A BIG win.

On Tuesday I went the retirement celebration for a friend of mine who also happens to be one of our adult youth ministry leaders. 27 years he served our great country in the Army and now he's ready for some incredible years of ministry, leading up the Celebrate Recovery program at Del Sol Church. We've been praying for years for Celebrate Recovery to take at Del Sol and I think that Bob is the man to make it happen.

If you knew Bob's story, you would know that is definitely a win - but that's not the big one.

Bob's family had come into town to be at his retirement celebration and since they had come in over the weekend, they worshipped with us at our Sunday morning worship celebration. So at the dinner on Tuesday, I was sitting with Pastor Walter and while we were eating dinner before the program began, Bob came up to greet us. He told us something that blew me away.

He said that his brother-in-law had come to our worship celebration on Sunday morning. He also said that his brother-in-law was extremely anti-church and that ordinarily, he would never dare to darken the doors of a church for anything.

But he came to Del Sol on Sunday because of Bob. And afterwards, he told Bob that he really liked it and that if he could, he would move down here just so he could come to Del Sol.

Wow.

I've been thinking a lot about that. Bob had a messed up life. He was hurt by others and he made some unwise choices and hurt himself and those closest to him. Bob met Jesus Christ, surrendered his life to Him, and is now an incredible husband, father, friend, and leader.

Bob has really been through a lot in his life. He's had more than his fair share of suffering, and what I've been thinking is this: what if God allowed Bob to go through everything he went through for the sake of his brother-in-law? What if God let Bob suffer like he did so that one day Bob would repent, turn to God, and years later when he retired, he would bring his brother-in-law to church and his brother-in-law would meet with God?

What if everything Bob went through wasn't even about Bob; what if everything he went through was for something bigger than himself? What if it was for the sake of his brother-in-law?





What if everything YOU have been through is not even really about you? What if it's about setting the scene for someone else at some time in your life to meet with Jesus?

If you could know that's what your suffering was about - would knowing that make it worthwhile to you?