Exhausting Angels in the Pursuit of God’s Will

Wednesday Update on Arizona Trip

I just returned from a trip to Arizona to consult with a church planter, spend some time with dear friends who helped to plant New Song Church, visit with a friend I led to faith in the summer of 1977, and spend two and half days with my daughter. It was glorious!

It was exhausting. It was thrilling. Fred and Izzy Klein are involved in a young church plant struggling through its third year and trying to figure out how to reach and make disciples who will live passionately for and like Jesus. Being with my friends, who made the whole trip possible, and seeing my daughter Maureen and the bonus of being able to connect with a friend I haven’t seen since Stephnie and I got married was a highlight of the year.

How my Gurdian Angels feels at the end of the day — **How My Guardian Angel Must Have Felt at the End of Friday**

Maureen and I took a hike to The Lost Canyon Indian Ruins near Sedona, AZ. We went a mile up the wrong trail, had to backtrack and then found that the right trail was very poorly marked. We probably needed twice as much water as we took with all of our side trips.

I suspect Maureen and my guardian angel’s were working overtime and might have been as tired as we were last Friday. When we got back off the mountain, I had a thirty-two-ounce-icee, a 24-ounce bottle of water and then two more 16 ounce glasses of water with dinner. When I got home, I had another 20 ounces of water and was still dehydrated. But I have no regrets about the whole day with my daughter.

I like to evaluate days asking the question: What did God try to teach me today? Here’s a couple of thoughts:

Motivating and inspiring church planters is still the primary direction of my ministry.*
Connecting with the changed lives of past ministry (Fred, Izzy, Kevin) is a great encouragement to the heart.
Hearing your daughter introduce you to others, as “this is my father,” is music to this father’s soul.
There is widespread illiteracy of the gospel in the broader culture.
All, all means ALL, all Christians need to be much bolder in taking the gospel and teachings of Christ to the culture.

Final Thought: I was meditating on my delight in being embraced by my daughter, introduced to others by my daughter, as her father. Is it such a stretch to believe that God delights when his children delight in his embrace when his children introduce him to others?

May God use us all to introduce our neighbors, relatives, and friends to the God of the Universe.

Update: * though I am now the pastor of Manchester Creek Community Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina, I continue to mentor church planters in the Charlotte area.