I entitled this piece from Pastor Brian’s sermon series over 8 years ago when I first arrived at Harvest Community Church. His message that day and our work together with God’s guidance is the very reason I’m still at Harvest and still following Christ’s lead.

Its been a couple of weeks since my last post due to the fires of life. A good friend had fallen seriously ill and after two weeks of struggle went into the hospital where he was diagnosed with cancer. Initially he was told he had less than a year and to begin getting his affairs in order. It couldn’t have been worse. 8 days, several gruesome biopsies, and one chemo treatment later, he walked out of the hospital looking 100% better. Mark still has a long road ahead of him and there are no guarantees in this life. Still, Mark knows he has a guarantee of being healed and whole whether it be here or in his Heavenly home. Prayers through the week were to deliver Mark from this storm built upon our faith in His will. As children of God we maintain confidence in our future and pray for knowledge of God’s will for us and power to carry it out. His will, not ours, be done.

During the course of the week Mark’s doctor’s closed in on exactly what he had and developed a plan of attack. Through this same period of time our Tuesday group closed ranks and rallied behind Mark. My unofficial count was at least 10 of us spent time in those hospital rooms. The point I want to make is that this is exactly what seeking and finding God’s will looks like. People, each and every one of us, snatched from the fires of our life stepped forward in support of a brother in sobriety. I’m personally humbled to be associated with such great people.

My gratitude for God’s grace cannot be expressed in words. He pulled Mark from that fire. We don’t know why or for how long but we know there is a reason and his fight in the body continues.