that last post was complicated, so heres a goodun.
today was a great day, busy but i feel refreshed. it started with a trip to my brother-in-laws church to see my nephew get baptized. i love seeing people baptized! i also really enjoyed the sermon. it was a typical Christian Reformed sermon (Guilt, Grace, Gratitude) but i was able to really relate to the passage from isaiah 6. isaiahs response to God. he feels worthless when in the pure, holy, awesome presence of God; and God (without being asked) reaches out and restores him. then isaiahs only response is a response of worship by saying here i am send me. i honestly felt like it was a metaphor for my life. i am not trying to earn Gods grace (because you cant), and i am not trying to prove anything. i just want to let God use me however He sees fit.
so from there i went to my church and i was a little dissapointed to not be able to hang out with all my family for lunch after the baptism, but my services are needed at my church. and no matter what is going on in my life that community will make you feel refreshed, loved, and you will leave full of the spirit every time.
moving right along i hit my third church service of the day at the church that i grew up in. i was attending this church before i was born and spent the first 20 years of my life there. it was a solid church that laid the foundation upon which God has built my faith and my life. so even though i hadnt been there in over 9 months and only a handful of times over the past 5 years it was like i never left. it just so happened to be (ahem…divine intervention) that the youth group was reporting on there mission trip from this past summer. its always encouraging to hear high school kids sharing their faith and what God was teaching them. one of the coolest parts of the service was the pastor explained how the congregation had done a reverse offering before the team left. this means they had taken all the mission team members names and put them in a basket and then passed it around for everyone to draw at least one name. then they all agreed to pray for this person/people. but it was a secret, the mission team didnt know who was praying for them. then the pastor did something really cool. he individually called each persons name on the team and had them stand to face the congregation. when he called their name he asked anyone from the congregation who had prayed specifically for this person to stand also. to see the looks on the kids faces when they stood and saw how many people had prayed for them was priceless. some tears were shed. it was a powerful and unifying moment. meanwhile, here i am quielty minding my own business after all this has gone on, as i had nothing to do with any of this. i didnt even tell anyone i was going to be at this service, nor did i know it was goin to be mission themed. the pastor then puts me on the spot. he states how we have 20 missionaries who have just returned but there is a missionary with us here tonight who is about to leave, and asks me to stand. he then asks anyone in the congregation who has prayed or wants to commit to praying for me to stand. i got a standing ovation. it was powerful. like i said i have seen these people only a handful of times over the past 5 years and not at all inthe past 9 months. there never was a doubt in my mind that God wouldnt be faithful to me, but this definetly reinforced and encouraged how blessed i am. prayer is a powerful thing and we serve a powerful God; so i know i have nothing to fear.