Your sometimes overly anxious and slightly agitated sheep again 

I just wanted to update you on how my plans to get us to green pastures are coming along 

Honestly it’s the same sad song 

Everything was going so well until everything went wrong 

Waves of anxiety have tried to drown me and I don’t think that I’ve ever felt so out of control 

Please lead me to still waters 

I desperately need you to restore my soul 

My mind, will and emotions have taken blow after blow and I don’t know what to do 

I went from at least looking like I had everything together to waking up and feeling like I don’t have a clue 

And the only thing that I’m certain of is that with every newfound pain and every wrinkle in my reality comes a reminder: I am not you 

I’m sorry that I ever thought that I was 

Dear Shepherd, please remind me that peace comes when I allow you to take the lead 

Remind me that when I have You, I have everything that I need 

And when I’m tempted to make decisions based upon my own nearsightedness 

Please remind me that only You know the path that is right 

Guide me with Your word and Your presence 

The commandments and the cloud by day and fire by night 

Help me to fall so in love with You that when you ask me to surrender I won’t put up a fight 

Be more to me than the Savior that I need to survive 

Become the Satisfier in whom I delight 

And as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death and the terrain gets tough 

Let that shadow be overshadowed by the reality that You are with me and that Your grace is enough 

Thank you for loving me enough to correct me when I get off course 

And when my enemies tried to stop my forward progress, You prepared a table before me reminding all of us that You are my source 

You anoint me, You heal me 

You appoint me, You refill me 

You sustain me with goodness and chase me with mercy that follows me until my last breath 

And Your plans for me prove that Your passion for me is stronger than death 

And as my final day approaches, please remind me that You are closer still 

Let my homesick heart be reminded that this body is only a tent that will fold at the command of Your sovereign will 

You are Yahweh and I am Yours, invited into Your forever shalom 

I will fear no evil because even death is only a doorway – home. 

Written by Jarrell

When I first stepped out to be a full-time missionary through music and to artists, I pictured things going a little better than they did. A few days after I informed the right people of my decision, it seemed as though God was beginning to open doors to do what I loved – ministering through music and mentoring artists. Things were starting off with a bang! I shared the stage with some of my favorite worship leaders, and I went out of state AND out of the country to do music in a three-week span. I was offered an opportunity to mentor an artist that would have paid me considerably more than I was making at the church. I thought it was all God’s plan.

Then things started to turn. Concerts stopped coming… which meant income stopped coming. The opportunity with the artist never materialized. After talking and waiting for about nine months, I eventually had to cut off the expectation of any kind of partnership. My wife and I prayed about what to do and we agreed that God wanted to do something with our RISE community and with the music he had given me. We decided that my wife would begin working for a season until we were able to build something that sustained us. While she was glad to help, my identity as a man took a heavy blow.

To add to all of this, I underestimated the toll that life had taken on my emotions. There were some things that I didn’t take the time to deal with on an emotional level. Years of hurt and offense came to resurface as this transition was taking place. I was tired. My whole family was tired. I was in a dark place where my faith was shaken in a way that it had never been before. I still tried to press on and create an album in the middle of the pain. I felt like I had to press on and try to keep what little momentum I had left. I set a date for the release of my new CD and I failed miserably to meet it. I was so disappointed in myself. I came face-to-face with my own limitations and I felt inadequate to minister let alone lead. I was on the verge of losing hope. Then Jesus did a thing.

A church asked me to do a spoken word for their Easter services and the theme was “Hope”. I found myself in a situation where I had to write about God’s power in the middle of tragedy… and I was mad at God for allowing my personal tragedies to happen. I felt like He abandoned us. But something awesome happened. As I began to write, the Lord began to remind me of who He was. He is God and He is Sovereign. And He is Love! As I wrote, I could feel the healing begin to take place. Then, in His mercy, the Lord showed me where I went wrong and how to get back on track. He also showed me that everything that I was seeking was already around me. He placed all the right people around me to help me in this season. It was me that closed the door to His blessings by not participating in genuine community with others.

I’m happy to say that I’m coming out on the other side of this valley. I’m coming out with a new perspective. I’m coming out with a new passion and new energy to work. And I’m coming out ready to RISE. Things that bothered me don’t bother me as much anymore. I’m not chasing the validation of people. I know longer want to be in the “in” crowd with people who tolerate me instead of celebrate me. Getting left out of things and circles can only mean that God has something better. My hope is not in idols and temporary saviors when I serve a God who is so much greater.

I want to encourage you. When everything that you put your hopes in falls apart, just know that God allowed everything to be shaken so that you’ll know the difference between the temporary and the eternal. The shaking revealed the foundation. The shaking came, but it didn’t take you out. You’re still standing along with everything else that was supposed to remain. It’s time to rise, my friend. RISE.

TO LISTEN TO THE SPOKEN WORD THAT I WROTE DURING THIS TIME, CLICK HERE.

“And to the man he said, ‘Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grain. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.'”

Before being asked this question, I never really gave that idea much thought. I had to go back and read exactly where God placed the concept of work in the garden of Eden. It didn’t take long to see that God put Adam to work before the penalty for sin. And it sounds like it was pretty hard work too! Genesis 2:15 lets us know that God placed Adam in the garden “to tend and watch over it”. In verse 18, we see that Adam needs a helper so God makes Eve. So yeah, there was a lot of responsibility and work going on. So what’s the difference before the curse and after?

The difference was that, after the curse, the work that they were used to doing wouldn’t result in fruitfulness. They would actually have to work MORE and get LESS in return. As farmers, they would sow into a ground that was fighting against them and refusing to give them what their work was worth. (You know where I’m going with this.) The scripture tells us that mankind would still be able to eat grain from an unwilling ground. That was God’s mercy on display. But when the curse isn’t involved, we have a picture of hard work PLUS an environment that is willing to be a blessing to the sons of God. We see the investments of our work and time ALWAYS resulting in fruitfulness.

The key to fruitfulness is in the gospel. Do we really understand what Jesus did when He conquered sin and invited us to abide in Him? He is not a weak Jesus who sheepishly asks us if we would let him come into our heart. The Word made flesh rose victoriously, called us by name, transformed us, and baptized us into Himself. We are sons and daughters of God and JOINT HEIRS with Christ. This is the same Christ that ran up on a fig tree and was like, “I AM the Life. If you don’t want to be fruitful while I’m around you, then you’re the one cursed and not Me.” He flexed on a tree, y’all! He refused to live under the same curse of an unwilling ground that Adam did because fruitfulness has always been a top priority for God. “Be fruitful and multiply”, remember? And here’s the key: Jesus worked HARD. During one of His claims to be God in John 5:17, he says “My Father is always working and so am I.” But he only invested His time into what His Father told him to do. That’s why He was always producing fruit.

I want to encourage you as an artist. Don’t settle for working hard and barely getting a return. That’s not your portion as a son or daughter of God. And don’t let the world OUTWORK you. In one of her songs, Rihanna says “we sweat for a nickel and a dime, turn it into an empire.” If the world can make careers in music and artistry with limited resources and limited revelation in a world that is hostile to fruitfulness, then the people of God can do so much more. Remember who you are!

#RISE

When hurtful things happen to us, sometimes we truly believe that we’ve dealt with the situations and are able to move on. We never really take the time to grieve or heal. We just brush it off and go on for the sake of the family, the ministry, or whatever context we may find ourselves in at the moment. Transitions provide us with a space to breathe, examine situations and, most of all, examine ourselves. It’s at that place of examining ourselves that we find out that we’re not really ok. That was me.

My wife told me once that “the way you leave one season is the way that you’ll enter the next season”. I really do believe that to be true. I knew that if I left mad at everyone who did me wrong, then I would enter this next season unable to fully step into this new role of service that God has placed in front of me. There was just one problem. As much as I tried, I couldn’t let things go. I tried to remind myself of God’s love for me and how he forgave a sinner like me when I didn’t deserve it. But it didn’t work. I really needed God’s POWER to get over this stuff. Believe me, I felt like I had solid reasons to stay offended. I even used scripture to back up the fact that I didn’t have to forgive anyone who didn’t ask for my forgiveness. But the hurt and the ugly feelings towards people stayed. I had to give this whole thing to God. I told God that I couldn’t forgive even though my spirit wanted to. I told Him that I also knew that this unforgiveness would hinder me if I didn’t let it go.

On my way to a concert, I was praying in the Holy Spirit and I felt a huge weight lift from me. At that moment, I felt like I actually got the revelation that I was no one to hold anything against anyone else. I also felt something very special. I felt God’s love for me and His power to help me forgive everyone who hurt me. It was awesome! Only God gets the glory. Now I feel like I’m ready to receive everything that God has for me because my prayers aren’t hindered by an unforgiving heart. It gave me the confidence to know that God is for me so much that He would, in His grace, position my heart to be able to receive everything that He has for me. God is good.

I want to encourage you. A lot of friends, especially in our RISE family, are going through transitions. Reevaluation is happening. We’re beginning to rethink relationships, friendships, job situations, even theology… and basically life in general. God is moving us to a higher place. In the mind of God, the promotion was always going to happen. This new place that God has for was always reserved for us. The question is: are we really ready for it or are we going to hold on to the past by holding on to unforgiveness? You may never get the apology you need in order to forgive. As Jesus did, we must forgive those who do us wrong. (FOR)GIVE and GO do everything that God has called you to do. Live free! Greatness awaits.

#RISE

During the soundcheck for my concert last weekend, one of the volunteers came up to me and asked me how many people I would be attending the event with me. I started to add everyone up. “Well, I’ve got my family with me so that’s four total. Then I’ve got my drummer and his wife are with me.” My friend (who was also performing) had two people with him as well. The volunteer said to me, “We’re just gonna reserve two rows for all of you. Is that ok?” Two rows equaled about 14 chairs. I told the volunteer that it was great!

After the soundcheck, the service starts. I do my concert portion of the service, and then I go to the green room to cool down. I grabbed some water and headed back out into the service. If you know me, then you know that I don’t really like to draw attention to myself. I try so hard to be unnoticed that it’s to my hurt most of the time. There were over 500 people at this particular event… and here I am in the back of the building walking around in the dark and trying to find a seat in the back so that I wouldn’t bring any attention to me.

I finally found some seats that were blocked off. The event hosts obviously didn’t want anyone to sit there, but I’m one of the guest artists, right? So I snuck into this row that was blocked off and I just sat down. Oh yeah, there was this huge pole that was blocking my line of sight to a part of the stage and I was wayyy in the back. But I was unnoticed so I was good. Then the Holy Spirit whispers to me, “You have reserved seats in the front.” I totally forgot about those!  But the message had already started, and I couldn’t get up and walk to the front. That would bring too much attention to me when people should be listening wholeheartedly to the message. I decided that I was gonna stay right where I was… but that thought wouldn’t go away. I knew that God was actually challenging me to sit in the front. I stood up, walked to the front, and sat in my reserved seats. Something crazy happened when I did.

I didn’t hear anyone complaining about me distracting them as I was walking up to my seat. I didn’t hear anyone say, “Who does that guy think he is sitting in the front row?” I had plenty of room and I could see the stage clearly without a big pole in my way. Then came the lightbulb moment. People weren’t ever gonna be upset or even surprised that I sat in the front. In fact, people EXPECTED me to be in the front. In fact, some people probably thought that it was WEIRD that I WASN’T sitting in the front with the other guests. Then God started speaking to me again.

He told me that He has reserved places for me. These are places of influence. These are places of “more than enough” for me and for those who are with me. He told me that people are actually waiting for me to step into the places that God has reserved for me. Then He told me that I have actually been (1) holding myself back from receiving God’s full favor and (2) robbing others from receiving what God has given me… and I’ve been calling it humility. Ouch! In an attempt to blend in and feel like I’m no better than anyone else, I’ve been sabotaging my own mission. I wasn’t walking in humility as much as I was living by the fear of other people’s opinions and a mentality of lack.

So here I go. I’m embracing everything that God has called me to be. I’m not average. My life is a unique story that God is writing for all of eternity to read. And guess what? Your life is too. It’s time to RISE.

As the EJM team was waiting to take the stage, I remember looking out at the enormous crowd. Wow! I had never seen so many people at an event that I was rapping at! The opportunities that I had been dreaming about for so long were finally coming to pass. And that’s when I heard it—God’s voice. With gentleness, He said, “What’s the point of having a big platform if you don’t even love the people you are ministering to?” That moment was definitely heart-checking!

When Jesus came, He brought the Kingdom way of life with Him—a way of life that involved giving more than receiving. Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus doing many great things for others without expecting anything in return. He wasn’t concerned about having a grand reputation or gaining recognition. He understood His identity and His role as Messiah. The idea of total submission wasn’t a threat to Him. All He cared about was working so that people would give glory to His Father in Heaven. Christ ministered to people from a place of wholeness; He didn’t need to take shine away from God to patch up insecurities (like we often times do). He was already secured in God. Because of His rich relationship with His Father, He was able to pour out love, giving more than He was receiving. We have to get to a place in our walk with God where we’re able to do the same.

Jesus told his disciples that the Kingdom was within them. The same goes for disciples today. This hits home for me as a rapper and minister. It means that as a Kingdom conduit, I must make sure that I’m using my influence and platform to point people to God, not myself. Every void that I have must be constantly filled with God’s presence so that I’m not using the praises of men and recognition as a substitute. I have to give to people out of love, not take from them out of insecurity.

That day in Arlington, when I finally had the chance to rap, I forgot my own lyrics! I found myself mumbling a part of my first verse, trying to get back on beat. LOL! There’s nothing like a nice slice of humble pie to keep you grounded. But you know what? After that ordeal, I still felt good! I recognized that I messed up, but I wasn’t trippin’ over it like I normally would because I knew that God still got His glory from the situation─and that’s all that mattered. My identity isn’t based on whether or not I can “kill it” on stage. I’m rooted in Jesus. Now, don’t get me wrong because I believe that practice makes perfect. Maybe next time, I’ll spend my morning practicing my set instead of cabbage-patching to 90’s music in my hotel room. (I was obviously excited that day. LOL!)

God is serious about His glory, so let’s be carriers of the Kingdom and give generously to the people we’re graced to minister to.

Live Zealous,

SonDaye

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT SONDAYE’S WEBSITE FEATURING MUSIC, VIDEOS, AND MORE!

It’s Sunday morning and it’s time to get ready for church. You found this fellowship that you really like, and you LOVE the worship there. You’re finally dressed, in your car, and playing your pre-game worship warmup list. You get to the service just in time to catch the first song. It’s your favorite! You’re feeling the presence of God. All is well until…

The band and singers stop halfway through the song. It’s over. It’s almost enough to make you get in the flesh.

Sometimes I wonder if that’s how God feels when He hears our worship.

I mentioned that God hears our worship. There’s so much that goes into the melody of our worship to God. And no, it’s not about voice control. In fact, the first time that the word “worship” is even mentioned in the Bible is not in relation to a song at all.

Genesis 22:5-6 says, “Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.”

The first mention of worship actually had to do with sacrifice. When God looks at our worship, he doesn’t just look at how well we can spiritually connect with Him through a song. He looks at our sacrificial obedience to him in every area of life.

Ok, so…

Great worship songs: Check.

Personal, sacrificial obedience to God: Check.

We should be good now, right?

Not exactly. There’s something else that God looks for in His true worshippers. If He doesn’t find this, then everything else becomes an annoyance to Him. Amos 5:21-24 NLT reads:

There, in front of me, was a telephone pole about 15 feet high. It had these metal rods sticking out from either side of it so that I could climb. My objective: climb the telephone pole and stand at the top. Easy, right? They attached me to a harness that looked like a pulley so that I wouldn’t fall and die. Guess who had the other end of the harness? Yeah. It was the TRAINEES! These were the same trainees who needed me to model the way for them. Now, my life was in their hands. I decided that I was going to do this without the need for their assistance. So up I went. As these things go, the people on the other end of the harness are supposed to give me lots of slack so that I couldn’t feel the safety of the harness. I felt like it was all up to me. No worries, though. I’m a pretty athletic person. I was doing great until about 10…no, maybe 11 feet up. I felt like the wind started moving the pole. I started thinking, “The trainees aren’t trained well enough on the harness to catch me.” “If they do catch me, I’ll probably swing back around and hit one of these metal rods.” “Wow, that’s a long way to fall.”

To give you some context, I actually love the birdseye view! It’s one of my favorite things about plane rides. Taking in the scenery from that high up can be encouraging and inspiring. So, for me, I’m not really afraid of being way up in the air. I love it! Knowing this about myself, I had to question what I was really afraid of on that telephone pole. The answer was that I was afraid of trusting whatever was responsible for keeping me up in the air. I was afraid that the telephone pole could blow over. I was afraid that the trainees couldn’t keep me safe while I was up in the air. I was afraid of the possibility of a painful fall if I couldn’t stay in the air.

I’m at a place in my life where this is true again. Two years ago, I began a climb called “Between Dreams and Reality”. The tagline was “there is glory…if you can endure the story”. And so my family and I began to climb…higher and higher. We’ve done some amazing things so far. God has carried our music ministry across the U.S. I’ve personally ministered to thousands of people, performed with some of the best artists out there, and recently partnered with Eddie James to bring rap into the conversation of today’s worship culture. Things are starting to get a little scary now. God is asking us to do more. He’s asking us to go higher. the “what if’s” are starting to creep in. And there’s a lingering fear that the grace that got us to this point may not be able to sustain us at the top. “Are we really made for the top? If this is where we are supposed to be, then why does everything seem so shaky? Why do I feel like the people who I need to trust the most may let me down?” We know it’s a lie in our minds, but it feels real.

As I got to the top of the telephone pole, there was one more awkward step for me to take before balancing myself on the top of the pole. This step took the longest for me to take. I was trying to figure out how I could do it without falling completely off of the pole. There was plenty of room at the top for both of my feet to fit, and I promise you that I would have taken that step quicker if I was 14 feet closer to the ground. After some encouragement from the trainees, I decided to take that final step. My legs were visibly shaking and everyone saw it. I took it anyway. I DID IT!

I want to encourage you right now. You may feel trapped between the urgency of climbing and the fear of falling. Don’t make your way down the pole of life. Don’t be afraid of heights. You were born to RISE.

Many Christians know Abraham is the “father of faith”. He stepped out into the unknown and followed God on several occasions in his life. But let’s look a little deeper into his story. Before Abraham was a spiritual rock star who had his name changed by God, he was just Abram. He was living an ordinary life with the rest of his family – until trauma was introduced. Let’s read Genesis 11:27-32:

To break it down, Terah had three sons: Abram, Nahor and Haran. The bible doesn’t say exactly what happened, but it does say that Haran ends up dying in his hometown – right in front of his dad. I have two daughters and I don’t even want to imagine having one of them die (especially right in front of me). This is the definition of trauma. The bible continues with the story and tells us that Terah takes his family and moves away from his hometown. We don’t know the motives, but we can imagine that being in his hometown was a constant reminder of the death of his son. Interestingly enough, he plans to take his family to Canaan which we know to be the “promised land” in the bible. As he’s traveling, they come to a place called Haran – a place with the same name as his deceased son. Instead of moving past a place that would for certain be a painful reminder of tragedy, he decides to settle there. And then he dies there. It’s at this point where we find Abram in Genesis 12.

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

At this point, Abram has experienced the death of his brother and father. He could have gotten offended with God and said, “Why did you let my brother and father die? A great nation? Why are you allowing my wife to be barren?” To our natural mind, he had so many reasons to doubt God and even hate Him. But his trust in God outweighed the weight of his trauma. And through trust, he went from trauma to triumph. I’m typing this now and you are reading this now because one man decided to jump the hurdle of trauma and succeed where his father failed.

I want to encourage you. Don’t die in “Haran”. Your family and everything you are familiar with may be there. But if you die there, then your life will only be a sacrifice to the idol of grief. Trust the Healer and live a life so blessed that generations will thank you.

#RISE

Jarrell

Trust is a form of spiritual and personal currency. With trust one assumes some level of risk by investment. It exposes us to loss and hurt, but it proposes the ability to gain. One who never trusts never gains, and one who manages how and who to trust stands to profit and is more fit to lead and serve. Ernest Hemmingway noted, “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”  Our ability to trust God and others is a reflection of ourselves and our inward spiritual state and maturity. He who trusts everyone without reservation is just as foolish as one who never trusts anyone. So how do we learn to trust more and apply wisdom to relational processes?

1. In order to trust, we must cultivate Love.

You’ve been disappointed, been betrayed, lost confidence in people, gotten angry, and felt the desire to go it on your own. No problem. It’s normal to possess and process these emotions when wronged, but it’s in these very instances that Jesus calls us to a higher plane of existence within His kingdom; i.e. turn the other check, pray for those who persecute, do good to those who hate you, etc. (Matthew 5:39-48). One isn’t better because they have a great ability, gifting, disposition, appearance, or likeability. Greatness is in possessing God’s quality of Love. I cultivate love when I am patient with the ignorant, seek the good of another over myself, believe and hope the best in people even when they are not at their best, stay quiet when I know I shouldn’t speak, refuse to stay silent when I know I should speak, and adopt the mindset to always convey and demonstrate God’s heart and Word (1 Corinthians 13; John 7:18; Ephesians 4:31, 32).

We are in a generation that craves realness and authenticity, and we are also in a generation that has more unfamiliarity with the Bible and God’s truths. The enemy of our souls is greatly displeased with those that have courage to be who they are in Christ who speak and show God’s Word and nature to the world. We’ll foster greater trust and respect and influence by being authentic in Christ rather than trying to be what we think the church and world want to see.

2. Trust among people and communities is not always to be presumed, but to be developed.

So God put Adam and Eve in the garden to work together, grow together, create together, manage together, and live together. In walks Satan to divide and conquer causing Eve to question God’s motive and character and causing Adam to sin against God by trusting Eve’s word (Satan’s lie) over trusting God’s Word. Without solid trust in God and His ability to lead His people, Satan’s slick voice of division, controversy, jealousy, envy, and the like will wreak havoc in your life and others.  Getting together with like-minded believers and sticking through the developmental stage of community establishment yields powerful results that creates less jockeying and more volleying. Rather than competition to outdo one another, community, like practice in sports can be likened to a baseball team playing catch before a game, a tennis player practicing serve and volley with a partner before the match, and a boxer sparring with headgear while training for the fight. It should be disciplined, safe, and productive with the intent on practice for victory.  To develop trust and real friendship, it requires that we also develop the virtues of longsuffering and patience with people. Developing virtue requires spending time with the Giver of all good things. Growing trust and friendship requires all parties to trust God first and enough to see them through the process of bearing fruit as a group, community, and church. This simply mirrors our relationship with God Who bears with us, forgives us, extends mercy toward us, and always has our best interests in mind, along with the beloved children of His that we engage with. Let us fear God and treat each other with respect, dignity, and compassion so He can pour His grace out upon us. The greater the trust and humility within a group, the greater the grace of God available and present to grow and sustain us for His work (James 4:6).

3. Who and what to trust demands prayer and discernment.

Trust grows and blooms to produce friendship. Not everyone is friendly, and God wants us to have enough sense to recognize who to trust and who not to. Jesus warns of false prophets, Paul warns of those with shipwrecked faith, Jude and Peter counsel us on those people who claim to be of God, but without His Spirit. Who do we trust? Who do we maintain friendly, more concentrated relationships with? We must examine friendship. Friendship is not just warn fuzzy sentiment, good times together in amusement, or association based upon mutual benefit. No, for the Christian, friendship is developed by love, by mutual beliefs, by moving in the same direction together. Trust is the engine of friendship. Love is the vehicle, airbags and all. Friends provoke to good works, friends admonish and encourage, and friends stick through hard times because love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. Along with the influence of social media and the availability of information in a more rapid fashion, we must guard against the type of information we allow to influence our ideas and behaviors. The advent of social media has no doubt damaged many a Christian’s prayer life by substituting shallow, dubious friendships instead of communicating and relying on our best Friend.  Jesus of course is the best of friends and the more I spend time with my best Friend, I’ll develop and possess the qualities to develop real friendships. I will also be naturally attracted to those like Him to be friend, and I’ll rejoice in the prospect of seeing enemies transformed into friends. The Christian idea of reconciliation and friendship is not impersonal and distant. Christ provided the atonement in the most personal way possible to those who were afar and those who were near. If by the means of the cross, I now share in the benefits of a right relationship with God, how much more should I not want that for others, and share it in unity with those who have also experienced the miracle of life and godliness?

Don’t be afraid to trust. Be careful who you trust. Don’t ever give up on trusting God.

Thanks for reading,

Robert Bond

(Robert currently serves as the worship director for Faith Outreach Center Intl. He and his wife Melissa are the proud parents of their two children, Isabella and Sebastian.)