David McCormick

This time of year, we are so readily reminded of the birth of Jesus as a miraculous fulfillment of millennia of prophetic expectation and God's perfect plan invading earth in an unprecedented way. There is incredible value and richness as we pause to reflect and allow our minds to arrive at a place of wonder, excitement and gratitude. I walked into Walmart yesterday and the experience, however, was painfully void of any wonder, excitement or gratitude. I passed the outer gates of vitamin shops and chocobananos to encounter that as quickly as Christmas had not long ago invaded, overtaken and overwhelmed my senses, the flashy trees, lights and bows were utterly replaced with patio furniture, toys and school supplies. Walmart has definitely moved on, but there is so much more that God is speaking to us through this timeless story of good tidings of great joy. The bible speaks of God making plans that precede creation and I like to imagine Jesus and the Father sitting down at a tab...

There are some things I only say when my beautiful wife is absent from the room. Little did she know that she had married an impulsive grownup child whose game of choice on the playground was to place bets with the other kids about the most simple things. I preached this morning at the Casa Bernabe church and felt great passion to share about the reality of seeking God on a daily basis and seeing Him respond in experiential ways. As I began to speak, my wife slipped down the stairwell in pursuit of our precious 3-year old twin-tornadoes mouthing "I love you" as she gracefully sidestepped down the stairs. Sometimes as I stand privileged with a microphone before these amazing lives the convictions that coat my soul find their way out of my mouth in unexpected ways. And in the presence of dozens of teenagers I made a promise to deal out a wack of cash if they could prove my conviction was wrong. God's response to sincere prayers and humble hearts is definitely biblical, but ...

I have been asked on different occasions if I could come to love the young man who was grafted into our family out of another as much as the two girls that my wife had the privilege of giving birth to. I can feel the adoptive moms and dads flaring their eyes and blood pressure rising, but I think it is a good question to ask. I think it is good because I am completely in love with the answer. The reason we have to ask the question if we can give an adopted or foster child the same amount of love as biological children is because we obviously don't fully understand what love is. It threads back to a deep world view with roots in who we think God is and what He is capable of. I used to believe that God loved us all equally; all of us on the exact same level. I must admit that this core belief sounds neat, but it certainly doesn't feel like love if you are the child. It does not begin to meet the deep need I have to be known. Love is so much deeper and higher than something we cou...

As I sat in this familiar board room, with the sound of rain pouring down on the acoustic tin roof that shielded us from the storm, I could feel the tension starting to rise as many of those present rose to defend themselves while subtly lashing out in a confrontational, yet orderly waltz. It has been a few weeks since the rug was pulled out from under us with a sudden change in authorities, and most of us are still regaining our footing. And it is in this season of transition that I have come to see a new side of humanity. There is a fascinating drive to maintain status quo while keeping friends and enemies at a superficial distance that will be useful but not threatening; to be utterly distracted yet intensely focused. Government entities are set up this way, at least here in Guatemala. As quickly as one person is appointed, a movement to dethrone them is already on the way, provoking waves of uncertainty and doubt. These kinds of situations where we, as humans, feel threatened in so...

Imagine the feeling of having dedicated your life to what you firmly believed was the correct and righteous thing to do, only to be confronted with the immaculate beauty of Jesus as He looks deep down into your eyes and says, “You don’t belong with me”. I was reading through the gospel of John the other day in the Amplified Bible and stumbled upon some words that really frightened me. Jesus was walking through a parable that I have known for decades, however in this version the text portrays Jesus standing in front of some inquisitive Jews and says to them "You are no sheep of mine". These men were committed religious gurus who had dedicate their lives to following Jesus' Father, but there was an abysmal disconnect between what they were preaching and the lives they were living. How easy it is for me to sit back in my chair, read these words and think, "Poor guys, they really missed the mark". Yet, I couldn't help but envision the day I will stand before Jes...

My life has changed rather dramatically over the past few months, marked by a significant change in work life and daily routines. I admit that my gravitational pull is to an attitude of indifference towards life if I am not careful in pursuing perspective and intentionally fostering a sense of purpose and significance. There are so many different levels of struggle and fighting going on ranging from the deepest parts of who I am warring within me up to the heavenly dimensions where the kingdom is breaking through into earthly territories in incredible ways. Though I am aware of this context of war and struggle, I still cherish a childish belief that following Jesus should look a lot more like peace, comfort and ease when compared to my chaotic pre-gospel existence. In spite of knowing the truth, I act as if I don't. Romans 7 bounces around my head reaffirming that I am not alone in this carnal struggle to fight for the "real me" that has since been redeemed and rescued ho...

On March 8th, a fire was started at a government shelter that ended up taking the lives of 40 young girls and has come to dramatically impact the lives of thousands more. Out of this crisis, our director and my personal mentor, has now become the deputy secretary of the government department responsible for child protection services in Guatemala. Out of this crisis, we received 6 children who lived at this government home. For many years the government has been answering questions that no one is asking and ignoring children that no one else in society has had the privilege to see. The response to this crisis has provoked a tidal wave of solidarity and sympathy in Guatemala that has the population in an uproar. A month ago, I wrote about praying and fasting for a breakthrough saying that I honestly had no idea what the breakthrough was or if it even had anything to do with me. While I would never presume that my role in the kingdom of God is so significant or central, the recent ev...

Prayer. Fasting. Breakthrough. These three concepts have been like bees buzzing in my mind, converging in ways I don't quite yet understand. I have been completely convicted by the first two and a little scared of the last one. When I hear the word "breakthrough" in a spiritual context, I feel a surge of skepticism pulsing through my veins as I have heard preachers refer to an exclusively economic downpour when speaking of breakthrough. And even worse, that prayer and fasting are like our tools to pry open the tightly grasped fist of an otherwise distant God to cause his blessings to shower down.  In spite of this erroneous analysis, I can't shake that this concept is somehow for me in this season. I was reading an article today from Desiring God explaining that this kind of breakthrough comes from a military context where a specific and strategic point in the enemy's lines is broken through at one fell sweep. The author continued to explain how prayer and fasting...