Forgotten God

Dear Francis Chan,

My toes are no longer suitable for flip flops this summer because your book has stepped all over them!  As I finish up the book and move on to "Crazy Love" I can't help but wonder if I'll have any toes left at all.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with my pedicurist, counselor, I mean, the Holy Spirit.

This book has been great for me.  This past year I decided I was going to dive deeper into knowing Him...I'm talking really knowing Him.  Not just for the sake of teaching about Him, but for my own personal relationship with Him.  I finally read all the way through "Good Morning Holy Spirit" and then moved straight into "Forgotten God" and those two books have really beefed-up my relationship with Him.

One thing Francis discussed was how we spend so much time focusing on the "grand plan" that God has for us someday that we totally miss what we need to do today.  You know what I'm talking about...those divine appointments in the grocery store, serving at church even when it means sweeping the floors, showing random acts of kindness to people you don't know or believe don't "deserve it", taking your sick life group member a pot of soup after working all day, taking the time to call and pray for someone that has been on your heart all day, stepping out into a ministry that intimidates you or doesn't seem to be "setting you up" for the grander plan that you have in mind...He pointed out that we often hide behind the "one day God's going to show me the bigger plan He has for my life" and so we end up sitting on the sidelines doing nothing.  Therefore, we never achieve the "bigger plan" that God has because He can't trust us. 

If He can't trust us with little...He definitely cannot give us much.  Luke 12:48 reminds us that, "Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities!"  If I'm not willing to serve the people in my church by sweeping the floor or feeding them when they're sick, then what makes me think the Lord can trust me enough to place me over those very same people?  That concept is simply Leadership 101...even the world knows that principle!

As my wise old husband says, "it's a process".  We've got to go through the daily process of being led by the Spirit at work, home, church, and yes even Wal-Mart in order for the foundation to be laid that the Lord will use to build His overall plan upon in our lives.  Trying to go straight into the Grand Plan without laying the foundation is like trying to building a house without a foundation...what happens when you do that?  The house falls.  Just the same, the calling on our life is only as strong as our spiritual foundation.  I believe it was Christine Cane that said, "What's on you will destroy you if what's in you can't sustain you."  (Something like that!)

Father, I want to keep on, keeping on!  Let what I perceive as "small" responsibilities and steps become very big within my spirit!