Home again

Home again and back in the groove. The certain strangeness of normal sets in within days or hours of returning from the mission place of engagement. When we are focused on giving and serving we feel the fire and the passion of really living. Oh to maintain the fire and zeal in the daily routine... Many sincere believers long to abide in that place of His life...where power and peace meet with signs of His presence following. May He meet us again today, and tomorrow in the corridors of normal life. May our normal always be supernatural.

A Voice

John the Baptist never insisted that people know his name. He was content to be "a voice crying in the wilderness". One of the biggest challenges many people face is rooted in their need to be seen and heard. If we can hide behind the cross and allow our lives to be hidden in Christ, then the voice of God will be heard through us. Many travel and do great things as part of their sense of duty to God. The scriptures admonish us to rest in him, and allow him to work and speak through us and in us. He is working in us to complete that which he started. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it. Although we are co-laborers in the Gospel with each other, we are actually God's field, his sanctuary, and his workmanship. Today let us rest in the finished work of Christ. Let his voice be heard through you, as you refuse to be self absorbed in your challenges and agenda. Ignore the temptation to speak in order to be noticed, then allow the words of heaven to burst forth as life from the Christ that lives within you.

The evidence of Faith

I remember when Bishop Johnson responded to the missionary enthusiasm of newcomers to the mission scene. When people would say that they wanted to go to missions, his response was always, "Do you have a passport?". He knew that faith demands action, and without action, faith is mere wishing with too many words mixed in.

The practical response to our enthusiasm and idealism is .......Do.

Unless we do, our dream will die. Unless we do, our faith is useless.

The steps to success may be baby steps, but faith requires action because action is the proof of faith. No excuses, no substitutes, no long winded explanations. We just need to do.....something.

Today when you dream, take a step toward the dream. Today when you pray, be ready to become the answer to your prayer. "Here I am Lord, send me".

Do you have a passport? Prepare to go. Take the first steps of faith and watch heaven respond.

Mark

Stirring again

It has been too long since I let the mission man out, but I feel him stirring inside me.

Perhaps it is just the call of the wild, but somehow I think there is just much more to it than that. Like the lure of a distant drum, the sound of a roaring sea, or the wonder of an African starlit night so bright and magnificent that it takes your breath away...... Ah these are the stirrings of a distant land where time and eternity are etched on the memories of the mission man.

I hear you calling my friend, I hear you calling.