02/29/2024
He Starts With Nothing
29 February 2024
A thought came to me in October 2004 while boarding a cruise ship departing out of New Orleans. “When God wants to something great He starts with nothing”. The voice was so distinct that I don’t think it was my own thoughts, but I believe it was a word from God. I’m not sure how to describe it to you, if you’ve never heard the Holy Spirit speak to you, but it is a supernatural moment. So,later that day, I wrote down the thought in my journal, even preached a sermon by that title, not long afterwards, but I continued to ponder that thought in my heart for months to come.
Was the Lord trying to tell me something about the future? Or was it something personal that he was teaching me? I wasn’t sure, but that thought captured my imagination. In retrospect, I think maybe both of those premises are true; it was personal, and it was prophetic. That thought would go on to become the title and the subject matter of the first book that I wrote.
“He Starts With Nothing”
In the book, I applied that principle to my own life, and how the Lord was working in me, my family and our church. But little did I know that less than a year later, our whole world would radically change.
10 months after that encounter on the ship, in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana and took everything we had in a single night. Our home, church, school and our community was wiped off the face of the earth. Only debris remained.
In one 12 hour period, she took everything and we were left with nothing.
Then that supernatural word became so real in that moment. “When God Wants To Do Something Great; He Starts With Nothing”.
Rachel and I and our 5 kids started our lives over, with nothing but our faith. As it turns out, that’s really all you need is faith in God‘s Word and each other.
He starts with nothing…
