With My Own Eyes

Being ministered to by this song today:

I find space for what I treasure
I make time for what I want
I choose my priorities and
Jesus you’re my number one

My baby girl turned 20 on Sunday.  Was blessed to make a quick trip to Bourbonnais, IL to celebrate with her.  Super proud of her.

“However, I have to admit that I always find myself shocked that after 20 centuries of Christian faith and practice in Western contexts, that still the average Christian in the average church in the West is profoundly unformed and immature in Christ. This is the gospel of the resurrected King Jesus Christ we are talking about— world-transforming power! Twenty centuries of the Holy Spirit, of Christian thinking and acting, and this is what we have ended up with? There has been so much by way of church and theology and yet so little transformational impact. How do we account for this? How can we possibly justify this to ourselves, let alone to the God who has commissioned us and to whom we are ultimately accountable?”

Hirsch, Alan. 5Q: Reactivating the Original Intelligence and Capacity of the Body of Christ (Kindle Locations 504-509). 100 Movements (DH). Kindle Edition.

“Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.”

When I married into Christy’s side of the family I learned that they had a Thanksgiving tradition that involved going around the table and using 3 kernels of corn as prompts for gratitude.  Each kernel represented something specific for which to be thankful.  Here are my 3 kernels of corn for today (specifically related to 2019):

1. I am thankful for God’s hand upon my daughter Anna.  We were shocked in May by the report that she had thyroid cancer.  We have seen God work moment by moment through surgery to heal and sustain her.  She hasn’t missed a beat at college this Fall.

2. I am thankful for the calling to preach the Word of God.  Preaching this past year in Acts, Isaiah 53, The Tabernacle, The Ten Commandments, and now 1 Corinthians has been such a blessing to me personally.  In preaching I feel the weight of the responsibility but the joy of the privilege.

3. I am thankful for the Empty Nest.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I miss my kids some days so bad that it hurts.  But I truly relish this season with my wife.  We are able to invest in each other and in ministry at an entirely different level.  We function as a team.  There is also great joy in witnessing my kids become adults.  I love the deep conversations I am able to have with them.  I truly like them.

So, there are my three kernels of corn for 2019.  What are yours?

Ready to dance a jig, harvest some crops, and saddle up the team.  Some good reading music and Thanksgiving prep.