Church
yesterday was another exciting day. We
had right around 80 people there. Lots of
interaction during the teaching as well.
In fact I stopped about halfway through.
Too much material and too little time.
Felt like I was back in my TA days at seminary when I was filling in for
the professor I worked for. We are
having a lot of folks from the nearby RV parks.
I watched one group of eight (four
couples) gather in the parking lot, then descend upon the worship center
all at once. Kind of
ominous-looking. Our new friends from
Canada and Missouri were back as well. Snow
bird season is officially upon us. Oh,
and we even had a few folks who have just moved to the area full time. I had a
gentleman stop me before church to ask a specific question about an issue he
was dealing with – how do you reconcile loving people even when they do things
that outright disgust you. “Coincidentally,”
that was one of the teaching points of the sermon. I love it when God does stuff like that.
Sunday
afternoon we were invited, along with some other guests from church, to the
Dawson’s new house for lunch. After a
rousing bowl of taco soup, we all gathered in their living room for a house
blessing service. We did some praying
and scripture reading from their old Bible (to
represent their Jesus-based roots) as well as a brand new one (to represent the new life ahead of them as
home-owners under Jesus as well). I splashed
some water in four directions using a flower to represent our request that the beauty
and joy of the Holy Spirit fill each of them as well as every corner of the house
with his presence. Finally they agreed
that the from that point forward the house should be declared as belonging to its
true owner, the king of Kings and Lord of Lords – Jesus. He is, for the time being at least, allowing
them to be his stewards and take care of the house for him. I’m sure it was a little different, but even
the cocker spaniel did a great job of sitting quietly while we worked our way
through it.
Psalms
136:23-26 says,
“to the One who
remembered us in our low estate
His love endures forever.
and freed us from
our enemies,
His love endures forever.
and who gives food
to every creature.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the
God of heaven.
His
love endures forever.”
Father,
thank you for chances to try new things as we acknowledge you as God over
all. Amen.
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