Wow! Seven hundred! When I started to write Gleanings I never imagined that I had seven hundred things to say. I can hear those of you who know me well saying something like "Seven hundred, I can't imagine Kevin ONLY having seven hundred things to say."

The reality is that I don't and didn't have seven hundred things to say. Without the inspiration of God the well would have run dry a long time ago. The first few weeks were easy, the next few months a little harder then came the real testing, when I ran out of my own ideas and had to put FULL reliance on God for the inspiration.

Please don't misunderstand, from day one I have strived to rely on God for every issue of Gleanings, but there comes a time in every ministry where you run out of the "natural" you and have to really let God have control.

There have been days that I've awakened inspired by God and rushed to the keyboard. There have been days when it was all I could do to drag my tired, uninspired body to the keyboard and begin to work. There have been times when my ego about Gleanings got too big for my head and times when the critics have made me feel battered.

At times I've struggled to force Gleanings to be all that I think God has been in mind for this ministry to be. Other times I've just stood back and been wowed by the hand of God at work.

At first I thought we would never break the one hundred subscriber barrier and then the two hundred, five hundred and one thousand. I have a vision that we will have over a million readers a day eventually (I have no idea how that can be, but I'll leave that part to God). There have been times when the numbers have fallen off because I've said something straight from the heart and it offended people. Yet I couldn't compromise the message even when I wondered if it wouldn't hurt to fudge things a little "just this once" and despite the drops, we now have tens of thousands of daily readers.

Sometimes I've felt like I'm stuck in the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I've been told that Gleanings contains too much teaching, not enough teaching and sometimes just the right amount of teaching. It's been too long, too short and just right. The font style and format have been too big, too small and just perfect. The column is too personal and informal, not intimate enough and just right.

This morning, I've talked a lot about "me" but what I really want to share is that through all of it, the ups and downs, the joys and the pain, He has been faithful in ways that go beyond my wildest expectations.

I don't know why His faithfulness surprises me, yet it always does. No matter what, He's been there ahead of me preparing and providing. I guess it's easier sometimes to see His faithful hand, know His steadfast nature and expect Him to stick there in someone else's life than for in our own.

The same God who has been (and will continue to be) faithful every day of this ministry's existence is the same God who is faithful in your daily life and mine. Even when we don't "feel" Him, when He seems distant or we can't imagine why He would continue to be faithful to us because we know of our own failings, He remains steadfast.

Until next time join with me and rejoice in the utter faithfulness of the God we serve.

Be blessed.

Hallelu Yah (Praise God)!

Kevin

There is someone out there who will always be at your side, who will never leave you, never abandon you and who has no agenda but to love you. Will you let Him into your life?

If you haven't made the decision to accept Christ as Lord