“The condition for a miracle is difficulty, however the condition for a great miracle is not difficulty, but impossibility.”
A faith building story… a great movie….a must see.
click here to read more
Have a FACEBOOK account!? Look for us and join Friends of Emmaus.
Winter is slowly subsiding and suggestions of spring are in the air.
As I look around I’ve noticed the daffodils blooming, and the cherry
blossoms are timidly putting out a blossom here and there as if
testing the air to see if spring is truly around the corner. How do
we measure our lives? - mostly by years and seasons.
No matter what season you are in, Christ’s presence goes with you. We
are never alone in this journey of life. The dead of winter is
subsiding and spring is awakening from its long slumber. We are
called to awaken too, we are called to life, and life more abundantly.
A new life in Christ Jesus, this is our promise, this is our
proclamation to a world that needs life, light and love.
Are you still in the dead of winter, physically, emotionally and/ or
spiritually? As the first blossom of spring tests the air knowing
that spring is coming, we can test the air too. Christ has come and
His light can shine on and in us. We can have hope in this future of
uncertainty. I have once heard “I don’t know what the future holds,
but I know who holds the future”. It holds hope, no matter what
season of life you may be in.
Jesus Christ has come so we can be a part of His Kingdom, a Kingdom
that is eternal, a Kingdom that begins now. Nothing is wasted in
God’s economy. He can redeem us, give us life so we blossom like the
wild flowers. So next time you look at a flower know that you too
were created for this season, for this time. Seasons come and go but
those who live in Christ are forever. Enjoy the spring season!
Joseph
This is the story of my journey to Emmaus that has taken 22 years from the Lord’s vision to the fulfillment of a dream. The Lord doesn’t work in our timing or according to our schedule but he is faithful and patient with us as we endeavor to follow his lead.
Twenty-two years ago I was in St. Paul, Minnesota living in covenant community praying about my future and what the Lord might have in store for me. The Lord placed on my heart a desire to be involved in formation and making disciples and the Lord told me I would be involved in a retreat center in Mississippi. I was somewhat excited and fearful but this vision continued to grow in me until I knew I had to act on this vision.
So January 7th, 1989, I left St. Paul, MN, and moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi with two suitcases and eleven hundred dollars to my name. God provided me with a new family and new friends as I continued the journey of a lifetime. Now, like many of life’s journeys, we never know where it will end up or how long this journey may take.
In my mind I thought maybe five to ten years, but God had other ideas. God established me in Vicksburg with a career in law enforcement and a marriage to my wife, Kristy. I continued to pray and ask God if he was ever going to fulfill this vision he had given me years earlier. The Lord seemed silent on the subject and I started to wonder if it was really ever going to happen. It all seemed so impossible at the time but God is a fulfiller of the impossible.
I continued to journey along life’s sometime rugged road seeking God in various ways as I continued to grow in maturity and responsibility in God’s Kingdom. Until four years ago, the Lord put Brandon Spain and myself together through the Vineyard. After a short time Brandon and I would come together in prayer asking God what he wanted and seeking His guidance. For a year, Brandon and I prayed together in the mornings meanwhile, Brandon and Sandy and Kristy and I would get together and talk about what we felt the Lord was doing in our lives.
The main focus was a retreat center, but where, when and how? It still looked like this may be ten years out but God again had other plans. God started laying it on our hearts that NOW was the time. We were all excited and somewhat afraid all at the same time. This was a big leap of faith for us all. It’s a time when you have to trust God and believe you heard him and follow with all your heart.
The Lord was gracious to us by giving us confirmations from friends like Gary Garner, who had a vision of “No Mistake Plantation” describing it to me and telling me what to look for as we searched for a physical place. God even gave our babysitter a dream about the place, and she described it to my wife, Kristy. God led Sandy on the Internet to find our retreat center one day, and we all traveled to “No Mistake Plantation” that following Saturday.
As soon as we entered the gates, we knew that this was the place and I rejoiced in God’s faithfulness. We were in the honeymoon period of this venture. Now this is not the end of the story. Really this is only the beginning because as you know we have God’s Kingdom but we have an enemy also and he seems to work overtime.
A time of adversity, Things were moving along quite fast as we purchased the property and started working on the physical building and planning to build others. I won’t bore you with all the details other than to say that with any vision you need support and prayer because the enemy will attack. You learn to press into the Lord or you will fall. I think we all had days we didn’t know which end was up and where to go.
The Lord gave us a scripture “Unless the Lord build the house those who labor, labor in vain”. Yes, at times we allowed him to build the house but I have to admit there were times we did labor in vain. But we have learned much from this and we have the scars to prove it.
So now it’s been two years since we started this venture with the Lord with its joys and sorrows, which is all a part of life, isn’t it? I would like to say we are done struggling but that would be a lie, but I do know that God has led us here, that he is faithful to fulfill what he has begun in each of us. The joy is in the journey not just getting somewhere. It’s with the people we travel with. It’s sharing our lives together and sharing what God has done in us and through us. We are the ones that are important to Him, not just a vision or a building. Its putting our lives in his hand and saying to Him I want to journey with you. That is where we find real joy in Christ and being like him to each other.
So whatever vision, dream, God has given you, hang on to it and trust that God will fulfill what he has spoken. But most of all continue to hang on to Him in whom we have an eternal journey. My friends, be blessed and I pray that God’s life and will for you will be fulfilled
A fellow traveler: Joseph
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord.
This is the scripture that the Lord gave to me in the early days of dreaming and praying for this place. I typed it out and hung it on the mirror in my bath, and each day as I stood there preparing for a new day of uncertainty in my life… HE was there assuring me that HE holds each day of my life and my uncertainty became certainty.
Here we are… a dream has become reality. Just a few years ago this place was only something of a dream… our oldest son was a toddler and my husband and I were considering the possibilities of what God would do and just where He would take us. Even though our journey here has been extremely difficult and tear-filled, we know that the Lord brought us here… Satartia, MS… a place of peace and absolute beauty, nestled in the foothills overlooking the MS Delta. It was this place that God put in my dreams, this place that He has plans for.
“We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have-for their usefulness.” -Thomas Merton
This is the first post for the new Emmaus Retreat Center blog..
Recent Comments