Love is the principal thing. (Part 1)

 
Greetings from China!
As I sit here in my comfortable hotel room in China, listening to Worship music streaming through my computer, my thoughts are with everyone out there today who is at Church, participating in the anointed worship, diligently prepared by you, our faithful Worship Leaders, taking in the anointed Word of God, a message in-season, prayerfully prepared by our Pastors, refreshing us from the week past, and re-charging us ready for the week that lays ahead.
This is my second week away from the Studio, and I really miss Darin, Suzie and Chris. These guys are the high-light of my week! We talk with each other, joke with each other, share Jesus with each other, pray together, eat together, laugh together, and we share our thoughts, experiences, highs and lows of life, the church and specifically aspects of Worship leading.
We are in this together
In all of this, we all feel very much a part of you and your world as you join us on the Worship Leaders Podcast each week. It is an honour to have you join us each week, sharing those experiences, and allowing us to encourage you from the Word of God and by the example of our own lives. Thank you!
There is really only one reason why we record the Worship Leaders Podcast each week: you! We are so passionate about this thing we call worship; the act of falling on our faces before a Mighty, awesome, majestic, righteous, loving God; a God who is not too busy to be intimately interested in every part of my life, who knows the very number of the hairs on my head!! (Matt 10:30). Our desire is that as we share that Passion with you, that it will rub off onto you, encourage you, build you up and charge you up in your holy calling.
My Week in China
It has been a busy week here in China. I have spent the past week in a half star hotel. The bed felt like it was made up of layers of re-cycled worn-out carpet, there were things not working, and every night upon my return to my room there would be an array of business cards slipped under my door with photos of scarcely-clad women on it and telephone contact numbers. As if! I have been married to the most amazing woman in the world for about 28 years! No one could come close so I am definitely NOT interested. I ended up that week with a sore back and neck, tired of walking through the Fair I was attending. So now I am in a 5 star Hotel, enjoying some of the creature comforts like a comfortable bed. (Phil 4:12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound!)
The thing about all this is that as I am away from family and daily routine, it is easy to forget the things established at home; Prayer, devotions, giving myself to the study of God’s word. And yet here it is so much more important even than at home. I am in a strange land, with strange customs, where communication is difficult at the best of times and almost impossible most of the time! So I need Jesus, my constant companion; and the Holy Spirit in me to guide me to the right people, the right business deals, keeping me safe from danger, and keeping me safe from myself.
I am not alone!
Am I on my own? Yes. Am I alone? Certainly not! Jesus said: I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Heb 13:5) See, no matter how I look at it, Jesus loves me, this I know! He is my constant companion and my guide and protector. The reason why we record the Podcast, the reason God gave His Son, the reason Jesus will never leave me nor forsake me; the principal thing is LOVE!
At the completion of reading this, I challenge you to do something radical: Get out your bible, and read Psalm 91. All of it. Then take some time out to meditate on it. This is one of the most wonderful Psalms about the promise of God to those who are intimate in Him... but I am giving it away. I dare you! And let us know what you have discovered.
God bless you real good this week.
Erick