We promised our 10000th facebook friend a song. Here it is!

So my mechanic called today. Bad news. It needs a new transmission and a new radiator. I don't know much about cars, but when he told me the price - well let's just say I knew it was bad!

This news has come on the tail of a lot of other difficult times. I wont go into it all here but let's just say it has felt like I have been hit time after time after time. It feels like I really am in the midst of a storm.

A phrase that I seem to have heard many times came to my mind like it was scripture: "God will not give you more than you can bear". I needed encouragement and so googled where that 'scripture' was.

As it turns out, it doesn't exist.

The verse people are often thinking of is 1 Cor 10:13 ("And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.") This is a beautiful verse, but it is talking about temptations to sin - not difficult circumstances in life.

I did some further reading and discovered that God actually does allow things more than we can handle...because he doesn't want us to 'handle' life on our own!

Check out 2 Cor 1:8-11

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.

This has been so great for me, so liberating. I'm not going to try and "make it through" this time. I'm going to rely on God - he will deliver/rescue me over and over again. I know He loves me (Eph 1:4b-5), I know He'll never leave me (Heb 13:5), and I know He has my good in mind (Rom 8:28). What a great God we serve.

This was so encouraging for me - I just had to share it with you guys.

Rich

(Photo courtesy of Harvest.org)

This really was a spectacular experience for us - I think we'll be telling our grand kids about this one! 45,000 people in the Angels Stadium (CA) - needless to say this is the biggest audience we've played to.

But I think what made it so special for us was that we could feel that we were a part of something so much bigger than ourselves. This crusade has been instrumental in changing thousands of peoples lives (of course it's the Holy Spirit doing the actual work!) for 20 years. We were given the opportunity to not only play a little 3 song rock set but to play for the alter call. We played another 3 songs while over 4,000 people came down onto the grass to give their heart to the Lord. What an experience.

I had a real moment during this time (the alter call) - while we were playing our song "Welcome to Eternity". It hit me pretty hard that here we were, a little band from Australia, playing a song written in my bedroom in Sydney for my friend struggling in his walk with God - - and now we were playing it to thousands and thousands as they made the most important decision they will ever make.

We always prayed that God would use us powerfully for his work. I guess he answered. It was very very humbling.

You can actually watch the whole thing (or selected parts) here

Please keep on emailing us with your "Blink stories". They are VERY encouraging for us

This one came in from David Kelly of Bend, Oregon. Very cool.

Three weeks ago today, I was lying in a hospital bed in Vancouver, Canada.  I arrived by helicopter after a high speed crash on my mountain bike at Whistler's resort.  On our last run of the day, I rolled a small turn slightly off-line which forced me into a ditch.  I flew over the bars at full speed, hitting the mountain head first.  An electrical force went through my body.  I tried to get up.  Nothing happened.  I was paralyzed from the neck down.  I began to pray aloud.  I heard the song "Blink" by Revive this morning that sums it up  - "it happens in a blink".  How quickly life goes by, how quickly my life had changed.  There are many details to this story, all of which have God's fingerprints on them.  This story involves me, but it's not about me.  It's about how faithful and loving God is.  I feel I was touched that day in front of many witnesses.  I walked out of the hospital three days later with several injuries including a fractured neck.  By His grace and love, I am near a full recovery just three weeks later.  My hope and prayer is that people hear this and realize that life happens in a blink.  Jesus is there for all of us and loves us right at this moment, and now is the time to prepare our hearts for whatever comes our way.  God is so good!