Spiritual Saturday?

Yes, this week we attended the Saturday service immediately following our church BBQ. We also had a guest pastor this week, as our pastor is out of town speaking at a huge conference in Georgia, quite an honor. He was away last week also and his brother did an amazing job filling his shoes.

Our guest pastor was okay. I liked his message, but the delivery was too much for me. When our pastor gives a message, he discusses one verse, typically, and really delves into it. This pastor, and some other guest pastors that we have had and pastors at other churches that I have visited, usually choose a topic, then quote several verses that support each other and the topic. I like the former better. It gives me less to digest and therefore a deeper understanding of the subject verse.

At any rate, the message this week was about bearing God's fruit and how we, as Christians are branches off of the vine that is Jesus. He said that God picks up the branches out of the mud and dirt and cleans us, so that we can bear fruit for Him. How do we bear fruit? First we have to remain connected to Jesus. Then we "win souls;" we connect with other people, all people, not just Christians. Then we give and we praise the Lord.

One disagreement that I had with this message was the "giving." While the pastor discussed how we give our money to the church and to others to help them, I truly believe that we can give more than just money for God. I believe that we can give hugs, love, time, understanding, a meal, a shower, a bed, and many, many other things. When I think about living my life as Jesus did, I think about helping people, but not solely monetarily, I see myself helping and "giving" in many other ways. I do give money to my church, because I want to. Because my church does a lot in our local community and our global community. But, I can't always give a lot of money, but I can and do, give of myself, my time and the gifts that God had blessed me with.

As I was sitting listening to this sermon and contemplating it, I realized that God has called me to help other moms at this point in my life. I came to realize this because a friend of mine moved out of the area and away from our local moms group, leaving a position open. Another friend asked if I was interested in applying for the vacant position. The night that the management team of the group meets is usually Josh's night to close at the bank. But because one of the ladies at the bank got a promotion and a transfer, he switched to a different night, leaving me available for the meeting night. Really these things are just small, trivial particulars, but without them falling into the right places, I would not be taking on this responsibility. Thinking about the events and the insignificant details that have occurred in the last week or so, that one would typically chalk up to coincidence, has just left me in awe of the ways in which God works and how He directs our lives in the way He wants it.

God bless you. And I hope that He directs your life, as He has mine.