Just a Glimpse

“I’m looking for a person who is looking for something. Are you that person?”

This is the question posed by a missionary in Colombia. This question sparked a conversation with a man who may have never had a chance to hear the Gospel. I can’t say whether or not this man accepted the Lord that day or not. But, nevertheless, he heard it and most likely has thought about that question since that day in March 2012.

All over the world are people who are looking for something. They are seeking out what will satisfy them. What will fill that gaping hole in their hearts and satisfy a longing that nothing else will? We, as Christians, understand that Christ and the love of our Heavenly Father will satisfy this need.

Today marked a turning point in my preparation for Spain. I believe that God gave me a glimpse of what He has in store for El Escorial, Spain.   

With His grace and guidance, I have a vision that every coffee shop and bar in the town to be a place of true hope. Jesus said that where two or three are gathered, there He is. I want to see Jesus infiltrate these places. These are the places where people gather and share life. 

In days where hope is dim and to people many life is losing its appeal- we have a hope and joy that translates seamlessly across any language and any setting.

These simple buildings can become the meeting place of Jesus and the lost. Hope and the hopeless. 

Where those who are seeking can find solace.

This is my vision.

Comfort and Peace

Jeremy and I were asked to lead a youth Sunday school class yesterday morning. The regular teacher told us that they had just been talking about the Holy Spirit, and requested that we share how we knew when the Holy Spirit was speaking to us.

I rattled off some sort of coherent response… I think. But as the service and day went on, I continued to think on the question. How do I know the Holy Spirit is speaking to me? How to I feel His presence? What makes His direction clear to me?

Finally, I put all the pieces together and connected the dots-

I was left with only two words.

Comfort.

Peace.

How do I know that we are in God’s will? I have comfort and peace about our decisions.The Holy Spirit has consistently manifested Himself as peace and comfort in my life. 

Most recently He has given Jeremy and I complete peace with the decision to leave our jobs. The actual decision was made months ago but it has become very real for us over the past few weeks. Our last paycheck will be deposited into our account tonight. I have four more days with a family with whom I have spent the past five years. 

But still yet, I have peace. I have comfort in the provisions God has given us. 

He has give us wisdom  in how to prepare for  weeks or months without income. He has given us resources and people we can trust. He has given us His promises to provide and work all things for the good of those who serve Him.

I have peace about walking away from secure jobs and income. I have peace about an uncertain future. I have comfort knowing that we may not have a lot and we may not have all we need to depart for Spain, but we have a God who has it all.

I am not concerned with stepping out my “comfort zone” because with every step forward my comfort zone grows. Little by little God is revealing His plan and purpose for us. He is providing all we need and comforting us with each revelation in His will.

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

John 14:26-27

Days like today seem a little surreal. Life is happening fast and I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon. But peace and comfort are here to stay. They will lead as we follow the path revealed to us.

                                                                                                                                                                                              

Deuteronomy Chapter 6

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Father that created me, Son that saved me, Spirit that moves me, You are one. You are one God, the only God to whom I give all my praise. All my heart longs to love you. All my soul longs for your presence. All my strength longs to do your work. 

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

Place your words on my heart. Let them satisfy my soul. Let them give me strength. May my children know your love by example. Make my every action lead them to You. Let your words be always on my tongue. Let your words be first and last in my day. When I wake let them be fresh on my mind. When lay down to sleep let them be my meditation. 

You are tangible to me. I hold out my hands and feel the weight of your words. I carry them with me. I wear them on my sleeves. My my home be a place where your word is always present.

Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.

I will act boldly as you lead me. I will walk with the confidence in the way you have commanded. Your words will guide my life. You are good and will provide for me. I have hope. I have nothing but You. No breath but You. Your mercy alone.

In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?”

I will tell them of my Savior. I will tell them how you reached into my sin. My filth. I will tell them how you saved me! I will tell them about the only hope I have. Your love proved me wrong! Not all is lost. You set me free. You broke the chains that held me down. You broke my heart of stone.

I will follow you all the days of my life. My King lives. My King reigns. 

Be all here.

Jim Elliot said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Now for those of you who may not know, Jim Elliot, a missionary to Ecuador who gave his life for the cause of Christ. A quote maybe less well known, yet has always been close to my heart is this, "Wherever you are, be all there." Jim Elliot was "all there." He knew the work that he was called to do and he did it (along with the four others) to the point of giving his life.

Earlier tonight in class, I felt a prayer answered. I have been praying and desiring for God to reveal His will for me more clearly. My answer came when I mentioned this quote that has been with me for so long. The answer wasn't a clear cut path for my next step or a new, crisp, revised and updated road map for life. No, simply the peace of knowing that I am where I am and I am where I need to be so, I need to be all here.

So many people, especially at the stage I am in my life are asking the question about their future and the plan that God has in store for them. But if they are like me, they don't know very many details of that plan. I am coming to learn and accept that it really is okay! I am where I am and I am where I should be. C.S. Lewis says, "To walk out of His will is to walk into nowhere." But I think, even more than that, to walk out of His will, even into something "good" would be walking into sin. Not because what I might do is inherently "bad" but because I could be disregarding what God has placed me here to do.

James 4:13-17 says, "Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins."

Who am I to plan out my future? Who am I to plan even tomorrow? My life is nothing. My will is nothing. All I know is what and where I am at this very moment. If I am so focused on what the future may hold I will not see all the good I can do right where I am (verse 17).

So, what good can you do right where you are? How can you be all there?