I have chosen the Title today because, first and foremost, we have just celebrated Resurrection Sunday (more commonly known as "Easter") in which we declare that Jesus is the only person to live on earth, die and resurrect never to die again - and from that comes the opportunity for every person accept Jesus as their own personal Savior and then to confidently look forward to an eternal home in heaven some day.
However, I also chose the title to diffuse speculation among this blog's readers that I was dead. Busy, yes. Dead, no
I am also keenly aware that I have no other creative outlet and thus, although I hope to bless and encourage you, this is cathartic for me in very selfish terms.
Our Growth Group has just finished Andy Stanley's excellent video series Five Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see them all so I borrowed the DVD for some self study. Lesson one was called Big Faith and is teh intro to the series. The cornerstone of this message to me was this: only once in Jesus' recorded earthly ministry did Jesus effecrtively say, "Wow!" It was not because of anything anyone DID or GAVE. It was because of the FAITH of the (Gentile) Centurian whose servant was gravely ill. Andy essentially asked us to imagine what our lives would be like if we exercised that kind of faith every day:
- the kind that is confident that there is a personal God Who knows my name and will be with me every step of the way and Who will hear every one of my prayers and Who is attempting to work out His best plan for our eternal blessing in our lives every day
- the kind that always chooses to believe the above... even (especially) in the absence of objective evidence
- the kind that allows us to confidently say, "I will trust Him" out loud if necessary that the unbelieving world might be drawn in with us.
I am challenged
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