From: The Pastor’s Heart
To: You
Title: “Even Though You Can’t See It NOW”

This morning I woke up a few minutes later than I had planned which meant that now I
would be running a little late for an important meeting. What makes matters worse, I was
the one who scheduled the meeting and requested that those attending would be on time.
So, as you would imagine, I had to immediately call and inform my party that I may be
just a few minutes tardy, but if traffic was good I could still possible make it on time. So I
jumped in my truck and quickly darted out of the subdivision. The meeting was in
Norcross and when I left Douglasville I was very optimistic about being able to make up
time by accelerating a little bit on the expressway and taking a couple of shortcuts. That
was my plan, but things soon changed.

What happened? Well you already know…TRAFFIC. There I was barely moving along and
getting frustrated because I could not tell what or who was the culprit and/or cause of the
delay. I was in the middle lane and knew that if I worked my over to the right and got off at
the nearest exit, I’d probably be no better off considering everyone else would be thinking
the same thing. So I just stayed where I was. It gave me time, however, to realize that so
often in life and ministry things don’t always go the way we plan and often we feel stuck
and surrounded by others who are going no further or faster than we.

It’s not easy staying motivated and fired-up about the work of ministry when sometimes
your efforts don’t seem to be moving you in any positive and productive direction. Your
engines on and you have the spiritual fuel needed to complete the task, but you’re just
stuck with no visible evidence of why things are not progressing. You need help and you
need support, but then you discover those around you are in the same condition and
they’re looking at your for help and direction. It’s during these times that the enemy turns
up the attack and does his best to make you get off the road and just turn around. You
can’t see what’s before you, but he’s fully aware that if you stay on course, eventually, the
congestion is going to ease and you’ll make it to your destined place.

Since he knows that God has made a way for you, it’s his job to try and prevent you from
hanging in there until the path clears. But you have to stay the course and you have to stay
on the road because sometimes the race isn’t given to the swift nor the strong, but to the
one who endures until the end. God doesn’t always make things easy for us and I would
suggest that sometimes it’s tough on purpose. I learn more and more each day that the
more obstructions we have in ministry is proof that our labor is making a difference and
the enemy is not happy about it at all. You’re going to get there, I promise you. It’s going
to work in your favor – just keep moving forward EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN’T SEE IT
NOW! What we do is TO important to give up now!

EVERYTHING WE DO MOVING FORWARD WILL BE INTENTIONAL AND DRIVEN WITH
PURPOSE TO REPRESENT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN THE BEST POSSIBLE LIGHT!
NOTHING WILL BE DONE WITH ENERGY LESS THAN OUR BEST AND EFFORT BELOW
OUR MAXIMUM POTENTIAL.

OUR SERVICE IS LOCAL, BUT OUR REACH IS GLOBAL – SO WE CANNOT REDUCE OUR
PRESENTATION DOWN TO WHAT’S CONVENIENT, BUT RATHER WE MUST RAISE IT TO
THAT WHICH IS EXPLOSIVE!

Get ready for major change that’s coming systematically, intellectually, purposefully, and
professionally. Nothing we do moving forward will be done haphazardly, sloppily, poorly,
or carnally.

We Are the LIGHT!

Sincerely,

Pastor J.E. Chandler, Sr.
(CEO/Pastor of MLCM)