What do a chain saw and a tree log have to do with worship?
Preparation Pain!
This past Sunday at Encounter we saw the wood carver take a four foot long section of tree trunk and shape it into a bear holding a fish.
At first glance it looked like nothing more than a huge mess and distraction. The wood chips were flying and the saw dust was everywhere, but over time the image began to take shape.
So often all we see and feel is the painful gnawing of the saw and fail to realize that we too are being shaped by life’s circumstances.
How about you? What is cutting into the “normal” of your life? What distractions seem to be creeping in to make a mess of your task list and agenda?
I invite you to join me in rereading Saul/Paul’s dramatic story of conversion…Acts 22:1-16.
He had an agenda that was dramatically altered in this story. Maybe just maybe the pains and hurts we are enduring might even help shape us into better vessels for reaching the world for Christ.
One never fully appreciates the sunrise unless they have endured the long night of the soul. One best appreciates health if they have been sick and one never knows the peaceful power of hope unless they have dealt with the desperation of despair.
Perhaps the turbulent world we are living in with job losses, home foreclosures and broken dreams is the perfect place for Christians to share the reconciling message of hope that Christ offers. It reminds me that the best place to see the brilliance of night stars is in the dark blanket of the countryside.
Paul’s first countryside was Damascus…where’s yours?
Vaughn
As a kid I loved pal gum and bubble machines. The only problem was that the gum, while a sugar blast on the first chew, lost its flavor within ten seconds and the bubbles were so fragile that they popped as soon as you touched them. I dreamed of summers that never ended and trips to the beach that could last forever, but inevitably the sun burns and sand rashes faded almost as quickly as the hermit crabs within the shells of those stowaways in the suitcase. School restarted and summer baseball, football, and kick the can games came to a screeching halt. Much like the excitement over new things at Christmas and birthdays the lasting impact was often short lived.
This Sunday we will be congratulating our graduating seniors and talking about lives that matter in the final week’s segment “A Lasting Impact”…on and through us. I hope you will join us at Encounter to finish the four week series that began with Depending on Jesus (MP3), Being Real (MP3) and Loving Others (MP3).
A couple questions for you to consider…
Who has had a lasting impact in your life? How?
What experiences have had a lasting impact on you? How?
Rev. Vaughn Stafford
Minister over Contemporary Worship
This Sunday begins a new series of questions to be addressed in effectively reaching the world for Christ. In these three weeks we will answer “Who’s Jesus, What’s Real, and Who’s my neighbor”.
In my growing up years, I was blessed to meet some pretty famous Christian recording artists. One of them had a son who, at the age of nine, used to jokingly say to people, “You don’t know me, you just know of me.” He was saying this as a way to elevate himself or put people in their place. It really made me laugh then, but in recent years has been a comment that has brought a lot of thought. Do we really know people, things, experiences and even God or do we know of Him? Unlike my nine year old friend, Jesus isn’t looking to elevate Himself. As a matter of fact He lowered Himself so that we might have a relationship with Him, through Him and by Him, with the Father. This Sunday, April 6th in the gym, we will be talking about what others say of Jesus, hearing why He came and seeing what He wants to be in us.
I would love to hear your answers to the questions on the Encounter forum as well.
In Christ,
Rev Vaughn Stafford
Minister over Contemporary Worship
What do a chain saw and a tree log have to do with worship?
