LET THE RAINS COME

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.

We are due to get a little rain today. (Check local listings).  Such is the nature of spring time.  What is that old cliché? April showers bring May flowers, right?  And despite that it does sometimes mess up the golf plan or the outdoor picnic, we do NEED our rain.  Wouldn’t you agree?

And that made me think about a couple of conversations I have had with some folks in recent days. 

They could “use” a little April shower in their lives.  In fact, they really needed some “rain”.

What do I mean?

They were tired.

Their reserves were parched.

They were in deep need of some refreshing.

Truth is, we all go through dry seasons.

Maybe it is our riverbed of compassion that runs dry.

Maybe it is our tolerance; our ability to see the forest for the trees.  Maybe it is our patience that has gotten a little "dusty". In those seasons our energy wanes, our fuses shorten, and our zeal to “do the work” diminishes; those are the seasons that we need to pray for a little “rain”.

...when my soul is dry and barren

Panting for the Spirit's rain

So depleted, weak and empty

Every resource used and drained (When the Rains Come – GVB)

Don’t trust in your own wisdom, but fear and respect the Lord and stay away from evil. If you do this, it will be like a refreshing drink and medicine for your body. Proverbs 3:7-8 (ERV) 

Then the rains come, oh the rains come

Gentle streams flow down the mountainside

Filling rivers, rushing water

To the valleys, bringing wondrous life

Oh Thou welcome, holy presence

Washing all my dust away

Leave me clean and pure before you

I'm dancing like a child at play

Then the rains come, oh the rains come

Gentle streams flow down the mountainside

Filling rivers, rushing water

To the valleys, bringing wondrous life 

Let the rains come (When the Rains Come – GVB)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0WvqBCxxck

Are you in a dry season?

Needing a little refreshment, a little revitalization?

Reach out to GOD.

Seek His presence.

Discard the evil and the drying.

And be reminded that “the rains will come”.

He promised.

I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. - Jeremiah 31:25 (NIV)

I love you all!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE

Pastor GDelaney

CAME DOWN TO ME

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.

I know that I'm not worthy to call upon your name

All my life I've been a sinner and for that I am ashamed

But I heard that you would listen so I'm giving you my plea

I'm too unworthy Lord, to come to you

Could you please come down to me?

I know that there are others who could offer more than I

I promise you I'd understand if for me you had no time

I think I've just hit bottom and I'm looking up to see

I'm too unworthy, Lord, to come to you

Could you please come down to me?

I guess I must be reaping from the seeds that I have sown

Lord, you owe me nothing, we haven't spoken for so long

If you could spare some mercy I'll pledge my life to thee

I'm too unworthy, Lord, to come to you

Could you please come down to me? – Crabb Family

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eryTdlUrZBw

So, yesterday was a weird day. 

I walked into what I thought was to be my new temporary office and found it in disarray. 

Hence, I needed to take refuge in a conference room and after getting to work, I learned that we not only had one of last week’s referrals run from her treatment back to prostitution, but a kid we were desperately trying to convince that this current strain of heroin/fentanyl is nothing to trifle with as she lay in a hospital bed following an overdose went back to “it”. Not to mention another report of a loss of life to overdose. 

It was a pretty hard core morning.

Then I get a text. 

A friend who I just recently took to our partner in Hillsboro only to have him leave after 60 days, was wanting to return. With no one else to provide a ride, I packed up and picked him up and off to Hillsboro we went.

But I am so glad I got to pick him up.  Despite still being high from an early morning wake and bake, he and I had a powerful “truth” session as we meandered the hills of southern Ohio.  He shared with me his recent struggles, his persistent loneliness, and his intense fear. 

You see my friend suffers deeply from what the lyricist of that little song that opened today’s OFH suffers from; a deep feeling and sense of unworthiness. Yet he remarked that yesterday was a day when GOD was indeed coming down to him.  In fact, as he was sharing his recent struggles, he shared another little interesting experience.

As I mentioned, my friend had recently abandoned our recovery partner only to find himself alone on the highway, feet blistered, feeling the effects of once again “letting down the Lord”, thirsty, tired, and just trying to get from Hillsboro to “anywhere”. It was then when he paused and just prayed.

About that time a tatted, pierced little firework named AGATHA pulled up to provide a ride. 

And as they rode from “wherever” back to Xenia, Agatha shared her story, instilled a new hope in him for she too was an addict who was recovering and now just "giving back" and my friend quickly realized this was no coincidence; GOD had again come down to him.  He said he wouldn’t have chosen AGATHA, in fact she was the first AGATHA he had ever met, but GOD came come down to us in a variety of ways.

He believes Agatha was an angel.  I would tend to agree. And AGATHA’S message of hope and possibility stuck with him and yesterday he decided to finally take her counsel and get back to recovery.

You see, GOD doesn’t see us unworthy. 

GOD doesn’t recoil in disgust from us. 

Never.  

He never withholds mercy or investment.  He always has time for us.

And He is always ready to come down to us when we need Him. 

No questions asked. 

No pre-approvals needed.

No surprise given…

Psalm 18:6 - In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

And He responds!

You feeling unworthy today?

Needing GOD to show up?

Call on the LORD.  His ears are perked.

Perhaps GOD has an AGATHA waiting in the wings to come down to you too.

I love you all!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE

REMEMBERING the STORM

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.

If you live in this neighborhood, southwest Ohio, you are likely to witness a storm or two. I live in the same house I did in 1974 when the BIG APRIL storm blew through Xenia on this date 43 years ago. I just lived up the street in a neighboring development when the 2000 tornado rolled over that neighborhood. I even watched “IKE”, another memorable storm from the same perch as I did the ’74 twister.

So, thinking back to that 1974 April 3rd made me think I have seen my share of storms.  In fact, I was having lunch with a new partner, Pastor Paula from New Hope near Cincinnati and she was a Cedarville student living in Xenia when that epic storm blew through 43 years ago.  In fact, it was likely we were in the same neighborhood trying to help at the same time.

Storms do come. 

But storms do go too.

I can remember the day after the 2000 tornado was perfectly clear and beautiful. 

I seem to remember the same about the ’74 storm.

So, as I am reflecting on some of those memories like many Xenians do today, the LORD sent a song I recently shared on OFH to my mind again. 

Winds of This World [Live]

Winds of This World [Live] Music video by Bill & Gloria Gaither performing Winds of This World (feat. Gaither Vocal Band) [Live]. (P) (...

The truth is clear in that little lyric about storms.

Even when the storm is at its full-throated roar, GOD is still firmly in charge and HE is with me (and you!).

But we tend to forget that fact when the intense storms of life start brewing, swirling, and dumping their goods on us. We focus on the chaos; fearful of the damage it is doing instead of remembering WHO is still in charge of the storm (Matthew 8) and who is right by our side when the thunder is rolling, the wind howling and the hail pelting.

He made the storm be still… Psalm 107:29 (ESV)

 The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. Nahum 1:7 (ESV)

I know it is easy when we are going through a “life-storm” to be taken by surprise or worse yet to become fixated on it and the damage it is doing. 

But GOD encourages us to fix our gaze beyond the storm and on to Him.

Perhaps this morning the conditions in your life are pointing toward a big storm on the horizon. Maybe you are already in the middle of one this morning like many were in just a few hours from now in 1974 in Xenia.

Don’t be fearful. Listen to that lyric and believe it. 

“Jesus is with me when the storm clouds gather. He is standing by my side when the thunder rolls. He holds my hand when the world begins to tremble when the winds of this world are blowing strong!”

I love you all!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE