No more talk of apples, or peaches… but a life of fruitfulness in growing submission to God.
What a week! It is pretty amazing to me to be amidst such intensity on a consistent basis. Maybe it is just the season I am in. Maybe it is the new state of things for me. I am not sure, but it seems for the past month, since my post on something stirring things have been so… Charged. I mean that I have found myself in a lifestyle completely void of mundanity and clearly touched by God.
Now when I say that, I know that some people will look at that as the beginning of another brag session. However, “intense” and “charged” are not necessarily words that are solely used to point to GOOD times. Many of my recent experiences could be considered GREAT times, but some are definitely on the rough end of the spectrum.
From being totally blessed by an awesome time at a Toby Mac concert with Lariza, the absolutely life changing day of becoming a pastor at Torch Church – to – high pressure days at my day job, and typing this post from the hospital bedside of my little brother. Life has been anything but empty.
I have now come to know that THIS is the promise of God. An abundant life is not a life of complete circumstantial bliss, but a FULL life. A life full of joy, pain, good times, bad times, ups, downs, fun, frustration, highs and lows. This sounds no different than any other person’s existence right? But my life is ABUNDANT with something more than experience…something more than circumstance…something that not all have been blessed with… The presence of God.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 NIV
God is here with me. Where God’s presence is there is LIFE. Boredom and God are like oil and water. They don’t mix. He is the initiator, a light in darkness, a burning bush…anything but void of intensity.
“Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” ~James 4:8 NIV
During such days and times of great intensity it is a more and more a growing reality that God’s presence doesn’t always calm the circumstantial seas but brings peace amidst the roller coaster in my inner most being. Nothing like walking into the hospital with the assurance that Christ’s power is walking with you. There is nothing like going into the office knowing that the God-man who died on the Christ for me has prayed and paved a way through the struggle for me.
It makes me think of how much I love looking at God’s creation. Some of the most glorious sights are views of the sun shining over mountains and piercing through the darkness of valleys.
I love the realization that the Glory of God is much more magnified in my life at the mountain top and the valley than through the flat lands of life. Not that Christ doesn’t reign supreme over even the mundane.
If you look at your life and you are missing excitement, I contend that you might be actually missing the true presence of God. He brings peace, but His presence also brings LIFE.