Tonight was a great opportunity for me to – once again – get a bit of perspective regarding God’s heart.

When you become the only person able to reach someone, sometimes it can seem like the greatest burden.
You spend time. You give emotionally. You give financially. You create a proper friendship that will last.
But still, you are only one.

Jesus wouldn’t see it that way and neither should I.

I’ve been given love to work out of, now I just need to remember to use it.

The world is an unstable place. I’m glad I have my faith.

Whether it’s discovering a love for food, or something else.

I love Family Guy.

Do yourself a favour and watch this documentary. It’s eye-opening, insightful and complex.

It will also help restore your hope in humanity (if it were running on empty). Love like this overpowers hate.

The Interrupters (2011)

Consistency seems to be something that everyone wants, but few have OR something that many can do, but infrequently (which is quite ironic).
So much has changed in the last month. People trying to make sense of the many differences and their consequences.

Follow your heart.

As long as you do what you feel God’s asking, don’t be discouraged. 

Then you meet someone again. A new face and a fresh personality complete with all the ups and downs associated.

It’s fun.

It’s engaging.

You feel valued, but not like that. It’s so much more… it envelopes. I sound like a bitch.
You talk, and you begin to wonder. What if this? What if that?
Then you remember how much you dislike texting away all the good conversations you might have in person.
How much you wish you could hear a voice to bring the messages to life.

Hello. How are you? becomes a cyclical ritual. I want to know how you are. This is the only way I know how.
You respond. I respond.

This could be done in a park.
In a garden.
In the sun.
Over dinner.
Complemented by sandwiches.
Enhanced by cupcakes.
We could lie on our backs and stare up into the branches above us and wonder.
Apart, but so shared.
Don’t make any decisions.
Nothings been said.
There is no pressure.
Let the friendship grow.

Like these flowers around us, they were once small with their beauty hidden away.
I was warmed though. Nurtured and cared for. I grew up strong.

As strong as I could be.

But this little thing called time steps in, taps you on the shoulder and says, “Hold on. You’ve got plenty. There’s no rush.”

But nice guys never get the nice girls? Every moment is a risk worth taking.

zzz

Ramble, ramble, ramble.

On the way home tonight, I was wondering what God wanted me to talk about at the meeting.
I said I was going to include teaching in my monthly meetings (because I felt that our team needed some special teaching).

Asked God and He said forgiveness.

Forgiveness? Ok. Hmm.

What about forgiveness?

We are very good at the musical side of worship. I think you all know that. God has richly blessed us. But what about the other means of worship that we might be able to take part in when we have no guitars on hand?

I felt impressed to talk about forgiveness today. I wanted to let you know that I’m not picking on anyone. I didn’t come here with prior knowledge of someone’s superb grudge holding abilities. Matter of fact, I think you are all wonderful people who have a proper grasp on this.

No. I simply want to talk about how forgiveness is an essential part of our Christianity, and how it affects me and you, and our worship.

When you forgive, you honour Christ in your life:

The main part here that I want you to focus on is to honour Christ. You and I both know and believe He died on the cross for our sins, and so, as followers we should aspire to be like Him.

That’s fair. You know that. You’ve heard it before.

When you forgive, you free yourself from sins grasp:

When you don’t forgive, you inadvertently say that the person isn’t worth being forgiven. You invite pride into your life which is a smashingly awful avenue the devil loves to walk. Deny him that.

I’ve been thinking about this meeting because I’m afraid we (I) will:

1. get there and change nothing
2. offend someone

Have been praying too.

At the moment, I’m feeling we should scrap the agenda, and simply host a meeting for those seriously interested at Revive to discuss their heart for Revive, what’s been on their minds, and where we are headed. I’ve no doubt that those issues will come up regardless if they are indeed what people have been struggling with.

And so, I’d encourage you to gather your thoughts and come ready and open to discuss some hard topics that we might have strayed from in the past.

What’s on my heart at the moment:

My heads full. It’s hard to pin point specifics. Here’s some of what’s in pieces:

• I don’t like how some of what goes on a Revive is seemingly done behind closed doors. The example I can think of was how payments were being handled between Revive and the SDA church. I know this aspect of things has been improving, and as far as I could tell, was worse a year or so ago, but I want to ask, “Why is there a need for secrecy here?”.
  It feels wrong to me is all. We are leading a community for God, and I feel like there should be no element of that that we are ashamed to talk about or unwilling to. I’d much rather we simply paid rent and hired the building.
• I don’t feel like we are moving forward as a team. I don’t feel like we are united. Instead, I feel like we are moving north-west and north-east at the same time as opposed to north. Like our individual hearts for Revive as similar, but aren’t aligned. We move forward, but not straight forward.
  For this reason, there’s been unnecessary frustration. When we aren’t devoted to where we are going, we are divided (even if only slightly). Our focus isn’t focussed, or more appropriately, focussed on separate things.
  If we want to be all that we are destined to be here under God, we need to unite under a central vision that inspires each one. What do you think?