 13 weeks pregnant, had suffered three bullet wounds.
Tragically, the prognosis wasn’t good.
“They were going to try to see if they could operate, but it … didn’t look good,” Blackburn said. “And what they had surmised was that there were three men … they broke into the home three doors down from us, saw me leave for the gym that morning, and decided to break into our home, and Amanda … got caught up in that.”
Blackburn and Amanda were pastors and church planters at the time. The couple had left their dream job a few years earlier in South Carolina to follow God’s call to plant a church in Indianapolis.
The shocking murder unfolded just as the church was “taking some roots and getting some momentum,” he said. Things had just seemed to be falling into place when the unthinkable happened.
Before Amanda’s death, Blackburn recalled a conversation with his wife.
“She looked at me … I’ll never forget, she looked at me and she said, ‘I think … we’re like beginning to live our dreams. This is beginning to take root,’” he said. “And, then, Tuesday, Nov. 10, I walk in and I find her lying on our living room floor.”
The preacher called the entire ordeal — which quickly became a local and national news story — an “unimaginable, traumatic experience.”
Amanda was pronounced dead on Nov. 11, four years to the day that the couple packed up a moving van to leave for Indianapolis.
“My world had just been turned upside down,” Blackburn said. “I was reeling over the grief and the loss of my best friend, my soulmate, my ministry partner. I was trying to figure out how to be a single dad to my son, Weston, who had been untouched and unharmed in his crib the entire time.”
On top of losing Amanda and their unborn baby, Blackburn also had to contend with media scrutiny considering the story’s wide reach — speculation that only added to the pain.
“Nobody expects to go through what we went through, and, then, when you do … at least you would think you would be able to grieve privately,” he said. “We had virtually the entire world looking on, which on one hand was amazing, because we had the support of so many Christian brothers and sisters who were supporting us in prayer. And we had access to the best of the best resources.”
Blackburn continued, “But, on the other hand, we also had a media narrative that was beginning to spin things on certain levels in some of the minor pockets of the media where they were beginning to, you know, wonder if I was behind it.”
This added to the chaos and grief, inflicting further torment he said was “excruciating,” especially as it played out so publicly. Throughout the grief and uncertainty, though, he said his faith sustained him.
“I don’t know how you go through things like this or anything remotely close to this — any kind of loss, grief, tragedy, trauma without Jesus,” he said. “The Holy Spirit ministers to you in a way that nobody else can. And, so, Scripture was very it was very near to me. When it says, ‘He gives you a peace that passes all understanding — that guards your heart and mind in Christ Jesus,’ I understood what that meant.”
Despite experiencing God’s peace, Blackburn still had to deal with the very real emotions of hatred, unforgiveness, and all that comes along with such a tragic scenario.
“It’s not something where it’s just this on-off switch, where one day you hate … you’re full of bitterness and hatred, and then all of a sudden the next day you’re like, ‘Oh, I think I’m ready to forgive,’” he said. “Immediately, I came out into the media and said, ‘I’ve chosen to forgive.’”
Blackburn said he had spent years preaching forgiveness and knew the “right thing to do” and the “right thing to say.” Still, he had been confronted with the incomprehensible and needed to work his way through it all.
“I knew what … I wanted my heart to feel, but it wasn’t feeling that because forgiveness is not a feeling,” he said. “It’s a decision, and, as you begin to walk in that decision daily, then … the Lord does things to begin to heal your heart, grow your heart, stretch your heart.”
Blackburn shares in “Nothing Is Wasted: A True Story of Hope, Forgiveness, and Finding Purpose in Pain” what this journey looked like, including his recognition that a refusal to forgive would be like “a cancer” to his soul that would “destroy” him.
“Forgiving someone doesn’t mean that … they’re no longer held by the consequences of the decision that they made, and the justice system all of a sudden now is just thrown out the window,” he said. “It means, ‘I no longer choose to hold it against you, because my debt was paid for by Jesus.’”
Thus, Blackburn had to fully trust Jesus in the process as he navigated the bitterness, grief, and loss. he said he sought God and asked not only for forgiveness but also for “compassion and grace for the men who did this.”
Looking back, Blackburn believes God has been incredibly faithful both in his ministry and personal life.
“There are so many things where God has shown up for me, even in ways that are unseen,” he said. “He’s healed me, He’s restored me, He’s put me back together, made me whole again, so that I can help other people. And that’s really what your healing and wholeness is for. It’s not for you. … It’s so that you can begin to comfort others with the same comfort that you’ve been comforted [with].”
He now leads a ministry called Nothing Is Wasted to help people overcome trauma, tragedy, and major life transitions. It’s an effort that helps coach people through the messy moments in life. And that’s not all.
“God’s begun to put the broken pieces back together in my family,” Blackburn said. “I got remarried.”
Among the many redemptive elements in his story is a truly wild connection between his story and his new wife, Kristi. The couple blended their family, with Kristi bringing a daughter in and Blackburn bringing in his son, Weston.
The couple also had a son of their own, and they’re walking out a new mission together to help those in crisis. Blackburn is hoping his story, as told through the book, helps inspire others.
“Pain is the common denominator of life and pain often gets us stuck,” he said. “We have a real enemy … Ephesians 6 tells us the enemy wants to thwart God’s plan for our life, and often what he does is he brings pain, trauma, tragedy, major life transition to get us stuck so that we can’t fulfill the plan that God has for our life.”
But Blackburn said the Lord has “an even stronger, greater plan that He wants to bring into your life” — and he’s hoping people see how “amazing” God truly is.
Watch Blackburn tell his story:
Sources:faithwire
An Israeli entrepreneur on a mission to highlight biblical artifacts has brought his “treasures from the Holy Land” to America.
Oded Golan’s “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land” experience opened Dec. 3 at Atlanta’s Pullman Yards, with hundreds of ancient artifacts surrounding the New Testament on display.
“We are bringing [a] once-in-a-lifetime experience to people to look at items that they will probably not have other opportunities to see,” Golan recently told CBN News. “The 350 items that are presented here, most of them are from the time of Christ. They were all found in the Holy Land in Israel, and they are telling the stories that are mentioned in the New Testament, but in first hand.”
He added, “You’re almost touching the history.”
Golan said some of the items are related to Jesus’ family or people living during his lifetime. These elements allow people to explore life during biblical times, seeing the behaviors and practices that unfolded during the New Testament era.
Already, audiences are loving the experience, Golan said, noting that giving a lens into the past illuminates knowledge and understanding.
“It doesn’t change faith, it doesn’t change belief, but it changed, somehow, how do you feel and how do you see the stories that are mentioned in the Bible — in the New Testament,” he said.
Golan’s story is a fascinating one, as he started collecting antiquities when he was just a child.
What started as a passion project grew into something much more — a collection he calls the “biggest and largest … in the world of biblical archaeology items.”
“When I was young, even, you know, until the age of 16, 17, I had in mind that I should be an archaeologist one day,” he said. “But … in life it was changed … but I kept archaeology as a hobby.”
And that hobby grew as he traveled all over the Holy Land and collected artifacts — relics he brings to audiences in “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land.”
“In this exhibition, we present only items that came from a very short period of time,” Golan said. “We are talking about the early first century AD, the time of Jesus. A few items are from the 3rd, 4th, 5th century because this was the time when the first churches emerged — the cradle of Christianity.”
He believes audiences will be captivated regardless of their age or religious beliefs.
“It doesn’t matter what age you are, and what [religion] you are, and how strong [a] believer you are,” Golan said. “It’s fantastic.”
The entrepreneur also made international headlines in 2012 when he was on trial after being accused by the Israel Antiquities Authority of forging an inscription on the James ossuary, a stone relic believed to hold the bones of Jesus’ brother, James.
He was acquitted after a seven-year legal battle. The ossuary, which has been a source of contention, has an Aramaic line that reads, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” Proponents argue that the inscription pointed to evidence of Christ’s brother, James.
Ultimately, Golan was absolved of the most serious charges surrounding manufacturing elements of this inscription, among other serious charges. Some have since defended the authenticity of the artifact’s inscription, which would be the earliest reference to Jesus. Read more about the history of the matter.
Golan referred to this case while explaining he was in the “later stage” of his life – over the age of 50 — when he read the New Testament for the first time and started to understand it. Wanting to better comprehend the ossuary in his collection, he turned to the text for understanding.
Speaking about the James ossuary, he heralded the importance of the find, which is included in “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land.” He’s hoping the collection inspires visitors to think more deeply about the past.
“You’re touching the history — almost physically,” Golan reiterated. “And that makes … a big difference compared to any other kind of exhibition. And, as I mentioned, it’s not only the artifact exhibition. It has much more than that.”
After the Atlanta run, Golan hopes to bring “Discovering the World of Jesus: Ancient Treasures From the Holy Land” to other cities across America.
Sources:faithwire
വാഷിങ്ടൻ : യുഎസിൽ വിദഗ്ധ തൊഴിൽ മേഖലകളിലെ വിദേശ ജോലിക്കാരുടെ നിയമനം എളുപ്പമാക്കാൻ എച്ച്1ബി വീസയ്ക്കു പുതിയ നിയമങ്ങളുമായി ബൈഡൻ ഭരണകൂടം ഉത്തരവിറക്കി. എഫ്1 വിദ്യാർഥിവീസയിലുള്ളവർക്ക് എച്ച്1ബി വീസയിലേക്കുള്ള മാറ്റവും എളുപ്പമാക്കി.
വീസാച്ചട്ടങ്ങളിൽ കടുത്ത നിലപാടുള്ള ഡോണൾഡ് ട്രംപ് അധികാരമേൽക്കാൻ ഒരു മാസം മാത്രം ശേഷിക്കെയാണു ബൈഡൻ സർക്കാരിന്റെ നടപടി. ഡിപ്പാർട്മെന്റ് ഓഫ് ഹോംലാൻഡ് സെക്യൂരിറ്റി (ഡിഎച്ച്എസ്) ആണ് പുതിയ ചട്ടങ്ങൾ പ്രഖ്യാപിച്ചത്. എഫ്1 വീസ, എച്ച്1 ബിയിലേക്കു മാറ്റാനുള്ള നടപടികൾ എളുപ്പമാക്കിയത് വിദ്യാർഥികളുടെ നിയമനങ്ങളിൽ അമേരിക്കൻ കമ്പനികൾ നേരിട്ടിരുന്ന തടസ്സങ്ങൾ ഒഴിവാക്കും.
നേരത്തേ എച്ച്1ബി വീസ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നവരുടെ പുതിയ അപേക്ഷയിലും നടപടികൾ വേഗത്തിലാക്കും.ഉയർന്ന വൈദഗ്ധ്യം ആവശ്യമായ തൊഴിൽ മേഖലകളിൽ ജോലി നേടാൻ ഇന്ത്യയടക്കം രാജ്യങ്ങളിൽനിന്നുള്ളവർ ആശ്രയിക്കുന്നതു പ്രധാനമായും എച്ച്1ബി വീസയാണ്. ആഗോള വിപണിക്കനുസരിച്ചു ചില പ്രത്യേക തസ്തികകളുടെ നിർവചനങ്ങളും നിയമന മാനദണ്ഡങ്ങളും പരിഷ്കരിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്. സന്നദ്ധസംഘടനകൾക്കും സർക്കാർ ഗവേഷണസ്ഥാപനങ്ങൾക്കും കൂടുതൽ വിദേശനിയമനങ്ങൾ നടത്താനാകും.
Sources:globalindiannews
Researchers in Germany have translated what they believe is the oldest evidence of the spread of Christianity into Europe. In 2018, archaeologists discovered what they’re calling the “Frankfurt silver inscription,” a rolled foil engraving inside a protective amulet, in the grave of a man in an area northwest of Frankfurt, Germany.
“Researchers have used CT scans to ‘digitally unroll’ the ‘wafer thin’ foil and read the inscription within for the first time since the 3rd century AD,” reports the Daily Mail. “Incredibly, the text represents the oldest known evidence of Christianity north of the Alps, dating back to between 230 and 270 AD, scientists say.”
While similar amulets from the 3rd through 5th centuries included mixtures of Jewish, Christian, and pagan texts (presumably because the wearer wanted to avoid missing out on the afterlife in any religion they knew of), the scientists behind this discovery refer to the inscription as “purely Christian.” The text is in Latin, which also surprised researchers, and refers to Jesus as well as St. Titus, an early church leader.
The trick to discovering what was on the inscription and translating it was that the delicate foil roll had been buried for 18 centuries. The staff at the Leibniz Center for Archaeology (LEIZA) in Mainz, Germany, and Frankfurt’s Goethe University spent the last six years working on it.
“The discovery of a Roman silver amulet is changing our knowledge of the early spread of Christianity: the 3.5 centimeter amulet from the 3rd century AD, discovered in the Roman city of Nida near Frankfurt, contains one of the oldest purely Christian inscriptions north of the Alps,” announced LEIZA in a press release (translated from German).
“The challenge in the analysis was that the silver sheet was rolled, but after around 1,800 years, it was of course also creased and pressed,” Ivan Calandra, an archaeologist at LEIZA, said. “Using CT, we were able to scan it at a very high resolution and create a 3D model.”
CT and X-ray technologies allowed scientists to scan the inscription and piece it together. Even though there were some gaps in the texts, scholars were able to translate them.
“I called in experts from the history of theology, among others, and we approached the text together, piece by piece, and finally deciphered it,” Prof. Markus Scholz of Goethe University said.
The amulet strongly suggests that the wearer was a devout Christian because it doesn’t include any references to Jewish theology or pagan practices. It’s also noteworthy that the inscription is in Latin because most similar inscriptions from this era were in Greek or Hebrew.
The inscription also contains a direct reference to Philippians 2:9-11, which reads, “Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”.
“The find offers unique insights into the early spread of Christianity and underlines the cultural importance of Nida as a central Roman settlement in Germania in late antiquity,” LEIZA said in the press release.
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Sources:BREAKING CHRISTIAN NEWS
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