Convention Highlights

At Milltown #1, we had a worker who has been laboring in Ecuador, who I knew during his third year in the work in Phoenix, AZ (1983-84). He was at Casa Grande, too, and spent at night at my sister's house (sometime around convention time). I finally caught up to him Sunday morning after breakfast and had a little visit and introduced Larry to him. (Rosanna and Caroline weren't around, so couldn't introduce them.)

He spoke Wednesday night about a man in Ecuador--a prodigal that eventually came back to the truth and along the way, helped a large group of people find the gospel, as well! I liked what he said about the prodigal--that impossibility can become possibility. On Saturday morning, he spoke about the book of Job. He said the purpose of this book was to show that men and women had forgotten they had an adversary to their soul. He said we need to stop and think that it may not just be circumstances, but someone--our adversary--may be trying to destroy our soul. Later, he went on to tell us that the bottom line of Satan's intent was to destroy fellowship. That is the tragedy in this book--fellowship was broken down--however, it was restored in the last chapter.

Everything from A to Z about our spiritual life was covered last week. I enjoyed what a sister worker said about hope, that hope and help go together. Hope affects how we look ahead. If we receive a little help for our soul, it gives us some hope that God sees us. And when we get some hope, it helps us. We need help, and we can't even lift our head without hope. Our hope must be in God, and then we'll receive real help.

One theme (or perhaps two similar themes) that I particularly noticed at the convention was feeding and thoughts. Are we feeding on Jesus or on the things that are of no eternal use? What is taken inwardly starts to show outwardly. Things we need to feed: our confidence--feed by praying, reading, obeying.... Our faith...our faith is a living faith, and it needs to be kept alive.

Several workers mentioned our thoughts. God's thoughts are so much higher than ours. The thoughts of the heart can influence so much what we do...and how we think it should be done. When we have more power over our thoughts, we can pray more effectively. It's hard to live above the quality of our thoughts: we're no better than our thoughts. Replace bad thoughts with good thoughts--think thoughts that keep your heart aflame. II Cor. 10: 5 - "Casting down imaginations (or reasonings)...and bringing into captivity every thought...." Our thinking can undermine our faith. Our thinking may be private (from others), but it affects us...and is open before God. Need to watch our curiosity; some things can sow seeds that Satan can water.

There was just so much shared! But one final nugget concerning meditation.... We have a Father who wants to talk to us, and we need to listen. We need to know what it is to strive to get into the secret place, the quiet place. Meditating--like chewing the cud. An ox never chews its cud while pulling the cart. If sheep don't have quiet time to chew their cud, they get sick. Meditation is an invitation for God to come in....