for the taking.

One of the great things about writing a thesis, and doing research on how better to get people connected to the life of His Church is that you get to talk to people who are really great at getting people connected to the life of His Church.

I've been blessed in the last week to talk to people who are engaged in relational ministry at its best. People who live knee-deep in grace. I see their passion for helping bring people to Christ, and it makes me want to know Him better.

And in that, I realize...I don't need to know Him "better." When I said yes to Christ, I said yes to all of Him, all of what He did, once and forever. I'll come to understand grace and love more and differently over time. But the freedom found in Christ is a freedom not gradually gained, but given once.

I've gotten tripped up this first year of faith by thinking that I'll somehow become more Christian as I go. That's not right. I'm as Christian now as I'll ever be. The freedom is for the taking. Kind of like His power. It's not that God's power grows in me over time. I've got it all right now. The question is...what am I gonna do with it? If I've got the full resources of Grace in me right now, what am I waiting for? If the power of Heaven is with me already, what can stop me?

I'm meeting with these amazing people, looking at their ministries thinking, "some day," and let me tell you--that is some BS.

How about tomorrow?

I ask myself, "What then, Ash? You've got passion, but what about direction?" As though a thesis in which you're being allowed to study discipleship in one of the country's largest churches isn't a direction, isn't an open door.

There's wisdom to come. But the Grace is there. The direction is clear.