Deeper

I walked on water today.

Oh yeah - I said it. I walked on water today. And I was pretty good at it. I might do it again later today, just because I can. I recognize that you are probably equal parts jealous and curious - I completely understand and I feel for you. But more about that later....

We are close to finishing up our annual Men's Winter Retreat here at Camp Tall Turf outside of Hesperia. If you have to ask where Hesperia is, you're not alone. It's about 20 miles from The-Middle-of-Nowhere Land, just past Ghost-town. GPS stops working out here - instead of directions, the voice on your Garmin just laughs nervously and asks you, "do YOU know where we are?" But the truth is, it's beautiful out here - tall pines, a picture-perfect lake right outside the big windows on the fireplace-warmed lodge and a full moon setting over that lake early this morning as we prepared for a time of communion and prayer. The air is crisp and COLD - exactly what you'd expect for a West Michigan winter day.

Our group consisted of over 40 men from 7 different churches, all gathered together to relax and recharge our collective batteries. The worship time was great last night - Matt, Marcus, Bret and Jeff provided their normal brand of musical excellence and really rocked the house like it ought to be rocked (although we DID miss our drummer, Roger - get well soon, brother!). As was the case last year during our inaugural event, Dr. Herbert L. Banks from New Creation Church in Flint was once again our speaker and he certainly did NOT disappoint. I feel FULL, both with the great chow that Mike, Gary and Jason prepared for us (thanks guys!) and with some timely truth from the Word of God. Since about half of the group came from about 4 hours away and had to leave earlier this afternoon, things have quieted down considerably and I now have a little time to reflect on what I've been fed. Just let me get a toothpick first...

Ok, I'm back. In a nutshell, we were challenged to GO DEEPER in our walk of faith. As the good Rev. Banks likes to say, "Faith acts like it IS so, even when it's NOT so, until it IS so" - basically, his version of Hebrews 11:1 - "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." (NLT). It's not enough to SAY you believe and have faith in God - you've got to step out a little deeper and ACT upon that faith. The Bible gives us this instruction - "But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves." (James 1:22 NLT). Our families need us to do this. Our church needs us to do this. Our world needs us to do this. And all it takes is the humility to obey God FULLY and to take a step of faith. Maybe even learn to walk on water a little. Just getting your feet wet doesn't count - God is looking for a few good men who are willing to get IMMERSED in the water. And make no mistake - the water feels GOOD.

By the way, in case you haven't figured it out yet, I was indeed walking on water - just the FROZEN-lake-in-winter kind. Hey - I never said I did it like Jesus. We just do it differently in Michigan!