Monday Morning Musings ...

Yesterday was a good day in the midst of some difficulty. The difficulty was that whatever this bug is that I have is in it's 4th week and really messed with my voice yesterday. Another of the difficulties was problems with our projection of songs during worship and then in the evening we had some mixups in who was doing what musically.

The good was that there was an outstanding spirit in both the morning and evening services. My voice survived teaching a Sunday School class, preaching in the morning and teaching again Sunday evening. The good was that we kicked off a new year and new theme for the new year. I am really excited about the theme for this year.

As I posted yesterday the theme is "Whatever ...". The scripture foundation is Philippians 3:7-11 and 4:8-9. This will take us in a lot of places. Yesterday the message was on "Whatever ... It Takes". We looked at how "whatever living" looks. One of the biggest pieces of "whatever living" is that when you commit to "whatever living" you are committing to following God's will. Therefore, you don't have to fret over all the future decisions because you have already made the decision to follow God's will, "whatever living". Whatever God desires is the choice that you made. So the future decisions are simply "God is this what you want for me?". Which means I am not deliberating over whether I want to do this, just simply asking God is this way you have for me? It is still a big deal at first to determine God's will, but after I determine God's will the debate is closed. I have already made that choice.

Our attendance was fair given that we had freezing rain in the morning that kept some people away and even prompted at least one other church in town to close. 5 people from that church came to our worship.

In the evening the attendance was low, but the prayer time was powerful and there were many people who shared testimonies. The study finished out look at "Where Did You Get Your God?", looking at the positive and negative images people have of God. We finished looked at the story of the Lost, or Prodical, son. We focused on the older brother and how he missed the abundance and grace that the father had made available to him for all these years. I asked which character in this scripture people felt like they identified with the most. Also, what would need to change to be more like the father in that scripture. The discussion was kind of flat but the lesson was meaningful.

2009 is off to a good start. However, on my offering check I wrote 08 instead of 09. Not surprising, but frustrating just the same.

Here's hoping you remember what year it is and remember how much God loves you.