What a Difference a Week Makes 

Check out this month’s Discovering Victory Podcast with Dr. Leslie Vernick.

What were you doing this time last week, my brother? I can tell you what we were doing … we were watching the news to see what Hurricane Sandy might do.

Little did we know what was in store for the Jersey Shore. Mid-afternoon on Monday I walked into the office of my COO, Jim Kennedy. The winds had been blowing for hours and we were amazed that we still had power.

Seconds later there was a huge gust of wind and we watched a pole go down and the rest is history. Our main building, guest accommodations and staff housing were totally powerless.

Thankfully we have a portable generator that fired up the main building and our Activity Center which allowed is to be somewhat “operational.”

Hundreds of trees fell on our property but no people or buildings were damaged. On Saturday we had dedicated the new playground and on Monday a tree fell which could have taken out the new playground fence and swing set. But as my grandkids said, “God moved the tree, Pop!”

All of our groups for this weekend cancelled = a $38,000 loss of revenue on a week that we need to do payroll.

But it could have been so much worse. So many of our friends and partners have lost everything. God protected our staff and the men of the Colony of Mercy in amazing ways.

In the midst of a very discouraging day, the Lord reminded me of a passage from Habakkuk 3:17-19: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines; though the yield of the olive tree fail, and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls, YET I WILL EXULT IN THE LORD, I WILL REJOICE IN THE GOD OF MY SALVATION. The Lord God IS my strength, and HE has made my feet like hind’s feet, and makes me walk in high places.”

This is where the rubber meets the road, brothers. It will be exciting to see how God continues to work in this situation for HIS glory and our good. I will share more tomorrow. Thanks for praying for the ministry of America’s Keswick. – Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: Jeremiah 34-36; Proverbs 5; Hebrews 2

Motivations: Failures for the believer are always temporary. God loves you and me so much that he will allow almost any failure if the end result is that we become more like Jesus. George Verwer

Practice to Remember: Level 1:James 3:6; Level 2: James 3:1-6

Powered Up:  If you have ever prayed in the dawn you will ask yourself why you were so foolish as to not to do it always; it is difficult to get into communion with God in the midst of the hurly-burley of the day. – Oswald Chambers