The past two years of our life can be summed up with five words: counter-cultural , surrender , displacement , empowerment , and reconciliation.  These few words carry a heavy weight as we wrestled with God.  This wrestling match could be depicted more like my four year boy (lil Ture) attempting to take down his Dad (Me).  Besides the fact that I am 7 to 8 times his size it doesn't matter.  He is going to give it his all. Too often we attempt to wrestle with God with the intention to demonstrate our might, will, and drive.  In the end, all it reveals is our weakness and sin.  However, this process is what we must go through in order to submit to God's will and be obedient to what it is He is asking or wanting.  John 15 reminds us that God is the vine dresser while we are the branches.  The branches need a source to grow from.  Is Christ your vine?  Regardless, God will trim off the unwanted parts of our life one way or another.  We need to wrestle with God.  And, He needs to trim us.  For those who have received Christ, He is the vine in which nourishes us.  To fully be nourished we need to let go of and put in a good place our past, so that we can live in our "new self" (2 Cor. 5).   To wrestle with God is to process through and be shaped by Him.  For Carolyn and I, the first round in this wrestling match ended with a question - "Is God Worth it?"  

This missions journey for my wife and I started out with curiosity.  That curiosity  fostered excitement in our hearts.  The more we processed the quicker that excitement turned into fear.  This excitement and fear pulled us down a path of obedience to God.  As we reached out to others to help us work through our fear and indecision I was asked a question.  The question was "If you strip away all your fear what is it that God is saying to you?"  At that point, what I know for months was now starting to surface in a new way.  The answer was simple.  God is leading us down a path of obedience.  That obedience is leading us down a path to the mission field.  This conversation was followed up a few day later (if memory serves) by another conversation my wife and I had with Mark and Kathy Kato.  They're missionaries preparing to serve God in Cameroon, Africa.   Upon asking Mark how he determined God's will for his  life, and that of his family, his response was simply but hard to swallow.  He said at the end of the day you have to ask yourself "Is God Worth It?"  The moment those words were uttered from his lips I knew I could no longer ignore God.  

We have a choice to make.  Who is it that is worth more to us - Us or God?  Too often we  fool ourselves to believe God is before us, when in fact He is next to us or even behind us.  Like any relationship it takes time to align yourself with another.  God is no different.  It take time to have your heart broken with what God's heart is broken for.  It take time to see what God sees.  It takes time for us to place God where He deserves to be placed.  He is our Lord and Savior,  He is not simply and only our friend.  A friend lives life with you.  A King leads your life.  We must be honest and ask ourselves who is worth more to us.  As God grows in worth and importance to you, you will become less important.  Luke 9:23-24, speaks loud about this.  To find Jesus you must lose yourself, pick up your cross/burden, and follow Him.  By "losing" your life you will "find" your life.  You will find a life that places God in front and not behind you.  Your worth and importance will no longer be dependent on belonging to the world, but rather belonging to the one who created the world.  In the end, the desire to change the world in the name of Christ will become greater than simply trying to chance it.   

As you go this week, ask yourself who is truly worth more.  Is God worth it to you?  Is He worth more than your wants, job, material belongs, family, money, comfort, security, etc.  If God is worth it.  If God is worth more than you are to yourself.  I guarantee as He shifts to lead your life you will find your life.  If God is worth it, than His wants for you are worth it.  Do not ignore God because of your fear or issues.  He is greater than you fear.  He is bigger than your issues.  God is the god of possibility and not impossibility.  Never forget the words of Matthew 6:28-34,   

"And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Live today for God is Worth It!
    

My family and I returned from a great weekend a few days ago.  We spent time with family and great friends.  My children got to see 2nd cousins who they don't get to see to often, as well as their great grandma. They also got to experience things that are not normal for them.  A local farmer who has been kind to me (Ture) in the past extended that kindness to my family.  Each one of my children (minus Tessa) got to ride in a tractor and learned how cows are fed.  They got to experience the truth about pigs.  Pigs are not as cuddly as children books portray them.   My children also came to a whole new understanding of how the smell of pig (manure) penetrates the deepest layers of your clothing.  All in all it was a great weekend.  

The purpose of this weekend was to spend time with family and close friends, as well as to share the vision God has put on our heart for missions.  In hind sight, I would have never thought a friendship of twenty years would have led to an open door for new relationships to share this vision.  The logic is simple to why this would happen, but the reality of it did not hit me until this weekend.  Carolyn and I spoke at two churches which allowed a community of people hundreds of miles from us to hear how God is working in our lives and the lives of others.  My one relationship opened a door to new opportunities.  

There is one story from this weekend that needs to be shared.  If it were not for my relationship with one we would not have been blessed by another.  A family committed to support us with vague knowledge of who we are and our vision.  Through one mutual relationship God not only blessed us, but another family as well who felt a specific leading from the Holy Spirit.  The idea of a "Relational Ripple" defines the meaning and purpose of networking.  However,  I am not simply speaking of networking, but instead God-working.  Through a relationship with one person we had access to a network of people that we would not have had otherwise.  That network of relationships opened a door, but it is God who weighed heavy on the spirit of at least one family.  In the end, we left with a great reminder.  It is not simply who you know, but who knows God and who God knows.