expectation

My Life Summed Up

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I think if I had to sum up my life to this point, it would be something like this: if you keep showing up every day with hope and expectation in God, no matter what each day looks like, God will show up big time.

If you keep on keeping on even when it would be easier to quit, then you find out that God hasn’t and can’t and won’t ever quit on you.

Even if all you have is that mustard seed amount of faith, it’s enough, because it’s not about the size of your faith but the size of your God.

Many times, I’ve found that God worked through me when I was not aware of it. In fact, most of the time God used me when I thought all I was doing was showing up and serving in the best way I knew how. I may never know until eternity how something I said or did changed another’s life forever.

If I can, you can. All you need is to keep showing up to your life knowing that God will more than meet you halfway. Your greatest moments may not be preaching to thousands or writing the hit songs or representing Jesus on the world stage. In fact, you may be completely unaware of your impact in this life.

But I know God honors those who honor Him. God rewards those who keep seeking and serving Him, even when they’d rather be somewhere else doing something else.

God can take the two fish and five loaves of your life and break it and multiply it to minister to the multitudes. You might not see the leftover baskets on this side of heaven, but trust me that they are there.

My life may not have gone according to plan, but that’s okay. It’s going according to God’s plan, and that’s way better.

Advent Is Here Again

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Advent

“‘Yes,’ said Queen Lucy. ‘In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world’” (C. S. Lewis).

Advent means waiting. Not just waiting. It means waiting with expectation. When I think of the word, I think of me as a kid on Christmas Eve, so excited that I couldn’t fall asleep and feeling that the next morning couldn’t arrive fast enough.

Advent means a child awaiting the last day of school and the start of summer break. Or maybe that delicious feeling you get when you set out the driveway toward your vacation destination.

Sadly, most of the things I looked forward to so eagerly haven’t lived up to the hype. I can’t even remember most of the presents I was so anxious to open. Most of them probably ended up in garage sales or in Goodwill donation boxes.

However, the Advent is different. This present comes in a very small package. The infinite became an embryo and then, a helpless infant. God took on flesh and bone and became one of us. His coming meant the birth of hope, the birth of multiple second chances, and the birth of Love. Not sappy romantic love that fades over time, but real and true love that lays down its life for the beloved.

On a side note, if Advent does anything, it should make you look past the surface. It should make you look beyond appearances to what’s underneath. The Bible says that Jesus was nothing to look at (my very loose translation of Isaiah 53:2) but underneath was the salvation of all who put their trust in Him.

Lucy had it right. What was in that stable so long ago was bigger than the whole universe. What was dressed up in rags was worth more than all the universe and everything in it put together.

That’s what I’m waiting for.