Today is the beginning

When I was traveling overseas two weeks ago, we went up into the mountains. We decided to go "swimming" in this mountain river right by our picnic site. I say "swimming" because there is really not much swimming you can do in water that cold. It hurt all the way to the bone to touch that water. We waded out to about waist deep and then plunged under the water. We came back up gasping and laughing at one another's shocked expressions. Then we fairly quickly made our way out of the water.

Today, I will be presenting a new task for our church. I want us to partner with our friends over there that I went swimming with. There are unknowns in the mix. There could be plenty of concerns. But I would like us to plunge in even if it means some personal discomfort. We need to trust that God is who He says He is and that He is indeed in control of it all.

This plunge is not to replace any local work we are already doing or are planning to do. It is in addition to our local work. It could be that we have a once-a-month type commitment to this partnership. If that is how we discern God's will for our church, then that is what we must do, but once-a-month does not really limit any other tasks we are doing. I don't believe our resources are so constrained that we can't take on this partnership. I further believe that this is the beginning of us taking Acts 1:8 seriously. That this is the beginning of our efforts to reach "to the remotest part of the earth." We have been working pretty well at reaching our Jerusalem, and just ok at reaching our Judea, and not really reaching our Samaria much at all.

Once we begin to reach to the "remotest part of the earth" we will have nearly 3/4 of the Acts 1:8 challenge in place. Let's begin to seek God even now for how we can fully implement God's call to the church as described in Acts 1:8.

...but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.

Let's go swimming...