boundless confidence in Christ Jesus

We are busily about different work than normal, a refreshing change! Matt, in preparation for beginning his master's degree in a few months, has avidly taking up teaching himself Greek, hoping to test out in the fall. He is also creating a Hebrew textbook, in Creole, for the Seminary's library that will give future students a resource, and will allow for Matt to turn the job of teaching Hebrew over to one of our Haitian brothers in the coming years. I am finally picking back up several marketing projects that had gone to the back burner: June newsletters for both the seminary and the radio station, a new website for the seminary, and preparing our personal presentations for this summer.

We are also getting some valuable time to do some reflection on this past year: to read back through our blogs from the year, spend time in the Word and in prayer. We continue to be moved by the realizations of just how much God has done this year, in the seminary especially. We have seen miracles, seen prayers answered, seen promises kept and seen His faithfulness so clearly.

Oswald Chambers and Erwin McManus also have been speaking to us quite a bit, too, about living with a boldness and a deliberateness that is easy to stray from. We frequently spend so much time seeking "Christian principles" like kindness, tolerance, and unity at all costs, that we forget about some Biblical principals, such as accountability, standing for that which is right at all costs, and preaching Christ, not ourselves.

Jesus didn't come and die on the cross that we might live wishy-washy friendly, smooth, "what can Christ do for me" lives. Jesus never made a pristine call to a proper or safe religion. He is instead calling us to a path far from the easy road. We are seeking to be consumed by His presence, and to carry an untamed faith. We never want that fire that He has given us to die out to a watered-down Christianity, especially if we only have one chance at each day, only one shot at life.

"There is a passion for souls," Chambers says, "that does NOT come from God, but from the desire to make converts to our point of view. (scary) The challenge to the missionary (all of us) does NOT come on the line that people are difficult to get saved, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, or that there is a lot of callous indifference; but along the line of his own personal relationship to Jesus Christ.

The one great challenge is --
DO I KNOW my Risen Lord?
DO I KNOW the power of His indwelling Spirit?
AM I WISE ENOUGH in God's sight, and FOOLISH ENOUGH according to the world,
to bank my life on what Jesus has said,
which is the ONLY CALL for each of us...boundless confidence in Christ Jesus."

Whew, what a rush...we want this in our lives. We want more boundless faith and less comfort and sweetness in our lives. Can we deal with people being upset with us, with being seen as foolish to the world, with doing things that are generally seen as crazy, for the sake of truly Following Him?

"When I have obeyed God," says Chambers, "the problem never comes between God and me.
Any problem that comes alongside of obeying God only increases my delight,
because I know that my Father knows,
and I am going to watch and see how He unravels this thing."