I dropped the ball

I feel a burden of responsibility after hearing one point of Matt's sermon today. He was talking about how the Jehovah Witnesses teach that Jesus was Michael the arch angel.

Well, for about 2 months I was regularly visiting the nursing home across from Cal Baptist. I just wanted to find out which residents never get visitors and give them companionship. I started to get to know a couple ladies pretty well. One Christian lady was telling me about her Bible Study at the nursing home. She said, "Did you know that Jesus was really the angel Michael?" I told her that I didn't believe that was true and that I'd look it up in the Bible for her so she could see for herself.

Did I ever look that up for her or follow up with that? Nope. This poor Christian lady is learning "interesting" new things about her faith from a Jehovah Witness. She probably has no idea. So, I'm hoping to get myself over there again this week and tell her what I found out about that.

When I want to love people, to me that means making them feel special and respected. But, I'm reading this book called "Don't Waste Your Life." The author explains that to love people is to point them to Christ not to make them feel special. When God loves us, he doesn't do it by making much of us. He loves us by being glorified and letting us see and enjoy his glory.

That's a huge challenge for me when I go to the nursing home because I just want to make them feel special. Really, if I want to love them, I need to point them to Christ.

Confessions of a Pastor's Kid

I'm a pastor's kid, so my playground growing up was always my yard, the church parking lot, and the church, of course. Sad to say, my best friend, Valerie, and I were a little too micheivous at times. One time we were playing in the choir loft and broke this huge wooden stand. You know the official one that the choir director uses. That was a pretty serious offense, so instead of telling someone, we decided to fix it ourselves.

We got my mom's glue gun, plugged it in the only outlet about 10 yards away. We heated the gun and then ran over to the stand to glue the top back on. Yeah, the stand was way too heavy to bring over to the outlet. I told you it was serious. We left it repaired, but I'm sure it didn't stay on long. Anyways, people found out and my dad asked me if I broke it.

I didn't tell him then, but I'm too sensitive to let something like that go...so I told my mom three months later.

Sundays

It's Sunday, and I'm having a great day. It's funny because I never look forward to Sundays. They are very full and tiring, so I don't look forward to them. But, I really should look forward to them because God ends up blessing me so much on Sundays. Most of the time I leave church smiling and talking to Rob a mile a minute about all the cool ways God showed himself that day. So, I really do like Sundays a lot. I love them. But, still I don't look forward to them. Isn't that funny? My brain hasn't connected the two yet, I guess.

I'm really excited to be a part of Sandals. I'm so proud of our church, its heart, its mission, and how it makes those real through actions. I feel SO blessed for the community God has allowed us to be a part of, to love, and be loved by.

Kind of random thought: I was listening to the radio a couple weeks ago and the person being interviewed said that the enemy of love is self-consciousness. My first thought was, "Oh good grief, another cliche." But, I think it's true. It's probably not the only enemy of love, but it is one. Whenever I'm being self-conscious or intimidated with people, that keeps me from approaching them, reaching out, or being myself. I might think, "There's nothing wrong with being self-conscious or intimidated." But, when I realized that that keeps me from loving, that's a different story.

I've been thinking about that off and on, and I think I'm doing better now that I'm aware of that perspective.