Ten Years of Ministry

Psalm 36:5 (NKJV) "Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds."

Every December God takes us down memory lane to show and remind us of His great faithfulness. Why December? Well, He definitely shows us His faithfulness throughout the year, but the birthday of Calvary Chapel Aurora falls on December 26th, and so around this time we're all thinking about what God has done over the years.

This past Wednesday night, we enjoyed a service together rejoicing over the faithfulness of God and all that Jesus has done and desires to do here at Calvary. My pastor, Jeff Johnson of Calvary Chapel Downey, was here to share in the Word and we debuted our 10-year anniversary video (click here to watch it:http://vimeo.com/8101054). The video chronicles the story of our fellowship and includes some great pictures along with some encouragements from a few of the pastors that have invested spiritually in us.

Use this time to remind yourself that God is at work in your life - big time. You have a spiritual birthday of sorts as God plucked you out the miry clay and set your feet on a solid Rock.

Take time to rejoice in His faithfulness today. You'll be glad you did!

In Him,
Pastor Ed

RESPONSE:
This is the first fast that I have ever done that is longer then "skipping a meal" or maybe one day. It has been a very tough year, there have been many blessings, but emotionally, physically, and spiritually in most aspects of my life this has been a very tough year. I purposed in my mind I would commit to a full fast, and believe that God's grace would be sufficient as I would go through this experience to see "how strong is my flesh" and also to take some time to mourn the loss one of the biggest spiritual influences and advocates in my life who passed away October 29th...my mom.

During my fast God revealed that He wants me to rely on Him for things that only through His spirit living in and through me, would I be able to reach some degree of peace, comfort, and joy. However, no sooner than I began to understand and experience some of this during the fast, when the fast ended. I mean that night and the next morning wouldn't you know it, I was tempted immediately with a barrage of all the items that God was revealing to me that He was working through me for His purpose. I continue to battle and rely on Him, but now with the understanding of the fast and a little taste of what our Lord and Savior went through I am more purposeful and more focused not to give up and to run a strong race.

Thanks for the challenge...I think. I was participating in the nightly events through the internet in hotel rooms. It was great that I could do the singing and participate in the virtual prayer groups, but one thing was missing...I was not able to participate in communion. Then it hit me, I could ask the concierge if I could get a little cracker and a small amount of juice and he brought out Carr's Entertainment Cracker Collection.