A Church with a Heart for our Community

October 17th Friday

Greetings to you in the name of the one who lives and moves ‘outside-the-box’, Jesus Christ – THE Crucified and Risen Saviour! What a great fall morning – warm air, dampness, soft sunlight, and a gentle wind ! God is awesome! I trust that you have had a good week and are sensing the peace of a new season’s rhythm. Are you excited about the weekend, with all of it’s adventures and responsibilities? Are you looking forward to meeting with your church family to share praise, pray, and worship? I am quite sure God is up to something and it would be good to be ‘in the house’ when God releases his glory. I will be praying for you today, asking God to re-ignite your faith in his supernatural ability.

I began to read a new book that I had been eagerly waiting for and after the introduction, I think God is going to challenge my thinking. Two short paragraphs set the tone: Why? Why am I a ragged mess, a broken child? Why am I a woman weeping on the floor when I am supposed to be writing a talk on the wonder of God’s immeasurable love? When I’m supposed to know, supposed to believe, supposed to no longer doubt? But I do doubt. And wrestle. Again. Still.  — Who am I? Who is this God I say I believe, I say I trust? …. Come, walk with me on this journey of God’s favour. Come as we turn the camera angle outward to focus not no Mary’s attributes, character, or personal qualities but instead on the character and qualities of the God who burst into her life and changed everything. Come as we ask not, “Who is Mary?” but rather “Who is this amazing, perplexing God who reveals himself in new and startling ways through Mary”s journey?” – Marlo Schalesky, Wrestling With Wonder. I have already read the first chapter and it is going to be a good read.

And this morning I received an email from a prayer ministry highlighting the need to focus on the growing challenges of terrorism. I often get these sort of emails and I like to be aware but just telling me to pray without giving directions is hard to manage. However this email came with a 10 step plan that gives good guidelines. This sort of information reminds me that our world is in such turmoil and it would be so easy to be overwhelmed and lose focus but there is power in the faith of God’s people when they ‘start their faith engines’, as someone has said: There are three things that faith does: it reckons on God, it risks with God, and it rests on God. I believe that we are entering a part of our faith journey that will require us to wrestle with our understanding of God and his ways.

Be blessed!