An Update

Hi everyone!



Last Thursday we had a fabulous time at McAllister Center! We enjoyed the coolness of God by parading through the children of the group, from newborn to age 16 and then talked about how amazing the normal development of people is. We take it for granted so often as we watch our children and our friends and families' children grow up but it is amazing to see how they change - for the most part automatically! God has made a great system for the way we grow up. It's almost like every day we are being reinvented and recreated in a new and wonderful way. Even after we "grow up" the potential to continue to become and develop does not end...you can wake each day with the anticipation of what new things God will do in your life in that day! After considering this for a little bit, we spent some time just being thankful to God for how awesome the system of growth is made - no accident!



We then spent some time noticing each other within the group and shared something of concern to us on a slip of paper and exchanged them, anonymously if desired, and we will then talk to God about these things over the next 2wks - we believe that this involves God even more in our lives and we learn to care about each other more as well.



Last, we spent some time learning as we continued to discuss how, practically, to make the switch from our lives beings all about going after stuff, to going after God. We retraced our discussions from the last several wks and then ended with the fact that we struggle against our own habits and programmed responses when we change to pursuing God. This is hard and we cannot change on our own - God provides the power. We find His power to change us in a million different places. It begins with us deciding we need him and doing everything we can to give Him the control of all of us (knowing that we have a hard time giving up all of us - he accepts what we are able to give to him). Then we begin to notice Him and talk to Him in our day to day lives - like noticing the development of our children and giving thanks to Him for how awesome that is. We try to be involved in relationships which will help these ideas grow - people many times give us pieces of God. We read good books and the Bible - and God uses them to help us change. We serve others and do things that are kind, just because - and God uses that to help change us. We spend time in quite and intentionally slow down and notice nature and life - and God uses this to change who we have been. The result is a lifetime of new creation and beautiful development. We find ourselves able to go after God without as much problem after many years of noticing Him. In the development we have been through God has remade us in a wonderful new way - the way we were made to be!



Next time we get together will be on 4/30/09 at McAllister Center in Lafayette - 20th and Schuyler Ave - 6:45-8:00PM.



Hope to see you there