Up SiDe DoWn

More thoughts from "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day": author Mark Batterson notes that "God is in the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time. A sense of destiny is our birthright as followers of Christ. God is awfully good at getting us where He wants us to go. But here's the catch: The right place often seems like the wrong place, and the right time often seems like the wrong time."

And this stuff all sounds cool to read and dream about but I did something recently that made it all real. I negotiated unpaid time off from my job to lead trips for ChildReach Ministries without knowing how the finances would work out. And believe me it was quite a bit with a house payment and a truck payment and one college student with another soon to follow. Well after this little deal a couple of things happened that actually raised my income! All within one week...............so I think this Kingdom of God thing really is couter-intuitive...................( give money back to God and you won't have enough room for God's blessing according to Malachi 3:10 )...........................and upside down................ ( the first will be last according to Jesus ).

So is there a risk God is asking you to take? What is the one small act of courage that will change your destiny? I think the higher the odds, the longer the shot, the darker it gets means the closer the miracle is. But how many of us really need a miracle? Have you ever been in a position where God has to show up if a thing is going to work out? No problem = no miracle.

And here is the scariest thing to me. It's from the book of Revelation. Chapter 21 describes a new heaven and new earth. And the new Jerusalem comes and God's living with us and we live with God. And then there's this list of people who aren't allowed in. And most of them are described with some sort of sin they did. Sins they committed ( a sin of comission). But look at the first one listed. It looks to me like a person that didn't do something they were supposed to do ( a sin of omission ). And so as I like to point out when reading about this stuff: "The cowards die first!"