Sunday’s sermon was exceptional! Roger did a fantastic job preaching and setting the mood for everyone who attended. We are in the I Am series and last Sunday, November 13, his title was “I Am the Light of the World.” The sermon was simple, easy to follow, but there was so much depth involved! His preaching got me thinking about the series we just finished up on Wednesdays evenings, Grow. I realized Sunday’s sermon was the perfect ending to the Wednesday series when Roger talked about God’s light being a simple candle. It is so true!

The closer we are to the light, the warmer and brighter it gets. That is just what we have been learning to do on Wednesday evening: Matthew teaching us how to worship, Lyndsey telling us the benefits of having a daily quiet time, and Roger explaining to how to read your Bible effectively. It all fit so perfectly! God does some crazy awesome things like that every now and then. I love it! Roger had a significant point on Sunday. I just want to touch on again. In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

WE are the light of the world, which means we need to get our spiritual lives under control. We need to get in the habit of diving into God’s Word on a daily basis and talking to Him throughout our day, and just making him a part of our lives! We then will be shine like the candle on Sunday. People will look at us and see the Light of God’s love all around us. They will feel the warmth of His love as well.

I ask you to ponder about Roger’s sermon and the Wednesday night teachings. They have been quite helpful to me. If you do not remember what they were, we have them on PODCAST!!!!

You can find the podcast on our website under the resources tab or by clicking here

I have been reading the book of Numbers recently, and it is very interesting. There are many things in the book that I do not understand, but I recently read a passage that really struck a cord with me. In Numbers chapter 9 it tells of the cloud which hovered over the tabernacle. By day it had the appearance of a cloud, and by night it had the appearance of fire. Now first of all, that in itself seems like it would be an astounding atmospheric phenomenon to witness. But as I continued on to read the purpose of this cloud, I was even more astounded. Numbers 9:17-18 says, “And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped. At the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord they camped.” Whether the cloud was over the tabernacle for one day at a time or months at a time, the people of Israel did not set out until the cloud lifted and moved. This made me think, “What would it look like to follow God’s cloud? What would my life be like if I was better in tune with His presence telling me when to stay and when to go? How much better would life be?” Ever since I read that passage my prayer has been, “Lord, teach me to follow your cloud.” I’m not really sure what that means or what it looks like, but I think I would like to learn.

As I continued reading, the Lord spoke to me again through a few verses in the next chapter. Numbers 10:11-13 says, “In the 2nd year, in the 2nd month, on the 20th day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony, and the people of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. They set out for the first time at the command of the Lord by Moses.” Now at first that seemed insignificant, but then I reread that it was the FIRST time they had set out from Sinai. I realized that the Israelites had been in Sinai for a long time before the cloud ever lifted and moved. What were they doing in Sinai all that time? They were receiving instructions from the Lord (read the book of Leviticus which precedes the book of Numbers). God was revealing His holiness among them and instructing them in how they were to live. This idea sparked another important thought in my head: it is important to heed to the Lord’s instructions so that you can live rightly while you are camped in one place.

So now my new prayer is this, “Lord, teach me to follow your cloud, AND teach me how I ought to live while I am camped in one place.”

Flying is who I am. It’s one of the things I do. A while back I was chatting with an old flight instructor of mine and we got to talking about air traffic controllers. For simplicity reasons, let’s just say that we have two types of airspace in the world of flying, controlled airspace, and uncontrolled.

In controlled airspace, you often have an air traffic controller who is monitoring your heading, altitude, and route of flight. In uncontrolled, you do not have an air traffic controller following your every move.

Several years ago I was on a flight with this flight instructor. We were on our last leg of a three leg flight. We had flown from Terre Haute, Indiana, to Evansville, Indiana and then down the river to Louisville, Kentucky. We were supposed to be heading north on our flight back to Terre Haute. We were also on an Instrument Flight, meaning were flying the airplane by reference to the instruments on the panel, not by looking out the window. This type of flying is complex, and it can be difficult, and very challenging depending on the weather.

We had filed for 6,000 feet on our departure from Louisville. Once we had departed we were given a right turn to heading 270, or due west and were instructed to climb to an altitude of 3,000 feet, not what we had filed our flight plan for. This was normal though as they wanted to keep smaller and slower airplanes out of the way of larger faster airplanes.

We seemed to fly on heading 270 for what seemed like hour, and when you are cruising at 105 mph, you are moving pretty quick. We were getting a little impatient as we had yet to be given our on course heading, and we were going west when we needed to be going north. As pilots we were getting impatient.

We asked air traffic control if we could get on course and up to our filed altitude. I recall he replied, and it was pretty hostile, that if we were to turn on course and climb now, we would be on a direct path for a collision with a large UPS jet that was inbound to Louisville. That’s not exactly where I wanted to be.

The moral of this story, we as pilots in our little Cessna 172 could not see the big picture. The controller could see the picture, he was watching out for us, even when it took us way out of our way.

God is a lot like our “air traffic controller” isn’t he? He guides us, and gives us directions. He cares for us, and he knows what’s best for us, even when it’s not what we want. He can see the big picture when we cant.

I leave you today with a favorite verse from Proverbs.

The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9