Monday April 26th
What an incredible day today has been and it’s not even finished yet! It’s 16:30 as I write this blog. God is the most amazing sovereign God – well He’s the only one! He’s the mastermind networker! But I’ve also just connected with Dan in San Diego who is also a great “Mr Networker” himself!
But first let me reassure everyone in Canada – no I am not caught up in a Tornado – though that would not surprise most of you! Many of you know that somehow when I travel I was get caught up in some kind of adventure – ie Hurricane in Hawaii; Hurricane in Dominican Republic; the Denver Spring Blizzard of 2005; and Tornado in Alabama a few years ago. So thanks for your concern and emails – but yes, I am safe and no I am not in any tornados this time, though they have struck again in the South!
Back to Dan! Brian at FBC Montgomery gave me Dan’s contact a while ago. I called Dan in San Diego today. He is incredibly well connected. He’s into church planting. He’s into “regional strategies”. He totally understands what I am trying to do for Eastern Canada and totally gets the vision and need for an Eastern Canada Mission Centre. He gave me lots of contacts to follow-up with – contacts whom should really be able to help me in pushing the cause of the ECMC. I mean lots of key contacts he gave me. He has even offered to arrange a series of meetings with folks I could go to in San Diego and share the vision with.
But even check this out – how cool God is!
I am still here at West Acres Baptist Church. They have a Bible Spring Conference with Speaker & Evangelist Dr Bob Pitman. He’s really a great teacher BTW and really funny with his stories. Anyways, I am enjoying hearing from him and most importantly from the Word.
Check this out – today at lunch he’s speaking from Psalm 37:25. He makes his entire message from one verse alone. Wow – can he ever squeeze a lot and an entire message from one verse. But that’s not the message I want to share. As he was sharing the message, I missed which verse he said his message was from. I knew it was Psalm 37. So I started reading the entire Psalm figuring I would eventually realize where he was preaching from.
Then I get to Psalm 37:4 …
“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart”.
I am saying in my heart and mind – “ok Lord, You know the reason for this one-month trip – in fact You put me on this trip – so please answer / fulfill the purposes of this trip – please give me the desires of my heart.”
Then I read Psalm 37:5-6 …
“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn and the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”
Wow I said to myself! I mean this one-month crazy Luke 11 ASK Road Trip was all about committing my ways to the Lord – trusting Him in greater ways like I have never done before (ie since 1994 leaving my career and pension after 13 years of service in the military to go Seminary to eventually plant a church) and now leaving being Lead Pastor after another 16 years of service, but now in the ministry to spear-head this ECMC vision. Look at what Psalm 37:5-6 says again. It’s as if the Lord was affirming me saying … “Rick … you are right in what you are doing and I will bring justice to your cause of the ECMC and make it shine like the noonday sun”!
Wow – I had a “moment” with the Lord as Dr Bob Pitman was preaching (Sorry Brother Bob!). But then I caught on pretty quick to his message.
Oh – as if that was not enough, I did read the next verse in Psalm 37:7 …
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him”.
Did you know that that is one of the 4 verses my ECMC Administrative Assistant printed for me and placed on the ceiling over my bed in the RV so I could pray over these verses every night before going to bed while on this one-month road trip! How cool is that!
Well God is the “God of the 11-Hour”! I think He is pulling some big things in this final week of this trip. I think my call with Dan was one of them. Please pray for the other key meetings I am having during this final week here in the Atlanta Georgia area and then back in Alabama.
It is so good when you hear God’s voice personally talking to you and affirming you like this. I’ve got to believe these are not just coincidences! Time will tell!
Till tomorrow …
Rick - that is a really great story. I'm not surprised because God is faithful and he orders your steps. It will be great to catch up and hear about what is next. Finish strong. Blessings, Ryan
ReplyDeleteAmen Ryan - it's been an awesome day! It is so cool to see God speaking in real tangible ways. You'll read something else about today in the upcoming Sequoia Pastor's Corner.
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