Musings of the Minstrel

I am requesting prayer from all of you that believe God still works miracles. There is a little 11 year old girl in our church who has been attacked by an unknown virus or bacteria. The doctors are still not sure what it is yet. She has been on life support for survival. This has been a very devastating thing for this family. Her name is Farah Scott. I am asking for all of you to say a prayer. We are seeing some improvements. She is now becoming coherent. She tried to talk to me yesterday, so these are good signs. Let's bombard the throne of heaven and get Farah home in time for No Limits.

Many of you have been praying for Christopher Lombardo (a 12 year old boy in our church who is battling the terrible effects of Crohn's Disease). He had a tube put in his stomach today that will allow his body to receive the nourishment he needs. He came through the surgery fine and is recovering. It looks like he will be released in 4 or 5 days in time for No Limits. Please continue to pray for Christopher.

It had been quite a trip. A short-tempered ticket agent, long security lines made longer now that I have to go through additional screening since I have this bionic knee implant. Then we sat on the tarmac for an hour in the heat. Whew! What a flight! Finally, we landed in the fertile valley that is my home. I gathered my things, exited the plane and headed down the escalator to wait for my luggage at the carousel. Nearing the ground floor of baggage claim I heard the melodious sounds of a live jazz band. Suddenly, my day changed, I made my way toward the music and there to my surprise and pleasure was a jazz band from Hungary that is in town for the annual Jazz Jubilee. My spirits were lifted. I looked around at weary travelers with goofy grins on their faces as we forgot about our bags and were lost in the music of the moment. As I tore myself away, I muttered to myself...."It's good to be home". Now I am back in one of my favorite coffee houses and I am thinking about people coming back home. The scripture says that heaven rejoices when a sinner comes back home. I can almost hear them playing now. Think about the weariness of those life travelers that have been away from God for so long. Only God knows what they have had to go through to get back. I say we need to strike up the band and let the songs of celebration ring out so sweetly that they forget all the baggage they brought with them. I know, we still have stuff to take care of and bags to unpack and to put back in order, but for a little while let's enjoy the music.

Well, my traveling days are over for a while. No Limits, Israel, France, Canada, Branson...all these foreign countries have me worn out. It is good to be home. Back to normal life. Well, as normal as my life ever is. We sometimes say "Back to the grind" with a negative bent, but I am not feeling any negativity right now. It is good to be back doing the daily work that makes the kingdom of God expand. The conferences, the crusades, the world-changing events only exist because of "daily faithfulness". I believe that the hope of the world is the "local church". The daily stuff is not near as fun as all of the high profile things that we want to be a part of. Peter was in one of those "cool" mountain-top events and wanted to stay and build 3 temples to dwell in, but Jesus said "No....lets head back down to where real life is...." This is where real ministry takes place, in the everyday existence of faithful obedience.

If you are frustrated because nothing glorious or invigorating is happening to you, just keep being faithful and the "grand things" have a way of showing up.