"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you." (Ephesians 1:18)  Eyes to see...a new heart...hope in the Lord.  To have purpose.  Meaning.  The weightiness of your life...from God's perspective.
 
In some ways a simple idea.  In all ways a life long journey.
 
Two months removed from our time together...seven weeks spent revisiting each session... how goes the journey now?  For us it often comes in fits and starts; blessings and battles.  But there is a prize we are pursuing (Philippians 3:14) and there are markers along that road.  Gary illustrated the path in several ways:
 
Awaken...into Deepen.  (Or perhaps Justification into Sanctification sounds more familiar.)
Discover, Develop, Align.
Disrupt. Dismantle. Rebuild. Release...
 
One message Gary illuminated in Mark 8 and John 9 might be the idea that resonates most: we are living "between touches."
 
22They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?"
 
24He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."
 
25Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.  (Mark 8: 22-25)

Life between touches is difficult.  Why?  Because we are fighting for our Eyes to See.  We wrestle amidst circumstance, carve out what time we can to seek Him or to battle for and with one another, and all too often our vision is blurry or simply short sighted.     Tad Fisher, sharing from his heart about the Lord's preparation in him to have a heart for his son Luke, talked about perseverance.  He highlighted the deep truth of Romans 5:3-4. "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."

Crucial to perseverance is perspective...eyes to see.  We are in the midst of a larger story that is not all up to us.  We are embattled, but we seek higher ground and pray that our Lord lend us His eyes so that we can grasp our role in His story.  And even when we struggle to understand our circumstances, we desire to run with perseverance the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1), believing that God is after the development of our character.  Don’t we want to be able to handle the “good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do?” (Ephesians 2:10)  Won’t this perspective make it easier to live with hope in the midst of tough circumstances...between touches?

Among our group we've prayerfully determined that it is time to dive back into our stories together.  We have been down this road before - some of us several times.  The beginnings all sound similar: "I was born on such-and-such date in this town in that state..." The journey we've each taken from there is often hard to revisit out loud, but powerful in what it uncovers.  Forgotten joy...and deep wounds.  As vulnerable as we become in the telling, the transparency promises a chance for deeper forgiveness and healing than we might have imagined...and among trusted friends we find amazing insights and hints of the glory our Lord has in store.  This is not a time for verdicts.  It is a knitting together and a coming to the altar with hope.

If you are hungry for more, we highly recommend "Top Gun," a weekend at Rockbridge Young Life Camp in Goshen, Virginia this March 18-21.  Michael Thompson and his team from Zoweh Ministries do a great job through the weekend of helping a man understand his identity in Christ, where he is living in the larger story and what God is up to in his life.  Please visit www.zoweh.com for more information and to register.

We look forward to continuing the journey with you.  We will be in touch regarding future events, including the Calling Intensive with Gary.

With Grateful Hearts,


The Piercing the Veil Team