too funny!

Rick Rolled Pastor from Discovery Church on Vimeo.

Great Weekend and Already Excited About This Coming up Weekend!!!

Ok, so things are slowing down just a bit before they really get crazy with Greenville's Largest Easter Egg Hunt in a few weeks. But this past Sunday was great. I love seeing all of Discovery people and their kids. We had a blast reviewing everything we learned over the past 5 weeks. The kids did great and remembered a lot of stuff about cool Bible people like Adam, Moses, Balaam, Samuel and Paul. The room was full of excitement and fun. I especially love my Teen Helpers that make everything happen each week. Then to top off a great day we went to Crosslink youth group and fed them pizza, told them the Gospel and played some games. Just plain cool that this is my job!!!

Now I am looking forward to this coming weekend already! Egg Hunt meeting on Saturday (and I am in charge!) Then Set-up in the evening with the coolest, hardest working church body I have ever seen. On Sunday I can't say too much but I think that there may be some graffiti ("tagging" for you gangsters out there) while we learn about Daniel 5 and God writing on the wall. This kids will have a blast and I will too!

On a personal note: we got our truck running and are working on getting a car fixed. I am excited about having running cars and no payments! Just need some time and for good old N.C. to let go of my tax refund! I should charge them a late fee!!!

Thats all, back to "work" for me now.

Find the heart in it

Sorry for the long laps in blogs. Not posting regularly is the best way to run off my 3 followers! I "may" try to do better.

So reading through the Old Testament can be challenging especially going through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In these books there are a few redundant passages (just a few) and with all of the sacrifices and feast, it is easy to skip or browse through it. But this time around I am taking it slow and really looking for the heart of God in it. I personally believe that it wasn't just a bunch or rules to regulate Israel. I believe that this stuff is there for a reason and the reason often points to God's attributes, or as I am calling it here: God's heart.

Here is an example of what I feel God telling me through a passage in Leviticus 19:9-10

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.

Now in case you didn't know, I am not a farmer and have no land or crops, so what could this verse say to me? How can I learn to see God's heart in it? Simple, God is laying down a system to provide for those in need (the poor and alien in this case). God's grace and compassion is showing through this passage. He doesn't say to save it for those who deserve it, He just says to save it. In the case of this passage, I have recently fallen short, not with my fields but with my time. See I filled up every hour and every day with task that needed to be done. There was even a point where I felt pride in how much I was getting done. I looked at my calendar filled with all of the dates and appointments and thought about how organized I was with everything fitting into it's own little time slot.

Well guess what I didn't allot for? The needy, one of which was my wife and the other was some friends who needed some help moving. I reaped to the very edges of my time/calendar and left no room for compassion and grace. So I have made it a point to allow time in my schedule for the needy and the alien (oh and for my wife!). I will try not to fill up my calender and leave room for grace and compassion when it arises. This dose not mean that I will be saying yes to anyone who ask for anything, it just means that I will leave time open to see what God has in store for it. Maybe rest, maybe service, but only the extra time will tell.

That is my rant for now, hopefully I will see you all back here before next month!