A Bittersweet Sunday

It’s so easy to be selfish when people move on in life. This is true whether it’s a friend, a family member, a co-worker, or, as in my case, an associate pastor. I tend to get attached to people. When God decides to use them somewhere else, I fight it. Today was different, though. God knows what He’s doing, even if I have no clue. Certainly, I’ll still miss the guy, but I know that God will use him in huge ways, no matter where he is. Even on a day mixed with a tinge of sadness, God gave me a generous helping of the sweet portion of “bittersweet.” Just when it seemed like our youth group was on its way down, a couple new teens showed up today. I also had the chance to have a talk with one of my teens about his future. Plus, I got to see some of my old youth group teens that have stopped coming. It sounds like they’ll be there on Wednesday. God is not done with this place and these people. He’s moving in powerful ways, and I can’t believe I get to be involved in it.

Tortoise and Hippo are Friends!

Check out this great true story that I found on rymaas‘ site.

Ode to the Beet…

The beet is both the cause of my suffering and the former color of my big toe. Yes, my friends, I dropped a can of beets on my toe Tuesday night. The reaction I get is almost unanimously, “why did you have a can of beets? Beets are gross!” To which I answer, ”beets are wonderful.” Despite the pain beets have caused me, I will continue to eat them. I suspect many of you will question my logic and my taste buds, but at least I’ll get a comment or two. By the way, my big toe nail is now black and will probably fall off as a result of the blood under my nail. Technically, this is called a subungual hemtatoma. I’m sure you all wanted to know that.

A Powerful Prayer

As I was reading the book of John the other day, God hit me upside the head with an amazing realization. Jesus prayed for me while He was on earth. In fact, He prayed for all of His followers:

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” ~ John 17:20-26

Is anyone else taken aback by this? Prayer can be a powerful thing, but how powerful are the prayers of God Himself? The more I read scripture, the more I feel like I had become immune to seeing the beauty and glory of God in things that I’ve always known. The Holy Spirit has been restoring a sense of wonder in me. Lord, help me to not err on the side of know about You, but not knowing You.

Victory

Before last night, I was fairly indifferent about the Giants. However, last night I was a dyed in the wool Giants fan. I went through my annual ritual of supporting a team that I don’t really care about. If you observed me during the game, you would have thought that the Giants were my favorite team and my life depended upon their victory. Now, I have a positive opinion of the Giants. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a terrible/fickle/fair-weather/bandwagon fan. I don’t like the Giants because they won, but because the Patriots lost. My Rams wouldn’t have stood a chance in a middle school championship, so I guess I’ll have to settle for the second best option: a victory by anyone but New England (cheaters never prosper!!).