Yesterday was Father's Day. It started out with an outdoor church service that was held on our "Island". This is a small piece of land that sits in between two channels of an irrigation ditch called edgar slough or comanche creek. Besides being a little chilly at the start of the service (9AM) it was a glorious morning. I truely believe that our congregation is maturing into an extremely dynamic and diverse bunch of power filled Holy Spirit driven God Chasers!

Then later at home I had the rest of the day to myself.

I had the opportunity to do one of my favorite things. I play online war games.

Oh My!! You might say. That isn't very spiritual!

Well, those of you that know me, know that I have been involved with a Christian Gaming Ministry now for at least 5 or 6 years. Some people fly fish....I play games online. And, I am pretty good at it. Not great, just good.

But, the thing I enjoy about this is that while I am playing against people from all over the world in the computer server, I get to talk about Jesus. Almost every day that I am in there, someone raises a question or decides they want to mock God. So it is always a challenge, but never boring. There are ample opportunities to minister to hurting people thru this medium.

Yesterday, there was one conversation that stood out from the rest. Someone raised the question about "Why it is harder for some to hear the Truth about God?" Initially, I suggested that certain "Personalities" found it easier to accept what Jesus had done than others. For instance some phlegmatic types I could see being very easy going about it and calmly accepting that Jesus was exactly who HE says HE is. Where, some more combative personalities might fight and question and doubt.

Then it occurred to me that often it is a life that is experiencing large amounts of pain and desperation that hears the Love and Grace of Jesus's message and run's like a thirsty creature towards life giving water. That often God allows pain in our lives to help us find Him.

Then this morning I thought of a simple prayer for all of us. If pain is good both as a warning sign physically, and spiritually. Then perhaps a prayer that asks God for the "Right Amount" of pain to produce the optimum fruit in our lives is appropriate. Wow! Praying for pain in our lives?!? Am I nuts?

Or, is it wisdom to acknowledge that we cannot avoid the pain in the first place? That to ask to be allowed to be exempt from pain....just because we are Christians is selfish? After all, the Word does say that we will have trials and tribulations just like anyone else. Kind of God's way of saying...."Get over it" everyone has the same opportunities to respond to suffering. Everyone, will have their share of reality in life.

It is what you do with it that makes the difference. For instance, our congregation is an example. There has been ALOT of pain over the last 20 years. There have been many people who's expectations of what "Church" should be have been challenged; to say the least. We have gone from a very inward looking organization to a dynamic group of outward looking people that expect to see God ACTUALLY move in power, changing lives, healing wounds, creating infectious passionate life! Life that is bleeding into every corner of our society changing everything in it's path.

So my prayer for you is this. May you have the perfect amount of Trials & Tribulations in your life, that will produce the growth and maturity neccessary to bring you into your Destiny. Don't run from adversity! Run towards it!