Good Morning and Blessings,
Well, it has been a long road since I last blogged. A lot has been happening in both my personal life and in my professional life, and it all coincides with my last entry concerning a convergence of circumstances. Little did I know at the time that that entry would be prophetic, as well as applicable to the events that I was involved in at the time. So, here we are at the beginning of June and circumstances have certainly converged.
As I write this, I am sitting in Brigham and Women's Hospital waiting for Deb to come through her surgery. In February she was diagnosed with Sarcoma, a rare and often fatal form of cancer. She has already under-gone 6 weeks of radiation treatment and numerous other tests and trips to Boston. Today's surgery is scheduled for 9 hours and recovery is expected to take three to eight weeks. Follow-up will be for 5 years.
Also since my last entry, my Dad has had a stroke and my Mom has undergone detached retina surgery and a cancer treatment of her own, though less severe than Deb's and with great results. So, as you can see, my personal life has been converged upon by many trying circumstances.
Insofar as my professional life, it seems that God is intent upon shaking that up as well. RGM is currently no longer meeting publically on Sunday mornings as we no longer have an active body, though we currently meet Monday nights for home Bible study. We are in the midst of re-evaluating everything we do and how we do it and we plan to press forward with a relaunch date sometime in the coming months. Also, since Deb has been dealing with her sarcoma, I have cut back to half time at work at the Keene Family YMCA, which, of course, means that I have temporarily given up my directorship and also my benefits while I help Deb deal with her circumstances.
I share all this, not to get your pity, but to make my point that we need faith when it matters. If I have not been walking in a good place when things are relatively quiet, how will I ever be in a good place when things come unglued. When "life happens" I must be walking with God prior to that point so I won't be lost in seeking to find Him when it seems to matter most.
So, what I want to share with you all today is that faith matters most when it seems least important so that when it seems most im portant it can be of the greatest benefit to those who need it.
Please, live as if every moment matters and as if faith is something that matters to you, so when you need to tap into it, it will have already been activated in your life. I don't know how people could possibly get through a stretch like that through which I have come if it is without faith. I know my God is there for me, and sometimes that is all that keeps me sane and keeps me moving on.
I pray that you find faith when it matters most by practicing it when it seems you need it least.
Because of Jesus,
PJ
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Convergence of Circumstances
Ever notice how things always seem to happen for a reason, even if at the time we have no way of knowing what they might be or even recognize that there is a reason to what is happening?
Sometimes, life shifts and we get to feeling very uncomfortable and things don't go the way we want or expected them to and we wonder what God is up to or if He is up to anything at all. We wonder if He has forgotten us and His promises to us and things look like they are coming unglued and as if they will end in failure and we feel hopeless, or despondent, or abandoned or a combination of these and other emotions.
It is at these times that we should remember that He is sovereign and that He has a plan for us and it has nothing to do with our plans or our thoughts, for "there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is death," declares the Lord. His ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts like unto us, they are higher.
When we get serious about doing the will of the Lord in our life, He will get serious about the unfolding of His plan in our life. In doing so, often times, He will have to shake our life until all that remains belongs to Him. This will mean the loss of some things and the shifting of some others. These changes often make us uncomfortable, but it is still the work of the Lord in our life. It is only after the convergence of all the circumstances that we start to see and understand what that plan is.
Let me give you an example. Even as I write this, I am experiencing some of this phenomenon in my life and ministry. It seemed as if Redeeming Grace Ministries was coming to an end and that the vision had been lost for what God brought me to Keene for. Church attendance has become non-existent, ministry beyond the church has been non-existent for some time, and no momentum could be gained in any area and I felt like it was all for nought. But, then God....
I have come in contact with a body of folks that have helped redirect and focus my calling and vision and who have come alongside me in a way that I have long wanted and needed. They have come into my life at a time when I thought all was lost and I was going through the motions solely because I didn't know what else to do and I didn't want things to die. I was numb and I was uncertain, so I just kept doing the last thing I was told to do and things continued to happen in ways that I cannot explain except for God.
And now, the beginning of a new adventure that takes the vision that God had given me and brings it into sharp contrast. In dying, there is new life. The plans that He has for me are, indeed, plans to prosper, not harm me. They are plans to give me a hope and a future. And now, through the convergence of circumstances, I can see the truth that those who ait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, the shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Friends, can I encourage you to trust the Lord with your life, with your hopes and your dreams? Will you trust Him to work out the details as you seek to remain faithful to the calling of the Lord in your life? For He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it, even if it isn't in the way that we thought it would be worked out.
Yes, I still believe the vision He gave me will be completed, because God is good all the time and He is not a man that He should lie. Trust Him with the circumstances of your life and watch how they converge to bring about the things of God in your life, remembering that God works miracles to give Him glory and to give us a testimony.
Just saying....
Pastor Jeff
Sometimes, life shifts and we get to feeling very uncomfortable and things don't go the way we want or expected them to and we wonder what God is up to or if He is up to anything at all. We wonder if He has forgotten us and His promises to us and things look like they are coming unglued and as if they will end in failure and we feel hopeless, or despondent, or abandoned or a combination of these and other emotions.
It is at these times that we should remember that He is sovereign and that He has a plan for us and it has nothing to do with our plans or our thoughts, for "there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is death," declares the Lord. His ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts like unto us, they are higher.
When we get serious about doing the will of the Lord in our life, He will get serious about the unfolding of His plan in our life. In doing so, often times, He will have to shake our life until all that remains belongs to Him. This will mean the loss of some things and the shifting of some others. These changes often make us uncomfortable, but it is still the work of the Lord in our life. It is only after the convergence of all the circumstances that we start to see and understand what that plan is.
Let me give you an example. Even as I write this, I am experiencing some of this phenomenon in my life and ministry. It seemed as if Redeeming Grace Ministries was coming to an end and that the vision had been lost for what God brought me to Keene for. Church attendance has become non-existent, ministry beyond the church has been non-existent for some time, and no momentum could be gained in any area and I felt like it was all for nought. But, then God....
I have come in contact with a body of folks that have helped redirect and focus my calling and vision and who have come alongside me in a way that I have long wanted and needed. They have come into my life at a time when I thought all was lost and I was going through the motions solely because I didn't know what else to do and I didn't want things to die. I was numb and I was uncertain, so I just kept doing the last thing I was told to do and things continued to happen in ways that I cannot explain except for God.
And now, the beginning of a new adventure that takes the vision that God had given me and brings it into sharp contrast. In dying, there is new life. The plans that He has for me are, indeed, plans to prosper, not harm me. They are plans to give me a hope and a future. And now, through the convergence of circumstances, I can see the truth that those who ait upon the Lord will renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, the shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Friends, can I encourage you to trust the Lord with your life, with your hopes and your dreams? Will you trust Him to work out the details as you seek to remain faithful to the calling of the Lord in your life? For He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it, even if it isn't in the way that we thought it would be worked out.
Yes, I still believe the vision He gave me will be completed, because God is good all the time and He is not a man that He should lie. Trust Him with the circumstances of your life and watch how they converge to bring about the things of God in your life, remembering that God works miracles to give Him glory and to give us a testimony.
Just saying....
Pastor Jeff
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Final Day and Still Learning
God is so good to us. We miss so much of what He wants to teach us and show us, simply because we don't take the time in our hectic schedules to seek Him first.
I was privileged to be one of a very few this morning to be walking the beach when it was dark and stormy. Not many came out this morning, probably figuring there wasn't much to be seen or experienced. As I walked the beach, on what has turned out to be a very dark and stormy kind of day, I was still able to see the effects of what those who did not come, for whatever their reason, have missed. I captured the effects of an useen sunrise. I got some great photos of a sky filled with clouds that turned color in the early morning hours.
Our life is often like this. We don't take the time to get up and seek, figuring there is no point and we miss the effects of the Son. Beauty and color and atmospheric change were all part of the day that has turned out gray and dark and cold and, some would say, miserable. But in my mind I know that there has been beauty even in this day. It is about what e are seeking. I was drawn to seek first this morning, so I saw. Kind of like the biblical principal of seek first the kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you as well. If I sought the things, I missed the intended beauty. I missed the blessing, but because I sought first, I saw.
Makes you think, doesn't it?
Because of Jesus,
Pastor Jeff
I was privileged to be one of a very few this morning to be walking the beach when it was dark and stormy. Not many came out this morning, probably figuring there wasn't much to be seen or experienced. As I walked the beach, on what has turned out to be a very dark and stormy kind of day, I was still able to see the effects of what those who did not come, for whatever their reason, have missed. I captured the effects of an useen sunrise. I got some great photos of a sky filled with clouds that turned color in the early morning hours.
Our life is often like this. We don't take the time to get up and seek, figuring there is no point and we miss the effects of the Son. Beauty and color and atmospheric change were all part of the day that has turned out gray and dark and cold and, some would say, miserable. But in my mind I know that there has been beauty even in this day. It is about what e are seeking. I was drawn to seek first this morning, so I saw. Kind of like the biblical principal of seek first the kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you as well. If I sought the things, I missed the intended beauty. I missed the blessing, but because I sought first, I saw.
Makes you think, doesn't it?
Because of Jesus,
Pastor Jeff
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
More from SENT
For those of you who don't know, I am in FLA at a Church of God General Conference Church Planters Conference.
God has been so good to me here and He has been on the move for the whole time. For the first time in quite some time, I feel a sense of purpose and a sense of direction concerning the new things that God wants to do in my life and through the ministry that He has called me to and entrusted to me. I have a clear sense that this is a landing place for me and for RGM.
Also, it is a clear sense that this sense of purpose and direction for me is not just about me at all. He has positioned me on the ground floor of something historic that He is doing in the wider body of Christ called the Churches of God General Conference. This week is actually the first ever SENT Conference and is the beginning of God shaking up the church and moving the CGGC in new directions. I have just been privileged to have been lead and called to be a part of it.
I am excited about what God is up to. I wonder what it is that He has in store for me and for the church. I also have a sense in my spirit that God is about to wake up the church in New England and that He is going to use us to reclaim the ground that the enemy has stolen.
Are you excited about that? Does that make your heart leap within you? Do you have a passion, a real passion for the lst? God does...and so do I! and I want to be a part of something bigger than myself. And I am looking for those who might want to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
Maybe God is calling you to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Maybe you want to have this sense of expectancy and vibrancy within you. Maybe you don't feel alive, or haven't for a long time. Well, I am here to tell you that you can share in this with me, because it isn't about me at all. It is about God's kingdom. It is about what God is doing upon the face of the earth to make Himself known and to let us share in His plan and His action. It is about changing the world, the world we live in and the world beyond. It is about changing lives and seeing people come to the place of surrender and of hope. it is about transformation and radical living. It is about being counter-culture and about building something that will endure.
For the first time since RGM began, I have found a place of like-minded vineyard workers who get it. Who will invest in me as I invest in others. Who understand that it isn't about any one of us at all but that it is about every one who is lost and doesn't have life or hope in them coming to the place of finding life and hope. It is about the work of seeing others come to the place of finding hope and life in the person of Jesus Christ for themselves. It is about living on the edge and changing the paradigm. It is about God and God alone.
I am so excited and so blessed, and I invite you to share in the journey with me. If you would like to know how yu can support that, just ask. I will be glad to fill you in on what or how you can co-labor in the vineyard with me. Also, if you are reading this and yo have no idea what this is about but you are curious, please let me know what your questions are and I will be glad to share my heart, life and faith with you.
To God be the Glory. Amen
Pastor Jeff
God has been so good to me here and He has been on the move for the whole time. For the first time in quite some time, I feel a sense of purpose and a sense of direction concerning the new things that God wants to do in my life and through the ministry that He has called me to and entrusted to me. I have a clear sense that this is a landing place for me and for RGM.
Also, it is a clear sense that this sense of purpose and direction for me is not just about me at all. He has positioned me on the ground floor of something historic that He is doing in the wider body of Christ called the Churches of God General Conference. This week is actually the first ever SENT Conference and is the beginning of God shaking up the church and moving the CGGC in new directions. I have just been privileged to have been lead and called to be a part of it.
I am excited about what God is up to. I wonder what it is that He has in store for me and for the church. I also have a sense in my spirit that God is about to wake up the church in New England and that He is going to use us to reclaim the ground that the enemy has stolen.
Are you excited about that? Does that make your heart leap within you? Do you have a passion, a real passion for the lst? God does...and so do I! and I want to be a part of something bigger than myself. And I am looking for those who might want to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
Maybe God is calling you to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Maybe you want to have this sense of expectancy and vibrancy within you. Maybe you don't feel alive, or haven't for a long time. Well, I am here to tell you that you can share in this with me, because it isn't about me at all. It is about God's kingdom. It is about what God is doing upon the face of the earth to make Himself known and to let us share in His plan and His action. It is about changing the world, the world we live in and the world beyond. It is about changing lives and seeing people come to the place of surrender and of hope. it is about transformation and radical living. It is about being counter-culture and about building something that will endure.
For the first time since RGM began, I have found a place of like-minded vineyard workers who get it. Who will invest in me as I invest in others. Who understand that it isn't about any one of us at all but that it is about every one who is lost and doesn't have life or hope in them coming to the place of finding life and hope. It is about the work of seeing others come to the place of finding hope and life in the person of Jesus Christ for themselves. It is about living on the edge and changing the paradigm. It is about God and God alone.
I am so excited and so blessed, and I invite you to share in the journey with me. If you would like to know how yu can support that, just ask. I will be glad to fill you in on what or how you can co-labor in the vineyard with me. Also, if you are reading this and yo have no idea what this is about but you are curious, please let me know what your questions are and I will be glad to share my heart, life and faith with you.
To God be the Glory. Amen
Pastor Jeff
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
SENT Conference
SENT - Enabled to go
What does my conference have to do with the things of God? Well, everything!!!
God is doing a new thing, in New England and on the face of the earth. We wait for Him and build for Him and worship Him and He does what He has promised He will do. He will show Himself strong on behalf of the one who's heart is wholly devoted to Him.
Already, through worship and the Word, He has begun to make clear what he wants to do in and through my life and ministry. Sometimes we need to "come aside awhile" and listen for the voice of the Lord. Jesus often withdrew from the crowd and listened to His heavenly Father. So should we!
Are you feeling stuck, or uncertain and don't know where to turn or how to procede? Let me encourage you to find an "aside awhile" for yourself. God wants to make Himself known to you. He is a God of revelation. He is concerned about His will and His kingdom and He wants you to know what that looks like for your life.
I am grateful for the things of God in my life and for this time to come aside awhile. I will let you know more as God works it out in my life.
Because of Jesus,
Pastor Jeff
What does my conference have to do with the things of God? Well, everything!!!
God is doing a new thing, in New England and on the face of the earth. We wait for Him and build for Him and worship Him and He does what He has promised He will do. He will show Himself strong on behalf of the one who's heart is wholly devoted to Him.
Already, through worship and the Word, He has begun to make clear what he wants to do in and through my life and ministry. Sometimes we need to "come aside awhile" and listen for the voice of the Lord. Jesus often withdrew from the crowd and listened to His heavenly Father. So should we!
Are you feeling stuck, or uncertain and don't know where to turn or how to procede? Let me encourage you to find an "aside awhile" for yourself. God wants to make Himself known to you. He is a God of revelation. He is concerned about His will and His kingdom and He wants you to know what that looks like for your life.
I am grateful for the things of God in my life and for this time to come aside awhile. I will let you know more as God works it out in my life.
Because of Jesus,
Pastor Jeff
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