March 10 – “Beating the time change blues”

We have discovered the perfect way to deal with low attendance at church after the daylight savings time change the night before (the one like we just had where you lose an hour of sleep).  Host a group of sixty or seventy college students and ask them to lead worship.  We did that with the Baptist Student Ministry group from University of Texas at Arlington, and we had a packed house.  The fellow who led the music portion of the service did the same last year.  Back then he was rather tentative and unsure of himself.  This time, though, he came across as quite confident and assured.  Amazing the difference a year makes.  The young man who did the teaching was the son of a pastor in Arlington.  This was obviously not his first time in front of a group of people, either.  He did a great job. 

Three of his quips especially stood out to me.  The first one he attributed to his mother:  “We can either magnify what we are going through or magnify Jesus.”  Great perspective on self-pity and even depression.  Thanks for that one, Mom.  The second came from Ezekiel: “What Ezekiel saw was dry bones and death.  What God saw was a vast army.”  Can’t beat that one for looking outside the box for a bigger vision.  The third one carried that idea over to the New Testament: “When they looked at the cross, the people saw pain and suffering.  When Jesus looked at it he saw the purpose of his life – forgiveness and victory.”  Quite the challenge on any level of discipleship. 

The group will be doing several types of ministry for the few days they will be in town.  Some will be going over to Bolivar and the Strand to do beach evangelism.  Others will be doing repairs at a local church.  Another group will be doing kids’ clubs in local apartment complexes.  They should have some time left over for playing as well.  I think they are planning to hit the Pleasure Pier tonight, and I’m pretty sure they will find a way to walk down to the beach a time or two.  Should be an exciting week for them and hopefully a life-changing week for some of the people they run into.  I think I’ll let some guy named Paul pray for them …

Ephesians 3:14-19 says, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Father, … ditto.  Amen.