the crazy sunday part 1: HE WILL RISE UP

so here's a snipit of the update i gave at maranatha on sunday:

"So just the other day I found myself frustrated and complaining a bit because of rejections i've received on availability of accommodations in town. My wife and I have been homeless for a few months now, for we left our rental house in May because our stable income had gone up in flames along with the Bakery. So we decided to attend a friend's wedding in Germany and come home to the unknown. With no home thus far, I've been waiting, and waiting...and waiting. Now in my miserable (rather pathetic), complaining state, God, by His great mercy, shared something with me.

"the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
therefore He will rise up to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for Him!"
-Isaiah 30:18

I share this not only as a personal update, but it struck me that this message also pertains to us in the drop-in ministry. We as YFC workers constantly feel a tension between striving to make ministry happen, and letting God do His thing. But the question remains, what do we do when we wait? (well i could go into a whole sermon, but i won't).

Well there is another feeling of tension that I would define as busy striving vs lazy waiting. Instead of one right and one wrong, this tension is a pendulum swing of wrong thinking and action. We're caught somewhere in the middle, letting His plans happen while being proactive to what He's calling us to do. In this process we must remember that God is in our corner, He wants the best for us and He is RISING UP to show us compassion. We are blessed when we wait on Him.

So I do want to say that... God is on the move here in this town!
His Spirit is stirring, and we all have a continual decision to join Him where He's at.
This looks different for each one of us.
At YFC...we're in a process of God's vision for niverville super-ceding some generic youth ministry model or YFC goal.
We believe in taking time to work together, and that working together takes time.
No overnight solutions as we wait.
This is a birthing process, we are careful not to deliver prematurely...but then again being way overdue is not so good either, as Eric and his wife know all too well (just gave birth to their first baby, Elsa...2 weeks overdue!).

We've all had our share of hard times...but go back to Isaiah 30:18!!! We ALL really have to understand the very heart of God when we're trusting Him, waiting on Him, and relying on Him, or we're doomed to become bitter, complaining children who completely miss the joy of His glorious inheritance!"

- mark von riesen