LIGHT AND LOVE

LIGHT AND LOVE 
Have you thanked Him?
Have you praised Him?
Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?
Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?
1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)
The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“They sold their kids Christmas gifts to the drug dealer. I watched it in disbelief." – BJ – Marion Police

I don’t usually try not to share too much about the conferences/meetings that we do around the OPIATE Epidemic on the blog, but that statement yesterday caught me like a unexpected right hand to the chin.

And no it is not because I haven’t heard some remarkable stories of desperation in the 10 months or so I have been traveling around talking about this epidemic or in the seven years intersecting and interfacing with addicted communities rather it was just the timing and the environment that caught me a little flatfooted.

For I will tell you when you pull into the city of Marion , the place my new partner Matt and I were sharing yesterday, the town is “dark”; even on a sunny day. There is such heaviness on that town that it literally feels like the sun is on a dimmer switch. And as the community leaders affirmed the challenges that they (and quite frankly every town/county in the State) were facing, I couldn’t get the visual of a mom or a dad selling out the kids Christmas for just one more fix, one more high.

That is darkness at its darkest.

That is why we must keep being LIGHT!
That is why we are here!
Jesus said so!
You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 (MSG)

There is no question I operate in some of the darkest corridors of our culture. Heroin/Opiate addiction and dependency is no joke. It does its best to snuff the light out of people, families, kids, grandmas and grandpas.

In fact during our lunch break I sat across from a dear sweet grandmother whose grand-daughters (sisters) had just been incarcerated for drug charges.

Grandma was emotionally rickety from all of it.

And for the longest time she suffered about her grandkids in the darkness and isolation of shame, guilt and hurt. Yet yesterday she shared with me that she is not longer staying in the dark!

NO!

She is resolving to be LIGHT for not just her grandkids but her community! She is beginning an ALANON group in her church and invited our CHAMPIONS team to share with her congregation about adding a little more light to that lamp-stand!

Friends, we have to take this call from Jesus to be light SERIOUSLY. The enemy is casting a shadow on our world. People are seeking relief not just in drugs but in other “lightless” enterprises!

It is TIME for us to take grandma’s lead and to ALL REFLECT the LIGHT of the WORLD and BE that LIGHT on the HILL!

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." – John 8:12 (NIV)

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

So let’s be BOTH today!
Light and love!

I love you all!
Be blessed!
Opportunities for Hope (Champions Charge)