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Dear friends,

In C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce, a bus arrives in the gray, self-absorbed realm of hell’s shadows. The driver offers to bring any of hell’s residents-“ghosts”–to the bright foothills of heaven. One passenger, a proud artist, clutches his unfinished masterpiece.

The Artist-ghost can stay in heaven if he will lay down his “masterpiece” and embrace humility, allowing God to reshape him. But the Ghost balks, insisting he’ll go back to the dismal underworld to “help” or “educate” the others there about the beauties he’s glimpsed. This is only a rationalization for his unwillingness to fully submit. The Artist chooses to return to the hellish, shadowy realm because he refuses to surrender his prideful attachment to his art and self-importance. Clinging to our own ways leads not to freedom but to isolation from God’s presence.

In Jesus, we find freedom and joy by offering our wills to the Lord who made us and knows us intimately. Lewis writes, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.'”

We often cling to our plans, desires, and “masterpieces”–our self-will–like the artist, afraid that surrender will erase us. Yet God’s will alone is good. He invites us to renounce resistance and carry out our callings as willingly as angels in heaven. Grace trains us and aligns us with heaven’s joyful pattern. Lay down your unfinished work at His feet. In surrender, we find true life. Not loss, but liberation into His perfect purpose.

In Christ’s love,

Pastor Randy 

Join Us This Sunday

January 25, 2026

Old Testament: Psalm 103:17-22

New Testament: Titus 2:11-12; Romans 12:1-2

SERMON: “No Back Talk!”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“When you come to Christ, you must drop your conditions. You have to give up the right to say, ‘I will obey you if…I will do this if…’ As soon as you say, ‘I will obey you if,’ that is not obedience at all. You are saying: ‘You are my adviser, not my Lord.'” –Tim Keller