Finding Jesus When Life Hurts

There are very few sure things in life, but there are a few. One of them is that life will end. Sooner or later. When it is sooner things hurt!! When it is later and expected it still hurts.

Recently the family at The Rock of Southwest lost one of there best, Ryan Roberts. I did not know him well though I have spoken with him a couple times. By all accounts he was a man of God. He was young and his future was bright. He has gone to be with Jesus, for that I envy him.

His family and friends are still here and are hurting. I have not lost a brother, son, or fiance before and I can not imagine the difficulty those who have are facing. Still there is some solace when times are hard and life is hard, it is found in Jesus who is our refuge, our strength, our deliverer, our friend, and our savior. The old hymn "It Is Well With My Soul" was written by a man who experienced great sorrow in his life. For all of those who are experiencing loss or difficulty in life I encourage you to read the story behind that hymn here.

The Power of a Simple Message

Tonight I finished a week of speaking to Senior High students at Big Sandy Camp. I had an amazing time speaking to these students, hanging out with them, and getting to know a few of them. I have spoken at camps, retreats, and conferences all over the place, but this week I learned something new. Actually it isn't entirely new.

My ego is fragile. I don't mean I am offended easily or that I have a tendency towards low self esteem. Actually I mean exactly the opposite. My ego tends to be too big and I have to work at keeping it in check (please don't help me). After I spoke the first couple of times I started to think pretty highly of myself. It was before I spoke for the third time that I realized what was happening. I had gotten the kids to laugh by telling some crazy stories. Some of them had even began to tell me how funny I was or how I have a way with words. Usually I don't hear that until the end of the week. It started to go to my head.

I realized what was happening and I realized that I needed humility. Before I spoke for the third time I began to pray that God would help me to be humble. All of the messages went pretty well this week, but after that third message I didn't seem to struggle with things going to my head as much. I realized something really important. I could make the students laugh the entire time, but if I didn't give them the word of God it wouldn't matter. The message wasn't laughter, it was the Gospel.

Over and over again I worked to help students see and understand the significance of the Gospel. In the end it wasn't the laughter that saved the students, it was the Gospel. It was deep but simple theological truths like, imputation, propitiation, hypo-static union, incarnation, atonement, redemption, and resurrection. The message these big words carry with them boiled down to simply truths is what saved some of these students and challenged others to further their faith or rededicate there lives to Christ.

God may have used the talent He gave me to be funny for His glory and to accomplish His purpose, but even the talent was given to me from Him anyway. We saw several students accept Christ for the first time tonight, and we saw even more make significant decisions regarding their already existing relationship with Christ. Praise God!!!