Last Thursday and Next Thursday

Hey Guys!

Just wanted to give you an update on last week's time together and this coming up week's time together.

Last week, we enjoyed a time of relaxing briefly as we shared our first car, or a story about a car that must be told. It was really funny to hear all the bizarre and strange things that happen in regard to cars in our lives!

We then spent some time enjoying the amazingness of God - noticing how cool the world around us is and then thanking Him for making it so cool. This time, Melissa quietly excused herself and then sent text messages to all the people in the group. It was funny to hear the cell phones go off one by one (although I also learned that many of the people don't bring them with them, or put them on vibrate to be respectful during our times- pretty cool too!). I then showed my age a bit by reminding the group that something they take so for granted, cell phones, is an amazing thing. All around us, all the time, are these energy waves, able to take our voices, our data, our pictures and movies even and share them with other people. What a remarkable and wonderful thing! How great is our world, that God has given us. Now, I know God did not exactly "invent" cellular technology, but people did, and He made us so dizzyingly complex that we can devise something like this and make it happen. So, my humble request is that over the course of the next couple wks, and hopefully months and years, on occasion, stop and notice how amazing it is that you can communicate via cellular technology and thank the amazing God who is behind the whole thing - enjoy the complexity of life and give credit to Him for. It may change the way you see the rest of your day and life!

After taking some time to "notice" God, we spend some time each time we get together to notice each other. We do this by anonymously (or not depending on each person's preference) sharing slips of paper with something that is bothering us or a problem to us and then we exchange them and commit to talk to God about them for the next 2 wks. This is not intended to be some fancy prayer time or something, just mentioning to God the stuff in someone else's life and inviting Him into the middle of the problem. This brings God more and more into the situation and their life and also brings us closer together, as we care for each other.

We then always have some time in each time we join together learning something. Over the months we have been getting together we have learned a wide variety of things. But this week was specifically designed for those who have been coming together over the months to talk a little about what this change of focus has done for their lives. Multiple of you shared how amazingly God has brought joy and peace to your worlds...no, the circumstances have not necessarily gotten better - in fact sometimes they have gotten worse. But, as we have begun inviting the amazing God who made all and cares about our lives into the middle of all we have and are, we have seen our lives change...dramatically. Pain has healed, anger has softened, bitterness has been released, despair has given way to hope, and the mundane has caved in under the mission and meaning of moving from the more of American society to the More of the God of the universe. We have found something More - that makes life more and more worth living and puts all the facets of our lives into proper perspective. Do we struggle still? Of course. We realize that this life, this move from more to More, is a lifelong journey - but we are committed to going on with it together!
Finally, we were challenged - as we notice the change that God is making in our lives - to realize the hurt and pain we have come from and that this very experience that has changed us is what so many around us everyday crave! The people of our world are dying to hear about some hope past the more of everyday society. We were invited to see that if noticing God can change us so much, it (He) can change anyone (cause I am messed up, let me tell you). How can we begin to look for attempts to share this wonderful thing with those around us?

We will be getting together again this coming Thursday - 7/9/9 - 6:45-8:00 PM - we will be meeting at McAllister Center, in the parking lot and then spending the time together reaching out into the need around us as we spend the evening in one of our community outreach nights - it will be a great time helping with some folks who desperately need to see love - hope you can make it.

If you have questions about this post, or any of them in the past, or are just wondering about all this, please post a comment. We hope you can join us next Thursday!