A Home Within the Wilderness

I was listening to the hymn, "Beneath the Cross of Jesus" and was struck by the analogy of being beneath the cross of Jesus as a "home within the wilderness" and a "rest upon the way." There are a lot of us that daydream about a home in the country, but one in the wilderness hits different. This is why the follow up lyric of a, "rest upon the way" is a helpful picture for what Bent Tree is. We are trying to be and have been for thousands of folks, a "place" you can go to while in the wilderness or on your way through life. The "place" is not a permanent physical campus, at least not yet, but rather regardless of where we are meeting you will find a home, a rest, a place of wisdom, fellowship and hope. The doctrine of the cross for Christians and ministry couples specifically is summed up in the last verse of this hymn.

I take, O cross, your shadow
For my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
The sunshine of his face;
Content to let the world go by,
To know no gain or loss;
My sinful self my only shame,
My glory all the cross.

We desire that the cross of Christ be your abiding place and we think that taking a few days this October will go a long way to making that happen. These face to face gatherings are not an end in themselves but rather a rest upon the way,
Testimonies abound but my favorite so far is from a ministry wife, who after years of hardship in ministry when expectations were that they would be "rock stars" didn't pan out showed up to our couples gathering a few years back in need of rest and redemption. She was in her late fifties but looked every part of her late sixties maybe even early seventies. She was hunched over and when I first met her she was crying because the hopes and dreams of her past had collided with the reality of her present and future. Long story short, by the end of the week, she had completely changed, her hair was in a ponytail and I could tell what she looked like as a teenager when she was happy and optimistic about the future. She was straight backed, laughing, and now the tears were not of regret but of hope. She found a community of wives that would and could listen to her and just as important a band of brothers that surrounded her husband and lifted him up as their friend.

Click the button below and if you can't make it this fall, send someone who can it is an investment that will provide dividends well into the future.