Without love.

What do you do?

I am so certain that we, as a church, are in a moment of dire calamity. It seems as though everywhere I look there is death and destruction. Ministry is no longer a show from a stage in a building, but rather a case of life and death... and unless we are awoken to the state of affairs we will miss out on the great opportunities that have been placed before us. There is a great plague that is killing off the children of God... and instead of being enraptured by the love of the Father, they are entangled in sin. And dying.

The last year of my life has been in witness of the fact that things have become drastic. Or maybe they've always been drastic, and my eyes were not yet open to that truth. As my feet have tread upon waters of uncertainty I have become brokenhearted as I've realized that I am the one that carries truth, and yet have kept it within the confines of my heart. Herein lies the greatest revelation... if He's in you, you've got to let Him out.

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There has been a spurring of my heart towards these convictions and I would like to pay tribute to someone that I never met, and yet my life has been impacted by her life so greatly. Her name is Tam, and for a long time she was just a Facebook friend to Jen that I heard about occasionally, but as time went on she became a sister that I felt ever so kindred to. And although I never once got to see her face, hug her neck or even speak with her, I feel as though I knew her quite well. Her fight was short, yet not in vain... and I can honestly say that she impacted my life forever.

Tam went to meet Jesus today and to see her baby Levi and Carrie again. I am torn by great joy and deep sorrow because I understand the contrast and fragility of life in this moment. She may have only been given months with Jesus here on this earth, but she has stepped into eternity with her savior. The beauty of imagining that moment alone is so precious for me... to imagine her seeing Jesus for the first time, and feeling his tangible love for the first moments... how powerful. She may have not had the opportunity to really feel the love of God here on this earth, but I know for sure that she is being ravished by His amazing love right now.

I am looking forward to the moment when I will be able to sit near her in heaven, and tell her the impact that she had on my life.

Girls like Tam are my motivation for ministry... lives that were once in disarray and yet God came in and changed everything. Just as in the book of Ruth, I watched as Tam and Jen were a modern day Ruth and Naomi. These girls are just looking for someone that they can follow, and for someone who carries the love of “your God”. The simplest, yet most complex emotion on the face of the earth is the one that pulls them out of the depths of depravity and into life every time, and I know that lives like her's are so fragile... and if there is one there are thousands more. We must take up the same ministry that Jesus himself carried... to seek and save that which is lost.

If we have not love, we have nothing at all.