You don’t realize how much you need something until you don’t have it anymore and being in full-time ministry has already provided some of the highest points in my life and some of the lowest.  One second you are riding the wave of a lifetime and the next you are being pummeled by the very wave you just rode to perfection.  Life is about choosing the right waves to ride and then riding them to their fullest potential.  After the set, we must swim back out to see what God has next.  As long as we are still drawing breath, God is not done with us so we must stay vigilant and in tune with the Spirit.  Unfortunately, many waves will go by that we realize we should have taken, while others we quickly realize were terrible mistakes.

Waves that turn against us represent times of need, and where once we could feel God’s very presence, the next it quickly feels like He is a million miles away.  What we choose to do when this happens determines how much glory and honor the Father will receive and how long it takes before we get back up again.  God’s presence and power are not limited to Sunday; He has the power to give us strength even on our weak/week days, but it is up to us to claim that power.  When we are struggling to even stay afloat and can’t tell which way is up, all we have to do is call out to God and He will reach down to where we are and save us. He will set our feet upon the rock and He will give us rest.  Jesus came to bind up the brokenhearted and to give peace to the weary and He came so that we may have abundant life.

The question we must ask ourselves is: Are we following Jesus, or are we asking Jesus to follow us?  Do the choices we make daily truly represent what God would have of us?  You see, the world is full of answers, schemes and quick fixes, but until Jesus becomes the center of our very being, we are missing the point.  I recently read something by Karl Barth that is so true: “When we are at our wits end for an answer, then the Holy Spirit can give us an answer.  But how can He give us an answer when we are still supplied with all sorts of answers of our own?”  We have become a generation that wants everything easier, faster and cheaper, but God’s ways are so much higher than our own.  Even the good times and the bad times in our lives are never an end in themselves because they are always serving a higher purpose.

When we start measuring ourselves by ourselves, we are not worth the thought it took to make the comparison.  Jesus is the only person we should measure ourselves against.  Yes, they are huge sandals to fill, but as we transform ourselves into His image, we can truly embody Him.  Imagine what this world would be like if every follower of Christ truly represented Him.  I can tell you this with confidence: we would not be a nation full of spiritual depravity and unconscionable actions.   As children of God, we must repent and turn from our wicked ways and start living our lives as God intended us to.  We must be a beacon of hope to a lost and hurting world, leading humanity to where they can truly find love, acceptance and forgiveness.  God’s way is the only way and the sooner we define this statement by our actions, the sooner we will be one nation under God.