A Brand Snatched From The Fire

I sit down to write with no particularly profound thought to share simply a greatful and challenged heart.

I am particularly grateful because I have gotten a chance to review Gods faithfulness in my life over the past few years. I would encourage you to do the same. God is GOOD.

I have been in Argentina for quite some time now (passed the one month hurdel a while back) and the PBB program has not yet fallen to pieces by the grace of God. That is a phrase you will hear a lot from students here. "Cómo te fue hoy?" "Muy bueno por la gracia de Dios" I have pondered the last few days how I feel about how often it arises. I am a large proponent of words keeping their value and it’s sad to see that even the truest of phrases can become trite. But as I continued to consider this I was struck with just how true those words hold, whether we think of it at all times or not. I appreciate that I hear it most from men that truly seem to realize God's grace in their lives. Palabra de Vida (Word of Life) has a good relationship with an institute in Cordaba which helps people get back on their feet after a drug addiction, or other pit falls which are so common in our culture. Many students after they finish study here, many of them are those who have made “By the Grace of God” a phrase constantly on their lips. I have been touched by getting to know people who seem to truly grasp God's grace in their lives.

Grace given to all of us! God didn't have to reach lower to reach some. It was His miraculously far reaching hand that grasped any of us brands from the fire (Zechariah 3:1-6)

That makes my brain skip to another lesson I have been being taught recently. Our current Bible class is Missions Reality. My professor is a man by the name of Jim Herndon who has served as a missionary for many many years. A portion of our time in the class has been spent on examining the modern missions movement and the men and women God has used over the past few centuries to shake this word once again. Please take a little time and consider these men and women. It was only an hour or so of the class but to hear of their stories, their hearts, convictions, and devotion to the Lord deeply challenged me. (Read Daisy Chains by Amy Carmichael. I want to be a sentry) Forgive me as I challenge you reading to do something I did not do with my whole heart in the past. I pray I did not set my heart to this task solely because I had not considered it. Although I fear selfishness was also close to the heart. Be a missionary… right where you are, if that is where the Lord has for you…. if its not… move. But whoever you can touch, reach out to. No, perhaps you may not be the next William Carey, Robert Livingston, or Hudson Taylor, but you do not know how far God could carry your obedience to his call on your life today…. Here is an example…

            The year is 1708, 23 miles northwest of Lincoln, England. A fire broke out on a cold winter night. The family is gathered a safe distance away from the wooden structure. To their absolute horror, they see the panic stricken face of a five year old boy in the second floor window. No one can enter the house due to the flames. A neighbor runs to the house and calls for another to climb onto his shoulders another and another until they reach the small boy and take him from the fire and return Him to his weeping mother. The name of this young boy was John Wesley. He was a brand snatched from the fire.

This John Wesley grew to be a powerful street preacher who inspired young William Carey to consider missions work. It is this William Carey who became known as the father of the Modern Missions Movement. Started by this one snatched from the fire.

What does any of this have to do with you dear blog reader? My thought is simply this you do not know how far God will carry how he uses you today. The random store clerk you lead to the Lord, the trouble making kid in your neighborhood you show the love of Christ. They may be the next generation of those who do great things for God, or they may not. Either way God has given you time for which you much give an account Matt. 12:36. God wants us to be good stewards of the time He has given. See faces in windows; look for how you Lord may want to use you.