a glimpse towards Sunday 5.17.13

This week I had lunch with someone I hadn’t seen in almost two decades.  We met at Cracker Barrel.  The country store entry way didn’t alleviate the initial, awkward hellos we exchanged to begin our social sizing up of obvious counterparts.  We both are pastors.  He’s currently moving from senior pastor to senior’s pastor.   Eighteen years ago he fired me.

Makes you curious, doesn’t it?  Can I make this long story short?  I was a worship leader at this former senior pastor’s church.  We tried a church plant within a church.  Two services.  Two pastors.  Too much drama, and I was out the door.  I was a much younger man.  Green.  Certainly not without fault in the whole mess.

In preparation for this week’s lunch, I had a flood of emotions surface.  I remembered Brooklynn, my oldest daughter, being about four years old.  Riding home from church one fateful Sunday, Brooklynn quietly asked, “Why do people not like daddy?”  Ugh.  As best we tried, we couldn’t keep the church world shhtufff from infecting my little girl’s heart.

I ordered a Chef’s salad and a side of fried okra.  I should have ordered fried chicken.  Before going into the restaurant, I texted four close friends.  A better man would have asked them to pray.  Instead, I asked them to text me as much as possible from 12 noon to 1.  It was a brilliant plan in my head.  If I needed an escape route from my potentially volatile lunch, I decided an incessantly beeping phone would do the trick. 

Ten minutes into our lunch, my phone was blowing up and I turned it off.  My old friend expressed regrets, ministry weariness, and tenuous emotions as he heads towards a transitional retirement.  Our conversation was good.  We remembered faces.  We laughed.  We got caught up.  We healed.

I’ve got a long way to go as a disciple of Jesus.  I press ahead, and strain to forget what’s behind.  Leaving Cracker Barrel, I thought, “Maybe… just maybe, there has been some growing along the way.  God’s grace and Word and loving hand has brought me past the arrogance of my mid 30’s.

How do you know your growing as a follower of Jesus?  Let’s talk Sunday.  Take an advanced peek at our text:  Mark 8:14-21.  There’s a lot happening here.  Are there Biblical ways to determine if we’re following or just a fan of Jesus?  I’m excited to teach this Sunday.  I hope you’ll be able to come prepared and with a friend.  You’re going to hear from Jesus.

Blessings!

(MAKE SURE YOU SIGN UP FOR YOUR VISION TOUR.   THEY START NEXT SUNDAY!)

Weekly Giving | 05/12/13

$33,345.01

Weekly Need $29,000.00[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]