if He can use a donkey…

Yesterday morning, I had the privilege of teaching to my church.  I always love teaching on a Sunday morning.  I thrive on the diversity in the audience.  My favorite part of teaching is the “afterwards”.  I love listening to people share what they heard God say to them that morning.  Everyone that spoke to me yesterday had a different word from God but each was personal.  One gentleman(who was 6’5″ & I did not know) came up to and gave me the biggest bear hug.  After he put me down, he said,”You don’t know me but…”  He went on to share how they were visiting family and had been desparately needing some encouragement from God.  They got it yesterday.  His wife came up to me a few minutes later and shared some of the details of the past 2 years.(loss of a son was one of them) She shared that earlier this week they had been crying out to God.  They had just been needing to hear from Him.  He spoke to them yesterday.  People, only God can do that.  Take a message, delivered by an imperfect person, divide it into hundreds of ways and make it personal to each person listening. Amazing!!!  Truly, only our God can do that!

Awhile back, a loved one of mine was in need of some grace from friends.(These friends by the way are good people in every sense of the word.)  Much to my surprise, no grace was offered.  It seemed as though judgement and condemnation was all that was being handed out. Needless to say, I was pretty mad.  One night as I lay in bed struggling to find a way to forgive them, I told God that I didn’t understand why I had to forgive them.  Then I heard Him.  Every so tenderly, I heard the whisper of the Holy Spirit say, “If you do not offer them grace & forgiveness then you are responding exactly they way they did.”  Truth is these friends followed the letter of the law to a “T” but somehow it felt as though they missed the heart of it.   I was reminded that because of the grace extended to me by Jesus Christ, there is always enough grace for me to extend to others.  Sometimes I have to pray and search for the grace I need to extend to someone who deeply wounds me but it is always there. The enemy would want me to shrink back, become a wounded person, and disconnect from others so as never to get hurt again. I don’t want any part of furthering the enemy’s agenda within God’s kingdom so I’ll just keep seeking Him for the grace I need for myself and others.

God At The Movies from Oak Leaf Church on Vimeo.

Judges 7 is the story of how God choose to wittle down Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 300 men.( Lest they be able to think that their victory was of their own doing.)  After the numbers of the army are established, God tells Gideon to go down to the enemy’s camp in the middle of the night so that he might hear their plans and be strengthed.  What Gideon hears is a enemy soldier sharing of a dream of how God had given them over to Gideon.

Scripture reads, “As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretion, he worshiped.“(Judges 7:15)  Gideon didn’t start hoopin’ and holler’n. He didn’t run home to tell his lead men or even his favorite someone.  He worshiped.  I love that!!   In the midst of this unbelievable experience, he recognized the value and importance of worship.  Recently something like this happened to me. Me and two of my girlfriends had been praying specifically for me.  I received an email last week that was the answer to that prayer.  In that moment, I stopped breathing and thanked God.  However, I am not sure I worshiped appropriately.  That is why I am so encouraged by Gideon.  His issue would probably be much more significant than mine but he still made time to worship. What a great reminder of how to keep perspective on my life and my heart full of thankfulness.

Yesterday this post by John Piper came to my attention. I love that this post is so raw and so real.  When a leader like John Piper decides he may need to re-evaluate some things and make some changes, it causes me to think about my life and what it has become.  It’s refreshing to see someone choose to be transparent and authentic. I wish we were all more like that….   Hope this post encourages you like it encouraged me!

Recently I visited the Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga with my son’s class.  While touring the impressive exhibit,  I was struck by something the tour guide said.  “Much of an Egyptian’s life was spent getting ready for the next life.”  Wow!  Our society lives for the here and now. Not the then and there. What if you and me made a point to intentionally live with the end in mind?  Can you imagine how that would change the way we make decisions?  How that would change the way we live?  I think the Egyptians were on to something.  I’m game…are you?

I had the opportunity to teach at my church Oakleaf in Cartersville, Ga. If you want to see what we learned, check this out.

I recently began thinking of my turnover rate. Wikipedia defines turnover rate “as the rate at which an employer gains and loses employees.” Simply put it’s how long your people stick around. In the business world, this number can greatly impact the profitability of a business. It also applies to community services that are volunteered based such as the Boy Scouts, PTC or even the church. In the organizations I am involved with, I began to wonder how could I improve my numbers?  Sure, losing a few small group leaders or part-time employees seems like no big deal. Actually the cost is quite high. So much time & training has gone into them.  If they pull out suddenly, their holes have to be filled and the training process starts all over again. In an attempt to reduce my turnover rate, I came up with a few questions to ask myself before I hire or invite someone to sign on as a volunteer.

1.  Does this person have the skills to do the job? (If I am needing a people person, are they an extrovert or do they tend to shrink back from people and stand in the shadows?) Sure this seems like the obvious but too many times people get the job that does not line up with their skill set. Hence this blog:)

2.  Does this person have the passion to not only do the current job but be able to take it to the next level? (Can they see beyond the way it’s always been done and discover new/smarter ways to get the job done.)

3.  Do I think this person can reproduce themselves? (Can he/she grow leaders and in turn grow themselves.)

Sure there is always room for more but for now this is my top 3.

Thought you’d like to see the other side of me. Glenn & I have been married for almost 19 years. He is my biggest cheerleader.  He does an excellent job talking me down off the proverbial ledge when I become consumed with fear over where God is leading us. He IS the reason I get to go and do.

This is one of my husband’s favorite video clips.