The past few weeks, Targets have been in many areas of my life...one not terribly significant was standing in line for 8 hours freezing my butt off on the eve of Black Friday waiting patiently for a TV. The other slightly more significant in life was the week before that lovely frozen event.

In Lake County, we have an amazing Church (a united body) and Christ Together (previously called Catalyst) is where the leaders of the churches of LC come together twice a year to unite our efforts in our continued pursuit of church unity outside the walls. At this conference two weeks ago, the speaker (Larry Osborne) touched on something I think is hugely significant for us today. He gave an anology:

"How often do we (as churches or individuals) start firing our arrows (forms of ministry) at a wall before a target is set up? We tend to shoot our arrows blindly and then move the target to wherever the majority of the arrows land." Basically, we start all these different "good" ministries without an actual direction of God's leading. The ones that last and seem profitable, must be from God, right? Wrong. We cannot have a goal without a target. Just the same, how can you run a race without a finish-line? Does the race just end when people get tired?

Jesus says in Luke 11, everyone who seeks-->finds, and everyone who asks-->receives.

Isaiah 58:11 "The Lord will guide you and satisfy your needs..."

Hebrews 12:1 "...and let us run with endurance, the race marked for us..."

Before a direction of "ministry" (or could i say anything) is begun, make sure there is a Target to aim at...hopefully that will mean no more sitting on frozen sidewalks : )