I Guess I Have A Lot To Say

I mowed the lawn and cleaned the yard this morning, and I decided to spray the leaves and dog poop with the hose to clean off the cement in one, fell swoop. It actually did a great job and as I stood there, washing the dirt away, I was amazed how water has such a forceful, cleansing effect on whatever it comes in contact with. It was kind of hypnotizing and it reminded me of a sermon Pastor Rich Thomas preached a long time ago on Simpson Street. It was so poignant, that I'll never forget it.  The ministry I was involved with at the time, was on Simpson Street in Madison, Wisconsin. We ministered to the poor in this community, giving them the one hope they could always turn to and rely on: Jesus. I loved being a part of this ministry because those folks had very little in the way of materialism, but what they longed for was God . It's always refreshing when people are hungry for the things of God and you don't have to "prove" to them, that they need Jesus. They

When hope is deferred, we  can  become hopeless. The scripture says, “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick...” I’ve experienced this and I’ve seen others experience it as well. It’s usually not that we lose our faith in God - but we can lose a bit of faith in what we believe He promised, when it doesn’t come to pass. It hasn’t happened, so it must not have been from God, we tend to think. However, our attitude determines  everything . So often, we lose our faith due to situations we find ourselves in, other people and sometimes even God, when we don’t see the fruit of our labor or the blessings God has promised in His Word. I think that must be a direct result of a lifestyle where everything comes quickly to us - a “microwave” society — and we’ve come to expect God to be the same --  an “Immediate-Answering-Father.” We’re so off base with that kind of attitude, as God knows us better than we even know ourselves, and whether we understand it or not, He always wants the best for us.