I've lived in the Pacific Northwest for six years. I've crossed the Columbia River hundreds of times. Yet until this week, I had no idea where it actually began.
I looked it up, and I'm happy to save you the Google.
The Columbia River begins over 1,200 miles away in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia. Strangely enough, it first flows north before bending south into the United States.
That answer led to another question, then another. Within minutes, I was reading about Ice Age floods, glacial lakes, salmon runs, hydroelectric dams, and the geology of the Columbia Gorge. Every answer seemed to uncover an older one.
Reading 1 John this week, I noticed John asks the same kind of question about love. He traces it back to its source. He writes, "God is love."
Those three words reach farther back than creation itself. John refuses to let us define love by starting with ourselves. We naturally begin with what we have experienced, what our parents modeled, what our culture celebrates, or what our own hearts desire. John begins before all of it. Before there was a world, before
there was a human being before there was anything outside of God; God already was. That is where John tells us to begin if we want to understand love.
That claim is stranger than it first appears. Creation reveals power. It reveals wisdom. It reveals order. It does not reveal that ultimate reality is self-giving love. The ancient world knew gods who were powerful, violent, and unpredictable. John announces something entirely different. Love does not begin with us. Every human experience of love is downstream from the God who is its source.
Every ministry is built on a doctrine of God, whether it realizes it or not. What we believe about God eventually becomes the way we welcome families, the boundaries we establish, the hope we offer, the forgiveness we extend, the accountability we expect, and the kind of community we build.
People often ask what makes Open House Ministries different. They notice the housing, the counseling, the parenting classes, the job training, and the practical care we provide. Those things matter, but they are not the source. They are the overflow. We believe God is love. That conviction shapes every conversation, every difficult decision, every class, every prayer, and every act of care because every act of genuine love is meant to point beyond itself to the God from whom it comes.
Chaplain's Corner
the source of love
For Richard, early drug use as a teenager led to many years of struggle. His addiction created a roller coaster lifestyle, spending more time in prison than with his family. Staying clean and sober had become a major challenge, creating broken relationships with his kids and his wife, Monie. When the need to rebuild his family finally took hold, Richard became determined to turn his life around.
apartment with their three kids. Richard dreams that one day he’ll be able to work with at-risk youth, teaching them about the dangers of gangs, drugs, and crime. To be the support he desperately needed as a kid.
We are so grateful for Richard and his family. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue to rebuild their relationships with each other and God.
Restoring Relationships & Rebuilding Family
After going through treatment for drug addiction, Richard shared with his wife, Monie, about Open House Ministries and how he had spent time in the shelter with his dad when he was a little boy. They were referred by Sea Mar Outreach, and soon space opened up for them.
Richard spoke about the love they experienced at Open House Ministries from people they had never met. “We got to rebuild our family,” said Richard. “Living at Open House Ministries gave us the structure, focus, and the discipline we needed. It’s the best thing that has ever happened to me and my family.”
Time in the program gave their family an opportunity to rebuild their relationships. For the first time, they experienced God’s presence in their lives. “This is the longest time Richard has stayed clean and sober,” said Case Manager Melody Peck. “And the first time in his children’s lives that he has been able to build a relationship with them at home.”
Now Richard never misses a game his son is playing in or school functions for his daughters. He is working for an organization that serves people in recovery, giving back to people in the community struggling with the same addiction that kept Richard from his own family for so many years.
And after graduating the program at Open House Ministries, Richard and Monie moved into their own