I am sitting here with Titus, my youngest, and we decided we would write our post together today. He starts out by saying he wants everyone to know that he is excited that his brother and sister are going to be getting out of school today for the summer. He is excited because they are excited too and they get to spend more time with the family.
Ty is also pretty excited about going on vacation because we get to go to Estes Park and Colorado Springs and we get to have lots of fun. We are going to go swimming, eat at Chik-Fil-A, play Bingo, go hiking and play with our new Rubix cube.
He says that is pretty much all he has to say.
I have a friend who coaches me professionaly who has been working with me to take some time off lately. He has been encouraging me to take a vacation and to schedule one day a month to get away to just fill back up. Because of his encouragement I decided to take this week off and spend it with my family. It has been really nice so far. I have worked field day Monday and Tuesday at the school. I got to go to LIFE Group last night which is always a tremendous blessing to me. Today, we are going to our kid's awards assembly and then get ready for our trip. It is nice to not have responsibility every once in a while.
In my prayer time recently God has slowly been revealing a thought to me that I am trying to understand enough to share in the message. It is based on the idea that the problem with many of our churches and our faith in general has to do with the fact that we do not share in a common suffering. Many of us have come to Christ trying to make it as easy as possible when coming to Christ should require a wholesale change of worldview and mindset. We should all have gone through a common suffering as our lives were changed. Check out Philppians 3. I will be working on these thoughts for a message a week from Sunday. Here's praying it all falls into place.
Have a great week and enjoy those around you. Love, Mike.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
The Least of These
Have you ever been one of the least of these? Jesus taught that whatever someone does for one of the least of His servants they have done for Him. I have always thought about how to be one of the ones that does stuff for the least of these. I would look for opportunities to serve people that I saw whether they were a freind or a complete stranger.
This week I was the least of these. Nancy and I were working outside on my day off (Friday) putting in a garden. As we worked with the tiller (something like riding an angry bull with a blade underneath it) I looked over and noticed that our lilacs were being overtaken by weeds. It is funny how quickly the weeds grow up in your garden and your life if you don't take precautions. I decided to call my brother, Will, and ask him how much it would cost me to put down a six foot strip of fabric and rock around the dog kennel and the lilacs. He told me the amount and I said I would order it in the future. He told me to just come by his house and pick up the fabric and to order the rock on his account until I got the money together. I felt pretty blessed to have a brother who would be willing to make a financial sacrifice because I thought I needed to improve something at my house.
So, I finished the garden and waited for the rock to come. It showed up about 3-4 PM and I went to work putting down fabric in the wind and trying to get rock on it before it blew away. I was using the kids as weights on the end of each piece as I ran to get 5 gallon buckets of rock. I worked for about 1 1/2 hours and then had to get ready to go to some friends' house for dinner. I had only finished one side and had a bunch more to do. Since I have a bad shoulder right now I was feeling the effects of lugging 5 gallon buckets of rock.
We had a great dinner with our friends, Shawn and Tia (Tia made a mean roast), and they found out we were putting down some rock. Shawn offered to come over the next day (his day off) and help me put down fabric and rock. He had just finished putting 40 tons of rock down at his house the week prior. I told him not to worry about it. He insisted. They were both concerned about my shoulder and helping me get the work done. Finally, Tia said Shawn was showing up to help the next day whether I invited him or not.
I was absolutely humbled by their concern for me, blown away that they insisted to help rather than take the first opportunity to get out of helping and then how hard Shawn worked. He sincerely put himself comepletely into making sur eit was done and done well. there were a couple of times I was just going to be done and he insisted we spend the extra time getting it just right.
I realized in that moment that Shawn and Tia love Jesus and because of that they love me and my family. It felt really humbling to be one of the least of Jesus' people, but it felt really good to be loved to.
My desire for you this week is twofold. One, serve Jesus this week by finding someone in need and helping them. Don;t take the easy way out when they say you don't have to. Sincerely invest yourself in helping them. Two, let other people serve Jesus by serving you. Don't let your pride stop them from blessing you.
From one of the least of these - love ya.
This week I was the least of these. Nancy and I were working outside on my day off (Friday) putting in a garden. As we worked with the tiller (something like riding an angry bull with a blade underneath it) I looked over and noticed that our lilacs were being overtaken by weeds. It is funny how quickly the weeds grow up in your garden and your life if you don't take precautions. I decided to call my brother, Will, and ask him how much it would cost me to put down a six foot strip of fabric and rock around the dog kennel and the lilacs. He told me the amount and I said I would order it in the future. He told me to just come by his house and pick up the fabric and to order the rock on his account until I got the money together. I felt pretty blessed to have a brother who would be willing to make a financial sacrifice because I thought I needed to improve something at my house.
So, I finished the garden and waited for the rock to come. It showed up about 3-4 PM and I went to work putting down fabric in the wind and trying to get rock on it before it blew away. I was using the kids as weights on the end of each piece as I ran to get 5 gallon buckets of rock. I worked for about 1 1/2 hours and then had to get ready to go to some friends' house for dinner. I had only finished one side and had a bunch more to do. Since I have a bad shoulder right now I was feeling the effects of lugging 5 gallon buckets of rock.
We had a great dinner with our friends, Shawn and Tia (Tia made a mean roast), and they found out we were putting down some rock. Shawn offered to come over the next day (his day off) and help me put down fabric and rock. He had just finished putting 40 tons of rock down at his house the week prior. I told him not to worry about it. He insisted. They were both concerned about my shoulder and helping me get the work done. Finally, Tia said Shawn was showing up to help the next day whether I invited him or not.
I was absolutely humbled by their concern for me, blown away that they insisted to help rather than take the first opportunity to get out of helping and then how hard Shawn worked. He sincerely put himself comepletely into making sur eit was done and done well. there were a couple of times I was just going to be done and he insisted we spend the extra time getting it just right.
I realized in that moment that Shawn and Tia love Jesus and because of that they love me and my family. It felt really humbling to be one of the least of Jesus' people, but it felt really good to be loved to.
My desire for you this week is twofold. One, serve Jesus this week by finding someone in need and helping them. Don;t take the easy way out when they say you don't have to. Sincerely invest yourself in helping them. Two, let other people serve Jesus by serving you. Don't let your pride stop them from blessing you.
From one of the least of these - love ya.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)