thinking

I feel like this season of ministry is one of defining and redefining vision, and clarifying vocabulary. I had a great conversation today w/ Matt and Sean, 2 pastors at Mosaic, about our partnership and future/continued involvement in the Mosaic faith community. It was great food for thought regarding defining who we are, what we're doing, the strategy to move forward, and the vocabulary we use in communicating it. I'll share more about that in the future, but right now I'll say it is exciting and overwhelming and a lot to think about all in once.

After the meeting, I asked K8 to drink from the fire hose, as I debriefed all that we had talked about in my non-linear and chaotic presentation. She's awesome. She understood it and gave good insights. She's awesome. Then I got in the car to run errands and drove by a church board which read "What God Ordains, He Sustains." Normally I nearly vomit at the cheesy stuff that people put up on those boards, but this was encouraging.

Later, as I sat to get into the Word, I found this gem from 1 Peter 1:3-8: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

God has given all of us what we need to move forward w/ what He's called us to, whatever it is. When we keep our eyes on Him and not all the stuff we need to do in order to get from A to B. When we focus on Him and on these things (goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love) we are productive in what He has for us. This was a good word for me as we consider the tasks before us, and our faithfulness to Him.