HOUSE OF BLUE WAS FOR A SEASON

 

It is a coffee mug....nothing more and surely nothing less. This one is 22 years old and is a by product of our early days of recovery meetings at Gadsden Vineyard. Lot's of memories when I look at this cup. Besides being a super-nifty-whiz-bang mug, it has a strange attraction in my life.

If I let this mug have it's way, it draws me back to a time where everything was new for me. The meetings were incredible and the crowds that were coming at times boggled my noggin. It was a heady time of seeing God move in ways I'd never seen before. Healings, salvations, deliverance, people being called into God's ministry.

If I listen to recordings I made during this time, I catch myself wondering who is the young man that is talking? Whatever happened to him? Well, I am that young guy, just got more mileage on me. What happened to me was that I saw a lot over the years. Some good and some not so good. Lot's of funerals. Did it affect me? I think maybe yes, but I also got to see God in ways I'd never seen before. So here, some 24 years later, I pray that I've matured and gotten some wisdom.

I'm writing this today because the past can play some pretty mean tricks on your mind, especially when we measure what is happening today using the past as the gold standard. I have followed the events at Asbury college ever since the renewal/revival began. Watched it spread to various locations. Read the first person accounts of what God seemed to be doing. I want to bless this move and pray for those involved. 

At the same time, I prayed that my generation would keep their hands off this move and allow God to build in these young people His kingdom plans and purpose. If you were to graph my life beginning with my birth and stretch it out to when ever my death will be, there is one truth that cannot be denied. I'm closer to one side than the other. With this in mind, I want to be available for whatever the task is that God has for me. It's not important that I'm on a stage, or have been given an opportunity to speak. What is most important to me is that I stay out of the way of what God is doing, and support those He is raising  up in this current generation.

Does this mean that I sitting down or stepping aside? What it means is that God gets to decide that, not me. If He tells my my time is up, as far as my current duties, then I will wait for Him to direct me to the next part of my journey. I have seen younger men and women that God is using in Recovery and I do believe that He is trusting them, equipping them, and calling them to go to places I never could have imagined. I will champion this generation and, at the same time, be grateful for all that God has allowed me to see, hear, and say in my own journey.

I do love that old coffee mug....

michael b.