Saturday, August 23, 2008

Full Of It!

Have you ever been to a church that had “it”? I can’t describe it. It is not the Holy Spirit, since all followers of God have the Spirit. But there is something indescribable about it when you find it. I’ve attended only one church that had it. When I walked through the door, I knew that they had it!

Like a former Supreme Court Justice said referring to pornography “I don’t know how to describe it but I know it when I see it!”

I’ve only been involved in two ministries that had it and both only had it for a little while. It appears that while it is capable of being “gotten” it is just as easy to lose it.

I’m reading a new book entitled “IT: How churches and leaders can get it and keep it.” Craig Groeschel, pastor of LifeChurch.tv is the author. I hate to recommend this book because if you read it you will realize that this guy has it and sometimes I fear that I will never get it!

My prayer is that whatever it is that the church where I now serve gets it. Tonight I was walking the streets of the small town where I now reside and begged God that I would get it and be able to share it with our people.

Oh how I desire for our people to get it and that the folks that are starting to visit will experience it when they enter our door. How I fear that I might hinder people from getting it. I pray that I will be able to get out of the way of it and let it happen. Because once you have experienced it you never what to be without it.

God grant my prayer that we experience more of you and less of me in the services tomorrow. Let your people experience it in a new and refreshing way.

May we always crave more of it!

Pastor Val

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Lord Of The Dance

Well it's been a week since I moved into the Annex at Grace Community (while we wait for our house to sell) and I'm starting to get a routine. Routines are important. Have you ever noticed how routine and a disciplined spiritual walk are similar? The first few days I had to struggle with finding time for my personal time with God.

Oh it wasn't that I wasn't studying but the time that I needed for God to speak to me and the time I needed to be spiritually refreshed were simply not there because I was so busy with "more important things!" I'm sure that you know what I mean. After all we have all been there. But when I was able to reestablish my time with God I sensed a reconnection with Him and the eternal dance that He invited me to join with Him so many years ago.

This dance is one in which the God of Creation, Lord of Salvation and the Spirit of Comfort have been doing before time began and He has invited us to participate with Him in this joyous event already in progress. When we do, we join with all of our brothers and sisters, past, present and future in communing with Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

This description of community, love and obedience is what the ancient Greek fathers of the 4th & 5th Centuries used to describe the Trinity and the ongoing relationship that God calls us into with Him.

I've been blessed to join with a new community of believers in Trenton IL and together we are learning to take our signals from our eternal danced partner. They have been gracious to not laugh too much as I've been learning their version of the dance. I hope that they will be blessed and challenged by a few new dance moves I've been teaching and will be teaching in the future.

Now I must warn you that as we learn some new moves there will be occasional bumps, falls and a few toes that will be accidentally stepped on. I hope you will make allowances for my clumsy attempt to dance.

I know that Father enjoys my efforts and occasionally I bring a smile to his face and a chuckle to His heart as I stumble and fumble a new dance step or even forget an old one He taught me years ago. So when you and I get down and mix up the cadence at times, just remember that we are all learning to dance together.

Dancing as fast as I can
In the service of the Lord of the Dance

Pastor Val