Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. — Mark 16:18 Our Mexico Missions team from our youth and young adults ministries are back with new life changing experiences of what God did in them and through them. They were able to dedicate 5 full days of serving and loving the people of Ensenada, making the name of Jesus known!

In this recent series called, Identity Crisis, we looked at all the roles in which we find our identity and what can happen when these roles change throughout different seasons of our lives. We can become insecure, feel rejected or look to unstable things to once again establish who we are. Pastor Jess started the series by taking us back to the Garden to find out who we are and how God designed us to be… Look at some thoughts from the series and please share with us in the comment at the end your thoughts!

I didn’t do much today but it somehow turned out to be a productive day. When I look back on last year I see that there were days I did a lot and got nothing done. There were also days like this one from last year that even though I didn’t do a lot it was productive.

Leaders have to lead and often that means thinking for others, giving clear direction and then following up to make sure that they do it. Then along the way you have to deal with personalities. It is not easy. I smile when I read this thought from last year. As a leader this is what I live every day. First, I have to lead myself. I have to know a clear direction and keep after it. I have to be accountable as a leader and also have to know my personality. I have to know when to say when and when to not make a decision because of my own personality conflicts. Leaders aren’t perfect. We have to have people in our lives who will tell us the truth and who can tell us things that are hard to hear. My wife is great in this area.

I finally got back to my bed at 3 am. The life of a parent is a tired one. Sleep is a memory. We just do life tired.

There were a couple of discouraging events this morning though neither overshadowed the day. Thankfully light shines in the dark. It is the nature of light to shine. It takes on a greater quality in contrast with dark. If we only had good days we wouldn’t appreciate the warmth and character of light as we do in adversity.

Tonight when I got home we had dinner as a family and then watched America’s Got Talent. There were two acts that stood out. The first was one consisted of these guys who were so in character that you didn’t know they were putting you on until well into the act. It was really funny. Then there was a guy who was in the foster care system and was adopted but expressed how as a child he felt like luggage and if anyone even smiled at him he asked if they would adopt him. Our hearts went out to him. I can still see the guys face there on my television set. I wanted to put my arms through the screen and hug him. How sad that a person would feel like luggage going from house to house. I had good parents that stuck it out through hard times and loved us. To this day our families on both sides are strong.

Way #1 Remind yourself of God’s faithfulness. Listen to the song, “The Steadfast Love of the Lord” by TheIslandSing, then take a listen to Pastor Jess exhorting on this subject – do you want faith like a kite, up and down with every wind of attack or brick-like faith that stands strong through the storm? Relisten to week #1. Way #2 Ask for prayers that scare you! We serve a BIG GOD!! Don’t be content skiing down the bunny hill slopes of life when there’s the diamond run to experience! Find what you’re believing for in God’s Word, believe it, then pray it! He wants you to have “exceedingly, abundantly above” what you could ever hope, ask, or think!! (Ephesians 3:20) More insights from Pastor Jessica Roth in week #2.

We made a pact that there would be no complaining. A good hit was not to be looked down on even if it wasn’t the desired result. And a bad hit wasn’t to be complained about even if we were disappointed. Oh that we could carry that attitude into our entire life. I know that there are times when I say things because it is the thing to do. If someone is playing golf and hits the ground with their swing I say “You hit the big ball first.” If my kids say “Daddy it hurts when I do this” I say “Don’t do that.” These may be funny things to say but if I am honest I am only saying them because I heard my parents or friends say these things. They are an automatic response.

It is very needed to have time without pressure where we can just love and decompress. There are gauges on pipes that carry pressure indicating safe amounts. When the amount of pressure is greater than the pipe can handle the gauge will show it by the needle going in to the red. Some of the valves have a pressure release to keep the pipe from exploding from the pressure.