my day off

As I sat outside on this glorious morning having some quiet time with the Almighty, today's study was on waiting.  That sounds familiar - Pastor Dave's been taking us through the book of Habakkuk!

The interesting part she discussed about waiting was what they did while they waited.  She talked about the fact that there's always work that can be done during the waiting.  Sometimes it's simply being quiet before God and doing some soul-searching and making ourselves available.  And other times there's actual physical work that needs to be done just to prepare us for what God's going to reveal at the end of the waiting.  Like Noah did while he waited for rain!

So to those of you in a season of waiting, take great encouragement from the amazing people God used in the Bible that waited, possibly much longer periods of waiting than God may ask us to be in.

I don't feel like I'm waiting right now, but still I'm asking myself as I write this, what is God's plan for this day before me?  How can just a day-off affect eternity for His glory...I guess I'll just remain in Him and wait and see what He has for me as I put one foot in front of the other and enter this day!

my day off

I LOVE the olympics, so on this day off I'm catching up on what I've missed the past few days.

As the news coverage picks and chooses from the vast amount of events what it will focus on, I notice something disturbing.

An agenda becomes clear as they choose to promote insignificant moments instead of athletic accomplishments, they're clearly moments that support their agenda to push us toward their view on controversial issues.

The funny thing is that no matter how hard they try the Lord puts in an amazing athlete whose trust is fully in Him to combat the agenda.  They speak of how they pray before each competition, they talk about how important their family is to them, and they give God all the glory for their accomplishment.

This forces the secular media to try again.

This should not be surprising.  We were created to believe in a higher power, to worship something and all this disobedience is nothing more than that struggle played out.

One of the stories in the bible where we see this is Noah's ark.   Can you imagine how ridiculous it seemed to everyone watching - Noah spending his life building this giant boat, and they had never seen rain?

And then at the appointed time, the door shut and the rain began that drowned everyone not inside.

And so it goes as it has all through history until the appointed time when the Lord says enough and His agenda becomes fully complete the world will search for something to satisfy themselves outside of trusting God.

The olympics has caused me to marvel at God's creation of these amazing, strong athletes while causing me to pray for those so desperate for the only thing that would truly bring satisfaction, a relationship with our Lord.

weekend report

I was not at Crossroads this weekend, but with such amazing staff and volunteers all was excellent! It was week 2 in the Old Testament Southern Style - focusing on Noah.

Here is the Setlist:

DRAMA/VIDEO: Look Who's Listening - we purchased the Willowcreek drama and video taped our actors performing it to begin the service setting up the announcement guy to advertise our outdoor baptism. Although taping it required additional work, we just didn't have enough actors available to perform it live this weekend. Too many vacations!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

WORSHIP:King of Majesty
For All You've Done
We Fall Down

SPECIAL MUSIC: I'll Go

INFO FROM THE PASTOR: Pastor Tim needed to talk about a couple of things - a new Community Food Band event that he wanted us to participate in and he also wanted to encourage Baptism participation as well. These occasional special announcements coming directly from the Pastor carry a lot of weight!

SPECIAL MUSIC: What Noah Knew

MESSAGE: Noah and the Flood

VIDEO: Flood Initiation

MESSAGE continues: Noah and the Flood

EXIT MUSIC: What Noah Knew

Sounds like a great weekend - cannot wait to watch it tomorrow afternoon at www.crossroadswired.com.

To see what other ministries across the US used in their services this weekend click here!