Always Sunny Above the Clouds

Excerpt from my journal on May 24, 2013, on route to Panama:

I've realized one of my favorite place in the world is sitting in the window seat on the plane reading & reflecting. Awaiting with great expectations of what adventure God will lead me to when I step off the plane. Also because the scene outside the window is always sunny as the plane soar above the clouds.

It is always sunny above clouds. This is an imagine that has been speaking to me since I got back from Panama.

How little did I know this simple thought would lead me on a journey to better see God's purpose for me. How little did I know the simple thought would encourage me to open up to my struggles in my recent sharing and preaching. How little did I know this simple thought, or the fact that God challenged me not to return to my comfortable and favorite place, would begin to shape my ministry in a way that I could not have imagined before.

Something new.

"Jesus, You're the one who saves us
Constantly creates us into something new
Jesus, surely you will finds us
Surely our Messiah will make all things new
Will make all things new"
~'Dry Bones' by The Michael Gungor Band

Yesterday over lunch Jenny and I had a wonderful conversation on ministry ideas and direction. For the first time, since Vance told Jenny and I over coffee a message from the Lord that He is starting something new in us, I caught a glimpse of God's greater plan in my life.

It was the same message when God picked me up from the mirky pit of 2003 and set me off on the journey I am on right now:

"Joel, you are an pioneer... come back and we will start something new together." Actually, those were the word of Rev. Lau but I also believe it was God speaking directly into my soul.

I waited patiently for the Lord;
    he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
    out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth,
    a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
    and put their trust in him.
~Psalms 40:1-3

Lord, may your will be done in my life on earth, as it is in heaven. May your body, your church, be unified in Toronto so that Your glory may be seen in the GTA and may there will be a revival that will sweep across this city, to our nations, to the ends of the earth.