Hurricane Humberto made an historic landfall earlier this morning in Texas. Given what all we have seen over the past few years, it's hard to imagine that a simple little Category 1 hurricane could be considered historical, but Humberto did the job by going from a 35 mph Tropical Depression to a 85 mph Hurricane in less than 15 hours.
This week's MWM is a little later than usual because of various schedule changes that have happened in my life this week that have led to schedules being changed quicker that I would expect. It is very easy for us to make plans and to assume that things will go according to how they have in the past. When presented with a change in conditions or thought or perspective, it can be hard to shift to looking at things in new ways. Last night when I went to bed, I assumed that Humberto would be a 'simple' tropical depression with a lot of rain and not much else. I was very surprised to see that it had developed into a hurricane when I awoke this morning.
Similar things can happen in the life of a church. Just when we assume that things are going to go in the same ways they have in the past, new variables, new people, and new resources come along to change the discussion. I had the honor and privilege to meet with your church council this week at our regular business session. Among other things, we discussed the report (attached to this e-mail) of the Long-Range Planning Committee that will be presented to the charge conference. It is a truly scary thing to dream big and to look at a future that is not the same as our past, but it is also foolhardy to think that we worship a God who would allow us to get in a rut of doing the same things over and over. The devotional I presented to start the council meeting was about Christ's words concerning those who take a treasure that is given to them, bury it in the ground, and then bragged that nothing happened to the treasure. Christ's message to us through this parable is that we cannot allow ourselves to be in a position to receive the treasures God bestows upon us but then be afraid to use them to further the Kingdom of God.
Just like Tropical Depression Humberto's transformation in a short time to Hurricane Humberto, do not discount the possibility that this congregation (or yourself) can be transformed into something powerful in a short amount of time. God is ready to do some major things in the life of our congregation - the question we all must ask ourselves is: are we ready for God to do powerful things in the life of our congregation?
See you Sunday!
Lamar
This week's MWM is a little later than usual because of various schedule changes that have happened in my life this week that have led to schedules being changed quicker that I would expect. It is very easy for us to make plans and to assume that things will go according to how they have in the past. When presented with a change in conditions or thought or perspective, it can be hard to shift to looking at things in new ways. Last night when I went to bed, I assumed that Humberto would be a 'simple' tropical depression with a lot of rain and not much else. I was very surprised to see that it had developed into a hurricane when I awoke this morning.
Similar things can happen in the life of a church. Just when we assume that things are going to go in the same ways they have in the past, new variables, new people, and new resources come along to change the discussion. I had the honor and privilege to meet with your church council this week at our regular business session. Among other things, we discussed the report (attached to this e-mail) of the Long-Range Planning Committee that will be presented to the charge conference. It is a truly scary thing to dream big and to look at a future that is not the same as our past, but it is also foolhardy to think that we worship a God who would allow us to get in a rut of doing the same things over and over. The devotional I presented to start the council meeting was about Christ's words concerning those who take a treasure that is given to them, bury it in the ground, and then bragged that nothing happened to the treasure. Christ's message to us through this parable is that we cannot allow ourselves to be in a position to receive the treasures God bestows upon us but then be afraid to use them to further the Kingdom of God.
Just like Tropical Depression Humberto's transformation in a short time to Hurricane Humberto, do not discount the possibility that this congregation (or yourself) can be transformed into something powerful in a short amount of time. God is ready to do some major things in the life of our congregation - the question we all must ask ourselves is: are we ready for God to do powerful things in the life of our congregation?
See you Sunday!
Lamar
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