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Scripture for the day: John 20:26-27 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
Thought for the day: I’ve said it before (yesterday, in fact) and I’ll say it again: “There is no reason to live in the fair-to-middlin, mired in mediocrity, assailed by the average, grinding out the good enough. Christians were never meant to fit in; they are designed to stand out.” Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. 
 In 1984, a group of apparent mis-fits burst upon the Olympics stage and turned the competitive sports world upside down. Four men, along with their coach, had the audacity to enter the Olympics at Calgary, Canada, as a bobsled team. Until they got to the airport in Calgary, they had never even seen snow. They practiced using a four-wheeled pushcart. Only after they arrived did they buy a real bobsled. 
 This group was hated by many, ridiculed by those who knew what they were doing, or cast aside as some sort of joke by all those who took the sport seriously. What did they do in response? They trained harder, persevered, rose above the opinions of the experts, and made a difference in their world. 
        The Christian life is meant to be a life of superlatives. Listen to the Master: “I have come that you might have life and that more abundantly” (John 10:10). As we do this thing called life, we are surrounded by a “peace that passes all understanding.” With that peace comes a “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” The love of the Father, which is so high, so wide, so long and so deep that its dimensions are beyond our ability to understand, is ours, every moment of the day. 
        Jesus promised those who would follow Him faith enough to move mountains of difficulties, a life that is without end, beginning in the here and now, and power enough to meet every challenge. He has assured us that, with faith, the very gates of Hell cannot withstand the weakest Christian who relies on Him.
        Now, here’s the challenge, especially for those of us who have grown up in America; we tend to think in terms of material and/or physical size when we are confronted with the promise of living above fair to middlin. If we’re not in command of a large or growing church, if we’re not part of some ministry that is making a huge impact all around the world, if we’ve not achieved some level of fame and fortune, then we don’t see ourselves as living in the superlative. When those things don’t happen, we wonder where we went wrong. The answer just may be that we didn’t. There is every chance that our place in the kingdom is to win one person to Christ, raise a solid Christian family, or make a difference in one small movement in a remote corner of the world where no one will ever notice. The one who does so has made a difference, if no one other than God ever knows it this side of heaven. 
        The one who has risen above fair to middlin is the one who has shifted focus from self to Jesus. This one whom God rewards as a good and faithful servant is the one who has come to realize any power he or she may have is simply passing through him rather than from him. This one has moved from success to significance, from getting to giving, from recognition to service. This one know what it means to “seek first the kingdom of God…”
Now, mighty person of God, go in all the strength you have, knowing the God of salvation is with you. -  Bill