Catalina Island: The Gospel According To Mark

It seems so simple Jesus,
Why do I struggle so?
When you promise to hold my hand,
Why do I let you go?
When all your disciples listen,
And even the unclean spirits obey,
I feel the hardness of heart set in,
And instead I just turn away.
Over your own mother and brothers,
You claim me as your true blood,
But instead of seizing my treasures,
I sit here and I play in the mud.
My selfish desires and cares of the world,
They impair my ability to see,
I number my possessions and my friends,
And not the miracles you've worked in me.
When I think of your awesome acts,
How you silence the winds and calm the seas,
None of them could ever compare,
To how you've treated my sin disease.
Yes, you are the greatest of physicians,
And you teach like no other can teach,
So why do I choose to sit still,
Instead of to you to stretch out and reach?
I see your desire for my faith,
I recognize my desire to fear,
When I can give mine in order to receive yours,
I have ears but I do not hear.
I'm so sorry to cause you such grief,
When I have nothing to offer, too,
To know you will never turn your back on me,
From the bottom of my heart I thank you Jesus,
I promise to not turn my back on you.

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I wrote that poem in June of 2003 towards the end of a week long camp in which I studied the first half of the Gospel according to Mark. Tomorrow I return to Catalina Island for the 5th time and will be helping to teach through the second half of the Gospel according to Mark. I didn't know it four years ago, but my eyes were being opened to glory in a way that would irrevocably transform my eternity. And now I know that the only reason I continue to lay hold of this Jesus is because He continues to lay hold of me. I pray that my eyes would be opened to see more of His glory this week. I pray that the eyes of the students who come would have their eyes opened to see the glory of Christ in a way that would irrevocably transform their eternities so that they might say with the apostle Paul: "to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21)." This is work that the Sovereign God alone can do. Please pray with me that He would be pleased to do it for His name's sake.

...having the eyes of [our] hearts enlightened, that [we] may know what is the hope to which he has called [us], what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
Ephesians 1:18-21