“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:8)
Day in and day out, I desire the reality of this Scripture to fully impact the lives of the people I interact with. From family and friends to people I meet in passing, I desire that above all else, above family and friends, that they gain Christ. With the people I live with at Joshua, I desire this even more so, because of my constant interactions and involvement in their lives. The present moment is the only one we are able to fully invest in and is where God desires us to be, so being able to play a part of their story fills me with a joy that can only come from God. He allows me to participate in their sanctification process, and I constantly am humbled in being included in this endeavor. That is why today has been a jarring day for the men and women in Joshua. For various reasons, two of our Joshua brothers left for home today.
We grieve the loss of these people in our lives while rejoicing the ways God is impacting their stories. The biggest thing that we as Joshua are recognizing is that community is a key aspect of the Christian life. We share life together for a year here and go through constant trials together. In not reaching out and developing that community, we miss out on a huge part of being here. Whatever anyone in this program is feeling right now, we need them to be reminded of this: that we will fail far more than we ever expect ourselves to, yet through grace and the Holy Spirit working through us, we will get back up again and continue to strive for Christ.
In this, we are also reminded that God is sovereign over all things in life and we know that all things work together for His good. So today we are sorrowful over our chapter of their story ending and excited for the way their story is unfolding in Christ.
Indeed, we count everything as loss for the sake of knowing Christ, and if that means that we only play a small part in others journey, then we praise God for that opportunity and know that He is good.
Hey, Kaylee here. Just wanna say a quick prayer over you, my Joshua siblings:
Father, breathe your peace out upon this place. Rain down your joy on your mourning children. Hold your hands steady as you guide our gone brothers. Promise me you won’t let them fall if they trip. Lord, take the hand of each of these people and lift their weary face toward yours and let them rest in your sovereign grace. Father forget not your crying children, and let us not forget you in our tears. Amen
Written by Kaylee, Leyla, Kyle, and Hank
