Grace

This week, take some time to go back and do one of the previous posts you haven't gotten around to yet....and if you're all caught up, well, then REST in his goodness.

Sunday, we'll bounce around the heart/home thing, the gifts God's given us, Galatian thoughts and whatever else comes up. Come with ears to hear...

gratitude

It's been said that I am not a good gift receiver...from time to time I take a few things back, do the occasional re-gift, or allow things to sit (without use) for quite some time. I am working on that. However, the more I think of gifts, the more I realize how GOOD God's gifts are:

He never gives us something we don't need.
He never gives us something we can't use.
He never gives us something that's meaningless.
He never gives us something impersonal.

So take a moment and write down 5-10 gifts God has given you. Pray through each of those; telling God exactly what you love about each of them. I know I always like to hear what someone loves about a gift I've given, or why they enjoy it so much...so does He.

See you Sunday...and to my peeps in other locales, we miss you dearly.

Your Heart

So lately, I've been thinking about you guys and how each of you seem to have decisions to make about where you will be living next year. What state (or country) you'll be in, who will be your roommates, what kind of house you'll live in, etc....And last week, I was really thinking about the idea of a home. Come with me and take a moment to reflect on what exactly you think a home is...what's it for? Why does it exist? What does it provide for the dwellers of the home? Write that stuff down.

Now, check out Ephesians 3:17. I particularly like the NLT, which says: "Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him." Hmm...Christ is making a home in my heart. Interesting, CRAZY stuff.

Take a moment and meditate and pray on that verse. And then, ask God to take you on an imagination adventure through your heart. What does it look like? Who is there? What room is God's?

If you need some inspiration, or you think I'm absolutely insane, check out this link for some reference point (it does require a myspace account to view): A Tour of My Heart. No, this is not my heart, it's just someone I came across the other day and was very intrigued by it.

Anyway, find the silence this week or weekend and go through this exercise. We'll catch up with Galatians next week, most likely. Feel free to post what your heart looks like or tell us about it.

And since most of us will be at the winter retreat this Sunday, we won't be meeting this week. If you will be around on Sunday, go ahead and sit in on the adult class and grab some of their insight.

And of course, know you are loved and prayed for...

G to the alatians II

Alas, the time has come again for us to delve into the word. It seemed good that we might linger in Galatians 2 this week, just because there seems to be more for us to unveil. It also seemed good that we might read Galatians 1 and 2 together, instead of breaking them into two parts. So, take some time to read them together this week. To keep things interesting, you also may want to read the text in a translation that you haven't been reading. So, if you don't have another translation in a physical form, check out Bible Gateway and choose one of the versions there to read it in. More power to you if you go for Spanish!

Go ahead and write down a question, thought, or section of the passage you'd like to talk about. Then, we'll bring those things to the table for discussion on Sunday.

In closing, I'd just like to acknowledge the LIGHT. Today, as I sat outside and was reading, I had to keep moving in order to stay in the sunlight, and it reminded me of the lyric: "I wanna be in the light, as you are in the light." Abide in that light this week, pilgrims.

Oh, and if anyone wants to do some further study...read up on Ephesians 1 and 2. I kept writing it "accidentally" (is anything an accident?), so who knows, it just might bless you.