Retreat

Later this afternoon, Tisha and I will be heading to a couples retreat that we are extremely excited about. It will be a wonderful opportunity for us to get away together, and with other Christian ministers and their wives, hopefully find some serious clarity about our roles as servants of our Savior. I will be back with another letter on Monday.

Many have inquired privately about the Gappas and the story of how they literally became our family. Next week my letter will be to them, but I promise to provide a context to it. They are special people and we would not be the same had we never met them. I’ll explain why on Monday.

Here’s a parting shot to think about for the next couple of days. Of late I’ve been giving considerable thought to Galatians 6:9, particularly, how easy it is to grow weary in service to God. In a results driven world, we yearn for them in areas where they often take time. Sometimes it takes a long time. Nevertheless, Paul conveys the certainty of a harvest at “harvest time.” It might help if we understood when “harvest time” will come, but God, “who gives the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6), is in control of that one! The sooner we accept this point, the better off we will be.

Last night, one of our members, David Owen, afforded us with excellent invitation thoughts about not giving up. That, of course, is part of the Galatians 6:9 equation. We will reap “if we do not give up.” How fitting that David would so ably speak of a subject that I’d been giving so much thought about. And he was right, we cannot afford to give up when things don’t go as we’d like or when the results we long for do not immediately come. A harvest is coming, so let’s be patient and prayerful that God will do his part!

My prayer is that you have a good weekend and that things unfold in your life that speak to the greatness of the God that has redeemed us in his son and has “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).