On Saturday afternoon, Trae and I enjoyed watching John Hollett's Selma High School Bears baseball team play Sunnyside High School. I must admit that for the first time in awhile, I felt the itch and waxed nostalgic about coaching baseball. For four wonderful years, my full-time ministry was mixed with the blessing of coaching high school baseball in Arkansas.
Being back out at the diamond on Saturday reminded me how much I really miss it!
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The weddings are lining up. This coming Saturday, I have the privilege of officiating the ceremony of Yvonne and Philip. Today, I'll be traveling to San Luis Obsipo for an extended pre-marital counseling session with Joelle and Cory who will be married in July. In June, the girls and I will return to Arkansas for the wedding ceremony of Jessica and Terrance.
Being with all of these couples, even though some are long-distance, reminds me of the beauty of relationship; the beauty of love.
Have you told your mate lately that you loved them?
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"For God so loved the world that he gave..."
How do you respond to the world? Do you love the world in a sacrificial way as God does?
Too often, Christians are much too inclined to ridicule the world. To rail against injustice in the world. To critique, criticize and disparage the world.
And yet the call of God, by his own example, is that we be a people who love the world. That we be a people who promote justice in the world. That we be a people who build bridges with the world for the sake of the kingdom. That we be a people who, like Jesus, "preach good news to the poor...proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (see Luke 4.18).
The mission of Jesus was a mission of mercy. He wasn't content to walk away from injustice in the world without activating his love for the world to make a difference. Grieving mothers, suffering children, timid disciples, helpless outcasts, even tax collectors in trees arrested his attention. Those the world most often overlooked and marginalized were the very ones Jesus centered his attention upon throughout his ministry.
Do you know someone who is outcast? Marginalized in the world? Why not do what Jesus would do today, why not show them the love of Christ by giving? Instead of ridicule, build a relationship. Instead of injustice, promote justice. Instead of criticism, shine the light of Christ.
