I am still slowly recuperating from the Wyoming/South Dakota Tour, while at the same time getting ready for an exciting weekend in the Houston area this weekend. I will not take the time to rehash all of the tour in this blog, but you can find it in other places on this website. I encourage you to check it out and see just some of the things that God is doing in the Midwest. Next month the blogcasts from that trip will be posted and I encourage you to look at those as well. There was a lot of fun stuff, but I did take some opportunities to share some of the awesome work that is going on up there so that you can get involved if God so impresses upon you to do so.

I thought I would focus my blog this week, not on the ministry side of the tour, but rather, on how He used that tour to deepen my relationship with Him. I realize that If it weren't for this ministry, I would not have been there, and every place that He opened a door for me to play - I believe He blessed, but aside from the ministry itself, He continues to grow me personally.

I have a book on my desk by Matt Redman entitled "The Unquenchable Worshipper." I have read through it several times, and I sort of treat it like a devotional book. Every now and then I reach for it and read a chapter to start my day. A few months ago I read this sentence from that book and couldn't shake it. It says, "The heart of God loves a persevering worshipper who, though overwhelmed by many troubles, is overwhelmed even more by the Beauty of God." I typed it into my computer and printed it off and it is now taped just above my computer and I read it daily.

I suppose one of the reasons I'm drawn to that phrase is that often times I find myself hopelessly striving to impress God. I know how futile that is... I mean, how does anyone impress God? We can't impress Him with what we acquire - He owns everything. We can't impress Him with our creativity look at what He's done - the universe and still some of which humans have never laid eyes upon. God is teaching me that He is impressed when we are impressed by Him, to the point in which it distracts us from our own turmoil.

I watched the sunset as I drove across the desolate plains of the panhandle in Texas...and I woke up to it rising again over the mountains in northern New Mexico. The next morning I stood in awe as the sun slowly rose from behind the snow-capped Rocky Mountain range in Colorado as the deer, elk, and birds began celebrating the dawn of a new day. Then, in less than two hours later (I wasn't even speeding) I was driving across the golden rolling plains of Wyoming. All breathtaking and beautiful in completely different ways. Later in the week I looked across the fields of some sandy buttes and watched a small family (herd) of wild mustangs taking to the open range. I was truly overwhelmed by the Beauty of God. Look around today perhaps you can see it too.

In His Grip!
Cliff