Taste and see that the Lord is good, Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
{Psalm 34:8, NLT}
Dear Rock Bridge Family,
I am approaching the conclusion of my Sabbatical and am filled with tremendous gratitude for the grace of this season as well as anticipation to rejoin you in fellowship, ministry, and mission!
I am blessed by the gracious wisdom of our Elders to afford me this opportunity as well as by your gracious understanding of this time. I am also extremely thankful for our staff who have done more and worked even harder than normal so I could step away.
But most especially, I praise God for He has indeed blessed me with more of Himself than I have previously known and enjoyed. He has brought conviction and consolation to my soul yet always with the loving kindness that marks so much of Who our God is. While this can be said as a cliché, I say it now as both a deep conviction and renewed experience of my heart – “God is good … really good!!”
At the start of my Sabbatical, my spiritual director encouraged me to find a word or phrase that captured at least a portion of my hopes for this season. My word was “with” – God is with us, with His people … God is with me. ‘With’ not just in the sense that God is everywhere (or ever present) but that His with-ness is personal, here, now, available and incredible; however, what is often missing—for a variety of reasons—is our awareness of His with-ness.
I had lost this awareness … but not anymore. These words from Bishop Kallistos Ware capture much of what I have regained:
From this hour and moment, I can start to walk through the world, conscious that it is God’s world, that He is near me in everything that
I see and touch, in everyone whom I encounter.
I am praying for God to continue to work in and through you, His people, to give you a truer sense of His with-ness, and for His favor to be upon you. I know He will use your efforts and heart through Serve the City to do good and magnify His Name in all our communities.
I look forward to rejoining you with a new sermon series on the study of 1 Peter called Different. The new series will kick-off the first of August. Until then, please pray I finish and receive all that God is poised to give me through the final days of Sabbatical.
God is good.
The best is yet to come!
Matt