I Hope You Dance

Many of the Christian leaders of today who proclaim a message of hope with positive expectation are being criticized by more traditional clergy. Joel Osteen and others like him are under an attack from the very people they will share eternity with! I don't get it. Certainly God warned the nation of Israel many times to repent for their sins and when they refused His wrath came down upon them. Certainly many preachers today have greed in their bellies and self-seeking in their hearts, but the bible tells us we will know them by the fruit of their endeavours. It is so easy to point the finger at everybody else when many times we need to point the finger at ourselves. Life is short. If you want to undo an injustice then bring some Justice to someone in need. The other night my wife and I were in the parking lot of Target and two young men approached us. The older told a story of how He was out of gas and needed to get the younger to another state in order to have an operation. My first thought was to tell him to come up with a better story! First off the younger (around 14)was wrapped in a blanket and had a sheepish grin on his face like "If this guy believes this I'm gonna crack"! The older guy was choking on his story and making it up as he went along. From the looks of them they weren't crack heads, probably just a couple kids who needed some money to eat or whatever. Anyway I could have laughed at their pathetic story but instead I reached into my wallet grabbed twenty bucks and said, "God Bless you". They took my offering with Gods blessing. He is at work in their lives even now! Negative or positive, which are you going to be. We will reap what we sow. I would rather error in the face of grace than judgment. Jesus was the ultimate optimist. He had no fear of His impending doom because He knew The Father would raise Him from the dead. The Bible says the same thing about Abraham, that he did not fear to put his son Issac to death by the command of God because he was certain God would raise him up.
You may have had some dreams die. Garth Brooks sings about thanking God for unanswered prayer. God wants you to have the best and not just what you may think you need at a certain time! When you absolutely know God is for you and not against you you will dance like never before. Believe in a great future, believe in great friends and a joy filled life. And if you feel God directing you, don't sit it out, DANCE!
Mitch