Our church is celebrating one hundred years of service this week. Who does that? Who survives one hundred years? It’s uncommon. But, then again, God is about doing the uncommon, those things which are out of the ordinary. It all started with Pastor Eva and four women in 1911 in a little store front called Mission House. In 1914, they moved to a building which remains standing in our little town of McMinnville. One of the old-timers remembers at one point the church almost quit being a church. But. They continued on despite the problems. God had called the people to be a church. Period. It requires trust to do what God says to do, especially when we hit the tough times. And. Tough times will come. It's not about how hard life becomes, but how we manage it all. I can only imagine what the teens would have said when they were sitting in church, if, they could've seen the result of persisting and pursuing God: "SHUT-UP. I MEAN IT, SHUT-UP." Really, it's surprising when anyone survives big problems, especially the kind of problems which make us want to quit and be done with it all.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the skies announce what his hands have made.
Day after day they tell the story;
night after night they tell it again.
They have no speech or words;
they have no voice to be heard.
But their message goes out through all the world;
their words go everywhere on earth (Psalm 19: 1-4, NCV).
The Psalmist reminds us of God's uncommon-out-of-the-ordinary greatness and bigness in our ever-changing skies, sunrise and sunset, the harvest moon, the stars shining in the night sky, the light of the sun that dissipates the darkness in the early hours of the morning. And. All of creation is a reminder that God has greater things for us than what we can see in the moment. When our reality is anchored in the presence of God rather than in the problem, we are able to see how ridiculous it is to worry, to stress-out, or to fear. God is GOD.
Persist in what God has called you to do, despite problems.
Pursue God.
Breathe. Take a moment. Look up into the skies.
Remember God's uncommon-out-of-the-ordinary greatness and bigness.
Trust God in all things, including when great and big problems come your way.
Be ready for what more God has . . . it's ridiculously uncommon-out-of-the ordinary great and big.
Learning to Kickstart the day trusting God for greater and bigger things than any problem.
Kerrie
(written by Kerrie Carlisle Palmer © 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)
The thing is . . . God's uncommon-out-of-the-ordinary greatness and bigness supersedes anything and everything . . . including the problems we face. Actually, I think the problem is you and I. It's often easier to see the greatness and bigness of a problem than God. So. It's in these times we must decide to either persist, pursuing God or to quit, turning away from what we're called to do.Consider.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the skies announce what his hands have made.
Day after day they tell the story;
night after night they tell it again.
They have no speech or words;
they have no voice to be heard.
But their message goes out through all the world;
their words go everywhere on earth (Psalm 19: 1-4, NCV).
The Psalmist reminds us of God's uncommon-out-of-the-ordinary greatness and bigness in our ever-changing skies, sunrise and sunset, the harvest moon, the stars shining in the night sky, the light of the sun that dissipates the darkness in the early hours of the morning. And. All of creation is a reminder that God has greater things for us than what we can see in the moment. When our reality is anchored in the presence of God rather than in the problem, we are able to see how ridiculous it is to worry, to stress-out, or to fear. God is GOD.
Persist in what God has called you to do, despite problems.
Pursue God.
Breathe. Take a moment. Look up into the skies.
Remember God's uncommon-out-of-the-ordinary greatness and bigness.
Trust God in all things, including when great and big problems come your way.
Be ready for what more God has . . . it's ridiculously uncommon-out-of-the ordinary great and big.
Learning to Kickstart the day trusting God for greater and bigger things than any problem.
Kerrie
(written by Kerrie Carlisle Palmer © 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)