Ray Jones' son was playing baseball, and his team had batted around, but when it came to his son's at bat, he struck out. In fact, every time he came to the plate that night he struck out, never once hitting the ball. After the game, his father came up to him and he said, "Son, I'm so glad you struck out every time you came to bat tonight." Confused, his son did a double-take wondering what in the world his dad was thinking. But Ray said, "This way I can tell you that I am so proud of you, and you can know that it has absolutely nothing to do with what happened on the field."
Just think about that for a second, God is proud of you. This is Love with a capital L that He shows us. That even in our failures, our mistakes, and our sin, He still loves us. I often lose sight of that and its easy to do so.
And it doesn't mean we stop trying or keep living in our sin. It means that God has and will always be there for us and is still working even when we feel like He isn't, or even when we fail. It means we put more effort into pursuing Christ and Christ's goals. Because:
He is working.
He is moving.
We are not yet complete and won't be til the day we die.
Let's get uncomfortable, take risks, love and serve others, take the Church to the people, live the Gospel, make Jesus Famous.
