Finding My Way

    Much has happened over the past few months. I completed my masters program, my family and I moved into a new house, we brought another full-time pastor on staff at the church, etc. More than all this external stuff, there is a lot of internal change taking place. I mentioned to my fellow journeymen on Sunday that the Lord is doing some interesting things in my life. As I sit and reflect on it, it seems clear to me, but trying to put it into words is next to impossible. In a good way, I feel like my world has been turned upside down. Now I am working to reset my bearings and find the map to this new part of my journey.

    This past Sunday I had an interesting experience. For weeks now, the Lord has laid a verse (actually a phrase from a verse of Scripture) on my heart. I know that he is speaking some things to me in the deep places of my soul. I felt that the Lord wanted me to use this verse and some of what he is doing in /speaking to me as a basis for the sermon Sunday. This is normal for me. However, what followed was not normal. Every time I started to study, look up verses, etc. I felt like God was telling me to stop. Whenever I started thinking about how this message might apply to the people in the church, again, I felt like God said, "No."

    I felt that in place of a normal sermon (normal for me), I was supposed to begin by sharing with the congregation what God was doing in me. As it turned out, as I preached, I heard what was being said for the first time, just like everyone else. Later this week I'll get the sermon posted to our church website so you can hear it if you are interested.

    I do not think that this occurrence will become a regular one. I do think the Lord is breaking me from what I consider normal. I sense that he is trying to teach me to depend more on him and listen more carefully for His voice. This journey with the Lord is getting pretty interesting.

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