I’ve been reading a book called The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan. It is about the restoration of our souls by restoring the Sabbath. There are lots of nuggets in the book, but one that stuck out to me was the following:
“We eat ourselves stuffed daily. There’s nothing to anticipate, nothing to make us stand back, astonished and thankful. Without a fast, it’s hard to recognize a feast.”
What hit me here was not about fasting per se, but that phrase of “it’s hard to recognize a feast.” This has echoes of “you don’t know what you have until it is gone” or not appreciating the mountains while in the valley.
So what are those good things you are not recognizing well these days? Has this time of Covid made you appreciate all those things you took for granted? Has it made you more thankful or has it pushed you toward bitterness? Are you recognizing more of the Lord walking with you during this time or has your focus been more self-serving?
I love sharing about all the great AGO summer mission trips and upcoming service AGO men are doing in Christ’s name, but trips have been canceled and lots of chapters will have very different looking Fall Semesters as things start back up. In many ways, it feels like this period is preparing us to enjoy that feast even more later down the road.
Let us pray at noon each day for AGO. Pray that the Holy Spirit will give us creative ways to shine His light with each other and on campus. Pray that alumni will reconnect with brothers and forge new relationships.
Let’s be ready not only for what the Lord has for us to do today, but what He prepared for AGO in the future.
Thank you,
Jim Johnson
AGO Ministries