Right on schedule, but more like a checkup appointment with my dentist, I bang out my next post hunched over my keyboard.  I’m fighting off what appears to be the onset of this year’s flu strain.  Hopefully, it’s just some minor chest congestion that will go away without infection. But dare I say I am suffering.

On with the post…

I always find the timing of God curious and intriguing.  I recently started a reading plan of the Gospels.  I just finished reading Christ’s suffering on the cross (John 19, Luke 23, Matthew 26:47-27:1-66). While I am currently on Day 21 of 30 days of reading, I have read enough to know the full impact of why I believe what I believe.

But, what kicked off this post was a cocktail of several things and it has ultimately blended itself into a very tall mixer I will call CONVICTION.  They are as follows:

1. Reading of the Gospels daily
2. Coming down with some junky funkiness illness (have nothing else I desire to do)
3. Making a connection between Peter’s rejection of Christ (Matthew 26:34, Mark 14:68) and his second chance so to speak (John 21:15-17)
4. The true nature of my current suffering
5. Hearing roosters crow at a zoo last Friday.

I’ll just say it. I’m suffering from the lack of sharing the gospel.  This is the conviction I have from this reading plan. I’m not saying I haven’t shared. It just doesn’t seem to me that I am doing the things that put me in a position to share.  I’ve been relying heavily on Internet technology to do the sharing for me, but that is very passive and there is little pouring out of my life into the life of another.  And in a way, that’s sort like rejecting Christ and hearing the sounds of a thousand roosters crowing everyday.

The Nails and The Cross

I’m done with that pattern. I really want to be more direct and relational – like the early days of my faith.

Good Nugget

I was reading commentary on John 21:15-17 and I love the fact that despite Peter’s prior rejection, Jesus still entrusts to Peter the promise of  what He told him He would do when they first met: “I will make you fisher of men”. But Jesus takes it a little further this time.

I re-read that passage and noticed something else. “Feed my lambs… Shepherd my sheep…. Feed my sheep….” I may have heard an explanation for that before, but I asked myself, “What is the difference between a lamb and a sheep?” I looked it up on answers.com (dummies take comfort) – it’s young vs. old.

I should point out here now that Peter goes on to write in 1 Peter 2:1-5 something that probably is recalled from memory this very moment with Christ on the shoreline.

[Young]…Feed my lambs (like newborns, crave spiritual milk…) – [Growing]… Shepherd my sheep (So that by it you may grow up to salvation…) – [Old]…Feed my sheep (…you yourselves…are built up as a spiritual house…)

Caress

In Closing

For those of the faith, pray I get more opportunities to share the gospel in the normal everyday circumstances of life.  I love going on mission trips to do this, but, in all honesty, I do very little of that on the mission field.  It is the work that I do with my photography in the mission field that brings the gospel back to the United States; which in turn allows the work to continue in Honduras.

An orphan behind bars in a state run orphanage.

I firmly believe I capture the gospel in every image the Holy Spirit helps me to make.  These images serve as the springboard for many conversations and they help to plant seeds for later growth.  I do want to continue that, and more frequently than once or twice a year.

If you are reading this, you do have an opportunity to help in that effort.  There are many young, abandoned and abused children who are suffering in Honduras.  I hope that you can pass this along to those who might want to help.  To learn more about my passion and to give, please visit: www.macbugphotography.com.  If you already know about my passion and just want to help right away, it’s easy: Donate Now.  You can also send your prayers to: hondurasprayers@marcbrandenburg.com.

Serving Him,

Marc