8 days ago this grouper was safe on the ocean floor. After years of getting fat he fell prey to a crafty hunter. Once I hooked him, I reeled him up 1000'. The further I pulled him away from home…
Some might suggest 2021 has not gotten off to a great start. And I might agree. I'm not alone I don't think. A popular meme right now commiserates "'I'd like to cancel my subscription to 2021... the 7-day trial is enough".
In any case we have an invitation to continue learning what we were invited to learn last year - that hope in anything but God is foolish. For our future preservation in tough circumstances we simply must learn to find our souls some better footing than to place our hope in a year, a person, a nation or an earthly outcome.
Last new years my friend Cayce Harris emailed me a document that walked me through questions to ask Jesus.
It was a rescue, helping me receive some interpretation from God regarding the past year and some counsel on the upcoming year. Here it is for you.
"That could never happen. This is the U.S.A." -said almost everyone just a few months ago.
The world is getting its eyes opened. Nation by nation, kingdom by kingdom, the powers of evil have been working quite secretly to secure power and bring the world into chaos and darkness. It's like in the great movies, only it's real.
Can we handle this much reality?
Like our heroes, could this be our finest hour?
By the hand of providence, I have a friend in Russia and a few in Scandinavia who are laboring for the gospel courageously. Like the running salmon that draw fishermen from all over the world to that region, there are a few men swimming furiously against the swift current of a culture that is attempting to neuter the God-given hearts of men and women. The result is the recasting of male and female
I love seeing how through random relationships with kingdom minded men and women, the Father has outlasted my resistance. He continues to shock me with the intimate way He offers himself in both fathering and friendship. Somewhere along the way in the journey of my becoming a son, the Wild Goose called me into a relationship with a wildly glorious Russian saint,
A few painful question leaked out of my lost and wandering heart 15 years ago. "What did you create me to do?" and "Will you give me one thing I can do really well for you?" Beyond the joys and challenges of my most important occupation as a loving husband and father, this poem, a simple and heartfelt reflection of my heart's most enduring desires, is his answer to the ever-present question of my calling.
