Your Life has a "Blast Radius"
I am guessing most of us haven’t had a lot of experience with dynamite or explosives (thankfully so). There is a term experts use when using explosives called the “blast radius.” It refers to the distance from the center point of an explosion to the farthest place of impact.
Your life has a “blast radius.”
One study estimates the average person touches 80,000 people in their life. The Corona Virus pandemic has proven how one life can impact (or infect) many. Your life, even in our current ‘stay at home’ world, impacts so many others.
Jesus Calls Us To Impact Our Radius For God’s Glory
In the most famous and profound sermon in history, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)
Those In Your Radius Are Searching For Answers
All of us has a ton of questions right now. When will things return to normal? When will churches be able to gather? When will students be able to go back to the classroom? Will I still have my job in six months? Will anyone in my family get sick? Will we ever be able to attend a sporting event, concert or movie again?
This crisis is also causing people to ask more spiritual questions. Did God allow this? Is God angry at the world? Does God care about our suffering? Is God trying to tell us something?
In light of these questions, our world is searching for answers. Last month, internet searches of the word “prayer” surged to the highest level since Google began recording such searches.
As Australian Pastor and Author, Mark Sayers recently said on a podcast, “people are realizing their need is not just for toilet paper, job security or medical assistance…”
You can Sulk or You Can Serve Those in Your Radius
Thanks to the amazing generosity of my in-laws, my family was scheduled to be heading to Hawaii this week for a once in a lifetime vacation. We received snorkel gear and new swimsuits for Christmas, we were researching places to eat and travel, I even downloaded Hawaiian music to listen to around the house to get prepared. Then our world shut down. No church, no school, no sports and for us, no Hawaii. Ughh...
It is normal and healthy to grieve the things that we have lost and I know many of you have lost more important things than an island vacation.
But what do we ultimately do with our grief and losses? Do we sit and sulk? Or can we use this time to bring Glory to God through acts of serving and loving those in our radius?
3…2…1..Immediate Ways You Can Serve Your Radius and Bring Glory to God
3. Email/Call/Text 3 people in your radius who need the hope that Jesus offers and ask them join you for our Online Alpha Course beginning this Wednesday Night from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. To sign up or invite someone to sign up, visit our website at calvarylife.org/alpha
2. Take 2 minutes each day this week at 10:02 and pray for more “workers in the harvest” (Luke 10:2) and specifically pray for our 90 missionary partners around the world. Discover more at calvarylife.org/global
1. Invite 1 person to join you in reading through the Book of Hebrews this week. It takes an average of 45 minutes in one sitting to read thru the 13 chapters of this amazing New Testament letter. After you finish reading Hebrews, let us know you completed the challenge and how it impacted you! Fill out the your response at calvarylife.org/hebrews
Blast away my brothers and sisters,
Matt Doan on behalf of the Calvary Staff