"It's You and Me, Kid - What are You Gonna Do?"

The knot I woke up with in my throat/stomach this morning has been released ... I finally know what it feels like to be burdened, deep down in my soul ... I spent much of the latter part of my evening last night, journaling, reading certain Scripture passages that brothers and sisters had shared with me earlier on in the day ... I came to realize one thing that overflowed into my writing this morning ... that at 24, God and I have finally hit a "rough patch" in our eleven year relationship. This rough spot is pretty big, pretty intimidating, and it has left me physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted.

Little did I know that God was going to use a brother in Christ, Kyle Mason Swann, fellow Nyackian of Manhattan Campus, who I hardly know, yet share a good number of mutual friends with (we even met once or was it twice, don't remember), to remind me, encourage me, comfort me, motivate me, inspire me ... You see, after connecting with Kyle on Facebook, I decided to Google him just to make sure the guy was legit, ya know? In this day and age, you just never know! I came to read that Kyle was involved with a ministry called "Campus Ministry United" and at one of their seminars, he gave a talk entitled, "It's You & Me, Kid - What are You Gonna Do?" So, uncertain of whether it was the same Kyle or not, I decided to take a listen to what he had to say. I sat there in expectancy that God was going to address whatever I had written to Him last night, and even in the moments that led up to me listening to Kyle's talk. In the same token, I have just been so tired that, I really was just at the end of my rope ... I needed God to do something, send someone to urge me on in the battle, in the cause, in the mission, in the vision - and it is here that Kyle's voice rang through my speakers, declaring a couple things that completely hit the mark on everything I had written to God about, which I would like to share with you.

"Do not underestimate the power of choices."

"Our choices dictate our behavior, the way we relate to one another, the way we handle trials that we face ..."

This one re-played over and over for me in my heart - "Choices dictate how much you allow yourself to come to know God's love, and to seek out God's ways. He didn't force Himself on us before we came to know Him. He's not going to force Himself on us to serve, He's just not. It's an invitation; it's an offer."

Here's the kicker - "We will ultimately show people the power and peace that comes to the heart when it serves the true King of this world, not a king in a far off Heaven, not a king somewhere else, the King RIGHT NOW that has conquered everything that threatens to hold us down, and through service to Him, we're gonna conquer the same things, and we're gonna see other people come to know His love."

Finally. as Kyle put it so well, every day, with every single one of us God says, "it's you and me, kid - what are you gonna do?" Kyle gave an amazing illustration that touched deep down to the core of my heart. He shared that God being on His right hand side would have to mean that Jesus was on his left, and Kyle to God's left hand side (I think) ... with that imagery Kyle shared that we are THAT close to God, that He is THAT intimate with us, walking with us through it, every day ... just walking through it ... so the next time you hear God say, "it's you and me, kid - what are you gonna do?"

how will you respond? I know how I have chosen to respond in the past, I know how I have chosen to respond as of late, I know how I had chosen to respond last night, which only further confirmed my choice of response this morning ... again I ask, how will YOU respond?