Part of our “job” right now is to visit churches. Make connections. Talk to people.
We’ve visited a lot of churches lately, which means we’ve sat under the teaching of a lot of different people. We’ve heard a lot of different styles of worship. We’ve witnessed how different churches really are.
Recently, we visited a church that I can only describe as casual. But not in the irreverent way. It’s more like… this is where we are, this is who we are, and Jesus is meeting us where we’re at. It embodies the “come as you are” mentality. And I love it.
In a weekly Bible study we attend, they talked about how life is not made up of a few big moments, but lots of little moments. Those little moments are like seeds, and all of those little seeds (moments) eventually grow into a forest that changes the landscape of our life. Those little seeds help to determine how we deal with those big moments when they come up.
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Our real lives are not filled with Sunday mornings. They’re filled with the every day. The routine of “normalcy.” The cups of coffee, laundry, and dishes. Those things that happen in between Sunday mornings are the things are lives are made up of – those are the “seeds” that will eventually grow into the forest landscape of our lives.
And those seeds are where Jesus is; that’s where He meets us every day, right where we are, every single time. He did it when He walked this earth: meeting His disciples by their stinky, fishy, wet boats, meeting tax collectors in their booths, harlots in the streets, beggars on the road, sick and dying in their beds, heartbroken in the Temple. Each person was in a different place, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And Jesus met each and every one of them exactly where they were in all of those places. He ministered to each need perfectly.
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This morning I woke up anxious and angry with the world. My sheets annoyed me. My coffee annoyed me. My computer annoyed me. The soothing music I put on annoyed me. I forced myself to sit down in my happy spot: on the porch where it’s 75f, breezy, birds chirping, and squirrels chattering and just be quiet. And Jesus met me. I needed Him to “Renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10b), and He did. Am I “cured” of waking up on the wrong side of the bed? No, but I am a lot less anxious and angry than I started out. I’m embracing His truth – that He’s not a God of fear, that He still accepts me as His beloved when I am broken and weary, that He meets me where I am, and that it’s okay. “The Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18).
Maybe this is a good reminder for you today, too?
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