Lakeside Baptist Church

FROM THE PASTOR

June 4, 2017

My grandson, Evan, is spending a few days with me fishing. One of his goals was to catch a Muskie. The Muskie is a difficult fish to catch and often referred to as “the fish of 10,000 casts”. Last year I was able to land one and it gave him the desire to accomplish the same. Yesterday, our first day out, on the same lake I caught mine, he caught his. It wasn’t a large fish, but that made no difference… the goal was accomplished.

There’s satisfaction in accomplishing what one sets out to accomplish. That’s the way God created us. We lay out a plan, look at the options and then count the costs. Getting up at 5 AM is not one of his favorite costs, but to receive the prize he determined the true value of accomplishing the goal was worth paying the price. Every decision we make has that component buried within it. You see it’s more than just doing a cost/benefit analysis… it’s how do I fulfill that which God planted within me to accomplish.

From the very foundation of this world God knew every one of us. And in His intimate knowledge of us He has set out a plan for us, as individuals, to accomplish for His honor and glory. I believe He has placed His plan within us so profoundly that it takes an intentional act of our free-will to deny it’s existence. Yet to receive the prize, as the Apostle Paul announced, we must get into the race and run to win. Nothing of eternal significance will be accomplished if we are not responding to God’s call to ‘enter the race’.

One thing I can guarantee you… the first Muskie will not be the last Muskie for Evan. When a goal is successfully accomplished it only wets the appetite for more accomplishments. When we successfully enter the race for God… run the race… cross the goal… there is a hunger for more. It becomes integral to who we are in our Lord.

Thank You for your faithfulness! Pastor Larry