I’ve just returned from a delightful week with the Crossroads Discipleship Training School in Kona, Hawaii. It was a diverse group of international students ranging from their late twenties to well past retirement age: attorneys, pastors, educators, farmers, engineers, sculptors, painters, an internationally acclaimed sports photographer, and a young musician who recently fronted a popular heavy metal band.
The “Plaza” at the University of the Nations in Kona, Hawaii.
The week convinced me all over again that the yearning for grace and the dream of a Kingdom are universal human longings. Grace assuages our fears of abandonment and assures us that flawed as we are, we’re loved, received and valued by our Creator.
And the Kingdom? It affirms our hope for a better world and whispers to our heart that we matter; Though we are small, we are part of an epic story that is unfolding towards the grand redemption of all things.
Not an hour ago I was at the local nursing home singing Christmas carols: “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight”. Both the hope for a new world and the fear of abandonment were met in the manger when the King of grace took on the flesh of a child.
Dispatches from the Shadowlands 
Hello Don! This is a good post and reminder about the Kingdom coming through Christ.
I recently started reading a book by Bob Ekblad called “A New Christian Manifesto: Pledging Allegiance to the Kingdom of God” and I thought of you, thinking that you’d really like it. I sure do!
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Thanks Selina! I like it when the Kingdom reminds people of me! The book sounds really interesting. I’ve just added it to my list of books to check out. Sure hope to see you again soon.
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Our Hope is a Father who listens and a Son who intercedes for us!!! How I long for the Kingdom that will come, where there will be no more sorrow, no more tears, and no more strife! Yea, come quickly Lord Jesus!
May your Christmas be Blessed! Traveling Mercies! and Thanks for preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom!!!
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John!! Thanks for the note! It made me smile just like you always have. Blessings to you, Rebecca and the family. I sure would love to catch up with you guys one day!
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You and your Kingdom message were a gift to all of us. Thank you for coming and giving so much of yourself to so many. As the Crossroaders leave this week for outreach, they take a whole new level of understanding of Jesus’ love for them with them to the Nations. Your message and your presence with us was awe inspiring. Love you, Bro…Sheryll
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Thanks Sheryll! The blessing was ALL mine! I loved the spiritual hunger in the class, along with their hospitality, and eagerness to converse and engage. It was a special joy to hang with you, especially at the farm store! (I’m laughing as I write this!)
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We cannot imagine how interested God is in each of us personally. We just will never know. But I am growing in this knowledge, that he has a pearsonal law that he is writing on my heart. It is only for me, yet it is meant to be shared by me for the purpose of building up the Kingdom.
All our fears were met in the manger! Abandonment, condemnation, addiction, shame, slavery, opression, and the like. Gal 4:1-7.
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Dave! Thanks for the note! I love the way you get it, own it, and explain it in your own personal way. May the Grace of God and the beauty of His Kingdom, (both of which are fully manifested in King Jesus), increase in your heart daily. Hope we can catch up again soon!
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I love you, Buddy. Merry Christmas!
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Thanks David! That made me smile. Hope YOU’VE had a Merry Christmas. Your notes and comments are always a source of encouragement.
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Thanks Don, we enjoyed you too. May we continue to allow God to bring the knowledge and exposure of the Kingdom of God through us to Cambodia and beyond.
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