GOSPEL :: FAMILY :: MISSION
There are some days when I feel completely overwhelmed. Like the world is caving in on me. Like all the paths forward are filled with rough terrain. Like all of my hope is gone. Like all of my dreams have been crushed. Like there’s a heavy burden on my back that I cannot escape.
Did God choose you before you chose him? Or did God choose you because you chose him? One of the core truths of the Bible is that God chose us before we were able to choose him. As you think about this, what makes this doctrine so hard for you to believe? Is it simply that somewhere deep down inside you’ve always believed that God chose you because you chose him? Have you always believed that God knew you would come to your senses one day? Did God just know that you would be a good little boy or a good little girl and choose him someday so therefore he chose you? Wouldn’t this mean that you and I somehow control God’s decision to choose us because of our good behavior? What kind of comfort does that give us?
I hate to admit that I struggle with fear. I’d rather be seen as fearless. Confident. In control. Courageous. Assured. Steady. Notice that I said “I’d rather be seen”.
Take a minute here and answer this question: “Who am I” and complete this sentence “I am …………” on a piece of paper. How we answer this question and complete this sentence in our worst moments and in our best moments says a lot about our maturity in our walk with Jesus.
An unsatisfied child will wear me out and leaving me feeling more than a little bit discombobulated. Christy and I are still in the middle of raising our seven children and we’ve experienced our fair share of the exhaustion that comes with relating to an unsatisfied child. Children are ambitious little creatures. When they want something really bad they will do almost anything to get it and they’ll often do whatever it takes to manipulate a situation so that they can satisfy whatever their little desires want.
As we come into the last week of our series on what it means to be the people of The Well, I want to recap what we’ve learned throughout this series. You may recall that we began this series back in June by studying Acts 2:42 – 47 and then we picked up again in early August by studying John 4:1 – 42.
My daughter, Faith, is a music lover. Well our entire family is full of music lovers. My dad is a drummer and he actually has his own radio program that broadcasts a mix of bluegrass across the world daily. My mom loved country, rock and roll and blues music so I was raised on the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmy Hendrix, The Doors, Janice Joplin, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
Last week as we studied John 4:1 – 15, we outlined 4 different barriers to becoming a Christ encountering people. We learned that barriers like the barrier of place, or the barrier of person, or the barrier of resource, or the barrier of thirst can all be hindrances to becoming a people who encounter Christ.
Right now as I write, one of my daughters’ cars is sitting in our driveway broken. A few days ago we realized the rear break pads were bad and needed repaired. And what began as a routine maintenance repair in the driveway quickly snowballed into finding more broken things under the broken things. The break pads were shot. The rotors were bad. The emergency break inside the rotors were falling apart. And now a caliper needs replaced too. The parts we need are back-ordered and the funds needed to make further repairs are running low. And so we wait. I detest the word “wait”.
This is a historical day for us. Exactly five years ago on this day, Christy and I gathered together with 4 other adults on a park bench here in Hastings to begin planting The Well. We had no church name, no church building, no discipleship strategy and no money in the bank. We didn’t even have a bank account yet!
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