Thanks for all of the words of encouragement as we tried to deal with the things that have transpired at MorningStar. I must say that the remarkable grace and strength of those affected turned one of the biggest disappointments I've ever had into one of the greatest encouragements. One of the things Chris Reed had meant to me was that the Lord thought enough of MorningStar to give us a future, and build upon it. When I saw the character in our team, the staff and the members of the congregation, as they dealt with what happened, I left with more encouragement than ever that we do. After the services yesterday, I raced back to my "cave" in Moravian Falls to get with the Lord about how I had handled the situation and what I needed to correct. I don't think it is possible to handle things like this perfectly, especially when I was hurting so much too. He let me know there were things I could have done better, but that this was not the time, reminding me of what the Apostle Paul had written in I Cor.4:5, to judge nothing before the time, but some things need to wait even for the coming of the Lord, I suppose because there will be total clarity then. All of this being said, I am encouraged and excited going forward, and was especially so because of the grace and mercy that was expressed by so many toward Chris and his family. I will have more to say about this later, but we need to keep in mind how the Lord always dealt with sin and the failures of people, with seemingly unlimited grace and mercy, but He likewise had little of this for the self-righteous. He will correct us, but He will always do this for our good. I don't want to err, but if we do I think we will much safer to err on the side of grace and mercy. Even so, we will continue to evaluate all that we can, including our failures, and will express them as best we can, but also our hope that, if in Him, will never disappoint us.

Posted by Rick Joyner at 2024-09-02 14:16:35 UTC