"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:35 (NASB).
Loving people is tough. I'm not too good at writing out things into anything remotely coherent. (You would notice the short posts). I think it's due to my impatience. Anyways, I was just reminded with this verse today, because one of the brothers in my fellowship considers himself an "outsider". May it never be!
Really people, is it that hard to welcome others? We complain about the church losing members, we complain about the lack of newcomers. Can you blame them if you don't reach out to them? Because, clearly when Jesus went out to heal the sick and preach to the people, He just hung out with His homies and didn't approach anyone.
I'm really only talking about welcoming people in fellowship and in the church...(The going out and making disciples is a whole nother basket entirely). Can you really say that you love one another, when you don't even greet one another each Sunday with more than a superficial exchange? Yes, there are physical limits to the amount of time you can spend with each person, mr/ms. popular. But, I'm sure all of us can notice the one or two people that get left out with no one to talk to!
Take my rant out of love! TAKE IT!!!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Angels
Some days in my foolishness, I forgot how close God is to me. I call out, I search in vain, when he's right beside me, watching over me...hopefully with a pleased look on his face...but, who knows? :)
Anyways in the summer of '06, I was driving down one of the busier streets in my hometown. I drive a standard (yea baby!) '94 Altima. Disaster strikes!!! ...and my car dies on me. The engine dies, but I still have momentum, so I shift to neutral, turn on the flashers, and pull over onto the left-turn lane. I open the hood.....and promptly call my father for assistance, having exhausted my extremely limited automotive knowledge. I was 10 minutes away from home, so he would be there pretty quick.
A woman pulls up to me, and asks if I need help. I puff out my chest, and answer confidently, "Don't worry. I've got the situation under control". How, could I ask a girl for help? Hopefully, it would convince her....it does!
A couple of minutes later, a jogger walks by. "Why don't you give it another try?", he suggests. At the time the weirdness of him jogging in the middle of the road (there was a median) eluded me. I cranked the car again, and it miraculously started! I turned to thank the kind stranger, and he was gone. And this was a long-stretch of road, I should have been able to see him leave...seeing as our contact lasted all of 15 seconds.
I remember talking about the situation with my friend, he suggested the jogger was an angel. I was kind of hesitant to label such a thing as a spiritual encounter. But when I look back on it, God did help me through that. In fact, he sent TWO angels. The first being that woman who offered to help who I turned away. The good Lord is so merciful, He sends a second.
Anyways in the summer of '06, I was driving down one of the busier streets in my hometown. I drive a standard (yea baby!) '94 Altima. Disaster strikes!!! ...and my car dies on me. The engine dies, but I still have momentum, so I shift to neutral, turn on the flashers, and pull over onto the left-turn lane. I open the hood.....and promptly call my father for assistance, having exhausted my extremely limited automotive knowledge. I was 10 minutes away from home, so he would be there pretty quick.
A woman pulls up to me, and asks if I need help. I puff out my chest, and answer confidently, "Don't worry. I've got the situation under control". How, could I ask a girl for help? Hopefully, it would convince her....it does!
A couple of minutes later, a jogger walks by. "Why don't you give it another try?", he suggests. At the time the weirdness of him jogging in the middle of the road (there was a median) eluded me. I cranked the car again, and it miraculously started! I turned to thank the kind stranger, and he was gone. And this was a long-stretch of road, I should have been able to see him leave...seeing as our contact lasted all of 15 seconds.
I remember talking about the situation with my friend, he suggested the jogger was an angel. I was kind of hesitant to label such a thing as a spiritual encounter. But when I look back on it, God did help me through that. In fact, he sent TWO angels. The first being that woman who offered to help who I turned away. The good Lord is so merciful, He sends a second.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
On Listening
I think most people know what God is asking them to do. They just need people to affirm it. Listen more.
Monday, January 14, 2008
On Loving
Consider this a late new year's resolution, but I want to work on being more loving. This is in keeping with His commandment: Love God, and Love your neighbour. Sometimes with the busyness of everyday life we lose sight of that as Christians.