One of my favorite moments, from our Encounter yesterday, was sharing about The Journey Home. To look back seven years and remember that Dan, Ryan, and I stood on a corner and looked back at a bunch of trees and prayed for God to go amazing things as we built future space on our campus. The dreams that we shared, in that prayer circle, were huge. We had thoughts about our kids embracing Christ... the adults that would occupy that building.... the things that God wanted to do. We felt like we were dreaming "God-sized' dreams. We definitely were not lacking in our faith or hope for what we wanted God to do in our fellowship.

It's just a great reality that God always wants to do more than we can dream. I mean we dreamed of kids engaging Christ. But, with 50ish kids (0 - 12th grade) at our church at that time, I don't think that we remotely thought that 220ish kids (k - 5th) would gather on our campus each week! That building that we prayed for... well, it was used for adults for a little while. Now, it's become a building committed to kids and God is using that space to change the lives of children and their families. God felt free to blow away our greatest prayers and dreams and I really, really love that about God!

So, we will go 'On Location' this week. Get this... each of us will stand, with our family, and look out at land and dream of what God will do with the space that we are building. I know this about our church. We are filled with amazing people who believe huge things about our God. As big as we dream, I have no doubt that God will far supersede our wildest expectations. Can you possibly imagine what God will do in the life of our fellowship in the next seven years? I want to be right in the middle of God's move as His presence flows through our fellowship. I love God!

In light of dreaming about our building, I love this sentence even more. As I was teaching this weekend, this thought was given as the closing challenge. A wise man invests in the eternal and squeezes in the temporary. - Ortberg What a great sentence! What an even greater challenge. I am praying that our fellowship will be a group of people who pour our lives out for that which is eternal and squeezes in the temporary.

I love you guys and I love being on journey with you in pursuit of the eternal. Enjoy this week. Dream.... Live..... Go..... Be.

By Grace... For Glory,
Mark

This week, I am actually hanging around the reality of what I am known for. I actually plan to ask a few people. I want my kids to tell me what they 'know' that I'm about. I wonder what my neighbors think of me. What about the people who are around me all day. I wonder what Susan thinks about me. I want to remove a bit of mystery and ask.

I also want to talk with God this week and ask Him what He wants me to be known for in this earth. Then, I want to become quite intentional in building the disciplines into my life that will make much room for Christ' character to actually flow through me. As Paul wrote in I Cor 9.26ish, I want to 'run straight for the goal that I am after with purpose in every step.' This impassioned pursuit of Christ isn't random. It is an ongoing heart-hope that I not disqualify the beauty and wonder of who my God is by my poor reflection of Him. So, I will get after it in pursuing Him with my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Like Paul, I want to be known for linking my life to Christ. In fact, I don't really care if I am known. If, by some amazing act of God's grace, I might get in on making Him well known and elevating His glory and highlighting the magnitude of Jesus Christ and speaking much of Him and His majesty and His wonder and His awe and His supremacy, I think that I will fade and His greatness will rise to the top. Is it possible that I could be known for knowing Christ and making Him known??! If so, that would be fresh!

Studying Colossians together is going to be a sweet pursuit into Christ's supreme nature. Two challenges are out there as we venture through this letter:

1 - Read the letter of Colossians in its entirety each week. Yeah, we are going to dig into a singular verse or two each week, but it's really a letter. So, as we dig in and micro the letter on Sunday AM, you'll back up and read it as a whole during the week. That will make for a powerful combination.

2 - Let's memorize the book on this journey! Can you imagine memorizing the entire Letter to the Colossians!?! Can you imagine all of us doing that together!? I know it's a big deal. I am quite confident that the Holy Spirit is itching to partner with you in memorizing the Word. I think that God thinks that this is a great idea!! Tackle Colossians 1.1 this week. Just start there....

I love journeying through Scripture. I love that God has given me the great thrill of sharing in that journey with you guys! I love that God has full intention of growing His character in us. Let's have full intention of allowing Him to do just that. Enjoy this week.

Feel free to comment by clicking below.

By Grace... For Glory,

Mark

Being rich toward God means making that which is temporary a servant to that which is eternal. - Ortberg I think that I will think about that thought for quite awhile. Christ, as He is so good at doing, has created another intersection for me. Honestly, I don't consistently enslave the temporal for the eternal. I find myself chained to temporary circumstances, issues, things, decisions and temporary circumstances often determine my view of the world. Wow, do I ever want to enslave the temporary to the eternal. The scope and impact of a life that is chained to the eternal and enslaving the temporary is unimaginable. May I be rich toward God! May we....

As I was teaching Sunday, the most interesting part, for me, was the idea that I truly do love God. Really. I love Him and I long to love Him with all heart, soul, mind, and strength. Yet, with all those desires, I make Him 'counteroffers' as it concerns giving Him myself. I counteroffer His desire to know me and guide me and live in me and live through me with my busyness or my scattered thinking or my sin. I don't know why in the heck I counteroffer God in His desire to know me well and His invitation to know Him well, but I do it frequently. I want that to change. I will think much about counteroffers and I will, hopefully, begin to offer me... just me as a living sacrifice and I know that God will find that to be a holy and pleasing offer.

Deuteronomy 30.19 seems to give me a good bit of guidance in this desire to know and love Christ. I love the way this section of the Word says to me, "hey, this is not a grand mystery! Day in and day out, there is before me one intersection after another.... I can choose life and blessings or death and curses. It's that simple." As I venture through down the path of this day, I choose life... in the big deals of the day, but also in the hundreds and hundreds of decisions that I will face. I choose life. I choose Christ. I choose to love Him. I choose to free Him to free me to become more like Him.

Today, it's been set before you... Choose life! Choose Christ!! Have a great week. I cannot wait to begin a study of the Book of Colossians. Yeah! This venture through the Word will be good.

Free free to comment. Enjoy today.

By Grace... For Glory,

Mark