being the witness, being the light

I was at sunday service yesterday, the message was about the 2 witnesses in the end times, from Revelation 11. The preacher was talking about being the city on the hill, God's representative light to the world. The way he phrased it though made it an optional thing. The main thing....the only real thing that I have to say is regarding that.

strength

A few days ago one of my favorite songs came on the radio, "strong enough" by Matthew West. It got me thinking about being weak, being strong & being consider each way by others. Definitions for strong & weak are not easy to pin down & because of biblical reality that contradicts normal view I'm going to avoid explicit definition.
What I've been thinking about though is that people always want to be strong. Try to find strength in position or money or fame or self, relationships, successes, etc. Problem is, all those things fade. I've done some great things in my young life but if I drew my strength from any of them I'd be as weak & frail as anything that's....well dead.
Maybe that it, the dead want to find strength wherever they can so that can feel alive. Life is only available through Jesus. There's a lot of division about what a Christian actually is & even within the realm of the legitimate Church there is a lot of division over minor doctrines but Jesus is the same in each fracture. Unfortunately He doesn't serve to be enough for complete unity to happen. HE IS. But we don't allow it to happen. But I'm sidetracking, one of the aspects of a true believer is that they draw strength from HIM. Find comfort FROM & IN HIM. REFUGE. HOPE. LIFE.
JESUS is EVERYTHING WE NEED.

Rearview year end

This has been the most odd December I can remember. I've spent an odd quantity of time thinking about things that happened this year, both globally & in my bubble. I guess it's just the latest example of how my life has been this year, full of analysis & reflection.
12 months ago I went to Florida
11 months ago my second niece was born
6 months ago I got irritatingly close to dying in a car wreck
5 months ago I moved to Minneapolis
4 months ago I went to Turkey
2 weeks ago I moved back to North Dakota

See & (re)spond

Earlier today I was putting in a little time sanding down the top of the coffee table that I'm restoring. To the west, at least I think it was the west, the sky was getting ominously dark. A normal precursor to a storm & not unexpected because the weather forecast for the day was rain. Add a drastic change in the temperature & it was pretty obvious to me what was going to be happening in the evening.
Well my the signs were right. Every 10 minutes there is a warning message scrolling on the tv & the weather is getting funky outside.
But it got me thinking, are there signs every day of things just as foreboding?