Is your day so scheduled that you have no room for anything else? Do you run from one thing to the next? Is your vision so focused just so you can get through your day? Is there room for spontaneity? Where’s the space for anything else that may come your way? What if we were open to having our world interrupted. What if we weren’t so set on our own schedule that we could “interrupt” someone else’s world (in a good way)?

Let’s look at Acts chapter 8. The church was growing. The gospel was spreading. The apostles were journeying to new places. They were willing to leave their comfortable place. They were obedient to go without knowing the exact destination or the future. They were determined. They knew their purpose. They were set in their obedience and their journey, but not set in their schedule. They were willing to listen to the Holy Spirit’s promptings. They were willing to step out in faith. They were looking to see God in the unique things that happened on the journey. They were open to opportunity.

The Ethiopian in Acts chapter 8 was not someone that Philip would ordinary seek out. But Philip heard him reading and went to him. Philip was not preoccupied with what he wanted for himself or what his own plan held. Philip was willing to listen to the Lord. Philip got the opportunity to help the Ethiopian. He got to help him not only understand the gospel, but baptize him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As soon as the Ethiopian understood the good news of Jesus and wanted to instantly take action in his own life. He didn’t see any reason why he wouldn’t be baptized. Now that he understood …

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life” Proverbs 13:12

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12

Disappointment and discouragement can come at any time and from almost any situation. Often disappointment comes when you least expect it and before you know it you have slipped into discouragement, frustration, confusion and temporary irrational thinking. If you are a person who loves the anticipation of an upcoming event, like I do, then the progression from disappointment to irrational thinking can occur quickly and turn your life into emotional chaos.

I was the unlucky recipient of a bit of news this past week that quickly set me on a roller coaster of emotions and took me on the challenging ride from disappointment to discouragement before I could catch my breath. Compared to many of the VERY difficult things I have faced in my life, I am surprised that I was so thrown off by this seemingly insignificant curveball that was thrown my way. Sitting here this morning, 4 days after the disappointing news, with a better perspective on the whole situation, it is a bit hard to understand how and why my disappointment moved so quickly to discouragement. And with discouragement come the inability to think creatively and problem solve effectively.

My husband and I have saved and dreamed and planned for a VERY long time to go on a Pilgrimage to Israel. We were in the planning stages 3 years ago to celebrate both of our 40th spiritual birthdays, but the trip had to be postponed …

When we are spending time with people, I think most of us want those relationships to look a certain way.  We want the friendship or relationship to go both ways, be reciprocal, have a give and take, or be somewhere close to “50/50”. It’s pretty normal to have that perspective about most things. With friends, family, coworkers, classmates, whoever it is, there is a certain level of expectation that relationships go two ways. It’s an investment. And with investments there is usually something received in return.

But here’s my dilemma… what if Christ loved us under those conditions? What if Christ only loved us if we loved him first.  What if he loved us the more we did for him? It’s a good thing that this is so far from how to characterize Christ’s love. Christ’s love is unconditional. He doesn’t ask us to come half way. He comes all the way, no matter how far into the depths that all the way is. He doesn’t ask anything of us, except for us to let Him in. There is no formula, no agenda, no guideline. Just LOVE. It reaches beyond anything we can even imagine. We can’t even picture how much He loves us because it is just too big.  Nothing we ever do will earn more love or take away His love. We don’t deserve it. We don’t even know how to fully understand it.  But we can receive it.

So we say we love as Christ loves, but do we really?  Don’t we usually have some sort of agenda lurking in the background? We say we are giving and loving people and don’t expect anything from them but I am not sure if that is always the truth. Maybe you are struggling today with your expectations of people …