"Consider the Ravens..."

I re-listened to a sermon yesterday on the theology of suffering from a pastor (Levi Lusko) who suffered immense pain after losing his daughter to an asthma attack in 2012.  The following quotation has caused me to stop and think so many times since initially hearing it that I couldn't help but share it and relate it to my new career endeavor. "If we take away suffering altogether, we take away the ministry. The Bible tells us that we're a royal priesthood and holy nation and we like that!  But most of us forget that Kings and Priests have to be anointed.  What are they anointed with? Oil.  Where does oil come from?  Olives-- olives that have been pressed and crushed and broken down so that the goodness can be drawn out from it.  Who was crushed in order to be anointed?  Jesus.  He was crushed at Gethsemane (literally meaning "oil press") so we could take His anointing as kings and priests of God's kingdom. In return, we sometimes feel crushed by the things

Last January, I listened to a sermon by Christine Caine (one of my present day heroes) who was speaking to 40,000 college students about their life purpose.  She read the story of Elisha and how God basically plucked him out of the field from behind an ox to serve in one of the biggest and most intense jobs of his time.  She admonished the students to never shy away from hard and less-than-glamorous work but rather, to get behind the plow and work hard and trust that God is using your today to shape your tomorrow.  She told her own story and ways that God plucked her from the "plow" with jobs she never thought she'd do.  She challenged us to be okay with where God has us now. One of the most beautiful and terrifying things about living a life of faith is God's ability and propensity to change directions in our lives with hardly any notice.  There have been a few seasons where I sensed God might move, but rarely have I known how, when, or why.  For the past 18 months