The Miracle of Harbor - Part 1

Testimony of Bill and Dana McCurine

Harbor has profoundly affected our lives. Although there are many ways to explain this impact, we will focus on five primary areas. First, we have both been Christians since approximately 1981. Harbor has given us a profoundly deeper understanding and appreciation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul says he is not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God to save. However, we had thought that once we were saved the Gospel was only important to share with others. We did not appreciate, or understand, the Gospel is responsible for our sanctification as well as for our salvation. We did not appreciate before that we not only had to repent for our sins; we also had to repent of our self-perceived righteousness. Through a deeper understanding of the Gospel we have come to learn we are worse sinners than we had ever imagined, but also that in Christ we are more loved than we had ever imagined possible.

Second, Harbor's approach to the Gospel has resulted in identifying with much greater clarity the idols that exist in our lives. We continue to trust God to identify and destroy those idols.

Third, we were married in August 1971. We know and love each other deeply, but Harbor's approach to the Gospel has radically deepened and enriched our marriage beyond anything we had earlier thought possible.

Fourth, we did not understand how the Gospel figured into developing an enriching community, whether that community is viewed as one’s family, city or church. We now understand that one cannot successfully be a Christian and also a Lone Ranger; God requires us to be intimately involved with our communities on a variety of levels. This learning is exciting, even though it has the tendency to topple our apple carts. But now we would not have it any other way.

Finally, the Gospel has produced more peace and deeper joy. The Christian life is hard, but life without Christ is much harder. The Christian life has many struggles, but God has a way of turning those struggles into stepping stones to a deeper relationship with Him and with others. We worry less and trust God more. We are finding deeper satisfaction in simple things (e.g., dinner with friends, a movie, music). We are not anxious to die but death has lost its sting. We know Christ has done the work for us and has embraced us with a deeper love than we had ever known. He represents in His very being both a present and a future richer than anything we had imagined before.