Day of Service

We did not have church service yesterday so there are not any message notes to post. Instead of holding service, we had our annual CCC Day of Service ("Don't go to church, be the church!"), where we all went out and served in various capacities in the community.

There was a group who packaged meals for Stop Hunger Now, an organization that assembles and sends prepackaged meals to countries around the world. I believe the goal was something like 15,000 or more meals completed. I haven't heard the results yet, but I'm sure the mission was accomplished.

One group helped with yard work around Durham Middle School, our Sunday morning location. It is always nice to be able to give to the place that allows us to do what we do.

Another group, which included most of our teens, went to City of Refuge where they helped feed the homeless and participated in their Sunday morning worship service.

A group went to the State Fair to help collect canned food on behalf of Must Ministries, an organization that works with the homeless in our area providing food, clothing, and emergency shelter. We have also had a box in our church lobby the past few weeks to collect Bibles for Must to distribute to those who need them.

One group worked with Care Net, an agency near Georgia State's campus in downtown Atlanta that offers a variety of services to pregnant women including counseling, parenting classes, services information, as well as a clothing and supplies pantry. I believe they helped install shelving, provide office furniture, and sort through the various clothing donations.

The group that I participated with volunteered at the YWCA in Marietta. We did yard work/landscaping on a courtyard, removed kudzu from a tree (no small feat if you are familiar with kudzu), and picked up litter around the facility. I learned that the organization can receive funds from recycling old cell phones and cell phone chargers. In a few weeks, we are going to set up a box in our lobby for CCC members to donate their old phones.

In the afternoon, some people also went down to the Austell area to help Samaritan's Purse and Westridge Church clean out some of the flood damaged houses in the area. I appreciate those who were willing to work both morning and afternoon to serve those in our area.


I really enjoyed serving yesterday. It always encourages me to find more ways to serve, but I am not usually very good at following through. I did however decide to take the initiative on collecting cell phones for the YWCA and Neal and I talked some today about continuing to improve the courtyard, be it by obtaining some better playground equipment along with more kid-friendly ground cover for the playground, locating gently used patio furniture, or even planting flowers in the spring to provide more color. I really would like to do more to help the agency. They have a 5K at the end of the month, but it's the Sunday morning of our 5th anniversary celebration. Perhaps their next event.

I am excited to learn next week how much money was raised in the Mina Offering Challenge. I am praying that it will blow our minds and fully cover all of our Day of Service expenses. I still have one more Farmer's Market tomorrow to sell bread for the project. I am interested to learn what others have done to make their money grow!

Motivation

I have been thinking about how my job in the church office could cause others to misconstrue the motivation or drive behind some of the things I do. Relationships are important to me. I enjoy getting to know people better on a one-on-one format as that works best for me and my introvert tendencies. I have had the desire to develop a specific relationship with someone who attends our church and am excited to see what happens. It is something that God has laid on my heart to do and it is also something I want to do.

I have also felt the urge to visit a few other people that I don't see very often, probably because it's summer and everyone takes vacations during this time. I am thankful that my job allows me to take time to see people during the day. However, I wonder if some think that I am visiting them because I "work for the church." I don't want others to think I'm "just doing my job" rather than doing something of my own prerogative. I'm sure that pastors feel this much more acutely than us lowly office administrators, but I still wonder if people think I've been instructed to contact them.

I am sure that there will be people that think that but I hope that most people attribute my actions to genuine care. I don't know how one is to gauge these thoughts, I just wanted to share my concern. I wonder if Jeff or Neal (our pastors) think about this or feel this way as well.

The Psalms: Week Four

This past Sunday Neal spoke to us about Psalm 23. You can listen to the sermon here. What follows are my notes from the message.


From Psalm 23 we learn three things about the shepherd.

1. The Shepherd's Person

Psalm 23:1 > Our shepherd provides for all of our needs - we should be content in what God's given us.


John 10:11 > Jesus is the good shepherd

Isaiah 53:6 > We all, like sheep, have gone astray


Sheep are very easily led. They have great hearing, sight, and sense of smell. People also tend to be easily led. That's why we need a good leader.


An example of a good leader/shepherd (video Neal shared).

2. The Shepherd's Provision

Verses 2-5
Sometimes we have to be forced to rest. A sheep will not rest until four criteria have been met: Fear (danger), Friction (relationship issues, turmoil), Fleas (annoyances), Famine (hunger).

Restores my soul - rescuing a sheep that has become stuck (has rolled onto side and cannot get back onto its own feet) which is often due to laziness, being loaded down, or being too large. It has to be picked up/rescued by the shepherd and set back down on its feet again.

3b - What if we lived our lives in order to lift up the name of Jesus?

4 - Just because we're following God's leading doesn't mean that there won't be storms (valley of the shadow of death). Sometimes where God wants us to be means going through turmoil.

Our rod is God's word. It protects our lives and is also used for discipline. Our staff is the Holy Spirit that comforts us.

5 - Anoint head with oil - oil used to set apart (as in a king), protection/healing (from diseases).

3. The Shepherd's Promise
Verse 6 - Goodness and love/mercy will follow me all the days of my life.
Neal quoted out of Phillip Keller's A Shepherd's Look at Psalm 23. He was talking about how sheep have good quality manure that can help regenerate grass in derelict soil. "In other words goodness and mercy, goodness and love had followed my flocks. They left behind them something worthwhile, productive, beautiful and beneficial to both themselves and others and me. Where they had walked, there followed fertility and weed-free land. Where they had lived there remained beauty and abundance. And here's the question that now comes to me very pointedly. 'Is this true in my life? Do I leave a benediction and a blessing behind me?'"

Do I bless the things I'm involved in?

Would people be shocked to learn that I am a Christ follower based on their experiences with me?

I really enjoyed the breakdown and the poignant questions at the end. Do I really make a difference for the better in the things I'm involved with? Does my behavior demonstrate love and mercy to others? These are questions I should constantly ask to evaluate my effectiveness.

During the message I was reminded of another video on this book. I have to attach it because it's awesome.

The Psalms: Week One

Yesterday we started our new message series titled The Psalms: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. We are going to spend six weeks studying a few individual psalms. Our first psalm of study was Psalm One.

Psalm 1
1Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
2But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
4Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor the sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6For the Lord watches over the ways of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Jeff reminded us that the Psalms are not to be read as daily devotionals but as spiritual journals. Daily devotionals are generally purposed to encourage you each day but some of the psalms have angry or depressed moods. They won't all make you feel good.

Why aren't the psalms organized according to the various moods/tones? Perhaps because life is messy and consists of a variety of moods/tones at different times. Thus, the psalms are a reflection of real life.

The psalms remind us that God wants us to praise Him but to also bring Him our hurts, sturggles, and wide variety of emotions. There's nothing we can't tell Him or that He can't handle.

What does it mean to be blessed? Supremely happy, fortunate, envied, lucky (in the way that you don't deserve what you have received).

Verse 1 talks about the relational progression into the sinful life > walk...stand...sit. An example of this progression is found in Genesis 13,19 with Lot. He chooses the land that contains Sodom and Gomorrah (even though he knew the people of the cities were wicked and sinful) and sets up his tent outside of Sodom. He then moves into the city to live. Finally we find him sitting in the gateway of the city (as a leader). He was eventually drawn into what he knew from the beginning was harmful. From this is asked, "Who influences you? From whom do you seek council?"

Verse two talks about the blessed man delighting in and meditating on the law of the Lord. Jeff explained that delighting in the law means to want to know what it says. To meditate on it is to think about it. Worry is negative meditation - thinking and mulling something over and over. If you can worry, you can meditate on God's word and it'll be a lot more productive.

Suggestions for Meditating: 1. Choose a time and place. 2. Ask God to meet you in scripture. 3. Read. 4. Meditate on a brief passage.

We were given an outline for meditating using the acrostic S.O.A.P. (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer)

2 Timothy 3:15-17 (Message) "There's nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful in one way or another - showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us."

What a great reminder. At the end, we were challenged to follow a reading plan that was given to us to help us read through the entire book of Psalms during our series. We were also challenged to use the S.O.A.P. acrostic to meditate on scriptures within our reading.

Personal Application: I am taking up the challenge to follow the reading plan through the end of the series. I am also going to use the S.O.A.P. acrostic to meditate on what I read. Jeff mentioned that writing down what you learn helps you to apply it. I really do want to "do what it says" rather than just hear it (James 1:22). I want to be blessed. I do delight in God's Word, though I certainly don't always act like it. I also desire to yield much fruit and that comes from applying what I know. Hopefully this exercise will help.

If you'd like to hear the full message, click here. It may not be up for a few days because Neal's at camp and he is in charge of uploads.

The Wonder Years

This past Sunday's message was shared by Neal. It's about the years between Jesus' childhood and adult ministry. Below are notes and application. You can listen to it here.

Luke 2:41-52

We don't know much about the life of Jesus between when he was a child and age 30. What we can know is gleaned from Luke where it begins with the family's trip to Jerusalem when he was 12.

"And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." v52

Neal expounded on this using alliteration.

Stature - physical growth (Jesus grew up like a normal, typical Jewish boy)

At this point, I was thinking, how can wisdom be an "S" word? Wisdom....sage....sagacity! I then whispered the word to Adam shortly before Neal confirmed my skills.

Sagacity - wisdom (everyone was amazed at his knowledge of God)

Spirituality - favor with God (extremely devout family, Jesus was putting into practice what he was learning from God)

Socially - favor with man (relationships, drawing people to God)
>The average man and woman loved Jesus, it was the hypocritical religious leaders that didn't like him.
>Jesus was invited to a wedding indicating that he was well liked and fun. When there was a crisis, people turned to him indicating his dependability in tough situations. This is where he performed his first miracle (John 2:11 - indicating that he hadn't shown any inclination toward supernatural powers previously).

When Jesus was growing up, he was preparing himself for what he was going to do. What are we preparing ourselves for?

Romans 8:15-17 - we are God's children, heirs with Christ; we are also to share in Christ's glory

God has a part for us to play. We need to prepare ourselves and step into our God-given role. Jesus didn't have to fulfill his appointed role. He chose to do it. And so must we.

What is the stage of life you are being called out of for something new? Are you growing in the four "S"s? What is at least one area you can grow in this summer?

Personal Thoughts: I am part of the women's walking group for the summer which indicates social and stature (relationships and health). There is also an element of the spiritual as we have mini devotions and are encouraged to pray for one another and to develop an accountability relationship with another woman. I have that covered in Jill. I am also trying to reach out more to our neighbors as indicated in a previous post and am involved in tennis with others in the neighborhood. I can always use more wisdom and favor with God. I have been remiss at adding scripture to my heart so that it can become part of my life and actions. I should put more effort into practicing what I am learning from God as well as meditating on His Word.

Door-to-door Jam

A few months ago I was pondering how to become engaged in my community, more specifically with those in my neighborhood. I have met a lot of people through tennis which has been nice. And many of our immediate neighbors are pretty friendly, though we're not always in the loop as we have no kids. However, there are still several on our block I've never met or don't know their names, most particularly our neighbor immediately to our right. I was trying to figure out how to meet everyone. At Halloween a lot of neighbors gather in the cul-de-sac to have a potluck and pass out candy, but that's only once a year. I had thought about hosting a social or something, but we've been too busy to add another event.

About a month ago I picked strawberries and made waaaaaay too much freezer jam. I decided that passing it out would be a great way to say hi and connect. Who doesn't like strawberry jam, right? (Apparently Neal doesn't.) So I settled on that idea, but have been remiss in following through. Part of it is not knowing when people are home. The other part is I'm not particularly outgoing and the idea of going door to door (even though I'm not selling something) makes me a little nervous.

Recently I've been praying for courage because I know it's something that needs to be done (and the jam is taking up too much space in the freezer). Yesterday afternoon, as I was preparing to go to the gym, I figured it was as good a time as any to drop some off to people so I put six containers in a cooler and headed out. I figured it wouldn't take long. Two and a half hours later I realized I was not visiting the gym that day.

My first stop was our neighbor two doors down. I knew that the woman worked from home so I figured she would be available. Unexpectedly she invited me in to sit and talk. She shared that it seemed like good timing because her family had just learned a week or two before that her husband has cancer. They removed it but he still has to go through radiation. She asked for prayer. Apart from that, I learned a lot about her and her family. It made me thankful that I was finally being faithful to what I needed to do.

My second and third stops were to next door neighbors who were outside. We all chatted for a bit. One of the women is someone I have spent more time with than most of the other neighbors. It wasn't very long, but I passed out jam to both of them.

The fourth stop was to a family I had only spoken to at the Halloween potluck. I learned that the husband recently had surgery and is on disability. They were preparing to go to the pool so I didn't stay very long.

The fifth visit was up the street to the police officer's house. I hadn't really talked to him since Halloween either. He was a little skeptical about my purpose until I told him I lived three houses down. He remembered my husband and asked how Adam was doing. Kind of funny to me.

My last stop of the afternoon was to a house whose inhabitants I had never met. I had seen the woman going in to the house on the way up to number five so I knew someone was home. I rang the door bell and waited as a dog barked inside. I waited long enough that I didn't think anyone was coming. As I was headed back down the driveway the front door opened. So I met the lady and told her who I was. We talked for a while on her front porch. She's lived here since the beginning of the neighborhood. At one point she asked what I was doing and I told her I was trying to meet some of the neighbors and gave her the jam. She's very friendly.

All in all a very successful first venture. Not at all what I had anticipated. Much, much better in fact. I still have a number of other houses to visit, including our next door neighbor, but I am very encouraged after yesterday. I don't really know what all will come of this, but I am enjoying the process all the same as it's stretching me a little.

How has God been stretching you? How do you engage your community?