Higher Expectations

"The treacherous enemy facing the church of Jesus Christ today is the dictatorship of the routine, when the routine becomes "lord" in the life of the church. Programs are organized and the prevailing conditions are accepted as normal. Anyone can predict next Sunday's service and what will happen. This seems to be the most deadly threat in the church today. When we come to the place where everything can be predicted and nobody expects anything unusual from God, we are in a rut. The routine dictates, and we can tell not only what will happen next Sunday, but what will occur next month and, if things do not improve, what will take place next year. Then we have reached the place where what has been determines what is, and what is determines what will be.

That would be perfectly all right and proper for a cemetery. Nobody expects a cemetery to do anything but conform.... But the church is not a cemetery and we should expect much from it, because what has been should not be lord to tell us what is, and what is should not be ruler to tell us what will be. God's people are supposed to grow."

Tozer on Christian Leadership: A 366-Day Devotional.

Driving Through the Storm

The following story was shared with me by a resourceful member of GSJ:

One day a young lady was driving along with her father when they came upon a storm. The young lady asked her father what should she do, he said "keep driving." Cars began to pull over to the side; the storm was getting worse. What should I do the young lady asked, "keep driving" her father replied. On up a few feet she noticed eighteen wheelers were pulling over also. She told her dad, "I must pull over, I can barely see ahead. It is terrible out here everyone is pulling over." Her father told her not to give up just keep driving. Now the storm was terrible, but she never stopped driving and soon she could see a little more clearly. After a couple of miles she was on dry land and the sun was out. Her father said now pull over and get out. She said "but why now?" He said "get out and look back at all the people that gave up and are still in the storm." You never gave up and now the storm is over.

I'm so glad that trouble don't last always. Storms will come but thank God the Father wills us to keep on driving. Hallelujah!!!