Don’t Judge Your Day by the Morning, But by the Son
Today didn’t start off to good. Actually, it started out horrible. Ever had a day like that? I woke up late. I wasn’t as prepared for the day as I should have been. I spent almost two hours in rush hour traffic and arrived 40 minutes late to an important meeting with pastors in the Oakland area. Though I woke up to a warm sunny day, my soul was clouded. BUT THEN….
I arrived late to the breakfast meeting, but just in time to hear a godly woman, preach a sermon on, “A Liberating Imagination.” She used the Old Testament in such a powerful way to paint a picture of Kingdom Justice. Even though I was late, I still was able to enjoy a plate of fruit and eggs. I met a number of pastors and faith leaders who are making a difference in Oakland and beyond. I now prepare to spend the rest of the day praying, talking, and planning about our strategic focus area of Love Mercy, Do Justice within our mission region of the Evangelical Covenant Church. I still have the picture in my mind of leaving my house stressed, but my wife with a smile saying, “I love you.”
Sometimes, I judge the day by the morning. When my day doesn’t start off well, I get down and can be hard to be around. When I start out the day wrong, I tend to beat myself up, which can lead to my not treating others well. Today, I was blessed to experience Jesus in the midst of a day that started off not so good. But, whenever I try to start off a day in my own power that day starts off wrong. The sooner I connect with Jesus, the sooner the day gets right. This doesn’t mean the day is perfect with no struggles. It means I’m better equipped and empowered to navigate the day. Even a bad day with Jesus is a learning opportunity. Don’t judge your day by the morning, but by the Son.
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Hello Rev Efrem,
I went to the Teen conference in February and heard your messages regard our next generation. I like to let you know the LORD had used your message to break my pride, open my eyes and strip up my passion to them.
I am the pastor who serving in a small church in Toronto and because of the job descriptions. I serve both Children’s and Youth in the church. In the past number of years serving, I focused on Children’s more than youth; passion to the little one more than teen. And in my back of my mind, I serve the youth because of my job required. Therefore I would show up the youth group, taught the Sunday school and preached in the youth Sunday without His passion and the love.
A year ago God gave me a baby boy –name Josiah and because of his birth. The church allowed me to take a year off for my maternity leave. During the leave, the LORD shut down everything related to ministry as HE told me to REST. The reason I used the word “Shout down” due to because I had an opportunity to help a mom group to run a program for the toddler in last Christmas and I thought what’s great way to evangelism. However, once I got to prepare and excited for this matter, the lady who in-charge of this mom-group called me the day before the program by saying, they need to dismiss he mom group due to her personal issues. The story of Balaam had flesh on my mind, and my heart was troubling.
In your message, when you asked us “Do we have a dream for these teens?” my heart was broken. As I confused I didn’t have a dream for the teens I served with.
I want to say “thank –You”. I never write a letter to the speaker especially those are grant speaker like you because I don’t know whether the letter will delivery to you person, or your administration staff will read through it and response by a sentence as God bless you. But no matter either you read this letter in person or your administration staff read it, I just want to say “THANK YOU” not only open my eyes to see my weakness, but also strip up my passion to the teens.
Catherine,
Thank you so much for your words and God’s continued blessings upon your life and ministry.
Efrem Smith