Mr. Moderator,

In your e-mail today, Oct.5 09 , you indicated that you were somewhat troubled
by the silence of group members. I certainly understand and appreciate your
concern. My silence right now, might be golden. I am new to the group and not as
well aquainted with Pastor Piper as many of you are. I have read some of his
messages and the book titled, GOD'S PASSION FOR HIS GLORY, that I borrowed from
a pastor friend of mine. I am trying to learn and understand all I can about
Jesus. Believe you me, I can ask some really tough questions. When I saw Piper
Talks on line, I felt compelled to check it out, if you know what mean.

With all this I would like to introduce myself. My name is Cliff. I consider
myself to be an average person. I am not looking for the religion of man, in
fact, the only book I really care about is the bible, but I will and do read
other books. The only message I am intrested in is Jesus. Tell me more about
him, I will never get tired of the gospel of Jesus Christ, He alone is my
salvation and my saviour. I am a special and very important person, not because
of who I am or who I am not, but because Jesus died on the cross to redeem me
from my sin. I'm a quiet man, I prefer to be asked what I think or see in
scripture, But I don't demand that. I usually know when to speak and when to be
silent, but I must be honest with you, sometimes I get excited and ask a lot of
questions. There are many things in main-stream christianity that trouble me to
the core. If you were to ask me a scriptural question and I do not know the
answer, I would have no problem saying, I don't know. I think an honest answer,
even if it is , I Don't Know, is far better than a pretend answer. The pretend
answer that I often get and even as a child that I despised is, Well there are
some things we are just not supposd to know, after a failed attempt to answer my
question. I would rather have fellowship with saints who care enough about
Jesus, myself, and themselves, to just speak the truth, even if they have to say
I don't know. I will prove that I am the kind of person I have described. I am
looking forward to a good conversation in Jesus Christ with his Saints that,
exaults Jesus, edifys the Church, and gives God all the Glory.

Thank you for the opprtunity to be in the group. If you ever in the future think
I am being too silent, I promise, it won't be from a lack of interest, It more
than likely will be because I don't know. In that case, my silence will be
golden.

In Jesus' name and in his love and grace,
cliffy