Jeremiah’s Blog

All my blogs are now on www.jeremiahmcduffie.com due to the fact that I don’t like this blog setup.

Well each year I usually write a blog on my birthday, well for the last few years anyway. I have been meaning to blog as of late, but have been much too busy. There is something that has been stirring in me since I went to the Grand Canyon with Ben and Drew, so here it goes.

As we descended in the canyon it was basically done with much ease, along the way there were rangers warning us to the fact that we would have to climb back out. Even with these warnings we decided to go. I decided to go even farther to the point. 6 miles down. It was awesome, breathe taking. It was as I neared the bottom of the valley that I really saw the awesomeness of God. Oh sure it was beautiful on the mountain, but from the valley it was different. There was a closeness to God, a new respect for his awesomeness. As I climbed out of the canyon at first it was not bad, and then it got harder, but then I came upon a cool steam, and trees, an oasis in the desert. It was a place where I could be refreshed, to regain my strength. The hike was far from over though. I was still deep in the canyon. As I hiked out and got to the three mile marker I was more than tired, the boiling hot water in the facet was of little refreshment, and as I sat there I dreaded the rest of the hike. Finally I got up for my last three miles. There were many breaks from that point on, many points where I wanted to quit and give up, but knew I could not. I had to get to the top; it was the only logical direction to go. When I finally reached the top it was amazing. I had made it. I had descended into the valley, and climbed back out! I had hiked 12 miles in one day.           

Ok I know what’s the point, where am I going with this, well here it is. Many of you know that the first two years here in Tucson were not easy for us. The Element has struggled to get off the ground, and we have struggled to keep the faith. It really all happened much like the descent in the canyon. We came here on top on the mountain, stepping out in faith. Then we began our journey towards the valley floor. There were warnings all along the way saying it would be hard to climb back out, God was calling out to us, but we kept going down. We then hit this point, this point where God had finally got our attention. Oh there were many points where we tried to think are way back to the top, live in denial, even quit for an hour so, but then finally God sent the storm that got our attention, and it was there in the depths that we saw God best, it was there we saw Him as Lord of All, as our Beautiful Savior. As we were climbing out we called on God again and again, because we once again had realized that we needed His strength to get us through. So here we are, a month removed from the valley, and the amazing thing is…nothing has changed, nothing except instead of looking at the circumstances around us we have begun to look at Jesus. Instead of walking by sight we are walking by faith. It is like what Habakkuk experienced when he called on God, His circumstances don’t change, but instead of putting all of his stock in what he could see, he began to follow God by faith.           

When I hiked the canyon I had to go down into the valley to really see the beauty of it to appreciate what it was, to see God. As we have planted this church we had to go into the valley so that we knew that we could do nothing without God. That nothing about the Element was going to be of our own doing but of God. To really see God in all His Majesty and splendor we had to come to place of complete surrender. So here we are walking in faith with God, and I can think of no better place to be. I don’t know what’s next, I don’t know what God has for us, but I am excited to be walking  by faith, and I hope and pray that you’ll join me.

Today my world was rocked!!! I was sitting in a conference for church starters, and all of a sudden from the most unexpected place God SHOOK my world! Rick Warren author of Purpose Driven Church and pastor of Saddleback Church in CA was the speaker. In the heart of complete honesty I was playing on MySpace as Rick started to speak. I was a big fan of Rick’s, and over time I think I let all the negative blogs, etc… sway my opinion for no good reason. Today though God used Rick Warren, the guy I was kinda tuning out to impact me in a mighty way!!! It’s funny because isn’t that how God is, lifting you up and supporting you in the most unlikely of ways? After all He does say to us,” My ways are not your ways”! So there I am listening to Rick and the Holy Spirit reminded me of some things:

1. I am in Tucson because God has placed me there, 100% no DOUBT!

2. Am I doing this for me, or for the Kingdom of God? To be honest, I have been doing it for me for a little while.

3. I have not taken care of my spiritual needs, so my faith has been in the toilet!

4. I have to stop building a church, and start building people.

I know these things are not complex, but my world was rocked. Sitting there so unsuspecting…Rick Warren!!! I cried for the first time in while, broken before God. I stayed for the first time ever just to say Thank You to Rick. I went up to him shook his hand and said, “I just wanted to say thank you”. He said, thank you and then asked to hug me and as I hugged him he said, “Don’t give up”. I don’t know if they were prophetic words, but they were in my life! You see because my faith has wondered is God really going to do this thing. I have thought about giving up, but God has renewed my spirit, and he used Rick Warren!