So Much To Do, So Little Time

We get so busy in ministry, have you noticed?  A service here, a meeting there, one to visit and another to counsel, sometimes it is difficult to keep it all in perspective.  As I travel I am reminded that there is more to this world than the little part of it I inhabit.  What a healthy revelation!

With the hurricanes and flooding in Galveston, how many Americans will forget the Haitians that have no food or shelter or place to go?  How many people will fill their fuel tanks for winter and forget those displaced by the war in Georgia?  They say the news cycle has been compressed to about 36 hours.  Once a headline has dropped from the screen it will quickly be forgotten.  How sad if we can be so easily "pushed by the wind and tossed."  Pastor, here is your chance to shine.  You can keep the perspective by keeping God's heart in front of the people.

What God cares about is PEOPLE.  In the race for President, God cares about people's eternal condition as well as their temporal state.  In the midst of the storm, He is still aware of every windblown hair on their head.  I have always loved Jeremiah 29:11.

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

What encouragement we can draw from His words, but only if we have those who will come along side us and speak them into our lives.  Are you being a cheerleader for those around you?

Tuesday I was in Huntington, WV for the New Life Church (http://www.nlconline.org) Campmeeting.  What a wonderful time, a refreshing time, a time of inspiration and encouragement.  As Brother Mark Hankins ministered, I heard the Holy Ghost speak inside me and say,

"Where you are is the starting point, not the end.  This is not a stop along the way.  On this journey there is no reverse so let's get on with what is ahead."

It speaks to my heart and stirs in me a desire to finish the race set before me.  It should also be a word to each of us that reminds us that there is lots more to what is going on than what we have experienced.  As Rev. Jim Kaseman said recently,

"We need to focus on what God has commissioned us to do - reach the lost, train disciples - and know that God will supply everything we need to get the job done."

Let's not loose sight of our goal, not be distracted by the cares of this world, not be led astray by the circumstances that face us, but rather, let us rise with each new day and press on in our destiny to see the will of the Father done in the earth.