Fresh encounters

Be still and know that I am God - psalm 46:10
A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not snuff out...(Isaiah 42:3)
...he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor...to comfort all who mourn...to bestow on them a crown of beauty insead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:1-3)

Oh, to be a scattered child of the King in need of Presence...to be a visonary in need of vision...to be self-sufficient in need of grace...to be a part of something bigger than myself...to be absorbed into Someone more loving than the heart can imagine. To cry out for lost loved ones, to plead for sick friends, to appeal before a righteous Judge who will see that justice comes. To dream of a world without AIDS, a world without selfishness, a world without the material trappings that handcuff our souls out here in the West. To dream of myself without the virus of sin, without constantly checking my spiritual/emotional temperature, without my anxious worries that my life will be ultimately meaningless and insignificant. To encounter the God who gave dreams to Joseph and visions to Daniel, who used Esther the beauty queen and Job the human scab to minister to those in need of a fresh vision of God's heart. This has all happened in the span of an hour. Why don't I do this more often?

Jason Kelly