A powerful devo from Rollie Johnson...take a few minutes to read. Itll be worth every second. As a kid I remember watching the miraculous and mysterious process of kittens and puppies being born. The slimy, gooey mess infused with joy and wonder as new life came into being. Ive also had the great privilege of receiving the title of dad and being present to welcome each of my three kids into this world. Cutting the umbilical cord signifies the end of one life and the beginning of a new adventure on planet earth. A most wonderful intermixing of the remarkable, wondrous, spiritual, physical, emotional, messy and beautiful all wrapped in a baby and a mother. But rarely have I gotten to witness a rebirth, a person reborn or, shall we say, born again. Such was my coffee encounter last Friday. Lets call him Isaiah. Isaiah and I have a long history going way back to his junior high days when he chose to follow his friends into our confirmation programs and youth events. He jumped right in and participated in the whole 9 yards of retreats, canoe trips, and Wednesday night activities. A nicer kid youd be hard to find. Polite, kind and a good-looking kid that the girls loved! Isaiah would come and go over the years, drifting in and out of our programs and sporadic connections and contact with me. As I watched him over many years I could see he and his friends struggling with choices over the left road, or taking the right road. Most often he chose left, and in a never-ending chain of interconnected wrong choices he landed himself addicted and afflicted at the bottom of life, and a two-year forced stay at the ½ star hotel called federal prison. He had lost everything; his self-respect, the respect of his parents and siblings, his honor, his freedom, his direction and his faith. But on this Friday morning, sitting across the table from me at Gloria Jeans coffee shop, was a new man. The outer shell was the same, same face, same hair, etc. but this young 25 year old had been reborn. Now, Im not talking about the evangelical, halleluiah, praise the Lord (although internally I WAS praising God for what I was witnessing!) born again, but I was witnessing a true rebirth, a changed life. And I just shook my head and smiled the whole time. God had done a great thing via the ugly and difficult tool of jail to completely reshape and rebirth this young man. Physically, Isaiah had a peaceful, healthy glow about him. I could tell that he spoke from a clean and sober mind. His smile spoke of gratitude for freedom, freedom of movement, freedom of choices, freedom to work, freedom to play, freedom to earn good honest money and pay bills and save. He spoke of tremendous healing and restoration, both within himself and within the relationship of family. He smiled brightly as he shared how he and his dad have been restored to a stronger relationship he had never known, how he learned to speak honest truths of both hurt and pain, and love and gratitude to his father like never before. He shared how his sisters had forgiven him and now sought him out for involvement, love, play and interaction. And he spoke of a mothers relentless, undying, faith-filled and faithful love. He spoke of a new found love for his 16 month old daughter, born while he was away, who gave him new perspective, new purpose and new meaning for protection and provision. I found myself frequently silent throughout our conversation, mostly due to being choked up for the joy and gratitude of what I was witnessing. All men stumble. All men fall. We all fail. And we are harsh and hard and cruel to one another when we witness someone fall. In society there are debts to pay, accountabilities and punishments to receive. Two years in prison took care of that for Isaiah. But thank God that we have a God who is a God of 2nd chances, and 3rd chances and 77 x 7 chances. Thank God that He is a God who continually throughout history takes our messes, mistakes, miss-takes, and uses those wrong turns and wrong roads and wrong choices to bring about good for those who know and trust the Lord. Thank God that He continually restores, renews, rebirths and repurposes each of us throughout our lives when we are surrendered to and under his authority. Rollie J. So if anyone is in Christ, he/she is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 2 Corinthians 5:17 See, I am making all things new. Also he said, Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true. Revelations 21:5 ... seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. Colossians 3:9-10 God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know its me. ~Author Unknown Lighten up and allow God to change you in His own timing. We all want to change overnight, but the Bible tells us that God changes us little by little. You can quit struggling, stop worrying about it, and simply do your best to love God, and live for him, love others, and let God change you in His own way and in His own timing. Understand God is at work in your life whether you can see anything happening externally or not. In fact, one could almost make a case that God often works the most when we see it and feel it the least. You may not see any progress. Your situation may look the same as it did three months ago or even three years ago, but you must trust deep inside your life, God is at work. Your Best Life Now - Joel Osteen
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 17:16:01 +0000
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