Ministry has not looked the way I hoped it would.
It has not been a beautiful series of home runs for the Kingdom of God. I can’t count the number of times I’ve dropped the ball, struck out, or thrown my bat in a fit of unsportsmanlike conduct. [And that sums up everything I know about baseball.]
Continue reading “Batter Up”
“And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” – 1 Corinthians 15:13-14
Because He lives. Three of the most important words in the Christian faith. The foundational truth of the Gospel and the reason we can still celebrate, even in a season of uncertainty. As Christians, all of our hope is in Christ’s resurrection.
Let your life be marked by love.
Be patient.
Be kind.
Be quick to forgive and quick to listen.
Be slow to speak and slow to anger.
Believe the best.
I know it’s not easy.
I wish I could protect your heart forever. But as you go out into the world, and you choose to love people, I can’t tell you that it won’t hurt. I can’t tell you that you’ll be able to fix everything, or save everyone. I can’t tell you that it will all work out, or that if you mess up, you’ll always be able to mend it. I can’t tell you that your love will be returned.
Continue reading “Love. Even When It Hurts.”
Then he said to Him, "If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that Your people have found favor in Your sight? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we may be distinguished from all the other people who are on the face of the earth?” Exodus 33:15-16
Moses knew it was God’s presence that would distinguish him from all other people. Not what he did, not what he said, not how he looked, but God’s presence and power alone.
This word is an exhortation and reminder that the very thing Moses was asking for is exactly what we have been promised:
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? — 1 Corinthians 3:16
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. — Matthew 28:20Continue reading “Power in Presence”
Two years ago, the Lord impressed this phrase on my heart. Since then, He has confirmed His Word over and over again—through my time in the Word, my quiet time, my prayer time—The hour is coming. It’s getting late. Tell my children to come home.
The words have resonated deeply in my spirit because there’s no denying this world can be dark. In Judges, one of the darkest times in history came because, as the writer said, “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” I don’t know a better way to describe our society today, and there’s a lot of fear, anxiety, and pain that comes with that kind of moral and spiritual decline.
But the Father’s house is filled with light and joy.
Continue reading “The Light is On”
Grace Waves 