A few years ago the Spirit shared a vision with me that lead me to start a ministry called Grace Place.  This year we find ourselves ministering into our fourth Christmas and I continue to be thankful, amazed and humbled all at the same time.  Grace Place has had over 20,000 Grace Shoppers and has given away around one million dollars worth of merchandise.  This would not be possible without the blessing of God, the support of our community, the faithfulness of our volunteers and the physical, mental and spiritual needs of mankind.

Last night we had a Family Christmas Dinner.  This was not an advertised outreach event, but one that we announced on Sunday morning, a week ahead of time and asked the congregation to sign up for.  We intentionally planned on this being a time that we could step away from serving our community and enjoy a little fellowship together as a family.  We had around 125 people that showed up and we enjoyed a beautiful and delicious dinner – family style at one giant table!  All of the food was placed on the tables and when it came time to eat, we began to pass the food and many got up and walked around to help serve their neighbors.  It was planned to be a laid back affair, but ended up being another amazing night of ministry at Grace Place.

On my way home, as I was thinking through the evening, the thing that really struck me, was the diversity of the family that was sitting around that table.  There were people sitting beside and across from each other that are living in ministry relationship with one another, people that flat out would not be, if not for the ministry of Grace Place.  It is true that birds of a feather flock together, so when different birds begin to flock together, this is a supernatural work of a supernatural God.

“Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight!” and especially when they are family and not afraid to share and show it.  God is doing something amazing in the life and ministry of Grace Place.  It is not something that we could have planned, organized or planned strategy for.  It is something that happened simply because we have just begun to learn how to go with the flow of God’s Holy Spirit.

God will take you places that you’ve never dreamed of, if you will learn to simply let Him.  What God builds is beautiful, so let Him build your life and I promise it will be more than wonderful and you will live blessed!

For the past year, I have been studying the life and teachings of Jesus.  What’s amazing to me, is how different he approached everything.  In almost every situation, he deals with things in the exact opposite way that we have been taught and trained to deal with things.  We spend so much energy and waste so much effort on planning strategy, developing schemes and creating systems.  We think we are so smart, but with all of our brilliance, we really have very little to show for it, if we are honest with ourselves.  And we really do need to be honest with ourselves.

I mean think about it, we have congregations, budgets, buildings, programs, ministries, groups, training on every possible subject and agenda on top of agenda.  But what is so different this year in our lives from last year?  If you were to stand before God in the next five minutes, what would you have to say about what you have to say?

Jesus had a single task – the task of sharing the Gospel with a lost and dying world.  Did he start a church?  No!  Did he organize a big outreach event?  No!  Did he have a meeting, elect officers and appoint assignments?  No!  Jesus did not do any of the things that we would do or have done.  Jesus simply got up and began to journey through the world that he lived in.  Every encounter was an opportunity to share the Gospel and in the sharing the spread naturally began to happen.

He did not call together the best and the brightest, but instead, he took whoever and whatever came his way and dealt with it by sharing love, grace and hope.  I think that Jesus knew what love, grace and hope could and would accomplish, especially in normal, everyday, challenged people.

Think about the messed up, rag-tag, group of disciples that gathered around him.  When these very human men and women began to live with Jesus and as Jesus, it changed their lives and enabled their lives to change others.  As they began to think the thoughts of Jesus and love with the love of a Savior and friend, the world was changed and they were the ones doing the changing.  The philosophy of Jesus was simple:  Do it, let others see the benefit and as they do it, others will see it and benefit and lives will be changed by God’s love, grace and hope.

We tend to forget that the heart of “one” can change the world.  It starts with Jesus, continues with us and grows through others!  Jesus is teaching me this very simple, but purposeful principle, one heart at a time and I can’t help but to live blessed.