We love to travel. Through personal travel and missionary trips I have seen many wonderful places in the world. I love discovering new culture and I believe there is much to be learned from other countries. After almost two weeks away, however, I am reminded how much I love my country.
One thing that has kept us occupied the most in our culture training this week in Lithuania is the difference Soviet occupation has made on this country. People talk constantly about “Soviet times” and “during occupation”. We visited the KGB museum and saw the evidence of the stressed conditions of the people. Not one family here is unaffected by those days.
Moses was not eloquent in speech. He did not command a great army. He was in exile from his people. He was not the most obvious choice to lead this great exodus from Egypt, but He was God’s man. And, Moses had everything God needed to complete the task!
Summer is often a time for church leaders (unless you are youth leaders) to take vacations, chill out, and rest up. While I agree with that need, the fact is that fall gets here quickly and we need to be prepared for one of the best growth opportunities of the year.
Here’s a random post that came to me this morning. I was thinking about some of the things that encourage me in life.
The shortest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 117. I have often wondered what was going through the Psalmist’s mind when he recorded his thoughts for this Psalm. Was he finished? Did he get interrupted? Was there something else he wanted to say? Was he satisfied with his work? (Obviously God was.) This shortest chapter has huge meaning. If we were to memorize just these two verses and implement them in our life, I think it may make a difference in our perspective on the world and the situations in which we find ourselves.
At that point, perhaps more than any other time, they realized with everything in them that This WAS Jesus. Did they understand Him completely? NO. Would they question Him again? YES. Would there be other storms? Of course!
For this one moment in time, however, nothing else in all the world mattered.
I always find that verse interesting. These were the disciples. These guys had left everything to follow Him. Jesus gave them authority to cast out demons. I don’t have that authority. These guys had a front row seat to all the best of Jesus’ teachings. Some of them wrote books of the Bible.
Jesus had a way of building a relationship with sinners, without condemning them, giving them an example of holiness, but fully convincing them that He loved and cared for them as individuals. He is the guy I want to follow as my example.
Consider this question: What if your biggest problems are really just an easy fix for Him, but you have never trusted Him enough to work His will? Sometimes we underestimate His power and His love. Sometimes He has the solution, but we are too busy trying to find it without Him that we never get to His solution for us. James wrote in the Bible, “You don’t have because you don’t ask…”. Could that be your problem today?
