True and Native Land

When DJ said that the enemies of the cross "slowly came to live without radical dependence on Christ," response time came to mind. It seemed like almost every week when a camper would come up to me or another staff member and talk about how they don't know how they got to this point in their lives or confess a long list of sins, struggles, hardships, lost thoughts which they have carried for so long. Satan is deceptive. He has come only to steal, kill, and destroy. He wants to go unnoticed, slowly causing compromise after compromise until a life feels compromised, accepting standards that are lower and feeling the weight of feeling lost.

But that is why there is only One Way. He, He is our true and native land. He is our home! It is not just life with Jesus; we live life IN Jesus. Oh the blessed preposition. In Jesus we are found in truth. In Jesus we have fullness of joy. In Jesus we have the love of the Father. The only hope that will never change is that which we place in Jesus and his return. It is on those Wednesday or Thursday nights when I especially found myself longing for him to come and make all things right again.

Father, would you help us to continue to look for your Shepherd staff and listen for your voice as we follow you. Help us to be aware of the natural tendencies of ourselves to deny our need for dependence on you and instead embrace the nature of relationships with our brothers and sisters and pattern of inherent servanthood that you have given us. Teach us to stoop lower. May our knees become weary of not just bowing before you, but let us do so together. Jesus, teach us to put out hope only in you and Spirit, create in us the longing of expectation found daily in patiently waiting for you to move and return.