He's Already There!

Have you ever wondered where is Jesus? Where is Jesus when the foundations that you have depended on in your life are removed and you find yourself in a new world? Where is Jesus when you are about to step into tomorrow when tomorrow is not clear and the path before you is dark and unknown? Maybe it is when you have to step into a difficult circumstance or situation that seems so dark and empty of His presence that you have those thoughts of wonder and concern. Those moments when the warm glow of the calling has faded to the dark cold of reality, the challenge of the opportunity and the emptiness of reality?

We have all felt the fear. The fear in the hospital surgery room before you are rolled in, in the court house before the proceedings begin, in the bedroom when the sadness of the day is overwhelming you as you cry yourself to sleep and even in the ends of the earth before you go not knowing what tomorrow holds. 

But the promise that Jesus give us in the great commission is not to go without him, nor is it to go and bring Him and his presence to a location or circumstance. No, the promise that Jesus gives us is far more real than that.

Oh, reader, I wish you could see the smile on my face as I type this... you would see the joy shaking my hands as a type, or the tears running down my cheek and the deep breaths and I am filled by the reality of this next thought...

We do not bring Jesus to the location that we are going... HE'S ALREADY THERE! Moving, touching, setting free, healing, releasing, and above all saving.

All we are required to do is to bring our lives and our hearts into close communion with his heart and He has promised never to leave us or forsake us, to provide, to sustain, to be our Lord.  
 
Like the old song says...

Where ever He may lead I will follow whatever He decides I'll obey. My heart will forever welcome everything that my Lord has to say. For every time I choose not to listen, and each time I demand my own way. His spirit within me suffers and I find that my joy fades away. 

Jesus is not just leading us from an area where is presence is close and reassuring to an world where His ever present help is available but distant but rather He is leading us from the land where we know Him to the land where he is already working, healing, leading and transforming circumstances and lives.

It is with this joy set before us that we pick up our cross and follow Him. May I be so bold today as to suggest that you too choose to follow....wherever He may lead?

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Today is the First Day 

of the Rest of Our Lives.

A wise man once said, that you will never be younger than you are today. With that thought in mind I here to tell everyone that Julie and I are going to Vanuatu. Yup... that Vanuatu. The small south pacific island off the coast of Australia that was clobbered by Cyclone Pam, only a few short weeks ago.

We are going not for a week or a month but to move there and become the Pastor of ICC. International Christian Church, in the capital city of Port Vila. 

This is so exciting as we venture out of our comfort zone into the zone where God wants us to be. 

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Would you consider joining hands with us across the Ocean?

Please pray for us as we step out on the water and reach to Jesus... the one who is calling us out of the boat.

I'll have a full bowl...

Have you ever been aware of the truth of the Word of God?  No I don't mean in a passing kind of way...(like) "Wow that's really cool I should think about this some more" "Has the word ever reached out and smacked you in the face? Has it ever spoken so clearly that you would not have been surprised if the writer was sitting across the table from you?... (like) "Ohhh... I need to repent"

Well once again I am aware that the Word is living and active... sharper than a two edged sword... 

Let's look at a verse i was just reading, It's found in Colossians 4:6 (NIV) 

"Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

Full of Grace? Really? Grace is the unmerited favour of God. Grace is offered to those who do not deserve it. Grace can only be received freely. No effort can earn grace and grace needs to be freely distributed. First year bible school... got it! But do I really?

How often my voice is only seasoned with the salt of Grace. How often I speak harshly, factually, clearly but not graciously. Somehow my personal need to be correct, or to win overpowers the delicate and gentle need to be full of grace. How often my communication contains little grace as I carefully distribute it out as a precious commodity that should be saved and preserved, less we run out.

Wow! Did you catch what I just typed? I did not realize until after I typed it and I went back to the original verse to confirm. The verse does not say, seasoned with grace but rather full of Grace. FULL! not seasoned, not flavoured, not carefully added, but Full. Not a pinch but a pound. Not a spoon but a sea. Not a touch but a ton! How often I have distributed grace out like a salt shaker, a little shake here and a little shake there and the situation or the person I am dealing with will be fine. I could not have been more wrong.

The only other reference I can find to salt is the communication from Jesus where He said in Matthew 5:13  “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." You are the salt of the earth... We are the salt... not grace. 

So hearing this statement again, It appears that our interactions with those around us should be full of grace and seasoned with us. How often our communication is full of us and seasoned with grace. I don't know about you but grace needs to be flowing out of my life in a fullness kind of way rather than the fullness that is flowing, the fullness of me.

Lord today, allow me to have the strength to communicate with a full measure of grace and a small measure of me. Lord remind me that I won't fear that I will run out of grace and not have any left for myself but rather that you Lord are the giver of grace and you have enough, even for me.  Oh I know, you may be thinking that that is not really the case, but speaking for my fears... it is true.
I remember back 25 years, to a bible school class, in front of an older Newfoundland preacher, where daily he would would repeat a phrase that at the time I saw little significance in and mostly ignored. Today, the words are ringing down across the years into a heart desperate for the truth they hold. What is the phrase he would say you might ask...? 

"Grace Flows Like a River." 
Dr. Graydon Giles...  
thank you sir.

There and Back Again...

Have you ever prayed a prayer like this... "Lord, where ever you lead I will follow, what ever you decide I'll obey?" Well I have... many times and each time I have felt like the Lord simply smiled and listened. 

You know what I mean... in the same way that a father listens to his children when they declare that when they grow up they're going to be a Doctor, or an Astronaut or a Fire truck. We smile and nod approvingly knowing that the little guy does not really understand what he is saying or what life has in store for him. Well many times when I have prayed that prayer it seemed that the Lord smiled, and nodded.

But we, as fathers, sit up and listen when our children graduate from High School and declare their intention to start a career. We sit up and listen because we understand that they are finally at the stage of life to make the decision and the maturity level to venture into the area that they describe.

Oh how I understand the heart of our Heavenly Father better now than I have ever understood before. Now when I prayed, Lord where ever you lead...I'm sure he sat up and listened and then simply said.... 

ok.... finally... they're ready...

To Be Continued....