Luke

   I recently finished reading through the book of Luke, my favorite of the gospels, I think, and there were a few verses/passages that really stuck out to me that I had obviously read before but never really caught my attention:

9:62
    "Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'"

14:25-33
    "Now great crowds accompanied him, and He turned and said to them, 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear  his own cross and come after me canot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundaition and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, "This man began to build and was not able to finish." Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So, therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.'"

18:29-30
    "And he said to them, 'Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.'"

  These verses are fairly intense (Jesus did speak them) but/and have been both a challenge and a comfort to me. God has called me to Bolivia right now, and He wants me to give it all I've got, and give up everything else that doesn't have to do with following Him. But, even though it's hard for me to be so far from home, and I miss my family and friends soo much sometimes, it's a small cost! As John 17:3 says- "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."  So when the verse above talks about receiving many more times eternal life, that is so encouraging to me!  I've had my ups and downs here in this last month and a half, but one thing I've never doubted is God's presence. He's always been close by, just waiting for me to lean on Him as I ought to. I know I've got a long ways to go and much to learn, and I have no doubt that these verses will continue to bring me comfort and a sense of "Ok, you can do this..." when I need it!