We Are All Astronauts

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:1-2)

I want to just take a few moments of your day to share a little bit of how God is teaching me these days. Thanks so much for the opportunity to share with you!

Look down at the seat you are sitting in, the street you are walking on, the carpet or hardwood floor you are standing on, the bed you are laying, or the car you are seated in. How did you get here? Not just how as in “I walked here” or “I drove here.” It’s more than that, what events had to take place for you to make it here? What prayers and petitions were answered YES to bring you here? Or maybe the better question, which ones were answered NO?

Can you immediately answer this question? Or do you need a moment to think, or maybe even need to sleep on it? I really struggle to answer this question. Many times I feel as if my answer is not sufficient, as if it doesn’t tell the story well enough, or maybe it’s that I’m still so close to the story it’s hard for me to see what it is that God is up to. I don’t know about you but I am truly perplexed by the way God so often chooses to move. I am reminded of the passage in John 15, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” It appears to me that God in fact promises the pruning process, the process of removing that which hinders us from being most fruitful. I know for me that the pruning process has come far more often in the NO answers, and in the moments in my life when I was so sure of my trajectory. Funny how God, in his infinite wisdom, knows that if we saw his work coming that we would likely attribute it to our own know-how. It is so easy to take credit for the hand of God moving and prompting us toward his desired glorious pathway.

I want to share a song with you that I hope will bring encouragement, some insight into the sovereignty of God, and into the trajectory that Christ has set his church on. I want to be a Difference maker, I want to emulate Christ, I want to see his hand at work even in the “NO,” and I want to be marked by Gods pruning.

Please take the time to follow the link here and listen to this song by NEEDTOBREATHE.

The bridge of this song is truly inspiring to me, as it addresses the journey that we have all set foot onto. The adventure into this world, as if we are astronauts sent out to carry a banner of hope into the untouched places in the hearts of human kind!

Excerpt from “Difference Maker” by NEEDTOBREATHE

Yeah, isn’t it amazing how a man can find himself alone Call into the darkness for an answer that’s he’s never known Yeah, isn’t it amazing how God can take a broken man Yeah, let him find a fortune, let him ruin it with his own two hands

He walks on up the hill to the rock on which he stands He looks back at the crowd He looks down at his hands and he says I am a difference maker

Oh, I am the difference maker Oh, I am the only one that speaks to him And I am the friendliest of friends of God

I am on the fence about nearly everything I’ve seen And I have felt the fire be put out by too much gasoline And we’re all strangers passing through a place and time afternoon Life is but a vision in a window that we’re peeking through

A helpless conversation with a man who says he cares a lot It’s a passive confrontation about who might throw a punch or not We are all transgressors, we’re all sinners, we’re all astronauts So if you’re beating death then raise your hand but shut up if you’re not

Channing can be reached via email.