Following Jesus, full of grace and truth

“Remember, we’ve recently come through a pandemic!  Go easy on ourselves!”

In our Church Life Meeting last Sunday, Keri Lippman our Kid’s Ministry Director said something like this and it really grabbed my attention.  It was in the midst of her sharing the impact of some of the programs and efforts we are doing to minister to kids and their parents recently.  

It grabbed my attention because we walk in the tension of living in a community in desperate need of mercy and the good news of Jesus and the upheavals related to the past couple of years of Covid 19.  I felt a similar tension when we were evacuated during the CZU fires a few years ago.  Our lives were turned upside down and yet I longed to help others in worse conditions than me.

Following Jesus, the one full of both grace and truth knew how to navigate those tricky waters.  He slept on a boat in a storm.  He fed people when resources were next to nothing.  He prayed for his executioners, praised a Roman Centurion (enemy) for having the most faith…took on human form, even though He is God.

Somehow God is able to bring joy alongside sorrow, productivity in work while we are tired, peace in relationships that aren’t conflict free…

I can’t do those things on my own, and neither can you. The Lord invites us to partner with Him to live today,... and live how He leads, in how He provides and how he protects us as we live.

If you’re feeling full of life today—praise God and get after it!!  If you’re feeling lousy and uninspired, praise God and limp forward in faith.  Either way, or probably somewhere in the midst of those extremes, God is with us and invites us into His Story.