God, what an amazing day it has been today. Thanks for our first practice with Darryl and the great job he did. I especially thank you for the wonderful and unexpected gift of having Trevor back on the drums. It's truly amazing how good you are, and how David picks such good friends. I pray your blessing on Trevor, that his experience with Darryl, the praise team and St. James might help heal old wounds and move him forward in his faith.
Thanks also for Darryl and his skill, experience and patience. Bless Him, as well, so that we might be in turn blessed, and better able to bless others through worship at St. James.
Finally, Lord, help me to be worthy of these great gifts you've laid before me; help me lead only when I need to lead, (and do that gently and graciously and lovingly) and stay out of the way the rest of the time.
It's been a good, if somewhat frustrating day, God. I'm trying to get my band together, but folks have so many commitments it's hard to get them all in one place at the same time. Still, I"m thankful for seeing Alysson come out tonight, and I pray that she will stay with the project.
I'm also thankful that Lois is going away to a writing seminar. It's important that she find her niche and I feel this is a good place for her.
Help us both get our projects going so that we can each have our own special thing, while at the same time we still have all the things we enjoy to do together.
It's a slow but positive start; thanks God. Julie got Darryl started with this week's music and he and I had a good chat. It's been a good day overall and my back is feeling much better. Thanks again for all your blessings.
Thanks for a good meeting with Mike as well. I thank you for his friendship and his wisdom and pray that I can be as good a friend to him.
Support him as his church moves as it has to and bless him in his ministry to First.
Thanks God for a beautiful, relaxing and productive day. It was nice to have the kids home for a PA day and to be able to let them relax and enjoy an extra day off.
As the week unfolds and Darryl begins to get his bearings, I pray for your help: grant Darryl the wisdom he needs to get a feel for serving you; gran me the patience and wisdom I need to help him feel part of the team; grant the congregation the patience and openness they need to appreciate Darryl's gifts and to include him as part of the family.
Thanks for a great day, with a lot accomplished. Worship was wonderful and the rest of the day with the family was a joy. We got lots done and then relaxed together. Thanks for the precious blessing of days like today.
With gas prices at an all time high, I try not to take unnecessary trips or waste it in any way. Even when I fill my lawn mower from a wee 5 liter tank I make sure not a drop gets spilled. To make extra sure of my thriftiness, I use a funnel when filling up. As a further precaution, I attached the funnel to the gas tank with a piece of string, so that I never lose the thing.
Imagine my surprise then, when I tried filling my lawnmower and failed miserably. My aim was true, the funnel was firmly in place and the flexible tube thingy from the gas tank was completely within the limits of the funnel cone and I was not pouring the gas at an excessive rate. Still, with all due care and caution, the funnel filled and then overflowed before I knew what was happening.
What was happening? Why did I end up with a funnel’s worth of gas all over the ground? Simple: an insect had made a nest in the funnel’s tube. The combination of white plastic plus a white nest resulted in a perfectly camouflaged situation ready for spillage and a little embarrassment.
At first I was a little annoyed at the waste of gas and the ensuing mess. After a moment of thought, however, I was pretty darned impressed at God’s creation. My embarrassing moment was the result of nature’s tenacity and adaptability. The insect didn’t know what the funnel was for. All it knew was that it provided the optimum conditions for making a nest. Never mind that it was my carefully devised fuel saving system. That concept is totally beyond its understanding. As far as it was concerned, the funnel tube was there for its own personal use.
While this was a pretty cool, if not humbling, little lesson about how hard nature tries to survive and get ahead, it also serves as a reminder of how we humans sometimes miss the big picture. We can excuse whatever insect made its nest in my funnel. It knows nothing of plastic tools, being economical or fluid dynamics. It just knows what helps it survive or reproduce. We, on the other hand, know better.
At least we should. It’s not as if God is exactly quiet about things. He’s sent us all kinds of representatives about His plans and intentions for us. He’s offered us His message in written form. He even sent Jesus just to make things absolutely clear to us. Yet we still fail to get the point. We fail to understand why we’re here or what we’re meant for.
Of course, an insect could never understand the concepts we can. So while its options are limited, ours are not. We have the capacity to understand our creator and our place in creation. Best of all, we have the ability to not only know about God’s love for us, but to feel it and to share it. All we have to do is to be aware of our surroundings, to realize that we are indeed part of God’s creation, and more importantly, His own beloved children.
Thanks God, for a really good day. It was great having everyone pitch in to help out and for a bit of a chance to relax afterwards. Help me get ready for worship tomorrow, so that as I celebrate the Pentecost gift of the Holy Spirit, my spirit might be in tune with yours.
Lord, thanks for an interesting day, and a chance to start working with our new Music Director. I pray that our relationship will grow and mature, and that Darryl will become the man you intend him to be and the worker the church needs.
It's exciting to have two new staff people and to have renewed hope and excitement at St. James.
Help all the folks there to spread the excitement as a way of spreading your Good News, so that our community might be blessed by Jesus, and the way we represent and serve Him at St. James.
