So fun, you won't want to leave

Today has been a great day. God is in a good mood and He is still calls all the shots. Well, apparently Matt decided that after spending a few hours in heaven that he might as well just stick around and chill with Jesus. As much as I would have loved for him to come back, I don't blame him for choosing a place that doesn't have the blazing hot summers that Redding does. It is 80 degrees out right now, which feels hot since a few days ago the high was just below 60, but by July that high will be up around 110-115.

Anyway, even with hot weather God is still amazing! I even pulled out my sunglasses and rolled down my window as I drove from the church to my outreach. Boy do I have a lot to be thankful for. God's timing is perfect too. Twenty four hours before I would be praying for someone who just died God brought me out of a rather pitiful state of depression. Having just dealt with that and coming to the realization that God's presence is more important than anything, praying for the dead to be raised seemed like praying for someone who sneezed.

Yes, I will never be the same since that was the first time I have ever tried to raise the dead, but at the same time I could have easily let the situation discourage me. He died as soon as my shift began. He didn't just die after I prayed for him, he died when I showed up. Rather than entertaining the lie that I killed him by showing up, I prayed and believed that he would rise up!

Think about it. Yeah, I was coming to pray for a guy's healing and he died on my shift. That doesn't sound too good. But that isn't the truth. As Pastor Bill says regarding his father's death, I don't understand it, but I know that God is good and He will redeem the situation. One student, whose father just died a few weeks ago stood up at the funeral and invited people to come forward to receive prayer for healing after saying that he doesn't know why his father died but that he knows that God is good. Come on!

On outreach today we had the kids ask God to show them a picture and then draw it. It was amazing. I wish I had pictures of what these kids drew. One of our guys then led one kid to the Lord after the pictures he drew brought up questions about salvation. Oh Jesus, you are good! I can't wait for the creative miracles to start happening in abundance, the dying to be healed, and the dead to be raised.