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Seasons

“There’s a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

The other day I posted a blog titled, “Calm Before the Storm.” That was the beginning of what I will try to post regularly during the summer of what is happening in my summer and more specifically my first summer as Director of Pulse Student Ministries at St. Philips United Methodist Church.

What you can expect to see in the very near future:

Annual Conference: This year I have the privilege and honor to be a Young Adult Delegate to Annual Conference. During this week I will be attempting to post regularly on what is happening at this years conference, but also a good heads up is if you have twitter you can follow all the posts from twitter at this hashtag: “CTCAC2012.”

CTCYM 2012: This year I am the Program Director for the Central UMC in Rogers, Arkansas Living Center. This may be bold when I say this, but I am so excited about this years mission trip because everything is so fresh and new and we are trying new ways of curriculum and so forth. God is definitely at work!

These are just two examples of what you may see on my blog, “The Methodork,” in the very near future!

As it says in Ecclesiastes, “There’s a season for everything…” This season makes me very excited! I have the opportunity to build more relationships with the church community of St. Philip’s United Methodist Church but more specifically with the students and adults of Pulse Student Ministries! Stay tuned because I am sure God is going to do things that just have to be shared!

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God’s Love

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. -Lamentations 3:22-23

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From Scarcity to Abundance

Today’s lenten devotional title caught my attention: “From Scarcity to Abundance.” The attention that was reeled in to read today’s deco was even more probed when I read a particular statement near the end of the devotional.

So often, if you are like me, we focus on what we do not have instead of what the Lord has already given to us. We look at problems (only 2 fish?) instead of seeing the Promise. No wonder the word scarcity sounds so much like scared, and the word abundance reminds us so much of dance!

Today’s devotional talks about how the disciples were skeptical that only 2 loaves of bread and 5 fish could feed all the people listening to Jesus that day, which traditionally we have been taught has been around 5,000 people. It’s reasonable to show some skepticism at a moment like this, but Jesus remains confident that the food amount will be sufficient. In the devotional the author asks a question that I will pass along to you to reflect on.

“Is your concern in life right now to have what you love or to love what you have?”

I confess that I too have had times where there were things that I wanted really really bad and would also think at times that I didn’t have much to be excited about, but I do have lots of things. Lately I’ve noticed that when a church member asks me how I am doing I have responded by saying: “Well, I woke up this morning breathing.”

Sometimes that can be interpreted as well, I am here and that’s about it, but that is not my point in saying that.

Each morning I wake up breathing with even the slightest amount of decent health, with a roof over my head, a car to drive at my disposal thats a great day! Some would say that I am in the top percentage of wealthiest people in the world. They would probably have a very solid argument with that point as well.

So, back to our original question.

“Is your concern in life right now to have what you love or to love what you have?”

Be thankful for what you have, because :

Some of the best things in life are not things.

-Author Unknown

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God is Relentless

So Jesus told them this story: "If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.' – Luke 15:3-6

God won't give up on you. He just wont. God will pursue you. God's determination is untiring. God's pursuit of you is unflagging. The poet Francis Thompson called God "The Hound of Heaven" – He's a God whose love will track you down and turn you around. Running from God, hiding from God, ignoring God….It just won't work. God will stop at nothing – not even a brutal death on the cross – to pursue a restored, meaningful, and vibrant relationship with you.