Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. It’s cold and it’s windy outside, and I was moving in slow speed this morning because of it. All it took was a hot cup of coffee and Warm Time with the Living God and the cold and wind took a backseat to the Inspiration He had for me. I need to be fed and nourished by the Living God more than I need food, or water, or air so I look for my Nourishment every day even if I feel like I have to crawl there to get it. Not a whole lot about what goes on “outside” really matters at all, as long as I’m Ready for whatever it is on the Inside, I’ll never be Discouraged or Defeated. Isn’t that the way you look at life on the outside too?

I’m not one to get too worked up about what goes on in life “outside” and I’m often accused of not caring because of it. But there’s no reason to get too worked up when you know that God holds the world in the Palm of His Hand and that nothing takes Him by surprise. He’s done a really good job Managing people, places and things since the beginning of all Time; so, although I have opinions and feelings about what I see “outside”; He’s definitely up for the Job of running things for me and everybody else on the planet. I get more worked-up about what I see on the inside of people than I ever will by what I see on the “outside” and it causes me pain to see their pain. I get worked up over people hurting their own children and it causes me pain to consider how they got so heartless. I get worked up over people killing a child in the womb and it causes me pain to consider how they got so selfish. I get worked up over people in poverty living on a cold park bench in the middle of winter or going hungry they way they do and it causes me pain to wonder how they got so overlooked. I get worked up over people being unkind to other people and it causes me pain when I consider how they got so entitled. I get worked up over all the lost people that need to know my God and it pains me to see so few willing to Share.
Most of the time the things I get worked up over all come down to the lack of Compassion, and it pains me to see a world not ready, willing or able to extend it….especially those who Believe.

I have a heart that can be hurt with just one wrong beat because my Heart is Open for the world to see. I don’t do the Deciding on who should get a piece of my Heart; God does that for me when He brings people into my Life for His Purpose. I have a Heart that hurts deeply over what I see on the inside of other people; and its that kind of hurt that fuels Compassion. Christ-like compassion isn’t just feeling sorry for the ones that hurt…it’s feeling PAIN over the ones that hurt…just the way Jesus did. I hurt for hurting people, angry people, broken people, hardened people, crazy people, criminal people and everything else in between. I hurt for some of my friends that are sitting on the sidelines of their Faith and I hurt for all my enemies. But I’ll never hurt for anything as much as I hurt for lost people…people that haven’t heard the Truth and people who have never been loved enough by one of us to be told about Him. That’s the biggest kind of Hurt of all. I can do my part to provide food or shelter or a pair of warm boots, but the greatest thing I can give to a person in need is Jesus Christ. Now THAT I get REALLY worked up over and THAT is what I focus on the most.

I’m not letting what’s going on outside to get my attention away from what goes on inside no matter how troubling it appears to be. I know how my enemy works and he would do a happy dance if I started focusing on the outside and stopped focusing on the inside. In the meantime, I’ll speak up, show up, and pray up over lots of those outside things. But you’ll find me sharing the Nourishment that I fill myself up with every day…the kind of Nourishment that is more important than food, water or air. The kind of Nourishment that has the Power to Heal every Heart and that will find a way feed and clothe the hurting world…IF I focus on the inside instead of the outside, that is. I’m loving Big…and the only thing I’ll get worked up over comes down to the only thing I’m SUPPOSED to be worked up over ever…the lost ones..

How about you?