Paul’s Thoughts
August 31, 2010
I read a quote the other day that got my attention: We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. I am so excited about the opportunities this church has to give to our community. As in my previous post, we were able to serve over 500 people in the community by giving away clothes to those in need. In just a month we have almost as many clothes as we had for the give-away. The donations keep pouring in and we are adjusting as we go!! We had a brilliant plan a few months ago to build a room to store the clothing. The brilliant part was building the room; the not so brilliant part was we apparently made it too small!! We are planning another give-away toward the end of October. We are also working on processes so we are able to help meet the needs for clothing on a regular basis. It is a lot of work, but it has been fun giving.
Dare I say that we are also working on having a soup kitchen. Stay tuned for that!!
Our vision is to: Receive the Father’s love, through His Son and by the power of the Holy Spirit, and give that love to the people of our communities.
We want to be people who talk the talk AND walk the walk.
August 3, 2010
This past weekend we held our 3rd annual clothing give-away. I have to say that this outreach was one of the most incredible things I’ve witnessed. From the teamwork needed to pull off the two days to the donations of clothing to the lives touched by receiving much needed clothing – free – it was inspiring.
The amount of clothing donated was staggering. Bags and bags of clothes came through the door from people from all walks of life and from multiple states. One couple lives in Massachusetts and stays part-time in Maine. When they read of the outreach, they drove back to Massachusetts, filled bags with clothes and drove back to Maine to donate the clothing! People who had been blessed with clothing at last year’s outreach, donated clothes this year!
Here is where the rubber meets the road: over 500 people came the two days and “shopped” for much needed clothing – clothing for the very young to the elderly. People were lined up in front of the church an hour before the doors opened on Friday.
I truly believe that to all who were involved in this outreach, Jesus would say, as He did in Mt. 25:34, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”.
September 25, 2008
I’ve been reading the book of Luke and I couldn’t help but notice that a phrase kept showing up in this Gospel – “Now it happened…”. This phrase was used at the beginning of many sections that told of Jesus healing someone. As I thought about it, I began to think about Jesus’ life and my life. Did things “just happen” in His life. I think the answer to that question is ‘yes’ and ‘no’. I say ‘yes’ because Jesus took each day and did “what the Father did” (Jn. 5:19). I say ‘no’ because Jesus did “what the Father did”. That sounds a bit confusing, doesn’t it? Let’s put it in the context of our lives. We don’t have to go around “looking for ministry opportunities” every day. But if we are tuned into the Father and see and hear what He is doing in people’s lives, we can participate in what He is doing – we can be “in the moment”. We can narrate the events of our day by starting out with the phrase “Now it happened…”.
The Spirit of God is much better at identifying ministry opportunities than we are. Ask God each day to show us the opportunities He wants us to be a part of. Let’s get tuned into the Spirit of God, see and hear, obey His directions, participate in what He’s doing, and watch as people’s lives are transformed by Him!!
June 5, 2008
I’ve wondered over the past few days about my walk with Christ. I’ve had to question whether my “Christianity” or the ministry God has called me to has gotten “in the way” of my love for Christ. To the church of Ephesus (Rev. 2), Jesus writes, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” One verse prior, He commended them for their perseverance, patience, and labor. But had their “walk” become routine, taken for granted. Apparently, something had happened to their attitude and motives for Jesus to say what He said.
What about our attitudes and motives. Why do we do the things we do “for” Christ? What are our motives? When was the last time you told Him you loved Him? When was the last time you got “googly-eyed” over Him? Have we left our first love?
Maybe it’s time we fell back in love with Jesus – REALLY in love with Him! Not with the attitude of “I told you I loved you; if it changes, I’ll tell you.” But with the “I found this incredible person and I can’t have enough of Him” attitude. Maybe we need to reintroduce ourselves to and reacquaint ourselves with this incredible person named Jesus! I bet if we will do that, we will have a whole new attitude about why we do the things we do. What ya think?
May 23, 2008
Do we really get the love God has for us? Do we truly realize how much He loves us? I was recently talking to someone about God’s love. I said to him, “Image this scenario: You are on a bus with your child and the bus is full. All of a sudden someone stands up in the bus, pulls a gun, and takes the bus hostage. After awhile, the gunman looks at you and says that he will let everybody on the bus live if you allow him to kill your child.” What would I do in that situation? What would you do? Try to imagine the agony of having make that decision!
God made that decision! He made the decision to give the life of His Son – His only Son- for the lives of everybody. That includes you and I! That is crazy love!! How can we not worship and serve a Father like that! If our earthly father loved us with that kind of love, we would do anything for him, wouldn’t we? Are we willing to do anything for our Heavenly Father who loves us with a crazy love?
