mine has been low key and very relaxing.
Just got back to the house after spending some time with my dear friend Eiza. What Sam was to Frodo in the "Lord of the Rings" movies is what Eiza is to me....a true friend regardless of what life seems to throw at me. A word to the wise.....treasure and protect those special relationships because I can tell you from experience the enemy will try his hardest to try and sabotage those friendships.
Anyway...it's been a little while since my last post and I thought I would just let you all know what's been going on here in my small part of the world.
For starters.....last Sunday I preached and it was......interesting. Interesting because the passage was a well known and familiar passage. I found myself telling the Lord....."it's not my place to judge the validity of this message.....I'm just the messenger." I found myself saying this to Him many times because I wondered if I had indeed heard Him correctly as to the passage He wanted me to preach from. The text in question was Matthew 6:19-24 pertaining to:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
As preachers of the truth we can never assume that even the most familiar of all passages have nothing new to say to us....nothing could be farther from the truth. This passage challenged all of us in who we are devoted to and why. The questions I left with the congregation last week included:
- What version of "life" are we buying into?
- Is our own "self-interest" getting in the way of maintaining a clear focus on God?
- Who has our hearts?
The congregation responded well and my hope was that the message spoke to their hearts....I believe it did as they commented as such.
Secondly, I received the great news that my apartment search is now over.....Yay Me!! I will be moving into a brand new building and I'm so excited about it. It is located about 3 blocks away from the mission house so I will still be close to Aaron and Cris. It is still under construction so I am hoping that maybe in about a month from now I will be moving. I need to go do some measuring as I will need to buy my own cabinets for the kitchen. When I am able to gain access to the apartment I will definitely take some pictures for all of you to see.
Finally, I would ask for prayer as I had to deal with a situation last week. I'm not going to give the details for the protection of those involved. However I will say that I had to reprimand someone who was basically insulting me and showing a lack of respect. I praise God for helping me regain my composure and the ability to express my thoughts and feelings in a way which did not crush the individual's spirit. Please pray for this situation and also for the individual as I believe this person simply doesn't realize how their behavior is being perceived and has no idea that it is hurting other people.
I'm still working through some ideas for this blog and as those ideas become more formulated I will be sharing them here....so check back from time to time....you might be surprised what you find.
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