Patty and I are at the Cannon Beach Christian Conference Center participating in JBC’s annual retreat here for three days. It has been a great time with Patty on the beach in a great facility, with amazing food, super good fellowship with 65 other people, and great Bible teaching.

Oftentimes we grow because of the difficulties and trials in life, and other times we grow because we just put our noses to the grindstone and just make it happen by discipline and self-control. It is nice when we can be in an environment like this and grow.

I suspect that if when hard times come and all we do is complain and grumble, don’t grow a bit, and even go backward because of our bad attitude, and we aren’t being faithful to the basic disciplines of Bible reading, scripture memory, prayer, gathering, and the other basic disciplines that a time like we are having now would result in little if any growth, it would simply be a nice time.

God has a way of rewarding and blessing those who obey His Word and faithfully press toward maturity.