As I move toward my week-off next week and look forward to celebrating our nations birthday on July 4th I have had several reminders that God's path and God's desire for us in not the "path of least resistance" you've heard so much about. Last evening, Gary Hill, Jan Carter and Kathy Bridges spent phone time with five candidates for Director of Youth Ministries for Good News. It was a long and late evening, and I thank Gray, Jan and Kathy for their dedication and time. I also thank the prospective Youth Ministries that spent time talking, sharing their faith walk and describing their passion for Youth Ministry at Good News. While I won't go into too many details about the candidates, I did marvel about the cost of following God. It is not an easy or simple path. It can't be placed into several "catch" phrases or "Christian-ese." It is not a quantity. Rather, it is a quality. It is sharing the struggle and coming out of that struggle closer to the God who loves us enough to permit the children He loves to endure the struggles. It is a path of resistance.

Lincoln's "fourscore and seven years ago" was a time of great turmoil, great struggle and hard decisions. It would have been very easy to stand pat and allow things to progress normally. Yes, taxation was an affront to freedom. Yes, asking the colonists to give up hard-earned freedoms without giving them a vote was wrong. But rebellion would cost lives. Rebellion would require the cutting of all the "good" ties with England along with the "inconveniences." And rebellion would be difficult. It would involve countless meetings, many compromises, the establishment of some method of order, and it would require the blood of patriots. Our ancestors decided that this experiment into freedom called America was worth it.

Is freedom still "worth it?" Every week I place another ministry idea on the "back burner" because doing it requires and motivated person that is given over to God's desires. I am often asked "what would it cost to do that" but I am seldom asked, "what does God's Word say we should do?" In our modern world, ministry decisions, the structure of our church and our way of "doing church" is often more informed by the easiest path than it is by the question, "what would make God's Word more real in and through us?" I wonder would we be more motivated to circulate a petition on gay marriage or fund a ministry to help single mothers? Now I'm not implying there is anything right about gay marriage, and I have made my position on that well known. What I am asking is, where are our priorities? One "action" requires paper and a few e-mails. The other requires us to immerse ourselves in uncomfortable relationships that follow us home. They make our phones ring when that single mother needs the wise advice of an "experienced" Christian.

You see, freedom is still costly. It involves a struggle. Our national struggle today is one of realizing what our current study of Proverbs says so well. It has one-liners that tell it like it is. Laziness is destructive. Immorality will kill you. Giving is a blessing to the giver and the receiver. Putting God first is the starting point of doing life abundantly. Don't lean on human understanding; it is flawed! Jesus said it often and well, but I'll close with words that I will take with me into a week of study, preparation and prayer. Jesus said this about the "priority" of living in our comfort. "What good is it if you gain the whole world and lose your soul?"

America doesn't lack "stuff. We are connected to TV, radio, talk radio, 24-hour news, movies, sitcoms, books, IPODs, computers, but we fail to "abide" in the God who has the plan that will give us true freedom. We don't lack things to do with our time, but we lack time to do the things that will make us a better people. We don't lack comfort but we are restless and edgy because we know in our spirit that our path is not consistent with God's plan. We are perfectly willing to take medications, OTC remedies and food supplements, but we won't take 20 minutes a day in God's Word. Then we wonder, "where did we go wrong?" Go figure!?

Pray for renewed freedom. Pray that in this week I will be given Godly wisdom to lead our church forward. Pray for church leaders who will be pliable to God and able to be led. Pray for a humility in teaching and leading that will make us all willing to speak truth in love. Pray that we will become a church know for how it lives out it's faith rather that what we know. Pray that our leadership planning for the fall will be saturated by God's mighty power and His endless grace!

In Christ's Love, Randy