We had another incredible weekend of ministry. I want to just tell one story from each meeting though. They won't in any way encompass what the Lord is doing in our midst, but they will hopefully encourage you in praying for us.
Saturday night:
There's a guy named Josh who has visited our church on and off for a couple of years now, he's good friends with Kristian who is now in Toronto. Anyway, Josh's grandmother was in town visiting him, and he brought her to Calvary on Saturday night. She's the matriarch in their family, was the first one to become a Christian and has seen all of her children and grandchildren become Christians as well. Anyway, they caught up to me near the elevator, which was a feat, because I was chasing one of my children all over the 2nd floor. She was having a blast! Back to the story, Josh and his grandmother caught up to me near the elevator and after introductions, her eyes were red, she looked as if she had been weeping, and she held my hand, and looked at me very intently, while she said, "Keep giving these people the Bible, this is what they want, just someone to tell them the truth. You don't need Bible College, or Seminary, Cemetary. Just continue to love them and share with them the truth. Keep it up."
I'll tell you why that means something to me. People of her age and status in life don't have to give me the time of day. For her to take the time to chase me down and encourage me, tells me she really loves the Lord, and she's rooting for us. I found that validating.
Sunday morning:
We have been experiencing some really wonderful and powerful, I don't know how to say it, but the presence of the Lord has been uncommonly strong. Gen's mom has been in town from Florida, and she was really moved by how strongly she felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. It's been a consistent thing over the last several weeks, just after we finish singing, there is a holy awe in the room. I don't want to do anything, but just be quiet and enjoy that feeling of peace and love and the sense that anything is possible.
I took Gen's mom (her name is Denise) to the airport on Tuesday and we talked about it again. I asked her if she felt that the Holy Spirit wanted to do something and I missed it in my role of leading the meeting. She said that one of the guys shared that he was sick when he came in and maybe we should have prayed for him. But, that was the only thing she thought we could have done. It wasn't a prompting from the Spirit necessarily as much as just a desire to see needs met in the presence of the Lord. I wish I would have thought of it. I would have done it.
The reason that I asked her was I had prayed about that on Monday, the day before. Lord, was there something I missed in that moment? Did you want to do something, and I was just focused on the Bible Study? I felt the Holy Spirit remind me of that quote " The chief purpose of man is to enjoy God." I know I misquoted that. But that's the gist of what I remembered. What's wrong with just enjoying His presence? That's certainly what we did. I think God was pleased. I know we were.
So, there you go. A story from each meeting.
One more thing. I shared in the message how I was convicted in the Staff Meeting of how I was talking about a certain denomination of the church. I came across this on Monday. I laughed out loud, I kept laughing, and it was so funny, I was crying. I took a break, came back to it, laughed some more, cried some more. I took another break, and then showed it to Gen and Denise and laughed and cried some more. I couldn't pick a favorite. Whoever did this, understands the church like no one I've ever met. A picture is worth a thousand words.
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