Providence: a place or a plan?

Just recently in our area we have seen an area in Mt. Juliet explode with new and exciting growth. This area is called "Providence." The slogan is "Live, Shop & Play: Setting a New Standard of Living in Middle Tennesee." People flock there from all around to shop, catch a movie, eat a nice dinner, etc... It PROVIDES everything that you need have a night out or live in comfort. Kinda like a relationship with God...?

The Lord says, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-13

What do you think of when you hear the word Providence? I think of the above mentioned verse and the idea or concept of God providing for you life. I also thing of the idea that bad times can’t last forever that God is always going to provide an outlet for those who trust and seek Him. The thing that sometimes slips my mind is that God is constantly or continuously hovering the earth, His kingdom seeking to preserve and bless His people.

Consider this: through His providence God controls the universe (Ps 103:19); the physical world (Matt 5:45); the affairs of nations (Ps 66:7); man's birth and destiny (Gal 1:15); man's successes and failures (Luke 1:52); and the protection of His people (Ps 4:8).
God preserves all things through His providence (1 Sam 2:9; Acts 17:28). Without His continual care and activity the world would not exist. God also preserves His people through His providence (Gen 28:15; Luke 21:18; 1 Cor 10:13; 1 Peter 3:12).

So what do we have to worry about if we serve a God who seeks constantly to shower His provision on His people? However, we have to keep in may the latter part of the scripture quoted from Jeremiah. We must be attentive or be drawn into words like “call, pray, seek and all your heart.” God wants to hear from us during the good and bad times of life. His plans or His providence cannot kick into effect unless we are seeking His will and calling on His name.

So remember no matter how dreary or blurry the future may look for you, God through His providence is seeking to bless and provide an outlet for you. Are you seeking Him with all your heart?

At the end of the day God is still God, and He is good!

Reality Check...

I got a called late yesterday evening from my cousin, Darrick who lives in Kansas. Darrick is about as close to a brother as I will ever have. We have experienced much of life together. He has such a heart for ministry and his life exemplifies that to a tee. Today he is experiencing ministry in a different and painful way that no one wants to experience it. Late yesterday evening his father-in-law, Mike, at age 50 died suddenly with a massive heart attack. Mike was not only a father-in-law but a friend, an influence in the community, an influence in the church and an influence in his young family. The pain doesn’t end there because not too far into the past Mike’s younger brother died of a heart attack at age 43 just a couple of years ago. So here is Darrick, a 27 year old preacher who has the blessing but challenge of ministering to his wife who just lost a father, a family who lost a husband, son, etc.., a church who lost a leader and community who lost a friend. WOW. Please keep Darrick and Katherine in your prayers.

But in all this it caused me to stop and think about my life. I began to think if this was me I only have 13 or in Mike’s cause 20 years left. The reality then hit me and the truth said if may not even have thirteen years. Life is short and then it’s gone, sometimes when you least expect it. How would like differently if I knew? What stresses would I discard if I knew? What would I become more committed to if I knew? How would my ministry change if I knew? What petty issues would I stop fight about and what fundamental truths would I start defending for if I knew? I don’t know! So here I sit today mindful of the gift of life and I begin inventorying my life and what I hope to achieve in it. The fact is I am tried of killing myself slowly with stress when Jesus calls me to peace. It is time for me to breath a breathe of God’s glory. Start living life in such a way that screams commitment but at the same time screams enjoyment and true fulfillment.

I know that our tendency is to forget about tragedy that makes you think about or want to change certain aspects of life. So my prayer is that God makes us people that does not need consist reminder but people who get what life is really about and lives in such a way that it fulfills its purpose.

At the end of the day God is still God, and He is good!