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June HeartBeat

By HOLLY Ogden

motorcycling season has kicked into full gear in the northern hemisphere. I’ m hearing multiple reports of the prayer opportunities God has given our nations as they go out in ministry. There is no question that the need is great, and that God is working through each of our members worldwide to reach out and have an impact in the places He has planted them. Amid so much activity, it is important that we take time to invest in our connection with the Lord and the vision for what He would have us do. You see, there are multiple avenues of ministry available, and we can almost drive ourselves crazy trying to be everywhere, doing everything. But we serve a good God who loves us, equips us, and guides us. He invites us to be still, seek His face, and follow Him. He will guide our paths, and we will find ourselves more effective ministers of His Gospel as we remain connected to Him.

Be still. Everywhere we go, we carry around a device that keeps us connected to everyone and everything. If any question pops into our minds, we can pick up this device and ask it to find the answer. Bored while we wait for someone? This device offers a cure for that. We are rapidly losing our ability to be still, bored, and connected to the world around us. Our minds are moving faster, anxiety is higher, and isolation is taking over. God’ s invitation for us to be still is a gift, and it’ s time that we purposely invest in that gift. How? Ask God to show you

what it looks like for how He created you. God has created us with unique personalities that respond uniquely to the situations around us.

Seek His face. After we’ ve been doing something for several years, it is easy to lose focus on the vision for why we began doing it in the first place. We form habits and begin to lean more on what we understand than we do on following the promises of God. We do things a certain way because that is the way we’ ve always done them, and it is comfortable. Unfortunately, when we choose to trust our habits more than seeking the will of God, we find ourselves in dangerous territory. He wants us to remain connected to His vision for our lives and to seek His will and way in all we do( even if the path becomes rougher than we think it should be). Ephesians 5:17( NLT) brings this challenge,“ Don’ t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.”

As we seek His face, it helps to take inventory, remembering the path God used to bring us to this point, remembering why we got involved in ministry: the excitement, the passion, and the sense of adventure that came with it. I asked our country leaders why they love CMA, and here are a few of the responses I received:

• Hungary( birthed in 2015): More than 10 years ago, when I started in CMA, I was surprised by how big this“ family” really is, and it still leaves me in awe. I really like that riding is just

another link that brings us together, but in the end, it’ s all about Jesus. We had, we have

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