Personal Thoughts

There have been many emotions going through my mind and my heart lately. On the one hand I am filled with excitement at the future that God has in store for me and my ministry in the days ahead. On March 1, I will be moving to assume the pastoral duties of the Milford, DE Church. I am so excited to be leading this wonderful group of people. They have opened their hearts to us so quickly and seem to be excited to have me come to lead them into God's preferred future. I am convinced that God is about to do great things in the people of Milford and through the church.

While I have been experiencing the excitement that comes with a new calling, I have also been overwhelmed with the feelings of grief and loss that come with leaving a family behind. The past six years have been among the happiest of my life as I have led the Ryot Church. The folks here have become more than friends, they have become like a second family. I have been loved and accepted by the community. My email has been filled with well-wishes and testimonies of fellow umpires, referees, soccer friends and others we have grown close to have appreciate me and my involvement here. I find comfort in knowing that many of these folks will continue to be life-long friends.

I ask for your prayers in the days ahead. Pray for me and my family as we are apart for nearly four months; for the Ryot Church as they search for their new pastor; and for the Milford Church as we begin a new chapter in the life of the church. May God be glorified in and through us all.

Obedience

Obedience is one of those words that has been occupying my thoughts a great deal lately. It is a word that is often mentioned in scripture. Abraham was obedient to follwot he leading of God out to Ur. He was obedient to offer Isaac as a sacrifice when he was asked to do so by God. Moses finally gave in and obeyed God's call to return to Egypt to be the tool of God's deliverance for His people. David listened to the word of God and did NOT build the temple that he so desperately wanted to build to honor God. Ezekiel ate the scroll. Joseph married Mary when common sense told him to put her away quietly. Matthew, Peter, John, James, and the rest of the disciples heard the calling of Christ and left all to follow him. Paul heard the voice of the man from Macedonia and went there to share the gospel. Lets not forget the greatest illustration of obedience in scripture, Jesus humbly accepting his death on the cross to take away the sins of the world and give us life.

The word of God reminds us that God desires obedience even more than he wants sacrifice and worship. (After all, is worship really worship if there is disobedience in our hearts?)

So why is obedience so hard for us? God asks us to do things, or not do things and something rises up in us that resists doing that which we are asked. Churches struggle financially because disciples hoard their resources and withhold tithe. Classes go untaught because people with the gift of teaching are afraid to step out on faith and exercise the gift. Worst of all, unbelievers do not hear the good news of the love of Jesus Christ because we do not tell them. Let's face it, obedience is hard.

I think somewhere deep inside us we know why it is so hard to obey God. We have yet to surrender our will as well as our life to the control of the divine one. We hold on to those last vestiges of the illusion of self-autonomy. The greatest lie that Satan deceives us with is that we are in control of our own destiny and life. The fact is that we, apart from the freedom of God's grace, are in bondage to the tyranny of our will, taste, habits, and passions. The only true freedom comes when we are liberated for and by God as we surrender the totality of our lives, including our will, to Him. It is then that we can know the peace that comes from a life of obedience and trust.

I confess that there are times when obedience costs. Yet the fact remains that the cost is not nearly what we think it will be. Obedience yields the grace of God, his care, his provision, and his presence. The reward that we receive is the image of the divine one in us, the freedom that comes in knowing if we are following the will of God, he is responsible for the results, and the peace that comes in knowing that he is faithful and will complete his work in us.

I invite you to join me on the journey that is a life of surrendered obedience. I haven't arrived perfectly yet, but he is still showing me the realities of life in him.