Grass and Glitter
For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
You have to know what to look for.
I can remember going hunting with my father, many years ago. He was trying to get me to become a decent quail hunter without getting himself killed in the process. Neat trick, that.
In case you might not be familiar with Mr Bobwhite, he has a tendency, some might say that he gets a perverse joy (if a bird can feel joy) at suddenly bursting forth from a previously undisclosed location. This can result in various actions being taken by the hunters approaching him.
Only one of them is really acceptable in hunting circles.
The others may include: shouting in surprise, dropping your shotgun, or worse - pulling the trigger regardless of whatever direction the gun might be pointed in at that moment.
To keep the less appropriate actions from occurring, my father was training me to look for the "waves" in the tall grass as the quail began to run away from the hunters prior to taking flight. If you can spot that happening, then you can be looking in the right direction and anticipate the quail's flight. You have to know what to look for though.
Today was my first day back in the study at church after the Christmas/New Year's break. I noticed a couple of things that tell me to get ready for God to take action here. Grass and glitter.
The grass here is just the opposite of our middle Georgia broom sage. Our grass here at New Hope is worn down from use by the boys and girls who gather here on Wednesday night. And on most afternoons since the Little League season ended, a group of those kids and some others we don't know yet are playing football on the field across the street. There seem to be more and more of them.
The glitter? The other night when I was vacuuming the sanctuary after others had done the hard work of taking the decorations down, I noticed that some of the glitter used by our New Hope kids and young people during the Christmas Musical they presented during the season just didn't want to come up. I ran the vacuum cleaner this way and that, and some of the glitter stubbornly clung to the carpet.
And you know, I'm just fine with that.
Because it reminds me that here at New Hope, we're working with God's next generation of Christ-followers, teaching them not only about Jesus, but about how they can show others His love. Combine that with a lot more people of their generation in the immediate vicinity and "BOOM".
Did that scare you?
I've been in churches where having people nearby that didn't know Jesus wasn't though of as a good thing.
That's just like that long ago quail field. People's reactions can and do vary. Some who are just looking to stay as they are and have always been, can lament the way the grass looks, and those whose focus is about keeping everything tidy in case Jesus shows up wearing white gloves can complain about the glitter.
But if you want to see God at work friend, you've got to learn what to look for.
New Hope, get ready.
Grace!
David Wilson
Lead pastor - New Hope!
--
Visit with me at my blogs:
http://davethepastor.livejournal.com/
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
Isaiah 43:19 (NLT)
You have to know what to look for.
I can remember going hunting with my father, many years ago. He was trying to get me to become a decent quail hunter without getting himself killed in the process. Neat trick, that.
In case you might not be familiar with Mr Bobwhite, he has a tendency, some might say that he gets a perverse joy (if a bird can feel joy) at suddenly bursting forth from a previously undisclosed location. This can result in various actions being taken by the hunters approaching him.
Only one of them is really acceptable in hunting circles.
The others may include: shouting in surprise, dropping your shotgun, or worse - pulling the trigger regardless of whatever direction the gun might be pointed in at that moment.
To keep the less appropriate actions from occurring, my father was training me to look for the "waves" in the tall grass as the quail began to run away from the hunters prior to taking flight. If you can spot that happening, then you can be looking in the right direction and anticipate the quail's flight. You have to know what to look for though.
Today was my first day back in the study at church after the Christmas/New Year's break. I noticed a couple of things that tell me to get ready for God to take action here. Grass and glitter.
The grass here is just the opposite of our middle Georgia broom sage. Our grass here at New Hope is worn down from use by the boys and girls who gather here on Wednesday night. And on most afternoons since the Little League season ended, a group of those kids and some others we don't know yet are playing football on the field across the street. There seem to be more and more of them.
The glitter? The other night when I was vacuuming the sanctuary after others had done the hard work of taking the decorations down, I noticed that some of the glitter used by our New Hope kids and young people during the Christmas Musical they presented during the season just didn't want to come up. I ran the vacuum cleaner this way and that, and some of the glitter stubbornly clung to the carpet.
And you know, I'm just fine with that.
Because it reminds me that here at New Hope, we're working with God's next generation of Christ-followers, teaching them not only about Jesus, but about how they can show others His love. Combine that with a lot more people of their generation in the immediate vicinity and "BOOM".
Did that scare you?
I've been in churches where having people nearby that didn't know Jesus wasn't though of as a good thing.
That's just like that long ago quail field. People's reactions can and do vary. Some who are just looking to stay as they are and have always been, can lament the way the grass looks, and those whose focus is about keeping everything tidy in case Jesus shows up wearing white gloves can complain about the glitter.
But if you want to see God at work friend, you've got to learn what to look for.
New Hope, get ready.
Grace!
David Wilson
Lead pastor - New Hope!
--
Visit with me at my blogs:
http://davethepastor.livejournal.com/
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/
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