Breakthroughs

• "Adam, there's a call for you on line one," Deb (the receptionist) said. I was sitting at my desk at the Palo Alto Church of Christ, in Panama City, FL, in what ended up being my last year there. Andrew, a high school senior was on the other end of the phone. "Hey man," he said, "A few of us were wanting to go down to the shelter today and help serve some people who are down on their luck. We were wondering if you'd like to come with us." I hate to admit it, but I was stunned. I'd been ministering to these kids for 4 years trying to move them towards exactly this kind of moment. It wasn't an officially planned or organized event or program. It was simply a group of teens, trying to follow the Way of Jesus. That afternoon, the Kingdom of God broke through.

• The other day I heard Dana (my wife) talking to someone else. She didn't know I could hear her. She was talking about how much she believed in me...how proud she was of me...she actually called me "brilliant". In that moment, I could take on the world. In that moment, I knew that partnering with God and this incredible woman he had given me I could actually change the world. In that moment, the Kingdom of God broke through.

• Dana got up early yesterday. She had some things she wanted to get done, so she got up quietly and let me sleep. I half awoke a little while later to the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing. I thought it was Dana slipping in to get something she needed. My eyes were still closed. I felt the bed shift a little as my 2 1/2 year old daughter Emma climbed up on the bed. She never said a word. She just crawled over and snuggled up to me. She put her little arm around me and stroked the back of my head until she fell asleep again in my arms. For a moment, everything in my world was in harmony. For a moment, I knew why I fight the battles I do. For a little while I thought about the future I wanted for her. I thought about the church I wanted for her. I thought about the faith I wanted her to see and have. I realized that it was all worth it if I can help give her the future that God dreams for her and the world around her. That morning, the Kingdom of God broke through.

"Then Jesus asked, '“What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.'"
Luke 13:18-19 TNIV

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