Every time the year changes guard it seems like we have substantial change also taking place at the Oasis. Last year it was buying the Port Orchard location (CO3 or "POCO"), the year before it was the purchase of the drive-thru, and now we are finding ourselves once again growing with the hire of a business administrator. The week between Christmas and New Years offers a brief reprieve from the blistering pace of life and work, allowing us a few days and a handful of hours to explore where God is leading in the upcoming years. And we shall follow, as the hymn says, "Lead on, O King Eternal / We follow, not with fear / For gladness breaks like morning / When'er Thy face appears." I have found my limitations to be nearer than I expected. My mind has been taxed and my capacity to love overburdened. And here I find "we can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love" (Romans 5.3-5).
"The man with a cross no longer controls his destiny; he lost control when he picked up his cross. That cross immediately became to him an all-absorbing interest, an overwhelming interference. No matter what he may desire to do, there is but one thing he can do; that is, move on toward the place of crucifixion...Let a man become enamored of eternal wisdom and set his heart to win her and takes on himself a full-time, all-engaging pursuit. Thereafter he will have room for little else. thereafter his whole life will be filled with seekings and findings, self-repudiation, tough disciplines and daily dyings as he is being crucified unto the world and the world unto him." [A.W. Tozer]
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