I am just having one of those days where I am just totally blown away at what is taking place in my life and with Coastal Community Church. People told me leading up to stepping out and planting this church that this would be the hardest thing I would ever do in life. They were right about it being a really hard thing, but they didn’t ever tell me how invigorated and encouraged I would be everyday when God shows up in a big way.
Yesterday one of the ladies on our launch team told us a story that just brings everything full circle for what we are doing here in Ft. Lauderdale. There was a woman in Target who saw my wife Shayla and loved the necklace she was wearing. It happened to be that our friend Ashley (who is on our launch team) made the necklace, so Shayla gave this woman Ashley’s number so she could get a necklace. The woman comes over to Ashley’s house and picks up her necklace and sees that Ashley has a wall of crosses and starts to ask about if she went to church. Ashley starts to explain that the woman who referred her to Ashley was her new pastors wife and that we are starting a church here in Coconut Creek called Coastal Community Church. After a minute of thinking the woman asks “Is that the people who were giving away water on the side of the road, because they gave me some water and a card.” Now this woman is interested in finding out more about the church and what we are doing. It is amazing how God can take a conversation about a necklace, free water and bring it full circle to get one of his kids back to church. I can’t wait to see how many other stories God is working on right now in peoples lives who are unchurched, uncommitted and undecided.
God is up to something BIG and has got GREATER THINGS in store for Coastal Community Church. Keep praying for us and believing that we will have opportunities to make a lasting impact in peoples lives for Jesus Christ.
I think about the season of life that I am in right now. God has called Shayla and I to the most amazing call in my opinion, to help build His church by starting Coastal Community Church in Ft. Lauderdale. The promise of God building His church is something that I stand on all time and get pumped up about in life. Then when I think about the payoff of peoples lives being transformed, lost people being found, hurting finding hope, broken being fixed and fearful finding faith it is energizing. The thing about both of those areas, the promise and the payoff is that they are not seen on a daily basis unless you really look for them. Most of the time, all you see is the process. The process can be the most trying, complicated, confusing and frustrating thing you ever face, but I think this is the place where true growth and faith takes place. I found for myself that I don’t grow in the promise or payoff stage of life but when I am in the process. I really believe that is where God wants each one of us in life, in the process. That is where we are refined, shaped and molded to be more like Jesus. So many times in the process we give up because it is to hard or painful. Here is the thing that I found to be true in my life, I only change when there is pain or pleasure. When the process is painful enough, I will make change. Whether that is not relying on my own strength but Gods or finally breaking down my pride and submitting to what He wants. We need the fire of adversity to test the strength of our faith.
This is so powerful! So many times in my life I have compassion for people or say that I love people but there is no action behind that love, just words. But Jesus was SEEKING, or looking around every corner, at every situation for an opportunity to put His unfailing love into ACTION for others to see. It makes me ask myself, “What am I seeking in life?” Am I seeking to put my love into action with my family, friends and those who do not yet know?
How is your attitude doing?
God is the all supreme being that we can’t physically see but see his attributes and goodness all the time. God’s love is the most incredible thing in the world. He gives and just continually gives to anyone and everyone. I love the part of this verse that says “His love is brought to FULL EXPRESSION in us.” I cannot even fathom what that would look like. I have been trying to imagine his love being in full expression but just can’t seem to get there. I bet that if I ever arrive at that point it would be the most amazing experience that I would ever have in my life. I guess that I haven’t gotten to the point of realizing this because I haven’t “Loved each other.” I don’t know about you but this is an area that I have continually struggled with in life. Don’t get me wrong I love people but not like how God loves people and would be willing to give up his son’s life for people that don’t even like him. That is a pretty intense love for others.