Working together for Good

Hello Everyone!

I hope that you are doing well. I am trying to be more consistent with my blogs. I was going to do it weekly, but I will just have to do it when I remember (or when I feel I have something to say). I wanted to talk about something that was discussed at church yesterday. There were two messages I heard on Sunday. One was from our Pastor and the other was from someone I co-teach 1st graders with every Sunday. Pastor Mike talked about growing and equipping leaders. The person I co-teach with taught on Joseph with an emphasis on Romans 8:28 (We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose").

Pastor Mike started off saying, "I don't work with volunteers. I work with people that are called. No one at church volunteers, they are called." That made me feel great and it also made me feel guilty because I have been wanting to quit the Parking Lot team for months now. There is no good reason why other than I just don't want to do it anymore. Yet when I look at it, it has been a great jumping board for a lot of conversations. I see people outside the church who are like, "Do you go to Brentwood Baptist?" or they'll be like, "Aren't you in the parking lot?" Then there are people inside the church who know me or know my name because I was in the Parking Lot and when I introduce myself they would be like, "You're the guy that directs traffic!" I do enjoy doing it. It just gets tiresome and there are several people who don't listen or directly ignore you. I know other ministers get this reaction, but it just seems it is more visible out there. When it comes down to it though, I didn't volunteer for this. I remember when I was in High School someone came into my Bible study to ask for people to help. He told us, "Just write, 'I want to be part of the Parking Lot Ministry'" I was 14-15 then. I didn't know how to drive. I didn't own a car. I've only been part of the church for a couple of months and at that moment I remember thinking, "I could do that." I made a note in the church connection pad, was called on the phone that week, and my first Sunday was Easter. I have been doing it ever since...which is almost 10 years now! If you look at me, you wouldn't think Parking Lot Ministry. I am 5 foot 4, not a very loud person, not a very forceful person, and I am HORRIBLE with directions. Yet God has worked through me. If he can use a talking donkey, than he can use me (for those of you that don't get that reference...check out Numbers 22:21-41)!

Ms. Melva, the person with whom I co-teach 1st grade, gave me a great reminder this past Sunday about how God works. She was teaching to 1st graders, but this lesson applies to everybody. She quoted Romans 8:28 and asked the kid, "Does it say that only good things will happen if we love God? No. It doesn't say that. It does say that all things work together for the good of those that Love God. Sometimes bad things happen in life and we get upset. We don't know why it's happening. What we need to remember is that even though that bad stuff is happening, all things work together for the good of those who love God." I know that I tend to forget that. It's easy to get caught up in what is going wrong, the bad stuff that happens, or why things are the way they are. That's when we should remember that as long as we Love God and put our faith and trust in him, that all things will work together for the good of those who love Him.

Overall, lots of things to think about this week. I even have more, but I will wait until later to post my thoughts on the Proverbs study and also this book I'm reading.

Have a great rest of the day!