Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Sometimes life surprises us with unexpected twists and turns. Many of these are joyful surprises but there are also times when we find ourselves caught off guard and wonder how we ended up where we did! Even the biggest lover of surprises doesn’t want to live their entire life with no idea of what is happening or how to plan ahead. Most of us feel safer if we have some idea of what to expect in the future.

When we are in school, we want to know what material will be on our exams, so we know what to study to be ready. As we get older, we are careful about what job to take, where to live, which house to buy, who to marry, etc. We try to gather as much information and as many details as possible so that we make the right decision. The problem is we can never fully know what our future holds. We can’t know everything or plan for every possibility, but we can’t always sit by the wayside waiting to decide either.

Here at Emmaus, we have the opportunity to decide on new ministries in our future. I’m guessing there are a lot of great ideas out there. What we need to do is collect all these ideas and then see what God is calling us to do. There may be things that we aren’t called to do, not yet, and there may be some that we aren’t ready for yet. So, the best approach we can take is to share them, pray over them, and evaluate whether God is calling and enabling us to do at this time. Then we need to decide which ones to try. We might stumble along the way or even make some wrong choices but together, in faith, with Jesus by our side, I know we will make a difference in our world for God! Jesus has promised to walk alongside us and to guide us even if we don’t get everything right or perfect the first time.

God is always creating something new. Sometimes those new things are joyful surprises. Other times God picks up the broken pieces of our bad decisions and creates something even more beautiful out of them.

Throughout this season of Lent, I encourage you to pray and dream about where God is leading Emmaus. Soon we will be assembling a team to help discern what comes next. If you want to be a part of that team, let me know. If you have an idea, let me know. Together we can travel along this Emmaus road with hope and joy for the bright future God has ahead for us!