Tuesday, June 06, 2006

A funny thing happened....

The funny thing of which I speak happened as I was on my way to my small group tonight in the south of the city at Shawn Jones' house. I was picking up some snacks for us to enjoy after we had our Bible study and as I was backing out of my parking space, another car backed into the back of mine. Now for some of you, mainly my family or one or two of my friends, you may be thinking that I just wasn't paying attention at all because it has happened to me before. But that was not the case this time, I was actually paying attention and had been looking of my shoulder, and as I was getting ready to shift into 1st gear, an older couple who in fact were not looking backed into my car. I was scared to death that I was going to have to go through the pains of dealing with insurance companies again, and my day hadn't left me in the greatest of moods so I was soured slightly as I searched my insurance card. I also suspect that they couple had noticed a little damage on the one corner of my rear bumper but tried to distract my attention from it. I didn't see it until after our interaction to make sure they were ok. It doesn't really bother me, hence why I say it was a funny thing. I just find it slightly humorous that the only car incidents that I've had have been within the last year and in this same city.
Of course I was nice to the elderly couple and didn't cause any problems. I could have been angry, but it just isn't worth getting mad over someone's lapse in judgment. I have those experiences all the time, where I do something that I just hit myself in the forehead because I know it was a dumb mistake and hope that the other person's response will be one of grace.
God is good to grant us the grace needed in situations like that and I am so very thankful for it.

I've been throwing a bunch of ideas together in a document on my computer lately. I don't know what it will turn into if anything at all. Since I've been done school and work has slowed to a crawl for a little while I've been finding myself with a lot more time on my hands than I am used to. In some respects it is a very good thing for me because I have been reading more, meeting with people more and all around dealing with my thoughts as they come instead of suppressing them. There are a few things that I have been thinking about that I will choose not to share at this point but have been taking up a lot of my thoughts lately but some of the other things that I have been thinking about have been flowing into words on a page that I hope to be able to share with other people someday.
I would really love to be an author. I enjoy writing, although not extremely great with the english language, I like to place my thoughts into written form. I find that when I write I am much more capable of expressing my thoughts than when I merely speak them.
I've been thinking a lot about the passion for ministry which God has been lighting up within me. There are so many things that I believe could use a little shove in the right direction when it comes to 'church.' I sincerely hope that I will have the chance to be a part of some of those things. It seems that there may be a potentially big awakening within the Church happening within my lifetime, I can only pray and hope that God will allow me to be around to be a part of that. There is a certain complacency within congregants that we may not even really recognize as a problem. Many people have been talking about this type of issue for years, quite possibly centuries, but the thing is that it doesn't seem like people are getting it.
Our society is cause for much difficulty within the church as we are infiltrated with so much garbage and we accept it in the name of relevance. I am one who believes that the church needs to be the reflection of Christ and as we seek to preach the gospel as we have been commanded there may not be a lot of space for relevance. There is certainly not space for complacency that cripples but is accepted for the sake of comfort or stability. Maybe we need to take an adventurours step and risk losing money so that God can be pleased with his chosen ones instead of turning his head from his "Israelites" because they have chosen to make up a "golden calf" that looks an awful lot like affluence.
I struggle with these things myself because I like stuff. I like movies, big tv's , nice cars and leather furniture. Maybe we don't have to give up all our comforts, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad if we were more generous with our money, time and energy for the sake of Christ.
Something we discussed in our small group tonight was "who are we as church leaders asking the people to serve?" All too often it seems like we are asking people to serve us or our ministries, but there's a problem even within that sentence. WE are not asking, or should not be asking, anyone to serve, we should merely be relaying God's commands from Scripture.
It is the Lord Christ we are serving, and as such we should and must be giving everything we can to see to it that the gospel of Christ is preached in places that it hasn't been and in places where it has been because even those of us who have heard it all our lives, we forget so very easily.
I'll have to limit my wild rampage of brain vomit for now because I am getting slightly tired and my thoughts will likely continue to make less sense if I continue.

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