Day 143 - And Then came the Morning!

Reading: 1 Kings 14,15 and 1 Cor. 15

Today's reading in Kings would all be depressing if it were not for the brief bright spot of King Asa, who did good in the sight of the Lord. But this is another reason that we can know that the Bible is an authentic account of God's people... it doesn't gloss over the ugly details. It tells everything like it is, good, bad, and often times ugly!

I was really touched today by the reading in 1 Cor. 15... especially regarding the resurrection. "If Christ be not risen, then our preaching is in vain," Paul wrote. "If Christ is not risen, our faith is in vain."

Thankfully we can have HOPE because Christ is risen, and He is even now at the right hand of God, ever living to make intercession for us! As in Adam, all died, so in Christ all are made alive. Eventually death will be swallowed up in victory. The last enemy to be destroyed? Death! Praise the Lord!

As I was reading today, I was reminded of the song that they played a few months ago during spring council, "Then Came the Morning...." This song really moves me. I'm going to include a link to that song here... Looking forward to the morning!

THEN CAME THE MORNING - Video Song

[Personal note: Doing well and God is blessing my time here in the Philippines. This past Monday I flew south to the city of Iloilo. It's on the island of Panay, south of Manila. It's quite hot here as I expected. But I'm thankful for an upper room sanctuary with fans and AC. I'm staying only three floors up above the world now, rather than 29! I'm not a huge fan of heights and tall buildings (even though where I was staying in Manila was super nice), so I'm thankful that I don't need to ride the elevators anymore. Today I'm working on my PYC seminar workshops. I have two plenary sessions and three workshops for this upcoming conference, and haven't had much time to prepare until now. The workshops will be largely new material, especially my session on "Keys to Vibrant Living as a Single." I never dreamed I'd be one-day talking to young people about this topic, but the need is great, so I feel God is calling me to be vulnerable and share some of the lessons He's taught me (and is still teaching me) about surrender and service over the years. Also, I will be speaking tonight at a church here in the community where we are staying. Tomorrow will be our one sightseeing day here as my friend Gem is taking us to the beach. (There is a group of us PYC speakers staying at his home with his family this week. They've been wonderful to us all!) Then Friday and the weekend I am speaking again... and next week we start PYC. Praising the Lord for His many blessings! But it's hard to believe that my time here is going so fast.]  

Tomorrow's Reading: 1 Kings 16,17 and Ps. 58,59