Stepping Towards Jesus

"For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence...Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. All who wait patiently for Him are happy" Isaiah 30:15, 18

 

I'm a little nervous to be writing the very first Total YL Move blog post. But everything starts somewhere I suppose. Before break our team and really our whole area was dwelling on this passage from Isaiah. It's a sneaky little passage that sticks with you just the way it should. Young Life across the country will swing into full gear soon as a much anticipated semester of club, campaigners, and events hangs just around the corner. It's easy to get swept up into the excitement and I can still hear the phrase "new year, new you" clamouring around in my head. Time to do things bigger and better (Young Life reference intended). But according to Jesus, that is not the case.

 

Our entire deliverance hinges upon returning and resting. I'm sorry what? You want me to rest? There are clubs to plan Lord! There is coffee to be consumed, journals to be written, and enos to be slung. But just in line with the nature of the God of the univese, he does things contrary to popular belief. He wants us to rest in him, to be still and just know that he is God. He's waiting on us and building up all this compassion that he is ready to pour out on us but it is contingent upon our rest.

 

So hopefully you got some rest this break. Maybe you hung around in your pajamas until unreasonable  hours. Maybe you caught up on some reading, had a few good laughs with some friends. And hopefully you experienced true rest, rest in the Lord. Going into another semester let's hold onto that rest despite the craziness that ensues. May we return to him over and over again to experience deliverance and salvation in the midst of our busy lives. Let's not set our sights so far forward that we forget to turn back to our First Love. According to Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, sometimes the best thing you can do is "turn around and take a step forward".

 

He makes our pullovers, so maybe this guy is onto something. Maybe its time to turn around and take a step towards returning to Jesus.