Todays Video Blog!
Happy Thursday!
On Wednesday nights @ Destiny Family Center, we have a catered dinner @ 6pm followed by small groups from 7-8:15pm. It’s been really nice for Emily and I, since neither of us have teaching responsibilities this quarter. So, we’ve been floating around… and last night, we went to the “Honors Reward” group, facilitated by Wayne Howard. WOW!
The night was all about “Honoring Your Peers!” Check out the following verses…
Matthew 10:40-42 “Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me. If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs. And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.”
- Anyone who receives (or blesses) a prophet, receives a prophets reward!
- Anyone who receives (or blesses) a righteous person (a fellow follower of Christ), he receives a righteous persons reward!
- Anyone who gives even a cup of cold water to one of the LEAST of my followers… you will SURELY BE REWARDED!
I Got Tired!
Ok, so I’ve been working 7, 16 hour days a week for the past month… and yesterday afternoon I hit a very understandable level of exhaustion. So I went home to relax for a few hours before coming back for church. Emily was off work too… had a great time, watched a few CSI’s… a good mental diversion.
Came back to church last night… and within ten minutes, I was being approached by a pile of people with some pretty HUGE personal problems. As bad as this sounds, I was still in mental shutdown… and I wasn’t real jazzed about trying to help anyone last night.
I Hid in my Office!
So after the meal, I ran back to my office so I could HIDE AWAY for 15 minutes, before I had to go greet everyone and open the small groups.
Bad attitude for a Pastor, I know. But I’m not God and I do have my moments of weakness… and I have to work through those moments just like every other human.
I Had a Vision!
Just before I walked out of my office to welcome our guests, I told Dave Harman how bad I felt about not wanting to help anyone… and then I had a vision of Mother Teresa loving and blessing every disadvantaged person she could get her hands on! And I thought about how much more like Jesus I wanted to be… and how much I wanted to spend my life more concerned about the needs of other people than my own.
Honoring Your Peers!
Then we went to the small group and as I mentioned, the topic for our “Honors Reward Group” last night was: Honoring Your Peers!
That group REINFORCED this feeling I had in my office @ 7:55pm! I was SO MOVED with he video and with Wayne Howard’s presentation… and with the discussions that followed… especially with Greg Bakers heartfelt confession!
So I figured I’d share my experience with you guys… for your benefit! There is such a mandate on our lives to become like Jesus. No, we cannot do this in our own strength… and yes, we are allowed to have a selfish afternoon every now and then!
For me, last night was about correcting my attitude towards suffering people. Everyone likes to hang with their friends… we can do that all day long.
To Care Like Mother Theresa!
What I’m talking about here is this: Do we have the kind of LOVE Jesus had for all the WHOSOEVER’S in our world? Do we REALLY care to make a difference in other peoples lives… in the lives of people we have little or nothing in common with… in the lives of the people who disrespect us and betray us, our enemies? Or, do we pick out the easiest people and leave the rest for Mother Teresa?
And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.
Maybe this is just something unique to me and I’m out of my mind for mentioning it on this blog… but I was pretty moved last night, and felt someone else could benefit from my transparency.
Please leave your comments… I just finished praying for you all, with great love and appreciation! Have a most triumphant day!
Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!
Chuck
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