Skip to main content

On Mission

 Have you ever done something for many, many years? When you've done things for a long time, you create habits and ways of doing things. Your body learns to run on autopilot. You may have experienced it before. Have you ever driven somewhere that you go to frequently and not been sure about the journey there? Something else was on your mind and muscle memory just took over. Voila! You were at your destination. Doing things over and over again makes an indentation on us that lasts a while. 

For the past 16 ½ years I have driven 5-7 days per week to the college for work. Monday, I will take another path to work. God has called me to serve His people in His ministry. Rather than traveling south to the college, I'll head north to the Port of Manatee for my first day as Executive Director/Chaplain at Anchor House Mission. I first learned of the mission at our church as it was highlighted as a mission we support regularly. At that time, I had no idea that God was threading a needle for me to later serve Him at Anchor House. 

My point to all of this is that after we do something for a long time it's easy to get in routine. Change is hard. We are creatures of habit and change can be tough. It takes us out of our routine and our routine offers safety. 

But, in our routine God is still at work. Too often our routine muffles God's call and we fail to recognize God's little nudges to action. The question is are we willing to listen and move off of autopilot of our routine? I'm not trying to say you need to leave your job and enter the mission field. Your call may be to serve at Downtown Ministries or student ministries or Anchor House. It may be that you are called to share Jesus with a co-worker or pray with a homeless person or simply do a random act of kindness. We should live each day as if we are on a mission. Our mission is to Love God and Love His children (Matthew 22:37-40).

When you love something you pay attention to it and care for it. To love God you honor Him with how you live the life He has given you. You listen to Him. You love what He loves. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16).

God is on the move. Shake the routine. Be open. Be ready. Be on mission.

Be blessed and be a blessing,
Matt
Labels:

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 6, 2022 at 8:58 AM

    Everyday presents to opportunities to be a witness of God's love to others. Even going in a new direction.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Matt EnnisJanuary 17, 2022 at 7:04 AM

      I completely agree. But it's easy to slip into routine and ignore those opportunities.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Do the Work

Sometimes I sit down to write and it just seems like I am trying to write with a pen without ink. There is simply nothing productive coming from the activity. Other times, God just pours it out on me. The ideas flow and the message comes together with ease. More often than not it's the former rather than the latter. It seems God likes to make us work for it. The ones I have to work a bit harder on become the ones I like the most. I think we appreciate the things we have to work for more than the things that come easy. Our LifeGroup recently read about the Miraculous Catch of Fish. You know the story where Peter and his buddies have been out fishing all night and came back to shore completely empty handed. That next morning, Jesus asks them to take him out in the boat. Once out on the water, He has them put the nets back down and they bring in loads and loads of fish. So many fish that two boats almost sank.  I guess Jesus could have just made the fish jump into th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bold Like Stephen

I've always admired people who aren't afraid to be bold in their convictions.  It is the kind of boldness that allows them to stand out in the crowd. There is just something different about how these people view and engage the world around them.  The movie “Hacksaw Ridge” portrays a man that exemplifies what I mean by bold.  He was drafted to serve in World War II but refused to bear arms because of religious reasons. Yet, he still managed to receive the Congressional Medal of honor. Without a weapon in his hand, he saved 75 men in the Battle of Okinawa. Despite his objection to violence, he still served his country. Despite his objection to war he found a way to love his neighbor. He was bold.  When I think of bold in the Bible, I think of Stephen. Acts 6:8 says, "Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people." Stephen faced opposition to his teachings. Those that opposed his teachings couldn't ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Anchor House Week 4: Strawberries

This week I had the chance to come through on a promise I made to one of our regular ships. When they were in port last we were hanging out in the break room with the crew. Somehow we got on the subject of strawberries, Florida strawberries of course. I made the bold statement that Florida strawberries were the best. Trish followed up by clarifying that Plant City’s are the best. She had a point that is hard to argue with. In the discussion, I told the seafarer that I would bring them some strawberries next time they were at Port Manatee. Sure enough the next time they were in port I ran to Detweillers, first thing in the morning, and picked up a half of a flat of some of the most beautiful strawberries you've ever seen. They were big, red, perfectly placed in the container in a neat and orderly fashion. They looked magnificent. As we approached the ship, the seafarer whom I had made the promise to waved and said, “You remembered!” After we boarded the ship, we t...
Post a Comment
Read more