Wow! Another warm, sunny day! I am assuming you are enjoying the weather today as much as I am… although after yesterday’s sermon, I know I shouldn’t make too many assumptions 🙂 I hope as we have been processing through barriers to sharing our faith, you have found yourself challenged to step outside your comfort zone and break down some of your barriers. We must continually push ourselves to be faithful to Jesus’ calling on our lives!
I was reminded again of this yesterday when I ran into another one of our neighbors. We were out playing ball in the front yard and our next door neighbor came home and walked over to say hello. As we were talking, he shared that he had emergency open heart surgery at the beginning of December and was hoping to return to his part time work next week (he’s semi retired). What struck me was that I didn’t know. Not that I expect my neighbors to tell me everything about their lives but I realized I hadn’t spoken with him or his wife in three full months. My self-made busy barrier has prevented me from being present during a very serious time in this man’s life.
To be fair, he has a lot of family in the area to support him. I know I can’t be everywhere and do everything. But I was reminded again of the need to open my eyes and see the people God puts in my life. Are you keeping your eyes and ears open to His promptings?
Two other things I wanted to share with you today…
One—If you are attentive to your copy of the church calendar that is in your mailbox each month, you will have noticed that we were scheduled to have a guest missionary speaker from Chosen People Ministries with us on March 22. The missionary lives in Israel and ministers to the Jews, sharing his faith in Jesus. While it would have been a great tie-in to our own barrier and outreach conversation, he is no longer able to join us due to travel restrictions with the current coronavirus situation.
Two—Things are moving forward with the search for our new Family Ministry Director staff position. We’ve had several applicants over the past several weeks and I am hoping to start the first round of interviews in the next week or two. The Leadership Team and I truly appreciate your prayers during this season as we want to clearly hear God’s voice in this process. We believe He has an individual already called to fill this role and we want to hear Him clearly as we move forward. Keep the prayers coming!
Get out and enjoy this amazing pre-spring day! Maybe you’ll even get to meet one of your neighbors 🙂
In Christ Alone,
Pastor Jan