Luggage and Logistics

Luggage and Logistics

We are people of luggage and logistics.

What in the world does that mean?

Luggage is easy.  That’s our stuff that we have to take with us wherever we go.  We can’t leave it behind.

Our luggage is a part of us.  Some people can get by on a toothbrush and a change of socks and underwear.  Others require a 6 piece set of luggage plus carry-ons.

Could we get by with less luggage?

Sure, but our luggage reflects our comfort zone.  We are comfortable when we carry all of these things with us.

Logistics is more aggressive.

Logistics is about getting what we want when we want it and where we want it.  How do I get from A to B and back to A or on to C again and accomplish everything I want to do?

Sometimes logistics gets our luggage where we want it.

Sometimes we think about our luggage and logistics so much that we forget to live.

Life is not all about our stuff and where we are going to or coming from.  When Jesus sent out half a dozen dozens of disciples to the towns of Israel saying, “Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand,” he told these men not to pack a bag, stop by the ATM, or make reservations.

He just sent them out to do what they needed to do.

Sometimes our stuff and our planning and our preparation and our perceptions and our fixation on getting where we need to go get in the way of living.

Sometimes we have too much luggage to enjoy life.

Sometimes the logistics of the day get in the way of living to the full.

Sometimes, we just need to say, “OK, Lord, it is just you and me.  Let’s go do something!”

Don’t pack a bag.

Don’t turn on the GPS.

Don’t let luggage and logistics get in the way of your time with the Lord.

Don’t let luggage and logistics rob you of life.

Live.

Live to the full.

Live abundantly.

Live following Jesus.

Live loving the Lord.

Live seeking his Kingdom.

Live seeking his righteousness.

Live to love.

Live.

Take time this day to leave most of your luggage behind.

Make time this week for the Lord to direct your steps.

Learn to live without the burdens of luggage and the complications of logistics.

God is good.

Trust him.

Live.

When the Lord returns, he will find me...

We are on a mission to connect the disconnected right here in our own communities, but as we do that let us not forget the blessings of modern technology.

We are already connected to people all over the globe.  What should we do with these connections?

How about we declare that the Lord Reigns!

The Lord Reigns!

Let us declare his glory to the nations.  We have so many vehicles for that.  A few keystrokes and we have declared the glory of the Lord to this world that he has established.

The Lord Reigns!

Sing a new song to him today.

Find a place to worship him.

Make an offering to him.

Know that one day he will judge the earth and because you will be judged by the righteousness of Jesus, you can look forward to that day with joyful anticipation.

The Lord reigns!

I will proclaim his glory to the nations.

I will lift up to him a new song.

When the Lord comes to judge the earth, he will find me singing songs to him and proclaiming his glory.

Come Lord Jesus!

Come!

Psalm 96

Hump day?

We used to call this hump day.  Wednesday was the midpoint in the traditional work week.

Traditional work week, what’s that?  Touché.   Point taken.

These days, Wednesday is a day between Man Crush Monday and Throwback Thursday or MCM and TBT if you must.

It is also the day the Lord has made so we are glad and we rejoice in it.  For those of us on a mission from God—actually, commissioned by Jesus would be more precise—we are also on the lookout for people who have never truly heard the gospel for the first time.

We are tuned in to those who have heard and may have even accepted Jesus as their Savior but who just have not connected with a family of faith.  Inertia is a fact of life and it is tough to get a body at rest in motion, but we keep on keepin’ on in our efforts to lead people back into the Body of Christ.

Why?

We are on a MISSION FROM GOD!

Spread the gospel!

Connect the disconnected.

Love everyone in the family of faith like it was going out of style.

Hump day, not so much.

A day to proclaim the good news, connect the disconnected, and to love one another as much as Jesus loves us; you betcha, that is the day where we find ourselves.

Now, what are we going to do about it?

Trifocals

We as Christians are wearing trifocals.  They may not be in style this year, but they give us eyes to see three distinct groups of people in the world we live in.

There are those who may have never heard the gospel.  We bring good news of life in Jesus Christ to them.  This is something we do every day.  We are thoroughly equipped for this good work by the word of God and by his own Spirit.  We proclaim the gospel wherever we go.

There are those who have heard the good news and maybe even said a prayer asking for the salvation of the Lord, but they have not responded to this great gift of grace.  They live for themselves and apart from the Body of Christ.  This is where our mission is to connect the disconnected.  We help them come to live in a family of faith and we help disciple them.

And there are those of us who have received the gift of grace and respond by giving our entire lives back to God—whatever he desires from us.  We are a living sacrifice.  We are disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We are the Body of Christ.  We love each other more than the world can imagine.  People on the outside looking in should desire what we have over what the world offers.  We are the tightest family on the planet; yet we are always ready to welcome another brother or sister in Christ.

Yep, trifocals give us eyes to see in this post modern world.