Worship on the Water and such...

Last Sunday (August 10th) was my last time to speak at the Worship on the Water event. Being able to have three opportunities to speak and lead worship was tremendous! In reflecting on the times I've spoken this Summer and in the past 4 years I can say that these have been good and growth filled. It's humbling when you finish the service and hear people applaud. It's humbling because I know that the gifts are all from God. Anything good that happens is from God and the glory belongs to Him. That said, humanly speaking, it reaffirms the Calling of God on my life and the purposes that I said, "YES" to years ago. And the feedback that I've gotten has been encouraging. One comment this past week centered on how I've really improved in my delivery from the first time I spoke 4 summers ago until that day. The question I have to answer is, "Am I growing or staying stagnant?!" It's easy to just pull out an old message and polish it up, and I did that Sunday, but I also started a second message before that which I intend to finish! Given the opportunity to speak. I will do so. It's entitled , "The God Question".
It's a question that we all have to answer at some point, and one that deepens with every "yes".

Getting back to the original thought... as much as the people who came to hear me were blessed I would say that I've been just as blessed and encouraged. It affirms that God uses His people from his "catholic... universal" church. My church family has been so supportive also, but having people that are not directly related saying the same thing has to be a God thing. I've had people tell me that I need a church or that I should start a new work. We'll see what God has planned. As He opens the doors I'm going through!

Peace to you...

"Where is Jesus?"

Today I was having a small skirmish with my 5 year old about not bringing a toy into the grocery store. It was not going well. As I helped him out of the vehicle my 2 year old, Joel, suddenly asks, "Where is Jesus?'
I was immediately checked in my spirit about the bout I was finishing and then replied, "He's right here with us."

We might be asking the same question... "where is Jesus?" as we got news that my wife has an additional heart condition called Ventricular Tachycardia. It's a completely different part of the heart and explained why Amy was feeling pretty lousy in the past year with episodes of pressure coming up into her neck and feeling like she would black out. The condition can be fatal, but the doctor felt that as long as her heart was strong it would break out of the bad rhythm. Still it was a shock. In all of this I was reminded that Jesus is still right here. Nothing has essentially changed except that we know we must lean more heavily on Jesus than we have in the past. Faith isn't faith till it's exercised, and we are working those faith muscles right now. We trust that whatever happens that God will have His hand in it to bring good through the bad. He never wastes an opportunity to grow us into the image of Jesus.

Thanks for your prayers!
Lonnie