Here I Am, Lord, Even in the Busy Season

As men, we know what the next few weeks bring—travel, deadlines, family events, programs, shopping, pressure, and the constant feeling that we're already behind.

The stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas can be some of the most stressful weeks of the year. Most of us feel it before it even starts.

But in the middle of all that noise, something unexpected happened this week. We slowed down long enough to really hear the words from the song "Here I Am, Lord." Not just sing them… listen to them.

“Here I am, Lord. It is I, Lord.I have heard you calling in the night.I will go, Lord, if You lead me.I will hold Your people in my heart.”

Those words became the heartbeat of this week's Fist Bump. As we step into Thanksgiving week and the month ahead, we're asking a simple but challenging question: Are we ready to say, "Here I am, Lord—use me"?

The truth is, every year we tell ourselves the holidays will be different. Less stress. More meaning. More focus on what matters. But year after year, the busyness takes over, and God gets pushed down the priority list.

So this week, we're praying together:

Here we are, Lord, it is us, Lord. We know the next month will be crazy. We will get stressed and overfill our schedules once again. We will focus so much on the busyness of the holidays that our focus on what you want from us will get cloudy and re-prioritized. Lord, every year we say it will be different. We pray that this year you will challenge and lead us to focus more on the needs of others and less on our needs. Lord, we are here for YOU, and we want to be put in the game for YOU. We want to represent you well through our words and actions and through giving more and receiving less. During this season, help us focus on those who may not know you and who are struggling to find HOPE in today's world. May we show them in some small way the HOPE that you brought on Christmas night and when you died for us on the Cross. Lord, we love you and we thank you for being our Lord and Savior. ~Amen.  

Our prayer is still the same—that you'll find ways this season to keep God front and center and to "hold God's people in your heart."

“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” — James 1:22

We hope each of you has a blessed Thanksgiving.

Stay strong. Stay focused. Stay available.