deep waters

I just got an email from a good friend of mine - rob ketterling (river valley in mn) with some of his notes from the c3 conference at fellowship church in grapvine texas. he forwarded some stuff he saw on mark batterson's blog from the event, and then shared some of his own notes. i've picked a few to share here, and one in particular that hit me:

• There are certain things you don't see unless you're moving at the same speed with God. When you are moving you are parralel to God and you can look in his eyes and see what he wants you to do..."


• In proactivity we see the activity of God


• God works in uncertainty


• Live in a way that honors God, safety is not it.


• When you play it safe, God doesn't have to show up

Jonathan is the patron saint of risk-takers! He climbed a cliff and single-handedly took on the Philistine army! He said, "Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf." Jonathan took the initiative. He made a choice to do something, anything.

"Keep moving and God's steering will get you where you need to go."


here's some of my response to rob:

rob - thanks for the notes. since i couldn't be there, i was tracking mark's stuff through the conference as well as david russell’s stuff (and brian bailey's), but I really like what you added here. It reminds me of one of my favorite passages in psalms:

Ps 107
23 Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters,
24 They see the works of the LORD,
And His wonders in the deep.

It’s not those who are in a safe zone that see miracles. Those who go where they cannot do for themselves – they see God step in and do what only He can do. like the early missionaries – remember the story we heard in bible college - they were trying to cross a flooded river to get the gospel to an unreached tribe. They prayed and were transported across the river miraculously – remember that story? That isn’t going to happen until we get ourselves up against a the flooded river. Staying at home saying, “well, that river might be flooded – I’d better not go today” is not the formula for the miracle.

miracles are for the glory of God and for the accomplishment of His will – which is usually focused around reaching the lost.

i'm ready to launch out into some things - to go where i cannot handle it all by myself. and see what God does to bring glory to His name.