“By Invitation Only” – but I know somebody who knows somebody

Road trip this Spring. Yesterday, I registered for a Men’s Summit in Texas. It is a great opportunity to be challenged by great preaching, join some great worship, and dine at some wonderful restaurants. I’ve already got a list started … Hard-8, Cafe Brazil, Bread Zeppelins. And I will be attending with my son … the best part of the trip.

Seating is limited (social distance restrictions). Schedule is tentative (Covid travel and assembly restrictions always change). Masks and preventative measures are being taken. Such is the world we live in.

But with all this, they wouldn’t let me register. Public registration starts in early January.

I made one phone call. I contacted my son, because my son has connections. Interestingly, he said if I used the connection he sent me last week, with an emphasis on ‘last week’, the link he provided would let me register. I went back, found the email, used the link, paid my registration, and walaah … I am now registered.

I’ve learned a truth in this life. I’m sure you’ve heard these words of wisdom before as well. Sometimes, it not what you know … it’s who you know. There is a follow up to this. It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you.

In reality, we are really nothing. When all is said is done, we account for very little. When we stand at the gates of eternity, nothing we do, nothing we have achieved, nothing we own will get us in to heaven. It all goes back to who we know and who knows us.

There is a great song by Casting Crowns.

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt?
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart?
 
Not because of who I am
But because of what You’ve done.
Not because of what I’ve done
But because of who You are.

As you are going into 2021, or just facing the day ahead of you, realize you don’t have to tackle it on your own devices. You don’t have to rely on your own resources. You don’t have to battle with your own strength.

C. Caine shared this a while back …

• There is no problem so big that God cannot solve it.
• There is no promise too hard for God to fulfill.
• There is no prayer too small for God to answer.
• There is no disease that God cannot heal.
• There is no heart God cannot mend.
• There is no relationship that God cannot restore.
• There is no person God cannot save.
• There is no chaos from which God cannot bring peace.
• There is no pain that God cannot redeem.
• There is no sin that God cannot forgive.
• There is no bondage God cannot break.
• There is no need God cannot meet.
• There is no enemy that God cannot defeat.
• There is no mountain God cannot move.

You see the point? It’s not you, it’s him. So follow him. You won’t go wrong. And in the end, his is the only connection that will get you in to heaven.