What a great Sunday. New families continue to join us and I am loving our study about "Fractured Cultures." How about the worship on Sunday? Those of you that were with us heard our first electric guitar solo. It was awesome! God has brought us a long way to have that kind of freedom. All I can say is...it's about time. Let it rip Jeff! (nice job Nick) I asked my 12 year old budding worship leader/daughter about it, and she said she was laughing so hard she couldn't even sing. In 12-year-old-speak, that means she loved it and it caught her off guard in "big church". How cool is that? When our kids love church that communicates something big. It also counters some of the stuff we blogged about last week.
Random acts of kindness...I want to challenge you to one everyday. I was on my way into Lowes yesterday when I saw these two guys struggling while they were loading dry-wall. There you go John...God gave me the green light and I was helping load dry wall...that stuff is heavy! These guys didn't speak English real well but both thanked me in their own way. On the way home I had to stop at Wal-mart (The Kennett one rocks) and I had the opportunity to push my cart back to the front of the store after I loaded stuff in my car. It is much easier doing this particular act of kindness in smaller parking lots. This morning I was jogging and I let a lady pass me...I know this made her feel much better about herself - passing a big athletic looking stud like myself. Later, I did pass her after she ran out of gas. The whole rabbit/turtle story came to mind...
Random means your act of kindness doesn't have to be planned...God will bring opportunities your way when you look for them. Be ready to say YES. It will encourage the other person...it will change you...and it will impact our community.
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11 comments:
John,
Your uncompromising commitment to be culturally relevant in order to reach irreligous people inspires me to be more courageous in reaching out to the people in my world. Thanks for the example!
The Fractured Culture series is awesome. Every week keeps getting better and better. It's cool that God can use someone like Paul (and his past) to reach out to Ephesus. And then, in turn, have it apply to our lives today! The argument that the Bible isn't relevant in today's world doesn't have much to stand on!
"The argument that the Bible isn't relevant in today's world doesn't have much to stand on!"
Jeff S, this comment is absolutely correct, but unfortunately, it is only good when people listen to it. It's like hearing advice from your parents, but if you don't take it...did it work for you?
I walked into the break room at work on a conversation about religion, without realizing it. That same argument came up. I can tell them that it applies, but they don't understand that the Bible is relevant because this particular person was more interested in pulling apart my faith than hearing truth. Even though he was more interested in pulling apart my faith and yet claiming he was interested in my beliefs, I invited him to church. I said it wasn't meant to convert him, but if he was interested in knowing more about my faith, come and check it out. He refused my invitation. Faith for him is an unintelligent choice. I don't know that this person will have a change of heart, but what I know I can do, is do what was done for me. Pray for him. Thanks, John, for all that you are doing and to Michelle and your kids for the sacrifices that they make. You been mentioning the staff making sacrifices, but I know your family does also.
I am not a member of Fellowship yet, but I am going to "jump in with both feet" and participate.
I had a beautiful 4 month old patient yesterday. He was round and cute and happy. His huge eyes gave me a look that made me melt. He acted as if I was his best friend! ( luckily, I dont give the vaccines!) Ironically, his father was concerned that his son was "too friendly" and that he "would never become wary of strangers!" I proceeded to talk about unconditional love, and how wonderful it would be if we all lived our lives with such genuine love for one another.
It made me think of your sermon and random acts of kindness. Along with doing random acts of kindness, we should HAVE random kindness! Live our lives through the eyes of a four month old child. They see all people in God's image. They don't discrminate color, race, size, etc. They exhibit pure love.
We can learn a lot from children.
Thanks Dale. Most of you don't know that Dale is one of my closest friends in the world. Welcome to our little blogging community Dale...this can be your way to connect with us at Fellowhsip. Thanks for your feedback bro.
Good stuff Jeff. Keep in mind that God wants to use your past...your fractures, to reach out to those in your sphere of influence. I guess we all have our own "prisons" and to see Paul rise up above and be used is a serious challenge to all of us.
Hey Betty,
Thanks for your comments. Pastors are probably to blame when it come to making scripture irrelevant. It has to begin in the pulpit (even though we don't have one). Sometimes you are dealing with people that have an agenda...an ax to grind. If someone is open to dialogue I'm in...but when its just some "hater" blowing off steam, I try not to engage. God knows I have blown off enough steam about the church in general myself.
I'm right there with you Una. You are taking random acts of kindness to a new level. The more we make random acts of kindness part of our schedule the more that kindness penetrates our own hearts. And yes we can learn a lot from our kids.
Una, I love what you had to say. If we could all look at life through the eyes of a child, it would be a much better place. Its a shame to think as we grow up we learn from life experiences to not be so loving and understanding.
John,
I had a chance to do a random act of kindness today that made my day seem not all that bad. As you know, today was a nice day out. Sunny and about 85 with no clouds. After I finished my last class of the day I headed through the parking lot to my car. I noticed two men about my age sitting in their car trying to start it. They had a dead battery. I asked them if they had a set of jumper cables and luckily they did. I told them I would be back after I got to my car. Five minutes later I had jump started their car for them and they no longer had to sit in the hot sun for the rest of the day. Something small but it made me feel better knowing that I was able to give a helping hand.
You are the man Chip! I bet your act of kindness didn't seem so random to the guys you helped. Way to step up and let God use you.
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