Seen any feathers lately? 

If you're following our SUM blog, then you know about the feather adventure! So many of you have left comments and sent emails and pictures of God's sweet revelations. He wants to delight us. He wants us to see Him in action. He wants to show us His glory! 

Are you looking?

Maybe it's not feathers God's leaving for you. Maybe it's a timely note from a friend. Maybe it's that dream you've held close to your heart that's suddenly coming to fruition without any explanation, or perhaps it's a small shift in your prebeliever's heart that left you standing, mouth open in shock.

Things are happening, changing, reviving! God is doing some big stuff, and not just in the SUM community. Look around. What's God doing in your community, in your neighborhood, in your very own home. 

You can be sure He's there working. Take a look and let us know what you find!

Let's live in the daily presence of God!

Lynn & Dineen

In Mark 10, we're told about the story of a rich young man who approaches Jesus and asks what he has to do to inherit eternal life. Now read Jesus' reply below as I've shown an edited version of it. You'll understand why I did this in just a moment.

Jesus looked at him... "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." - Mark 10:21

Read it again if you need to and notice every word. Now read the complete version of this same verse:

Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." - Mark 10:21

Can you see the difference? If not, go back and compare the two and find the three words missing from the first one. Three little words:

and loved him

They don't have to be there to show what's going on, but those three words stopped me in my tracks. Here stands this young man who lacks nothing materially. Jesus can see his heart before he even speaks a word, and most likely knows what this young man will say.

Yet-and this is the part that blows me away-Jesus loved him. He loved this man whose world centered on his wealth. This man who would turn and walk away from the gift Jesus offered. The man who was so mired in his sinful nature that when offered the key to eternity (Jesus was offering himself here), he still chose to walk away.

Through all this, Jesus loved this man and met him exactly where he stood, figuratively and literally.

Every time Jesus looks upon us, He loves us. Every time Jesus looks upon our prebelieving spouses, He loves them. Exactly where they're at.

These three little words held within the complete context of this chapter of Mark is one of the strongest examples of Christ's unconditional love. When God inspired the men to write His Word down, He intentionally put those words in there for a reason. Not as an afterthought.

As Christ loved this man who was poor despite his wealth, so we are called to love our prebelievers. We stand before them, possibly the only representation of Christ in their lives. We are the door Christ can walk through and reveal His endless and intentional love.

God's love is not afterthought. It is the heart of His salvation. And when we allow God to use us to reveal His heart...His love, we stand in the footsteps of Christ.

Praying and believing,

Dineen