leaving, thinking, reading
I have not been very good about staying on top of blogging but it seems lately that by Sunday evening I am wondering where the week before went. The past three weekends have been hectic with my mom becoming ill for the past three Thursdays – Saturdays. I told her jokingly that I think she is allergic to weekends but seriously, we pray that this week will find her healthy and refreshed this weekend!
We received a phone call last night from an absentee church member who was calling to check on us – he said that he had heard that our church was pushing us out and getting rid of us. Man, you are always the last to know, aren’t you? We received the call while we were with one of our Elders and his wife and that sparked a conversation about some of the people who left our church and have been bad-mouthing and tearing us down in our own community and in others as far as 20 miles away. I felt convicted of rehashing the past, of even talking about it again, like a broken record and then something in this morning’s devotional caught my attention and made me realize that I need to just be a bigger person, to avoid even talking or revisiting these things again. I found the Message’s version of the scripture and I love it even more than what I read this morning. It is a challenge, a charge and an encouragement. I have included it at the bottom of the post.
We packaged and mailed another resume and set of sermon tapes to a church about 15 miles from where we are now. Time will tell, there are many mixed emotions about it (some saucy thoughts from the husband on his blog) and also, we are trying to learn how to be sensitive to our community when the time to leave does come. For good or for bad they have become a family to us and it will be hard to leave some of them behind. We have a group going to see Doug and Molly in February so, God will need to work the timing out where the husband can still lead the group there – be it from this church or another. I am not going, we are believing and trusting that by February I will be pregnant and will need to stay stateside. But, hell, our plans are thwarted everyday so, who really knows, I have given up pretending to know!
Today is my dad’s 50th birthday – Yeah! We are heading to town to have dinner with my parents to celebrate. We are very, very fortunate to have such a wonderful man in our family and I am very thankful for him. On Sunday my parents celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary – 30 years, enough said. I can only hope and pray that we will be as blessed.
In closing, here is Romans 15 for some thoughtful reflection:
(starting at verse 1) Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, "How can I help?" That's exactly what Jesus did. He didn't make it easy for himself by avoiding people's troubles, but waded right in and helped out. "I took on the troubles of the troubled," is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it's written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we'll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
We received a phone call last night from an absentee church member who was calling to check on us – he said that he had heard that our church was pushing us out and getting rid of us. Man, you are always the last to know, aren’t you? We received the call while we were with one of our Elders and his wife and that sparked a conversation about some of the people who left our church and have been bad-mouthing and tearing us down in our own community and in others as far as 20 miles away. I felt convicted of rehashing the past, of even talking about it again, like a broken record and then something in this morning’s devotional caught my attention and made me realize that I need to just be a bigger person, to avoid even talking or revisiting these things again. I found the Message’s version of the scripture and I love it even more than what I read this morning. It is a challenge, a charge and an encouragement. I have included it at the bottom of the post.
We packaged and mailed another resume and set of sermon tapes to a church about 15 miles from where we are now. Time will tell, there are many mixed emotions about it (some saucy thoughts from the husband on his blog) and also, we are trying to learn how to be sensitive to our community when the time to leave does come. For good or for bad they have become a family to us and it will be hard to leave some of them behind. We have a group going to see Doug and Molly in February so, God will need to work the timing out where the husband can still lead the group there – be it from this church or another. I am not going, we are believing and trusting that by February I will be pregnant and will need to stay stateside. But, hell, our plans are thwarted everyday so, who really knows, I have given up pretending to know!
Today is my dad’s 50th birthday – Yeah! We are heading to town to have dinner with my parents to celebrate. We are very, very fortunate to have such a wonderful man in our family and I am very thankful for him. On Sunday my parents celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary – 30 years, enough said. I can only hope and pray that we will be as blessed.
In closing, here is Romans 15 for some thoughtful reflection:
(starting at verse 1) Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, "How can I help?" That's exactly what Jesus did. He didn't make it easy for himself by avoiding people's troubles, but waded right in and helped out. "I took on the troubles of the troubled," is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it's written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we'll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
posted by Anna at
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