Praying and Working

The past few days have been really meaningful for me. God has given me renewed encouragement and hope. Plus, I've just gotten to rest. Sometimes a brother just needs a nap.

Somtimes I just need to be reminded why I'm doing what I'm doing. Ultimately, I'm a Christian who wants to be used by God to change lives on an eternal level, primarily through the power of the Gospel, and also through education. Thinking about the young men and women I work with daily and praying about the various challenges they constantly encounter led me to a song and a passage of Scripture that express the tension between my working towards God's goal, and God's working towards His goal.

This tension was first summed up by the church father, Ignatius: "Work as if everything depends on you. Pray as if everything depends on God."

Despite every effort I make to effect change in young lives, we must always be aware that Jesus's desire for and pursuit of their hearts are greater than ours will ever be.

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You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

"God of This City" ~Chris Tomlin

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6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness [a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

~Psalm 58:6-12