Weakness- We all have them right?

 

I don’t like to admit this but I have a severe weakness in my life. Although I should absolutely not indulge, it always seems to cause me to stumble. Can I confide in you? Tonight I ate my LEAN GORMET chicken dinner and my spinach salad with fat free dressing and washed it down with caffeine free diet coke. I did great! Then I caved in and ate a wonderful chocolate bar (not diet). I love chocolate! I love dark chocolate, white chocolate, swirled chocolate, Swiss chocolate, chocolate bars, chocolate turtles, chocolate kisses with almonds, chocolate kisses without, peanut butter cups covered with chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate ice-cream (especially chocolate milkshakes), chocolate milk, chocolate syrup, chocolate cocoa powder, chocolate cheesecake, and mostly chocolate cake.

“I think that’s about all”- Bubba Forrest Gump

Although I know it shows me to be weak, I am grateful to God for chocolate. My counsel for today, eat some chocolate!

Is that wrong?

Community, Relationship

 

 

I have been reading in Acts this morning, and in verses 42-47 of chapter 2 it talks about God adding to the Church on a daily basis. I want to see that, not so we can have bigger mega churches, although I actually like the synergy that mega churches have. I want to see the Kingdom advanced in the earth and that means in people. Why not now? Why not here? Is God unable to do today what He did then? Of course He can! Then what is the difference between the early Church and the Church today? Obviously I don’t have time, space or understanding to list all of the differences but I think there are some important things in this passage. These are the things I see:

 

1.               They were devoted to apostolic teaching.

2.               They were devoted to fellowship

3.               They were devoted to “breaking of bread”. They ate together.

4.               They were devoted to prayer.

5.               They used their own resources to see that those in their midst had what they needed.

6.               They regularly, publicly gathered together for worship.

7.               They were daily in each other’s homes.

8.               They had a heart attitude of gladness, generosity and praise.

 

To sum up what I see; they were involved in each other’s lives. They were involved in one another’s lives in the public arena as well as in the private arena. It seems to me that we as believers often want to be involved in each other’s lives in a limited manner, not letting people get too close. What I would see a need for more of in the church (as a whole) is RELATIONSHIP and COMMUNITY. Let’s ask ourselves these questions: How many people that I go to church with have I had in my home this month? In the last month how many people that I go to church with have I talked with outside of a church meeting. How many people have I fellowshipped (hung out) with from church in the last 30 days? Some of you probably had some good answers. Some of us could do a better job. I believe that any local expression of the Church will never go beyond the relationships and sense of community that hold it together. (Ephesians 4:16) I also believe that this generation is starving for a sense of community and real relationships that are more than surface deep.

 

What are your thoughts on the need for relationship & community in the Body?

Why do we seem to be scared of relationship & community?

What can we do to further it?

 

Let’s hear from some of you silent readers

 

KWM

Restitution

Restitution

 

1. The act of restoring to the rightful owner something that has been taken away, lost, or surrendered.

2. The act of making good or compensating for loss, damage, or injury; indemnification.

3. A return to or restoration of a previous state or position.

 

Can I be transparent? Have you ever made a major blunder and hurt someone’s feelings? Today I said some things to a person who works for me that caused them (and me) to be embarrassed. What I should have done is to pull them aside and address the situation in private. The situation needed to be addressed no doubt, but my handling of it should & could have been very different. I work in an environment that people do not play by the same rules that we do. Ethics are slack, morals are sometimes non-existent. It is so easy to allow myself to forget that there is in fact a different set of rules for me, to forget that I live by a different standard than many of those around me do. So to make this short I blew it. Not really bad, I didn’t cuss anybody out or punch anybody or….you get the picture. What I didn’t do is handle myself like Jesus would have. I embarrassed this person and the others in the meeting (including myself) unnecessarily.

 

Restitution:      I believe in the principle of restitution! What is better than restitution is not needing to utilize restitution to start with. That being said I am still pressing toward the mark, and haven’t attained it. What I want to convey here is what I did to rectify the situation. I was wrong in front of people and I asked those same people over, apologized and asked for forgiveness in front of those people. The individual accepted my apology, forgave me and apologized himself. I believe when you do harm you should restore in kind.

 

Recipe for southern fried crow:

Grasp firmly one large 10-12oz mature crow, season to taste. Gently use butchers twine to tie the wings into the body. Ever so lightly coat with canola cooking spray. Microwave on high for 1-2 minutes. Close eyes, hold nose and eat crow head first so the feathers and feet don’t get stuck in your throat…