Providence

My intellectual affair with Pascal has come to an end...do you ever feel that way? Do you sometimes get frustrated with your inability to finish so many books? I know this plagues me! But I am learning to appreciate the impact and benefit I get out of however much I read, whatever progress I make. I think we all struggle with our puritanical drive to always finish what we started. Life is too short to expend our energy and emotion finishing things that don't ultimately matter. So, be free! If a book stops speaking life into, stops being as enjoyable as it once was, put it down! Make sure your perseverance reservoir is reserved for following through on more eternally significant fronts, like your family relationships, your commitment to spiritual disciplines, your devotion to your local church...let these things be the benefactor of your perseverance reservoir when enthusiasm seems to wane, let your unfailing follow through be given to what truly matters!

Your God given destiny is another worthy recipient of your unwavering determination. Did you know that God is not just the God of the details of this universe, but He is equally the God of the details of your life. He has a perfect plan for your life and feeling of deep meaning, purpose, and significance will be forever elusive until you find a sense of confidence that you are in the middle of your destiny. This idea of providence is believing that God is intentional, directive, active, not passive, not lackadaisical about the intricate details of this world. And only this world but our individual lives. He is orchestrating the elements of of our moments to lead and direct us into a specific future.

If these thoughts are foreign to you, let me recommend a book to you that I am about to use in taking a couple of small groups of men through. The book is entitled "Finding Your Greater Yes" by Dan Erickson. He has a ministry called "People Matter Ministries." You could Google that to find out more about him. I have had the privilege of hearing him speak a couple times and one of the things I so appreciate about Dan is that he just doesn't get us excited about our destiny, what he calls our "greater yes" but he shows us how to determine it and then run after it! You don't want to miss your "greater yes!"

This 4th of July weekend I am reminded of all of this because our founding fathers and mothers understood that God of this universe was the God of their individual lives that they had a role in history, in fact, that as they gave themselves fully to their personal destinies, together, they would be fulfilling God broader destiny for a nation, a nation that had and has a destiny in this universe. Wow! Imagine! God sees you and I, personally and individually as indispensable contributors to His great, grand, and eternal plan for eternity!

I hope you take the time to watch this 7 minute media clip for how our nation came to have a National Anthem. In it, like it did for me, you will be reminding that you too have a story, maybe it will never be written in history books, but it will be recorded in the books of heaven. You have a part to play in this world, a vital part, a necessary part, an essential part. Don't miss it!

http://wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=9954

Have a Jesus Filled 4th!
Pastor Fred