Up and Down ........

Today has been an up and down day. I had a funeral to attend this morning. A coworker of mines, grand mother passed away on Saturday. It brought to the surface some feeling of my mom and I found myself thinking of my coworker and his salvation. I have invited him and his wife to church now for over 2 years. Maybe through a tough experience, their eyes will open and God will be revealed. God has the perfect plan and we wastes no experience - Glory comes through everything and He has purpose and meaning in everything that happens. We may see things as bad and difficult - but try looking at things through the eyes of God and it brings new meaning to so many difficult things we have to endure.
Being a Christian does not mean we are kept from hard times and struggles. We are not meant to live a life on top of the mountain - God grows us and teaches us through many things. We have spiritual highs as well as spiritual lows. THANK GOD for those tough times and those hard seasons in life - its those times we can hold strong on the fact that God has shown us how we need to cling to Him during those hard seasons. They don't last! While we are there - God uses us to walk along side of others to help them through tough times as we shine for Him. Don't think for a second that God cannot use you in some way. He has a plan for your life all the way until your last breathe. Keep fighting and focused on what God is doing ~ I think in many ways its the reason why I serve our church the way I do. Its the reason why Carol and my son Kyle serve the way we do. We are part of a team of Gods family - of our extended families who are working together to reach lost people for Jesus. If He can change me - He can change anyone! Why on earth would I not want someone to experience what I have experienced and how God has changed my life?
What really hurts in leading a ministry, serving so hard, making sacrifices of time and energy is the fact that people walk away. People that seem to love what we are doing and how we are trying to reach folks. But they have reasons to walk away and either quit church all together or attend one of the other many churches. For me - its time to dig in and reach further than we ever have in the past. The church God envisioned is not about a building, a Sunday school lesson on Wed night study or a ladies lunch ... being a mobile church is tough and hard work but it gives us the freedom to break free from doing church the traditional and safe way of the past. I pray as one person walks away - God brings in two...... I have been praying for 7 great plugged in families, willing to do whatever is asked to lead in our church. I feel this Christmas as we reach folks and lives are being changed all around us - our season is coming.
For some - it takes something hard and difficult - to move forward and not be afraid. I am honored and humbled to be serving God and being out of my "Comfort Zone" ...
Attend a Sunday service at a church near you this month ~ Its my Christmas wish for you.
Randy~