I got a GPS for Christmas. For those of you who did youth ministry with me you know I can’t find my way out of a paper bag. My first youth group trip I took four kids on a hike. We got lost in the forest. Now when I say we got lost we left around noon with no food, no water, and no clue of where we were going. After about a half hour my four junior highers wanted to go back–no problem. I am sure camp is ahh, mmm over there! To make a long story short, my kids got dehydrated, several hours later we had the search and rescue team looking for us and me their fearless leader trying endlessly to find my way back to camp. Eventually we found another camp and someone (praise God) new the way to our camp. So a GPS is much needed. 

The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on, in linear sequence. 

In other words–one small change (the knocking over of one domino) has a huge effect (a chain reaction begins and knocks over all the dominos).

God wants to move in your life in mighty ways. To experience the God-sized life that He has in store for you–you need to trust in His plan-His dream for your life. His dream for you is one where you are not overwhelmed, but have peace–and that you are a part of bringing His peace to your neighborhood, your church and the world He has put you in. His dream for you is that you would become a better lover. A lover of Him and of others. His dream for you is that you would experience unlikely joy, endless blessings, wondrous redemption, unfound grace, and live with a creative passion that reflects the unending life He has given you. What if I told you there are small changes that you can make today, that will have a huge impact on your life? Would you make the necessary changes?

There are certain verses that grip our hearts. As I share verses with you, ponder the depth of these verses by reading each of them 3 times.

The other day, I was singing this song on my own, in worship-

Jesus, Lover of my soul, Jesus, I will never let You go. You’ve taken me from the miry clay. You’ve set my feet upon the rock and now I know. I love you. I need you. Though my world may fall, I will never let you go. My Savior my closest friend —

I kept singing and pondering this last lyric. I don’t know how to explain how this hit me- but it did. I just kept singing this lyric "my Savior (yes, I know 100% You are my Savior), my closest Friend."  It’s almost as if I was singing this last part as a question. Is Jesus really my closest friend?  A better friend than my wife, than my closest fleshy-friends (godly but made of flesh), closer than my kids?  Would I rather be with God or watch a movie? Would I rather spend time reading His book or the latest trendy book? Do I desire Him more than anything else? Do I call on my best Friend when I need help or someone else? 

Jeremiah 18:1-9

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:   “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”   So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, SHAPING IT AS SEEMED BEST TO HIM.

Then the word of the Lord came to me:   “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? ” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."