Lately my head has been filled with a billion thoughts running around my head at a billion miles per hour. So I thought I'd best put it down on paper (well, metaphorically) and try to makes sense of it all.
Last nite those at cessioncommunity had the pleasure of hearing Mr Frank Ritchie speak. He did an amazing job speaking on the topic of The Devoted Life: They devoted themselves to community. It came from a person so passionate about community that he was a great choice to bring that message (not that Melissa & Brett don't already do an amazing job but it's nice to have some change every now and then). So who better to bring that message to us than Frank, himself?!
As Frank brought us the message, there were two things that stuck with me-the aspect of love within the community and how that play a part in the way we interact (directly and indirectly)with those around us each day.
I'm sure that many of us know people that struggle to find God and his love. And you endeavour to help them out by praying for them, helping them sieve through possible problems etc etc but have you ever asked the question, "How much apart of a community are you?" or "What selfless act have you done for someone today?". As funny a question as that may seem, I am being quite serious.
When you find yourself in a bad space, you may think that the best thing for yourself at the moment is to solve your problem and you'll be sweet and be able to go on. That however, isn't usually the case. Personally, what I have found to work is to show someone else some love and that satisfaction you get from giving love normally speeds up the process of you getting out of that bad space coz you are in turn receiving love. Thus feeling much better and being able to show more love to others. This may seem a little tricky for you to understand but it all comes back to the idea that if you want to receive love you first have to give it. For this to happen, you have to be part of a community because it is not a one way thing between me, myself & I but rather a multi-person (if that's a word) interaction.
God is love and we are created in His image, therefore we should be love! So to answer your question, "Where do I find God and his love?"...in each other.
So I've completed the Network Course. Network is a course that one would take part in if you are interested in finding out what your spiritual gifts are. However, don't expect to find a clear cut answer once you've finished the course coz that's not how it works. The way it works is to eliminate the ones that are definitely not your gifts, narrow down the possible ones and explore them.
Each believer is given at least one gift so it is very possible to have more than one. After the course you go through coaching to keep exploring your possible gifts and help them develop so you can use them in ministry to better serve others. The purpose of spiritual gifts is to honour God and edify others so it is a requirement to use your gift to serve others and glorify Him.
I really enjoyed the course. So what are my gift(s)? Well, I'm still kinda not very sure bout some but others it's quite clear. I ended up with
- Administration (no surprise there!)
- Helps (I enjoy lending an extra hand every now and then)
- Encouragement
- Craftsmanship (not quite sure how it fits in but quite possible)
- Leadership (This one was 5th on my list but Brett said to keep exploring it to see where that fits in with ministry)
- Hospitality, Giving, Teaching (all were pass no. 5 on the list but should be looked at)
Was a great time all in all but am looking forward to the coaching even more! Should be interesting, to say the least.
chow has been low on team members lately and this issue has been on my prayer list every nite and day. Last nite this prayer was answered! The Venter's have been coming along to cession for a few months now and I think have decided to stick around. Sean is a bit of a foodie, so I've been told, and last nite he volunteered to be part of chow. What was so great was that I didn't have to ask him and make him feel obligated to be part of chow. He actually came up to me and asked to be part of the team. I was so grateful!
Because this has been an issue for me and the team for a while now (and will probably continue to be one as cession continues to grow) I was starting to get really frustrated and discouraged. But last nite really reassured me that He is good, His plan is perfect and I shouldn't have to worry. And also, cession seems to be the place that whenever there is a need for positions to be filled, people turn up. So I just have to trust that, in His time, I will have a complete team.
At ECW, we've been exploring the Life Stories of Jesus. In the first week we took a look at The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast and yesterday The Parable of the Sower. So far it's been good. I'm really enjoying this series.
So why, out of the blue, am I blogging about a message during 10am? Well, there was something in the scripture that caught my eyes/ears during the readings. We read from Matt 13:1-22 but the verse that did it for me was v.15 "For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them".
One of the many tell tale signs that you are a gymnast is very heavily calloused palms due to the friction that occurs while training on the apparatus. The more you train the harder the callouse gets and you kinda don't get to see the bottom of your palm again til the much desired rip happens!
How does a gymnast's palm relate to Matt 13:15? Well, this is how I see it...There are seasons in our life that we may go our own way and in situations like this, tend to harden our hearts to what God might be trying to say to us. First is starts of as a conscious effort to close our ears to His voice and our eyes to His guidance then it eventually becomes natural and you don't even have to try coz you just don't hear or see Him anymore. Like the callouse building up on a gymnast's palm, first you have to tough it out and just train through the pain while the callouse builds up but soon it's hard enough that even if it hurts you don't feel the pain anymore (til it rips!). But if we decide to soften our hearts, change our attitudes and be wiling to be mould by Him, your eyes begin to see what He wants you to see and you ears begin to hear what He is trying to tell you.
2 comments:
That's a great analogy Jean.
I'm constantly impressed by how much you can recall of the messages given at Cession and how you can encapsulate the importance of the message to you. I think you should think about that in terms of your qualities as well.
I agree.
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